Melissa Mason negotiates through her very first day of teaching, with her Grade 8 class at Sunny View Middle School in Brampton.
Small successes mark big first day
September 03, 2008
Staff Reporter
There are few things as nerve-wracking as trying to draw a response from a crowd of sleepy eighth graders.
To these young academics, nothing is funny or interesting. And, no matter how hard they try, no adult will ever be cool enough. But the pressure doesn't seem to faze new teacher Melissa Mason, 26, as she takes her position at the front of the class at Sunny View Middle School in Brampton on the first day of school.
She doesn't try to crack a joke right away, settling for merely holding the attention of the 25 teens settling into 8-G, taking out their colourful binders and sharpened pencils. But she smiles constantly, talking to her students like they are her peers and not just her students.
"Are you excited to be back in school?" she asks, trying to gauge their enthusiasm. "No," the class groans, clearly not in the mood to make it too easy for "Ms Mason," who has yet to let on that it's her first day teaching in school – ever. She decides not to divulge the secret; instead, she tells them she has "unofficially been teaching for over a decade" in summer camps.
Then without skipping a beat, she goes through the mundane procedural tasks of the first day of school: Assigning lockers, collecting activity fees, and encouraging students to lay out their own ground rules or "positive expectations."
"Respect each other," appears to be a favourite of the class. Mason adds one that she likes: "Do you want class to be boring?" she asks, before adding, "Have fun!"
"It's hard to make this stuff interesting," says Mason, almost apologetically, during the first break, 90 minutes into homeroom. She has already pinpointed the "dominant personalities" in the class, a few she has already had to silence this morning. But there are a few others she knows she will have to work on drawing out. "It takes at least a week for them to show their personalities," said Mason.
Keeping them interested on the first day has been relatively easy, she says yesterday evening, hours after her first day on the job is over.
Keeping them engaged throughout the year will be up to her.
"They are so much fun. It won't be hard to keeping them interested. I just have to make sure I'm not boring."
But if yesterday's "introduction games" are an indicator, that isn't the case in Ms Mason's class.
"Stand up if you have sung karaoke," she yells. Half the class stands up.
"Stand up if you have eaten frog legs." No one rises.
"Stand up if you slept until 10 a.m. every day this summer."
"Later than that!" yells the class, as they all jump out of their seats.
Considering it's just a few minutes past 10, it's a testament to Mason that the class is so awake. Two days ago, most of them would have still been in bed.