First day fall 2009

A whole new group of fourth-graders walked into my classroom yesterday. What a quiet day it was. There was so much to do, but I sacrificed work for getting to know you activities and orienting to the room type of discussions. Hopefully they weren't bored to death! It seemed that they were ready to beg for work to do. A funny thought for me because my students usually want me to slow down with the amount of work I give. It was more important to me to try to get them to be aware of some of the expectations that I have for them. After all, they will be in my care for two years.

I can already see who my challenges are going to be. The thing for me to remember is that they are a challenge for me, not a stepping stone that I can hop over and avoid. It is my job to find a way to reach them. I have to find a way. Otherwise both those challenges and myself will be miserable for the next two years.

This summer I read How Full is Your Bucket? and I want to remember what it taught me and how it taught me to think. I shared the children's version of the book with the kids today. I hope to use it as an overarching theme over the course of the next few years: being bucket fillers. Plase let it work!