Day 1 of CP2 "Sink or Swim"

As with everyone else in the cohort, today was my first day full time at my school. Over the past few weeks, on top of everything else, I have been busy preparing lessons for my classes.  These lessons are designed to be taught beginning the first week after everyone returns from spring break. For this week, I assumed that I would only teach a couple of classes beginning on Thursday. Over the weekend I polished up my lesson design, and was fairly confident when I presented it to my CT this morning. When I gave my CT my plan for a computer based lesson, he took a quick look at it, and said that it looked great. Then he surprised me with something I should have seen coming, and am embarrassed to say that I did not. He asked me if I wanted to teach one of today’s classes. This was the first we had spoken of anything prior to my taking the class on Thursday. Before I could think about it, I instinctively said “Sure!”. Of course it was at that very second that I realized that I had been so consumed with preparing for later in the week and beyond, that I hadn’t even looked at today’s lesson. He politely offered to allow me to retract my impulsive agreement, but then again I heard myself say “No, I’m good to go!”.

I took copious notes while observing him during the prior class, and felt somewhat confident that I could carry this off without too much embarrassment or having someone contact the university to immediately kick me out of the credentialing program. As the bell rang, and it became my turn to take over the class, my CT quietly whispered that the principal will be dropping by, so “Don’t be nervous”. New class…check, first lesson…check, principal watching…check. I had visions of the George Clooney film “The Perfect Storm” running through my head. Well, after I settled in and began the  lesson, I was extremely grateful that my CT and my knee-jerk response had gotten me in front of the class as soon as possible. The students were amazing, and the experience allowed me to become their new teacher, and not just that guy who helps out occasionally. All in all, a good day.