My Best First Day of School

I just had the best first day of school of my career. 

My first first day of school as a teacher was as a public high school math teacher fifteen years ago in the Mississippi delta. It was my first day before my students walked into my classroom. I was writing my name on the board and organizing my notes, and deliberately eschewing the “advice” to not smile until Thanksgiving. Then there was a frantic knock on my door. 

The football coach was holding a blood-soaked towel onto the back of his head. He pulled me out of my classroom and asked me to hold the doorknob to a room I knew only as the copy room. Inside were two teenage girls, less than a decade younger than me at the time, yelling and throwing things at the glass window between them and me. When their panicked eyes met mine through the glass, I finally snapped out of my shock and thought to turn and ask the coach what was happening. He said they had assaulted him by throwing a full bottle of perfume at his head from the bleachers above him in the gym, and most pertinently, to not let them out until the police came. I did not sign up to become a guard. These students deserved better than to be treated this way, regardless of what happened. What if it was an accident? 

And with all of that conflict swirling in my head, the bell rang welcoming me into teaching my very own class of geometry students. I let him know he had to take the doorknob back, and I made my way back into the classroom, more shaken than ever. I still managed to plaster the unadvised smile on my face, introduce myself, and go through my syllabus with my new students. The coach ended up being OK, but the girls had the worst start to their senior year a school-loving person like myself could imagine: expulsion. And I avoided that copy room (turned makeshift holding cell) for the rest of the year. 

I have gained many things from many more first days in the last decade and a half working in and around education, but the most important thing was that no amount of preparation as a teacher is as important as being open to the impromptu fun that builds comradery and key “teaching moments” throughout the day.

I’ve been grateful for opportunities to work in or near public school classrooms through my work with teachers and scientists in museums, libraries and universities. I never thought my own children would be anywhere but a public school classroom, but the past several years have brought our family around to experiencing education as homeschoolers. our dining room table each day through homeschooling. From weekly field trips around New England (there is so much to see here!) to my daughters’ unexpected love of learning Latin, it’s been a learning experience for my husband and I as lifelong learners and educators ourselves. I love developing and planning fun curricula to match the interests of my students and bringing something new into their lives. 

So this August, when the opportunity to take on the Lead Teacher role was presented, I accepted with hope and trepidation. I even joked with Kalexedy Learning Center founder, Angela Fairbanks, that she brought me out of retirement. I prepared for another first day. It was experienced with resounding joy. 

In the last five years I left an educator director position at a science non–profit to lead my own homeschool, I transitioned to working for myself running our family business hand-making Montessori materials, and it’s been surprisingly lonely. My children had already heard all of my stories about hunting for insects in the medians of Broadway in New York City, done all of the incredible participatory science projects we can do, and gone on adventures through writing. I can say with certainty that as an extroverted science communicator, writer, and teacher I am thrilled to be back in the classroom sharing stories, experiences, and the occasional math lesson with a new group of students. Each question asked by a student about their own personalized curriculum is a teaching moment. Our daily enrichments are chances for inside jokes and comradery between students. Today we looked for squirrels in the nearby woods, tomorrow we will build boats; it’s always something new, and a common, shared experience for our families choosing to send their children here.

More personally, my own daughters get to share their days with me for three days a week. They enjoy the social element associated with traditional school; my youngest is in 4th grade this year and has never attended school in-person. Since her first day here she has asked if they can be enrolled for five days a week. 

My classrooms have changed so much over the years, but I’m happy to have found a new home for my own children to learn this year. Our classrooms are peaceful, flexible, and fun with the ability to kick off our shoes and lounge in a beanbag chair during an academic period. There are no student desks in sight, and that flexibility has made it easy to come together as a group to work on something or for students to work independently in a quiet space when they want. 

I pinch myself each day working at Kalexedy Learning Center, because it’s the type of school I am grateful exists to support learners who have their own special interests and learning needs. Kalexedy makes homeschooling possible for families who work outside the home. Everyone is welcome, come as you are, and perhaps I’m biased because I’ve just watched my own children have their best first day of school, too. 

Luckily, each first day of school for me has improved since my first. Luckier, each day since my first at Kalexedy has been a continuation of the joy. I would hope the same is true for everyone’s children; that they’re even more excited to go to school next year. And if they’re struggling to be excited about where they’re going to school and challenged by what they’re learning, I’m grateful for places like Kalexedy Learning Center for students to find a supportive academic home while they can pursue their individualized studies.