The students are here!

Today the students arrived! In the past I had predicted that meeting the students this first day would help me gauge how well the rest of the semester would follow and now I'm a little nervous. My cooperating teacher and I have roughly 140 students split between a 7th and 8th grade class, a 9th grade Survey of Lit class, two sections of 10th grade American Lit, and a senior AVID class. (According to their website, AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination and is a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges.)

I think I'm really going to enjoy the 7th and 8th grade class. I enjoy that age group and because I have had the most experience with this age, feel like I can definitely handle it. I am hopeful that this will be a good experience. I'll be taking over that class later, toward the 5th week of school with Pam Muñoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising.

Next week I'll start teaching the 9th grade Survey class with Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. By week 8, or toward the start of the third quarter, I will start teaching the 10th grade American Lit class. We have two sections of this class and I'm already predicting that the sophomores will be my biggest challenge, especially the last section. In general, all of the classes seem really loud and talkative. They shout over the top of one another and it seems like my teacher is sacrificing her throat with each command to be "quiet and sit down" that she has to repeat. I didn't even speak that much today but my mouth and throat seemed irreversibly dry. I went through three Gatorade bottles of water and could not seem to quench my thirst (but I did visit the bathroom quite often). It makes me wonder if I will feel that I have to, or will even be able to, speak in a loud voice all day. What tricks can I invent to get around yelling and screaming just to get their attention?

I am shocked at the noise level and frequent interjection of students. In the past I would have chalked this up to shaky classroom management, but I'm starting to question that now. I've been told by different educators that the talking over others and loud voices is a cultural trait of urban African American students. The noise level is going to drive me crazy if it continues. I sometimes wonder how I will be able to handle it. I know I will need to be more assertive and I wonder if I have what it takes. I'm hopeful that as I establish a relationship with the students and get to know their names than this will become easier.