Frosh

Today was the first day of the back-to-school blitz, freshmen-only. Kinda weird being back in the shuffle, but at the same time it feels very comfortable and I feel like a piece in the puzzle, perfectly ready to fit in somewhere.

Aside from attending some of N's freshmen-filled classes, I spent a lot of the day working on ideas for my unit plan (This sure is a big project and I want it to be good). Right now my goal is to try to keep things interesting without going into college-level depth. It's a challenge of its own.

Seeing all these lost-looking faces wandering the halls brings back memories of my own high school experience. Being in a completely new school with a new group of kids sure was intimidating, as I recall. It took a few months to figure out the lay of the land, and socially the whole experience was rather bewildering in some ways. I remember my classes only vaguely, the main impression that sticks after all these years was how I felt as I had to navigate a new playing field, and to be honest, it wasn't usually the most competent of feelings.

As my first week of student teaching kicks off to a start, I realize that I feel a lot more sure of myself than I ever did as a student; but I'm sure I'll have my ups and downs with this, (like anything) and there'll be times when I feel like I don't know which end is up.

And on a similar note, I can't help but wonder how my old crew of sophmores is doing...I bet they've grown so much over the summer I wouldn't recognize them if I saw them out on the street. Since they won't be eligible for tutoring this year, I can only hope they learned a few things about how to do it on their own, and will carry the lessons with them...aiya.

It's a nostalgic feeling, indeed, the back-to-school ritual. Oh yes, indeed.