First days are always nerve wrecking. Whether it’s the first day of school, a big test, or a first date, I don’t think it’s possible to ever feel completely prepared. As I bounced around in the back of the van that was dropping me off at the center where I was teaching, I looked down at my hand where I had written my lesson plan for the day and wondered if I was ready. The plan was to start with a warm-up get-to-know-you game, Ninja, then move into a name game, Picnic, and lastly end with Signs. I admit to being very nervous. I wondered if the kids would like the program. I also wondered if they would like me. Luckily Lauren was able to come with me to my center to help me out and calm me down.
The students slowly trickled into the classroom, greeting each other with an excited energy. We exchanged names and unsure smiles as I waited for the clock to hit 4pm, my class’ start time. Once the hour hand hit the four, time seemed to fly from there. One minute we were outside forming a circle to play Ninja, the next we were unsuccessfully trying to play Signs. From there we went into the center’s classroom. The room was more than I could have expected. There was a library of books on one wall and a decent amount of table space for the future art projects. Outside there was an area to clean brushes and out front a large enough space to play warm up games before the class gets into full swing. We passed out the sketch pads that would serve as the students’ journals for next two months and the students started their first project. For the first day everyone did a name plate on the first page of their journal where they wrote their names and drew what represented them. I plan to post pictures of everyone with their name plate, even Lauren made one.
By the end of the day, as we all sat around the tables drawing in our journals listening to music playing from Christelle’s (one of my students) phone, my nervousness was replaced with excitement. I don’t know what the future holds for my program or for my pending documentary. But what I do know is that as long as the students keep coming with the energy they came with on the first day, I will do my best to provide them with an amazing program and give them all that I can.