This is the first blog of my life. I'm technologically challenged, but if my teacher cadets are blogging about teaching, I'll blog, too.

This is my 24th year of teaching and today is the first day of a new semester. Crazy, but I still get nervous the night before meeting a new batch of kids. The way I feel about a new batch is comparable to how I feel about my new cat, Lucy. She's a good kitty. Really, she is. But, see, my 12 year old kitty, Emily, died about a month ago and it doesn't matter how great Lucy is because she's not Emily, you know?

Well, that's how I feel about my new ninth graders. I'm sure they are great, but they aren't the ones that I had last semester. I was comfortable with them...they got me and I got them. I miss their faces and the community that we had created and today the faces I saw just all kind of blurred together. The classroom seemed sterile and, well, lonely. I know it won't stay this way.

That's one thing about teaching. Change is inevitable. And I am seeing personalities emerge. I can already see that Gage is a great storyteller. Loved his summary of the movie about the devil's tooth being a guitar pick. And Aerius is showing his charisma. I'm concerned about the two with their heads down on the first day. Good thing His mercies are new every morning.