First Day Ja-jitters (words)

We had a crazy 45 minute power greet that pumped us all up! All the kids walked in and we seemed to give them some positive energy.
Davis is incredibly strict about rules so all day the kids were hailed with negatives and yelled at about rules, I think CY is going to be awesome with bringing some fierce positive energy in.
I shadowed one math teacher who was absolutely amazing and engaging. She brought all of the kids to her level and really tried to make a personal connection with all of the students. I shadowed on of her regular classes and her Pre AP-GT (gifted and talented) class. It was so interesting how they all shy away from being smart, one kid said "Oh yeah, well I got the answer right, but it's not a big deal." Being smart is the anti-cool. I told them that nerds rule the world and one student said, "No, Obama rules the world". I then told them that Obama is a nerd, he went to Harvard. Then another student asked me if Harvard actually existed. There was one student in the Pre AP-GT class who spent most of the time tagging. It made me think that I would love to start a mural club! Because tagging is one step away from grafitti and then grafitti is one step away from being a mural! Since murals are a little more socially acceptable than tagging (and more creative), then maybe we could channel all that negative self expression to something that could actually benefit the community.
The lunch room was very interesting. The tables are long like tables you see in movies featuring prison. The mentality is very get your food, get out, no socializing necessary. It's kind of a harsh environment, but I know the school means really well, they just are forgetting that these kids are well, kids. I had to step in in a bullying occurrence because the lunch room attendants seemed more concerned about the students being in straight lines than how they were behaving.
All in all a really good and interesting first day. I took a lot of notes, a lot of lot of notes. And I'm starting on the in-kinding, trying to get school supplies, spare belts (to be worn at the waist- no sagging at Davis), books and bookshelves for the CY classroom. I'm skipping the gym tonight, I need to just kind of hold a debrief session in my mind about my day. No exercise, no thank you, power greeting in 100+ degree heat was enough for me.

Daily Hero: All the middle school teachers who are great. They outshine the ones who are not so great, tenfold!