I walked into my classroom yesterday at about 10 minutes before class time. Over half of the students were already sitting there waiting for me.

I wondered what they thought. Did I look like one of them?

I said hello, smiled, and put my things down. I’ve never felt quite so on display before. The students weren’t talking. They weren’t reading. They weren’t doing anything. They were just sitting there. Looking at me.

I started to pull things out of my bag. The syllabus. The books.

I looked up and counted heads. My roster had 22 names on it. I had about 15 students in front of me. I looked at my watch. I wrote some stuff on the board. I looked at my watch again.

At about 5 minutes before class time, I opted to hand out the syllabus to the students who were already sitting there. A few more trickled in. I passed out index cards, which I asked them to write some identifying information on. And a few more trickled in. I got them caught up, passed out the necessary materials, and started talking.

I introduced myself, and once the words started coming out of my mouth, I was fine. I told them they could call me Erin, they could call me Ms. N, but “Just don’t call me Mrs. N, because I’m not married.”

They chuckled. Whew.

Talked about the books, went over the syllabus, talked a bit about what they were going to be expected to do.

“Any questions for me?”

Twenty-two blank stares.

“Okay then, I’ll let you go for today. Read chapter 1 and be ready to discuss it on Thursday.”

Whoosh! Mass exodus from the room. Yeah, I remember what that was like.

Now tomorrow, the REAL work begins. Wish me luck!