In The Shoes of a First-Year Teacher

If you’re thinking you can sneak into David Russ’ second-grade classroom without giving him a handshake, a hug or a high-five, think again.

“Some boys like to sneak in without it, but it’s just my way of connecting with them in the morning,” Russ said, grinning.

That’s one of many engagement tools used by Russ, 31, who’s just weeks into his first year at . He admits he’s still finding his footing amid about 20 students — or, if you ask him, members of “Team Russ.” But, fresh out of school, Russ is excited for the challenges that come with his first teaching job.

He talked with North Canton Patch inside his classroom recently about his expectations for his first year.

“Since March, it’s been kind of like a whirlwind,” he said, adding he went from substitute teaching for the school to landing a job, then having to transform an entire classroom into a place he could call his own.

He's still mastering time management in his classroom and creating a successful work-life balance. But he knows those will come in time.

Watch Russ in front of his team and you’ll see he barely flinches at those and other challenges. Faced with a sometimes rambunctious, chatty bunch, he becomes a problem-solver, encourager and and expert juggler, all at once.

Russ, a '98 graduate of Cuyahoga Falls High School, worked with kindergarteners to fulfill his student-teaching requirement for Ohio State University. That’s when he realized students a little older were a better fit for him.

“They’re more independent,” he said of his second-graders. “I like to joke, and they ‘get it’ a little more.”

Take, for instance, the “books” Russ is having his team write. The students take a teacher's name and rhyme it with an adjective or noun, like "Mr. Russ is Nuts." It’s something he couldn’t do with a younger group.

The book-writing exercise has given the students a lesson in not only writing, but discipline because they're required to break the book into chapters. Plus, they're working in groups and exercising their creativity with the various titles and endless possibilities for what could happen in their books.

Some students have turned Mrs. Knox into a fox. And yet another has declared Mrs. Ash has a rash.

“She might be a little offended,” one student turned around to tell North Canton Patch.

Principal Renee Manse said Russ is doing a great job as he heads into his first year teaching at . He's teaching an age group that men tend to shy away from. (Let's face it: You don't see many male second-grade teachers.) And he's doing it with aplomb, she said.

"He has patience. Over-the-top patience," Manse said.

Russ, husband to Nicole and father to 2-year-old Madison, said he's happy to be in a classroom with well-behaved students and working at a school that's part of a great district. (Who could complain about getting your first teaching gig in a school district ?)

Not to mention, the faculty and staff inside Orchard Hill have been both welcoming and supportive since Russ' arrival.

"The building, really, it's a family," he said. "Everyone really looks out and takes care of everyone. I've never felt that way in any other district."