Officially Done with Day 1!

Today was my first day as an "official" teacher... and what a great day it was!  I am tired and my feet hurt, but something tells me that those are signs of a good teacher.  :)

Highlights from today:

-- The opening ceremony: students cheered for faculty as we entered the auditorium, enthusiasm about the coming school year, director rappelled from the ceiling to the Mission Impossible theme song...

-- Morning activities: the 4th graders liked the construction theme (!!), things went smoothly with introducing routines

-- Team-building game:  it was really LOUD while the students were making their towers out of trash, but I think they got the point! (working together, patience, perseverance, including everyone, encouraging one another)

-- Hopes and dreams bricks: today we wrote goals for the year on paper bricks, tomorrow we'll talk about how we can practically achieve these goals and turn those into classroom rules

I would appreciate your continued prayers for God to give me an uncondtional love for my students.  As I told my class today, there will be challenges that we face this year that take perseverance and patience.  I have asked them to press on and do the best they can... and I am challenged to do the same.  I don't want to give up on them when they're confused, give into them when they're misbehaving, or give way to them when they're disrespectful.  Only the fruit of the Holy Spirit will enable me to impact the lives of these third and fourth graders.  And that's my prayer: Christ working through me for a year of impact.