First Week of Teaching!

My first week of teaching is now behind me (well, first week #6!), and it was a wonderful one. Here are some moments that stand out:

*Seeing the smile on the face of my new student - it's always a joy to win someone over.

*Seeing my freshmen and sophomores really take hold of the discussion based on Louis Markos' "From Achilles to Christ," and having one say "I feel like I'm being brainwashed!" Hahahaha - ohhhhh my dear, you have no idea...

*That same class, leading my kids through questioning to get at the root of the worldview problem of one of the books they read over the summer, and reaching that conclusion just as Mr. Bailey walked through the door. "THERE IS NO GOD!" exclaimed my student. "EXACTLY!" I enthusiastically affirmed.

*Introducing this year's play to my high school students, and having one of the seniors enthusiastically say "this is awesome," thereby setting the tone for the whole group.

*On the same occasion, hearing people totally adopting characters, from hand gestures to Brooklyn accents on the initial read-through.

*Having a student call for help on a Lit assignment, only to express fears about the new Algebra teacher, stating, "it seems like he's not really sure what he's doing. Is this true?!" and being able to assure him that the contrary was the case:)

*Confiding to my seniors that they were doing WAY better than my last class in their discussion of the Winthrop/Franklin dichotomy, and having them be very pleased.

*After having shown my students that I'd written "Classical Lit (best ever)" on my notebook, having them ask if I'd written the same thing for all the other classes, and being able to show them (to their GREAT glee) that I'd written "American Lit" and "7/8 Lit."

*Knowing that Classical Lit class will be able to live up to my expectations.

*Coming up with an inventive and enjoyable way to teach TYPING of all things...

*Loving, loving, loving my students.

*HAVING KIMBERLY WALKING THE HALLS WITH ME!!!!!!!

*And most of all (except for the Kimberly part... or maybe partly because of it), suddenly feeling, after over a year of not having felt it, that I couldn't WAIT for the next day of teaching.

Praise the Lord for His innumerable blessings!