Mr. Higgins’ Blog

Aug 23rd, 2006 by Mr. Higgins

Almost every teacher I have ever talked to said the first day of their teaching career they are very nervous and wonder why they are there. Much like even some veteran teachers, my nerves are starting to get going and the excitement is starting to boil over. The past two days I have spent probably twelve hours working on my classroom and getting materials together. Here are some things that teachers-to-be never think about…

Making Seating Charts
Creating a Book Inventory
As a computer teacher, creating a usage policy or using the district policy
You think plenty about lesson plans…but now state standards are more emphasized in planning
Testing all of the technology (as a computer teacher)
Most likely you have to show up to school earlier than most teachers (I feel like i’m sitting in an empty building, lol)

A 38-year veteran of teaching asked me if I was ready for school to start. I responded by saying, “I must be, the nerves are starting to get going.” In the most subtle tone, he says to me, “If you weren’t nervous, you would not be human.”

Posted in Teaching

2 Responses to “School looms…”not be human””

on 23 Aug 2006 at 7:18 pm1Alfred Thompson

It you were not nervous it would be a sure sign that you were forgetting something. My wife who is a librarian has had to go in early this year because a) her new circulation desk came in and b) everyone seems to have decided that the library is a great place to have all the before school starts meetings. Does no one realize the library needs work after the summer?
But clearly as a computer teacher you have a lot of technology that has to be set up and checked out. The people who clean over the summer always put something back wrong and you want to find it before the students show up.
Good luck this year!
on 02 Sep 2006 at 8:28 am2Vicki Davis

I think nerves are the signs of a great teacher. You care. You want to do a good job. Most of us teachers are truly adrenaline junkies. We love the exhileration of teaching students something that will change their lives! I guess it would be like a mountain climber the night before the climb they’ve been looking towards.. excitement and anticipation!

It is nice just to get things started! I’ve been going for three weeks now and I feel so relieved now to have a lot of the initial learning curve that expends so much of my energy behind me: how do I wiki, how do I blog, etc.

Keep the faith and know that it will be just like you remembered it… great!