So… my first two days of teaching are over – 1 week completed only 39 to go…

That’s kind of how it feels.

I have 5 classes of year 6’s and 7’s – 11 & 12 year olds. They come out for 40 minute phys ed lessons with me and they are just bursting with energy and excitement. Currently class sizes are ‘set on maximum’ which means 32 kids… yeeha… that is a lot of kids!

I find that with each class, 40 minutes is just enough time to get them settled… and then they go back to their teacher and the next wave of hyperactive midgets lands on the oval! Its a never ending assault – and it is exhausting. I fell asleep on the couch at 7.15 on Thursday night!

It is the first week of course – the week when you have to set your boundaries and kick a few heads (in a loving Christian way of course) to make sure they don’t get the better of you.

Every class has a few who have already tried it on with me, but there are also a whole stack of really great kids who sometimes get lost in the haze of the meatheads. I have to remind myself that most of these kids are good kids who want to do the right thing and that there are only a small minority who are difficult. At this stage in the term the idiot brigade require some intensive ‘training’ if they are to know their place in the scheme of things.

The other staff have been very welcoming and willing to help. On that front I feel very encouraged and am enjoying the relationships forming there.

However on the ‘enjoyment of work’ scale my first week of teaching would rate a 5/10.

Things could get worse… but I am hoping they will get better.

My one big goal for this year in teaching is to work effectively enough for both students and staff to be disappointed when I leave at the end of the year. Even better would be for me to be disappointed too…

Please God?…