“Call me, Dragon Slayer.”

I hit “pause” in my head, creating one of those split-second moments that is teaching.

The room is watching, listening, weighing. My kids. My student teacher. The young man who took to heart my suggestion to write down what they wished to be called on their “name tents.” Everyone is watching, weighing.

“A little long,” I responded. “How ’bout Slayer?”

“Yeah, we can do that. “Slayer” it is!” he declared, writing it on his name tent.

I had a choice to make. And as with the bajillion choices we make on the daily in our classrooms, my choice was being closely monitored and weighed. Really, I was being weighed. My responses, my choices set the tone every day, but perhaps even more so on day one, not even five minutes into class. How would Sy respond?

I indulged his whim. I didn’t have to. I could have sternly or even gently redirected him to write his real name, but my instincts urged me down a different path. For this is certainly not the first “Slayer” I have had in my room in my twenty-four years, so I decided to play along.

Mistake? Maybe. Wouldn’t be my first, and most certainly won’t be my last. But, as the period got on, I don’t think I made a mistake with this energetic young man. Why? We connected. I moved closer to him with my choice. And I believe I can use that to my advantage as our journey continues. In fact, later in the period, though he and I continued our whimsical interactions, he respectfully, thoughtfully asked if he should actually use his real name on his “First Five” card, an interaction that was also watched and weighed by the class.

“Yeah, probably,” I replied. “But put ‘Slayer’ in parentheses so I know who it is,” I added with a smile and a nod.

I am glad I will have some colorful characters along on the journey this year.

First Five

This was a newish activity for me this year. I asked the kids to write down the first five things they thought I needed to know about them as people and learners on an index card, telling them that info was between them and me.

And though I have only begun to thumb through them, I was impressed and pleased by the pertinent information kids offered to help me better serve them. Ranging from anxiety to learning styles to dispositions towards reading and writing, kids provided me with a wealth of important information. In the coming days, I will meet with each of them. Actually, I had a chance to get started with fourth period yesterday, and I could already feel the distance closing between us as we created connections around their needs as people and learners.

Smiles and Frowns

This may come as a bit of surprise for some of my followers, but we didn’t do Smiles and Frowns yesterday. We will do it for the first time today, and every day from here on. I wanted to first set the stage with my “Dear Learners” letter and our “Meet Me” activity.

But today we will begin with the most important thing we do, connecting through Smiles and Frowns, creating community through connections.

I will don my sweater, we will sing our song, and we will learn each other. Can’t wait. It’s a beautiful day for Smiles and Frowns.

Today’s Trail

Today is going to be a bit of a cluster. It’s picture day, and we do that during the kids’ LA classes, We have an hour-long assembly. So we won’t have much time in class. Not sure what we’ll get done, but we will definitely get our first Smiles and Frowns in.

Happy Thursday, all. Thank you for being here.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.