This Too Shall Pass

We have passed a milestone in our lives that we are thankful we’ll not have to relive—our very first day of teaching. My assignment is second grade. I have 16 boys and 4 girls, so the group is particularly noisy, fidgety, and boisterous, yet still altogether adorable. I’m only seven days into it, so there's a good deal of tiring, repetitive work trying to get them under control. I’m told that if I persevere it will pay off (for all of us) in the long run.

Nick is teaching middle school science and math and two religion courses to 9th and 11th graders. His seventh grade pre-Algebra class is by far the most difficult. On the second day he gave the clear message that he runs the classroom, and depending on the students' behavior, he could either rule as a benevolent monarch or a supreme dictator. You’d think they would have chosen the former, but it’s not turning out that way.

Later in the week a student's homework went missing. Nick saw the corner of something peeking out from underneath another student's desk. Sure enough, it was the lost assignment. When Nick confronted him, the guilty student's indignant response was "I'm going to tell my dad about this." Apparently that was supposed to be a serious threat because the kid's dad is in the mafia. So that line has probably been working for him all his life. This fact was unknown to Nick, and I don't think it would have mattered much in any case. He simply told the student, in no uncertain terms, not to ever try threatening him again.

We made it through a very trying first week by reminding ourselves that, like most arduous experiences, these first difficult weeks will eventually pass. Comparing notes with the other volunteers, especially the newbies like ourselves, has provided much support and comic relief.