Similarities and Differences

Ava's First Day

Thursday, August 24

The second day of school is always the weirdest because you're on a normal schedule, but you're not doing anything academic yet, and if you are, it's very minor. Today, I went over the syllabus, which explains how I'll be grading in percentages. The English department set this up several years ago, so I didn't really have any say in it. I also had the kids answer ten questions about their lives in a twenty sentence paper. Due tomorrow. I know, I'm horrible. I told them this paper would be graded. They don't know that I'm just grading on effort. They also had most of class to work on it.

I warned them that they would get a detention if they didn't get their homework done. The only way I'll give credit for a late assignment is if they show up for detention. I was pretty upfront about it.

The reason why I make them do this on the second day is because I wanna get to know them, and I wanna begin to see how they write. Oh, and I won't read these until I know their names, which will be in about three weeks. That's one of the struggles of teaching in a bigger school.

Overall, day two went pretty smoothly other than the fact I had to take away three phones. Hate doing that, but it can't be tolerated. Tough love.

Today was Ava's first day of school because we live in a different district than the one I teach in, which makes life a little more complicated because our schedules don't line up.

We have great neighbors, Zach and Ciara, who are willing to watch Ava before and after school, which I am very thankful for. Ava is old enough to be by herself home alone, but the idea of her being with our neighbors makes me feel better. Zach and Ciara also have a daughter, Kimberly. Kimberly is a year older than Ava, but they have gotten along pretty well over the last few months. They have hung out quite a bit.

When I picked Ava up from our neighbors', I noticed something was different about her. I couldn't tell what.

"How was your first day, Miss Fourth Grader?" I asked on the way out of Zach and Ciara's after thanking them for being for generous.

She sighed a little. "Okay, I guess."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I mean, the kids are nice, but I don't know if any of them actually wanna be my friend besides Kaylen, from church. Also, they give us letter grades in science and social studies now. I think that's stupid. I mean, I shouldn't have letter grades in elementary school, right?"

We got into my truck to drive a block and a half to our house.

I laughed a little. "Well, the reason why they only have two subjects with letter grades is because then you're already going to be ready for middle school. It's better to ease into something hard, right?"

"I don't know. I mean, I wanted to keep my freedom, ya know?"

I laughed a little. "You will still have freedom. I promise. It's not like you won't be a kid anymore because you have two classes with letter grades, Ava. You'll be just fine."

She sighed. "I know. I know."

"Ava, the point of school is to learn how to have fun even when it's challenging and even when people are mean to you." I paused. "Did you sit by Kaylen at lunch?"

"Yup, but she has another friend, Mackenzie, who she's better friends with, so..."

"Ohhhh, that sucks," I told her bluntly as I put the truck in park and got out.

"Yeah, so I don't really know if they want me around or not."

I could hear the hopelessness in her voice as I grabbed my backpack from the backseat. When I unlocked the door to our house in the garage, I put my free hand on her shoulder. "You can't think like that, Ava. Just give it time. It's okay to make other friends, too."

She looked up at me, walking in. "When the teacher made us find a partner for reading, Kaylen chose Mackenzie instead of me, so I got stuck with the girl who is weird and picks her nose." Her voice shook a little. "It was so embarrassing."

I didn't know what to say to that.

I put my bag down next to my desk in my office, and she ran upstairs to put her backpack away. When she didn't come down for a while, I got a little worried.

I knocked on her shut door.

"What?" she asked, hoarsely. Yup, something was wrong.

I just opened her door, and I walked in. She was on her bed holding her American Girl(Boy) Doll, Logan.

"You okay?"

Her eyes welled with tears. "I just miss Alabama."

I sat on her bed, nodding. "I know ya do, and things will get better." She scooted next to me, leaning on me. I wrapped an arm around her. "I know it's tough, but you're going to get through this. It's not the end of the world."

"I know. I know."

"Hey, let's go out to dinner."

"Okay." She wasn't as excited as normal.

"But first you have to tell me the best part about your day because good things come from everyday."

She thought about this for a moment, and then all of a sudden she lit up. "Well, we got to decorate our binder that holds our folders, and that was cool! My teacher, Mrs. LeVone, had foam stickers to put on our binders, too, and one of them was the shape of a pink horse, so then I drew a barn and grass and stuff for the horse. It looks really cool! Even Kaylen and Mackenzie told me it was really cool."

"Well, they must like you enough to say that," I reasoned.

"I guess so."