Erica Jacobs
At school’s start, anything is possible
By: Erica Jacobs
Examiner Columnist
September 3, 2008
You have just started the school year, and you’re in second or seventh or eleventh grade, and your pencil case is filled with sharp number 2s, erasers, and you have a binder full of blank paper you can’t imagine filling anytime soon.
Maybe you have dividers to separate subjects, or perhaps you’ve outgrown that organizational tool, but you also have a school calendar where you swear you will put every assignment so you will never forget any homework.
You have a backpack that might be new, or maybe it’s a little worn, but still it promises infinite capacity: it will hold all the books with all the knowledge you need for the coming year, and maybe for your whole life ahead.
You have every important telephone number recorded—perhaps in your backpack, or in your wallet, or on your cell phone.
You hope that really cute smart person is seated near you in at least one class, and you and your best friend are already rejoicing that you can eat lunch together.
Your teacher or teachers could be better—but teachers are pretty marginal on the lists of possibilities that crowd your mind at the beginning of the year. You’ve survived bad teachers and bad classes, and this year doesn’t look that awful, all things considered. You are optimistic. You can say to the school: bring it on!
If you are a teacher, you’ve organized your books and materials for the first few weeks and made sure your room is as attractive as possible. This year you are NOT going to let any problems arise unexpectedly to throw you off your game. This year, for the very first time, you will be proactive so there is not a single discipline issue that gets the best of you.
Your erasers are new or newly cleaned, and like your students, you have sharpened your pencils and have important phone numbers and emails handy. Your desk is cleared of all clutter and this year you vow you will always know where everything is. And you will correct papers quickly and not fall into last year’s trap where some papers occupy the corner of your desk a bit too long.
Your administrators are good, or not too bad, and even if they aren’t ideal, you can survive them and their rules quite nicely, thank you very much.
Your students will get the individual attention they deserve, even when you’re busy. The ones with special needs and problems will be able to catch up to the others with just a bit of extra time or encouragement.
If you are a teacher and a writer, you look on the year as a time to try something you’ve never tried before—perhaps writing an education column in the second person. That point of view emphasizes your bond with students, whose years are full of new lessons and new skills, from day one to the last day in June.
We are all bound together is this wonderful and scary cycle where, in September, anything is possible. The new school year gives teachers, students, and writers exactly what we hope for: a fresh beginning.
Erica Jacobs teaches at George Mason University. Email her at ejacob1@gmu.edu.
What Kids are Reading
This weekly column will look at lists of books kids are reading in various categories, including grade level, book genre, data from libraries, and data from booksellers.
1st Grade
1. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
2. The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
3. Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
4. Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
5. Biscuit by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
6. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
7. Have You Filled a Bucket Today: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud
8. Harold and the Purple Crayon (50th Anniversary Edition) by Crockett Johnson
9. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
10. Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor
The first five are listed in order of popularity based on the Renaissance Learning study conducted by Renaissance Learning, Inc. Over 244,000 first graders logged onto a website to record what they were reading. The last five are bestsellers in the 4-8 age range on Amazon.com.
Maybe you have dividers to separate subjects, or perhaps you’ve outgrown that organizational tool, but you also have a school calendar where you swear you will put every assignment so you will never forget any homework.
You have a backpack that might be new, or maybe it’s a little worn, but still it promises infinite capacity: it will hold all the books with all the knowledge you need for the coming year, and maybe for your whole life ahead.
You have every important telephone number recorded—perhaps in your backpack, or in your wallet, or on your cell phone.
You hope that really cute smart person is seated near you in at least one class, and you and your best friend are already rejoicing that you can eat lunch together.
Your teacher or teachers could be better—but teachers are pretty marginal on the lists of possibilities that crowd your mind at the beginning of the year. You’ve survived bad teachers and bad classes, and this year doesn’t look that awful, all things considered. You are optimistic. You can say to the school: bring it on!
If you are a teacher, you’ve organized your books and materials for the first few weeks and made sure your room is as attractive as possible. This year you are NOT going to let any problems arise unexpectedly to throw you off your game. This year, for the very first time, you will be proactive so there is not a single discipline issue that gets the best of you.
Your erasers are new or newly cleaned, and like your students, you have sharpened your pencils and have important phone numbers and emails handy. Your desk is cleared of all clutter and this year you vow you will always know where everything is. And you will correct papers quickly and not fall into last year’s trap where some papers occupy the corner of your desk a bit too long.
Your administrators are good, or not too bad, and even if they aren’t ideal, you can survive them and their rules quite nicely, thank you very much.
Your students will get the individual attention they deserve, even when you’re busy. The ones with special needs and problems will be able to catch up to the others with just a bit of extra time or encouragement.
If you are a teacher and a writer, you look on the year as a time to try something you’ve never tried before—perhaps writing an education column in the second person. That point of view emphasizes your bond with students, whose years are full of new lessons and new skills, from day one to the last day in June.
We are all bound together is this wonderful and scary cycle where, in September, anything is possible. The new school year gives teachers, students, and writers exactly what we hope for: a fresh beginning.
Erica Jacobs teaches at George Mason University. Email her at ejacob1@gmu.edu.
What Kids are Reading
This weekly column will look at lists of books kids are reading in various categories, including grade level, book genre, data from libraries, and data from booksellers.
1st Grade
1. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
2. The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
3. Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
4. Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
5. Biscuit by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
6. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
7. Have You Filled a Bucket Today: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud
8. Harold and the Purple Crayon (50th Anniversary Edition) by Crockett Johnson
9. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
10. Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor
The first five are listed in order of popularity based on the Renaissance Learning study conducted by Renaissance Learning, Inc. Over 244,000 first graders logged onto a website to record what they were reading. The last five are bestsellers in the 4-8 age range on Amazon.com.
More from Erica Jacobs
- Erica Jacobs: I am Horace: More thoughts on Theodore Sizer's progressive Educational Philosophy
- Erica Jacobs: I Am Horace: How Theodore Sizer nailed what really happens in high school
- Erica Jacobs: When words fail us
- Erica Jacobs: In education, everything old is new again
- Erica Jacobs: Erica Jacobs: Disciplining students: Acccckk!
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