First day of school!

      Today was my first day of school.  Despite what everyone said, the kids didn't try to eat me.  They just seemed like high school students.  They're are just at that age of finding out who they are and they want everyone to know it.  They say it like it is and are not afraid to be themselves.  They are extremely friendly too.  It might be that I'm new so they wanted to make a good impression, but they made me feel so comfortable.  A few of them even feel like people that I know. I'm starting to love them already.
      I will be teaching Algebra II and Pre-calculus.  We talked about solving quadratic equations by factoring today in Algebra II.  That was something that I loved as a student because I saw it as solving a riddle or a puzzle, but the first period moaned the whole time.  I think I found my first goal of teaching: Help them become excited about the content.  One kid asked for a real life application and I wanted so badly to give him a physics example but I left that to my mentor teacher.  Speaking of my mentor teacher, she's great! She is a patient teacher and you can see that she has a good relationship with her students.
      There are definitely some things that I am going to have to get used to, such as the School Without Walls doesn't have any bells either (thank goodness for watches!); there is very little board space because we share the classroom with at least one other teacher throughout the entire day; and I'm going to have so many teachers watching me (they're more intimidating than the students).  Did I mention that there are, at one point durning the day, three other teachers that will be watching me teach?  They might be the ones that eat me alive.  Not my mentor teacher though.  She's a good egg. I really like her a lot.  I can't wait to work with her and her students, to learn with them and from them.  What an adventure this will be!