Teaching: The Early Days

When I think back to my first day as a teacher I often wonder that I went on to have such a long career and that teaching actually became my great passion

I remember the first day I was so organised, prepared and pumped.

Noble quotes about teaching covered my workbook. I imagined I was following a great tradition in a long line of teachers, from Socrates, and Aristotle through to my own grade six teacher who had inspired me.

But the thing I hadn’t banked on in those early days was the students. Nothing I had studied prepared me for the diversity, the complicated lives, and the difficulty in managing a large group of independent minds.

For my first day I had prepared a whole series of lessons around the study of Rosie’s Walk.

Not only would I be able to assess each student’s capabilities I would move on from introducing them to reading and visual literacy, through to numeracy and science. I had it all worksheets, activities, baby chicks hatching in the class, honeycombs dripping with honey. I was ready

The Sunday night before I started I was so excited, I had gone over and over in my head how it was going to work.

All these beaming faces would look up from their desks in admiration at their teacher as they started on their school journey.

I had borrowed a “big book” of Rosie’s walk, along with smaller copies for students to work with indivdually. As Time magazine had said itself, “A single excursion through Rosie’s Walk could make a reader for life.

The first few sessions were occupied with ‘housekeeping’, my class rules, where they would sit, when lunchtime was, the toilets, all those thing they needed to know to fit in to the school environment

Then I started

“Today we are going to read this story, “Rosie’s Walk”

A little voice piped in from the back of the group. “Miss, my baby sister’s called Rosie and I’m allowed to hold her on the couch when mum’s getting tea ready”

“Thank you Frances but you shouldn’t interrupt when we’re reading a story”.

Now, here is the Title of the book “Rosie’s Walk” and it is written and illustrated by Pat Hutchins.

I turned the page

“Rose the hen went for walk” I read.

The moment I read, it was like a cue for young Dom to stand up and walk across to the school bags to get his play lunch.

No Dom, not now, we have to wait for the bell. Sorry Miss but Mum said if I felt tired I should eat something for my sugar levels

“What, sugar levels?” Nobody had told me this boy was diabetic

Oh! I suppose I would have to let him.

Back to the book

‘Can you see who’s following him”

“The fox, Miss” answered Anna

Good, yes it’s the fox

Next page

“Across the yard”

Little Patrick had been sitting wriggling the whole time I had been reading

“Miss, I have to go to the toilet”.

Oh No, “Well Patrick you will just have to wait till we finish the story.”

Bad mistake, instead of asking again he sat there quietly and wet his pants and the carpet, which I didn’t discovered until I sent them all back to their tables.

I struggled on, reading the text, asking questions about the illustrations, slowly, laboriously until finally I had finished.

“Okay, back to your tables!”

“Hang on a minute, Jessica had fallen asleep and the kids were walking around her.

“Jessica, wake up”

I didn’t realise, I hadn’t known. Not every child gets a good night sleep.

I made Patrick change his pants, I had wondered why the teacher before me had a cupboard full of spare clothes and quickly mopped up his mess

All ready now on your desk is a worksheet

Does anyone know what it says?

“Rosie the hen went for a walk”

I’d already pegged Cass as a helper. “Okay everyone take one of the pages and you can do your own drawing. Cass will you give everyone a box of crayons?”

They set to it; a quiet hum filled the room for a fraction of a second.

“Give me the yellow” screamed Paul

“No, I want it” Jane retaliated

‘Here have this one’,

I said to Paul grabbing another one from a spare box.

I wanted to work individually with each student to check their ability and knowledge of books and reading

Patrick was up and wandering around the room, he couldn’t seem to sit still

“Sit down” ‘ I urged a little louder than I needed to.

“I’m finished my drawing miss” said Esther

I looked at her drawing, ‘Why don’t you add some more things you’d find in the farmyard”

“I don’t want to miss”

“Alright, here’s an extra piece of paper. You may draw whatever you like I said in desperation as I threw the sheet at her.

As the morning progressed, I had the overwhelming feeling that I was sinking. I knew I’d really lost it, when close to tears I screamed at Patrick that if he moved one more time I would tie him to his chair.

The louder I got the more the children played up.

My carefully laid plans had not figured on, or taken into account the children I was working with.

I hadn’t know Patrick lived on a diet of sugary junk food that made him hyperactive, or that Jess’s mum had a new boyfriend and let her children watch television late into the night. I didn’t realise that not every child had a parent that read to them or that some parents didn’t think education was important for their child. I didn’t know that I would sometimes get a class who spoke very little English.

I just didn’t know all these things on my first day

By the end of that first day I was exhausted, overwhelmed and wondering if I’d made the biggest mistake of my life.

I dragged myself to the supermarket, I need chocolate and comfort food.

I saw one on my students with her mother, I could barely look at her I felt so useless.

“Miss,” she said.

I turned on a fake smile

“Yes Jane, I said as sweetly as I could muster

“I really liked that story today miss and my mum put my picture on the fridge and said it was excellent work.” “Thanks Miss”

I could have almost swept her up in my arms and lavished her with kisses.

Maybe I would go back the next day.