Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Change is usually difficult for me. I don't like when things are not the same as they were before. I was pretty sure that this would be a hard week for me. School started at O'Leary Middle School on Monday, and I am teaching sixth grade instead of eighth grade. I had prepped myself for the worst. I was convinced that sixth graders would be obnoxious, and whiny, and squirmy, and annoying and therefore I would hate my job.

Luckily for me, changes can be unpredictable. I guess that's the good thing about changes. If they were predicatable maybe they wouldn't have as big as an impact on our lives. Changing from an eighth grade teacher to a sixth grade teacher may have been one of the best decisions I ever made. Not only are the kids sweet and funny, they are still dedicated little learners. They are excited to be in school and they LOVE when they get picked to do anything at all in the classroom.

My transition was made easier by the fact that I work with great teachers who are almost as excited as the kids to take on this new challenge of sixth grade in the middle school. These last few days have been full of forgotten locker combinations, lost schedules, and more laughs than I can count. Kids really do say the DARNDEST things. I believe my transition was also helped by the prayers of friends and family. On the first day of school, I left my classroom during my prep to run around the school and finish errands. When I came back I had this great surprise from "Teddi, Sara, and the gang". Thanks gang! It made my day!

(Bonus points to you if you can identify the gift and what movie it comes from!! Hint: it's a Meg Ryan classic! )