First Days of School

My first day of school. I expected fireworks. Tears. Shouts of "I never knew it could be this good!"
English, people.
I never thought English could be this good.
Honestly.
But, well, really, it was just a day at school, a day at school with a new teacher who looked young and acted young and didn't remember to tell students what textbook to check out of the school bookroom or what she looks for in a binder. Carlos, beautiful Carlos who wants to go to college next year, Carlos of the large brown eyes, ASKED me if I would please give him journal questions to do after independent reading time.
And I was ashamed. And I promised that I would indeed write him questions, and made a mental note to myself to write reams of challenging journal questions and ignite the fires in the minds of Carlos-es everywhere. There were fireworks, tears, shouts of...And we were back, at the beginning where visions of grandeur supersede the inability to plan and the overarching lack of a syllabus.

The moral of the story:
Write a syllabus.