School calendars
Classes have already begun in most districts in metro Atlanta. Other districts start tomorrow: Clayton, DeKalb, Fayette and Fulton.
It’s the first day of school, and Miss Pledger’s first-graders are shaking the summer away: flapping their arms, shaking their hips and kicking their feet. Go for it, she urges them, “get your wiggles out.”
All the while, Emily Pledger is making mental notes: Which children are following the moves of the dancers on the video screen. Which ones are making up their own dances. Which are hanging back, sitting quietly. She’s sizing them up: who’s reserved, who’s a good direction-follower, who’s a free spirit.
Standardized test scores, graduation rates, Georgia’s economy, American competitiveness — today they all boil down to this: one classroom, 18 6-year-olds and one (barely) 23-year-old, learning each other’s names and embarking on a thrilling, precarious, high-stakes journey to master some critical fundamentals.
Like the correct way to ask to go to the bathroom.
One boy keeps calling it out — louder and louder. But Miss Pledger knows: He just went; he’s only looking for attention. (She’s already instructed the students that they’re to raise their hands and politely ask.)
At first she ignores him. When he doesn’t stop, she’s firm: “No you can’t go, not until you ask the right way.”
A moment passes. His hand goes up.
Miss Pledger believes: I’m not here just to teach knowledge, I’m here to teach morals, ethics, how to be grateful, how to be responsible.
She was hired mid-year last year here at Cobb County’s Mableton Elementary to teach kindergarten. She’s pretty as a picture. You know, just the kind of teacher boys fall in love with.
First grade is a big jump from kindergarten. In first grade, kids become more independent. Stories that were read out loud by their teacher last year, become stories the students read to themselves.
Nearly half of new teachers leave the profession within their first five years, by one oft-quoted study. A good teacher, standing in front of a class, is as “on” as any performer on a stage — only they do it eight hours a day, not counting the time spent at home preparing and grading lessons.
Miss Pledger understands: It’s showtime.
Her class is part of a pilot program designed to emphasize rudimentary skills that will help kids later with technology, math, science and engineering. That’s right, engineering.
But what she talks about is having fun as they learn. They’ll build a volcano, she tells them. They’ll grow vegetables in the school garden and take care of the classroom rabbit, Bernard. (This is Bernard’s first day as well; he’s hiding.)
“You people are going to leave here with some giant smarty-pants on,” she tells them.
They sit on a rug in the front of the class. Each tells something special they did over the summer, and something they want to learn in school.
Avah went to the beach. Avery played video games. Kennedy went to Disney World (earning her envious looks).
Miss Pledger sees: This one expresses himself very well. This one is a good listener. That one includes her parents in the story, a good sign (it means they’re likely to be involved in her schooling).
One girl won’t focus or pay attention. She’s playing with her skirt and distracting other students on the rug.
Miss Pledger tells her to go sit at her desk, apart from the group.
Miss Pledger knows: Consequences must follow quickly upon bad behavior.
Still, occasionally she feels herself falter. The kids get restless. They start talking too much amongst themselves.
“Clap if you can hear me,” she commands.
Some do.
She repeats it in a quieter voice.
A few more join in.
Then again in a whisper.
She has them back again.
Miss Pledger takes note: Next year, start the first day off with a talk about proper classroom behavior.
She’s wanted to join this profession since she visited a school in Jamaica during a missionary trip with her church. She was 14, coming from a middle-class upbringing in Paulding County, but she found she loved working with kids, especially those facing challenges.
Every moment is an opportunity for a lesson. Snack time with apple slices is an opportunity to go over colors, and to establish that we clean up after ourselves. Miss Pledger notices: who learns visually, who learns by touch, who learns through words.
She’s a planner. Spell that P-L-A-N-N-E-R. She started preparing in June, copying lessons, hanging up the ABC chart and list of frequently used words, scouring sales for crayons and Elmer’s glue, making name tags and cubby labels.
Miss Pledger has big plans: “By the end of the year, I want them to be writing a narrative, an opinion piece and an informational piece.”
But that’s months away. Today’s assignment: coloring books.
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