It appears that from here on out, my days will alternate between the good and the bad, and today, thus far, has been a glorious step in the right direction. My morning began as any other – a couple slaps to the snooze button and the frantic pitter patter of my footsteps as I zoomed around my humble abode attempting to get ready for the day.

I was under the assumption that I changed my outfits an excessive amount in high school, but at dawn, I was proven wrong. I must have stood in front of my heaping closet for 15 minutes before inevitably choosing the wrong outfit, because I changed it twice. I felt like my 15-year-old self once again faced with the many trials of fitting in.

Once I finally settled on outfit number 3, I grabbed a banana, my coffee, my multitude of tote bags, and began the drive to school. I arrived just as I typically do, an hour before the kids enter my classroom. I spent my morning gathering my thoughts, organizing my day by making lists, and tackling each task as I found some minutes to spare.

It is now safe to say that my day went on without many if any hitches. My students seemed focused and attentive and ready to learn. Because of yesterday’s outcome, I switched up my teaching style with my first period class, and I think I have found a temporary style that hopefully will hold throughout the year. Although, I am not naïve to the ultimate reality that this will most likely need to change as we get farther into the year. I mean, it is only day four, and I am still new at this. It is most definitely a learning curve, one I hope to adapt to quickly and stress less about on the day-to-day.

After making it through my morning class, we had weekly mass as an entire school – both junior and senior high. It was lovely to see some of my students sing in the choir or say the rosary or read the readings. I am glad that I am a part of an institution that fosters a sense of involvement and commitment in all aspects of school and daily life.

I then meandered back to my classroom and prepared for my afternoon classes. I’m not entirely sure what was fundamentally different about today opposed to yesterday, but I felt less out of my element. I’m quickly picking up on the different learning needs and quirks in each of my English classes, as well as the best approaches to reading and discussing materials to ensure that all students understand the context of class each day.

Both my ancient and medieval literature classes today had seminar style discussions; however, the topics of these discussions were vastly different. Let us take my freshmen who are taking ancient literature this year. We are now learning an overview of Greek Mythology and those essential concepts and terms necessary to understand classical epics. But today was one of those days when I had a plan that got completely derailed.

Now, I do not mean to imply that nothing was accomplished today, but I will say that I did not expect to have a 30-minute discussion with a bunch of 14-year-olds about the meaning of success and tacos. We began the class discussing whether or not tacos are an acceptable staple at the dinner table, and eventually we landed on the inner workings of success and what that means to each of us. I am actually thrilled at the depth of the conversation we had as a class today because in essence, I wanted to model the types of Socratic seminar style discussions we will have all year. Every student found his or her voice and expressed an opinion that was either accepted, added to, or respectfully refuted. And, I couldn’t have picked a better topic than success because while it is not explicitly a theme in the epic works we will read, it is an overarching topic that encompasses the very essence of honor and glory amongst the Greeks.

While my freshmen discussed success and tacos, my sophomores in medieval literature discussed the inner workings of Norse Mythological values and expectations. My leading question for this class revolved around the fact that the Norsemen were fated for an ultimate demise, yet they still lived their everyday knowing the end was going to come. Why? How could they continue knowing that hope was absent? What propelled them forward?

My students were tasked with responding to my question in written form, and then they were instructed to pose questions to their peers and engage in a discussion of the text, making sure to refer to the text when necessary. During this discussion, I stepped further into the background and let my students respond to each other. I piped in every now and again, but I wanted to see how they responded to their peers and continued to extend the line of thought by asking deeper questions. We talked primarily about how we almost have to switch our critical lens from our deep seated Catholic eye to a more objective view of a world that was and is vastly different than ours. This is a concept we will continue to work on throughout the year because at times, it can cloud our understanding of the literature we are reading. Overall, it was an eye-opening class dynamic that I cannot wait to experience tomorrow.

From seminar discussion to seminar discussion, we finally arrive at Drama. This continues to be the best way to end my day, especially when we spend the last five minutes of class writing a scene about a lost monkey. Stay tuned to find out how Gilly-Bob Jo and Richard Richardson find the lost monkey. I cannot wait to see what this creative bunch crafts tomorrow afternoon.

And that, ladies and gents, leads me to the most exciting part of my week, which is the fact that I get to come home tomorrow afternoon. I am beyond excited to see my family and my cats, of course, but most importantly, I cannot wait to throw my arms around Mr. Know-it-All; it has been three weeks too long, and I am ready for a weekend of mostly fun and relaxation with a little bit of school work thrown into the mix. I’m sure I’ll have many a tale to tell about my Labor Day weekend.

As always, coffee is my tried and true, and at least I didn’t face plant in front of my students today. While I will never live that down, I’m honestly a little disappointed no one brought it up to me today because my little brother made me laugh all morning about my embarrassing slip. But for now, I’ll sign off. Until tomorrow …