The First Day

By: Julie Morris, Eighth Grade Teacher

No matter what our age, the anticipation of the first day of school is very similar. At bedtime the night before that new day, we visualize the perfect day with our closest friends gathered around us. Our teacher of course is funny, sweet and very helpful to bring us all the knowledge we need to obtain. Our students are all well behaved, prepared, and ready to learn. We picture ourselves looking our best and we want to make a good first impression. Student or teacher, we are much more conscious of how we dress and look because we want to be accepted by everyone. Inside of the excitement, sleep does not come easy.

The silence of the first day is deceiving and known by teachers to be a temporary utopia but a nice beginning. Students sit watching their teachers and waiting to see what word of direction they are given. The honeymoon period will be brief and eventually the discovery of one another’s deepest darkest secrets and personality traits will come forth. The new shiny shoes and neatly pressed clothes will tarnish and stain with time but as in the past will become as accepted and understood as the bond of trust between one another.

Students are prepared with their “bouquets of sharpened pencils.” Notebook and supplies in hand are ready to be used. No one complains when they are told to get to work. We are ready to get back in the saddle to complete the task before us. Children are eager to help one another find where to go and what to do. Kindness and consideration are dominant traits on this fresh day.

Just as the morning was anticipated, the end of the day is just as desired. Our brains become mush and we cannot discuss one more procedure or rule because the cup is overflowing and the warmth of the “new school year” has cooled. We are ready to go home, refresh and return tomorrow. 

We have survived the first day of school and the next day will not look the same. So the journey begins for our bonding, growing, and learning together. Like the days and years which have passed, the excitement will wane as the relationships – good and not so good – begin.