Week 1: Gilbert High School

Week one at Gilbert High School working with Mr. Davis went as well as could have been expected. This week was mostly observation as Mr. Davis wanted to finish a unit before I took over my first courses (2 sections of Horticulture with approx. 30 students in each section).

On the first day during metals and welding, Mr. Davis told me he had to run an errand and that he would be back in a little bit, "You'll be okay, right?" I think the look of terror on my face was probably priceless. The class is full of junior and senior boys, and one girl, that are very outgoing. They had about three different projects that they were suppose to be working on. I stood there in the shop thinking, "Holy crap, what did I get myself in to!" Luckily, no one got hurt and no one made me cry. So, I consider that a success.

On Thursday, once again, Mr. Davis had to "run an errand" (I've started to think that he just does this because he likes to see me have a heart attack.) 5 minutes before 5th period horticulture started. He just said, "I should be back before class is over, you'll be fine." Considering I had no idea that I would be teaching and had nothing prepared, it was a bit scary. It ended up being fine, even though it took awhile for me to get the attention of the students. (dang sophomores, anyhow...)

All in all everything turned out fine in the first week. I had a lot of great talks with Mr. Davis about discipline and student personalities, so it made me feel a lit better about being there. I also had the opportunity to meet lots of the faculty by attending a superintendent search meeting, a building of a new school meeting, collaboration meetings, and in-service. I also attended my very first wrestling meet and kept time for Mr. Davis. I learned that I am not a fan of wrestling.

Well, that's all I have for this week. Next week will be my first week of teaching. Hopefully, I don't come home crying. :)

As my Dad always says, "Have a day!!" (Meaning, you can choose the kind of day you have...)