It is not lost on me that the first two most beautiful, sparklingly sunny days of summer actually didn’t come until August 23rd and 24^th of this year. It’s not lost on me because I like to spot irony. Those were the first two days of school at my site. It is ironic because when the weather finally decided to act like summer, begging me to spend the whole day outdoors, I was locked in my classroom, sweating, and working like a maniac.

Add to that the fact that the first two weeks at my site are always maniacal.

We aren’t legally required to balance classrooms until two weeks into the year. What that means is that until they figure out how to pack as many students into classrooms without having to hire additional teachers, we have upwards of 40 kids in our classes. On day one, in my heterogeneous 9^th grade classes, I had 42 kids on the roll. Some didn’t show up. Some were added, others were dropped. On Friday of the first week I welcomed three new students into one class.

Now, a week and a half in, both classes stand at 39. They say classes are now balanced. But I won’t see it reflected until next Tuesday. Sigh.

I know I say this a lot, but 40 9^th graders in a tiny classroom is Insanity Personified. It is personified in 40 sweaty, hormonal, energetic 9^th graders. But I can’t say it enough.

Really, I’m not trying to complain. Everything is running splendidly in my room. My classes are quiet, they are reading, and writing, and doing what they are supposed to. But good lord it takes a lot of energy to accomplish that.

The Leadership students came in to give a presentation the other day. They gave their little talk, then asked for questions. My 40 students sat there and not a single one raised their hand, talked, or did much of anything. “Wow, Mr. Amaral, you’re lucky. You have the quiet 9^th graders.”

I almost snorted. There is nothing quiet about 40 9^th graders. Ever. “Yeah,” I responded. “they just showed up like this.”

I’m not complaining though, because of what they do to the first year teachers.

One guy got talked into taking on an extra 6^th class. By doing that we can balance out our classes without having to hire another teacher. As a new teacher, he is eager to be a team player, and probably said yes to the principal right away. He could also use the extra money, because now that he’s teaching full time, he is probably taking a pay cut from his part time job that got him through the credential program.

Of course, lost here is the principality. Should a first year teacher really be taking on EXTRA classes? Not at my school they shouldn’t.

Then there is the other first year teacher. She taught 5 classes of 9^th graders for the first week. She had a great week. Scratch that. She had a wonderful week. The kind of first week every 1^st year dreams about. She nailed it. Then on Friday the Principal told her the following:

A Social Studies teacher from a different high school within the district was transferred to our site. But evidently here she is going to teach English. She hasn’t taught English before, but she does have a credential that allows her to teach English up to 9^th grade (I don’t know how this is possible either). The problem is that for the first week, while she was absent and moving schools, she had been given all 10^th graders. Do you see where I’m going with this?

The inter-district transferred Social Studies teacher can only teach 9^th graders, but her 5 classes are all 10^th graders. What did they do? They switched.

Yes, I’m serious.

The first year teacher who nailed her first week teaching 5 classes of 9^th graders was informed she would be switching ALL 5 CLASSES next week. Not to mention the fact that the 5 classes of 10^th graders had subs for the first 5 days. That classroom is directly across from mine. Let’s just say I now know all the security staff by name, as do all of those students—that’s the kind of first week they had. Those are the kids the first year teacher got this Monday, on the second week of school.

Maybe it takes a teacher to understand just how jacked up a situation that is. It is basically the worst case scenario for a new teacher imaginable. I mean, you can’t make this stuff up. Welcome to teaching, right?

I’m just looking forward to next Tuesday when my classes get balanced. Then I should only have 34 or 35 students in these classes. Of course the weather has continued to mock me through the 1 foot by 1 foot window on the other side of my room. I am also sick, either from all the work, or all the new adolescent diseases I’ve been exposed to. But to tell you the truth, this is the best start to a year I can remember. My classes are going great. I love it. I even have a real room number. Maintenance came by on Tuesday and replaced the piece of paper you see in the picture.

As far as beginning the year goes, things seem to be pretty easy this year. The first year teachers might not say the same thing, but then again, they never do. Welcome to the fire.