Teacher Anonymous: First day jitters-- A nostalgic analysis of 11-year-old Mary

I should be triple checking everything. But I know me--no matter how thoroughly I cross check my plans, my lists, my notes....I'm going to forget something tomorrow. So I'm going to let the tomorrow me deal with that. Right now I'm thinking about how my sixth graders are feeling! I'm hoping it's more a mix of excitement and energy than fear.

Image from sheknows.com

If it does turn out to be more fear than eagerness, no problem! I found an icebreaker where we put fears into a hat, and probably will find some similar feelings of fear. I'm hoping that will breed an interesting discussion. We'll see. I'm feeling more like the little kid with the oversize backpack than the over-confident Language Arts teacher as portrayed by Cameron Diaz.

Buzzfeed is all about lists, so here's my list of the 10 things 11-year-old Mary would be doing the night her first day of sixth grade--

1. Triple-checking that every single item on the school supply list is purchased and packed.

2. Agonize over what to wear on the first day; really adorable brand-new fall outfits or more weather-appropriate clothing?

3. Practice short anecdotes about how awesome summer was. Mentally delete all the days wasted indoors; heavily emphasize trip up north and doing water sports with your awesome older cousins.

4. Discuss over the phone with friends the ideal makeup of a class--the best balance of intelligent students, class clowns, close friends, etc. (Be completely disappointed when this doesn't materialize).

5. Grill older sister on any and all questions about sixth grade/middle school.

6. Triple-check gym bag (it's the first year to change for gym) that there's a complete set of deodorant, hair ties, gym shoes, EMERGENCY (unfathomably unmentionable) FEMALE ITEMS...for an event that has yet to occur, and with the powers that be don't let the first event happen in gym class... Add a backup set of gym clothes in the case of feeling fat/weird-looking in option A.