My First Day as Mr. Cunningham

     Wow I can't believe that four years of college and one year of subbing has lead me to this. I could hardly sleep Sunday night. I purposely went to bed late so that I would be tired. That plan didn't work out as well as I had hoped. It was well after midnight before I fell asleep. However once asleep I did have a pretty restful night....
   

 The sunset before the first day of school

 Amazing right

     The alarm woke me up at 6:20 Monday morning. Lucky for me I had some adrenaline going or I would have been pretty tired. I don't have to be at work until 8:00 but there is no internet in our house so I like to get to work early so I can check my email, Facebook and Shelly's blog. Having two people in one house and only one bathroom could be problematic in the morning, but I tend to wake up and get right into the shower while my roommate likes to squeeze in every minute of sleep he can.

  The first day of school, fancy right (the label says elementary teacher in English and Yup'ik

     Once I was in my classroom I gave my classroom one more look over to make sure that I had everything ready for the day. I am glad that I did because I had forgot to make copies of the introduction worksheet that the students were going to fill out. After making the copies, I just sat in my room in silence preparing mentally.

 My classroom before the chaos of the day

     The day started off in the gym because my principal wanted all of the students to meet the new and returning staff. After the quick assembly it was off to my classroom. Right off the bat the craziness started due to the attendance program not working (they got it fixed). After I called roll there was a student that was sitting at a desk that I hadn't called, so I got his name and scrambled to find him some supplies so we could get started. I began by introducing myself to the class. I talked about where I was from, that I had a family that was still back in Vancouver and that they would be joining me when the housing was completed. After I finished I asked them if they had any questions they wanted to ask about me. They started by asking the usual questions; how old are you and what is your first name. Then I was asked some questions that I think are only asked in Alaskan villages. One student asked "Do you hunt?" I said no to several snickers from the boys. I smiled and said "I'll need one of you to teach me." Another student asked "have you ice fished?" To that I also had to reply that no I had not. Here I am in front of the class being emasculated by 5th and 6th graders. To that question I also said that I need to be taught by one of them. After a few more questions like those, I decided that I had enough of Q and A and that it was time for me to learn some things about them. I had the students fill out a a informational sheet.

The informational sheet with each students picture including myself and my amazing teacher aid Ray

     That little project took us to lunch time. I walked the students to the lunch room and I took a much needed break. There is no breaks from morning to lunch time, and there is no afternoon break, so it makes for a long day. The students are out of the classroom twice a day. First they go to Yup'ik and then PE in the afternoon. I don't send all of the students though, each class is a one hour long so I send a group for a half hour while I work with the rest of the students in my class teaching a small group then they switch. 

      After lunch we had to talk about rules and expectations, the students absolutely loved listening to me drone on and on about how we should act and that they are the oldest of the elementary students so they are setting the example for the younger students.  However I rewarded their good listening by letting them have the full one hour in the gym. We had a good time shooting hoops and smacking the volleyball. It was nice because I was able to talk with several of them one on one. 

    Before I knew it was the end of the day. I talked about a few more procedures and how I want them to prepare for the end of the day. Then they were out the door, and it was done. I had survived my first day as a 5th/6th grade teacher in Marshall, Alaska.

My goofy class (two students are missing)