Welcome to 6LU!

Today marks the end of Day 7 of 177 of my first year as a teacher. A REAL teacher. Since the day I accepted the position last April my head has been swarming with ideas, questions, and thoughts leading to excitement and anxiety. Will I have a good first day of school? Will my students like me? Will I be prepared? What will teaching be LIKE?
Well...my questions have been answered. And the truth is, I never expected teaching to be like this. Or rather, not for me. And what I mean by that is, all I want to do is be in the classroom. All I want to do is teach. All I want to do is be with my class. I am completely attached to every single student. I am so happy to go in every day to see them. I come in and I can't wait for them to arrive. Every day I can't help but remind myself of how lucky I am. My students are so good that they come in, get their morning message journals, and sit quietly waiting for me to start. It was that way on the very first day of school, and it continues to be that way today. During transition periods when they are coming back from anther class (i. e. music, French/English, etc...) they come in, sit down, and read. Um, excuse me. Isn't it supposed to be harder than this? And this is the part that blows me away the most: when I speak, they are quiet! They don't talk! In my head and in my first day of school nightmares that preceded the first day of school I had always imagined my sixth graders to be like my first graders (squirmy, chatty, distracted) but twice the size. Turns out, they DO mature as they get older. And I know it's still early on and perhaps they may grow out of this amazing behavior. And I know there will be conflicts (they do have hormones, after all), but right now I am just reveling in the excitement and ease that is the beginning of this first year. I am so happy right now. I just have to remember this feeling when things do become more difficult and challenging, which is inevitable (but I won't waste time worrying about that yet).
And for the record, here is another cool thing about my class: my students are from everywhere! The following countries are represented somewhere within my group of 22: France, India, England, Holland, America, Portugal, Israel, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Norway, Venezuela, Turkey, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, and Korea. Only 6 of my students speak English at home. And what I love the absolute most is that I look out and there is a rainbow of skin colors ranging from the whitest of white to tan and brown. That in itself makes me so happy to just look at them. They are beautiful!
So enough gushing. I mustn't forget that unless you are a teacher it is hard to appreciate or listen to teaching stories. But like I said, I am finding it hard to think about anything else! I have had an amazing last couple of weekends that have included the Latino Festival two weeks ago and the Beer Festival last weekend. Both were full of culture and full of excitement...among other indulgences. :)
Photos to come later...
In the meantime, ciao and goodnight!