Finishing Week 2: The Honeymoon Phase has Ended...

It's crazy how much my energy level has changed from the beginning of the week! Let's rewind and try to figure out why... ( 'cause I'm sure THAT'S going to be difficult ;-) )

Tuesday: I still had difficulty with the whole morning routine -- still super choppy! I know I'll get it, though. If I can't even get that to work, I'm in for a rude awakening with the rest of my teaching experience!! ;-)
Later: I get critiqued by a student on my ability to put new nameplates on the desks. "There are a lot of bubbles!" "Wow, you're really slow at that!" "We finished all our work and you're still on the same table!" ...Oh boy, I hope they don't look at the kangaroo I drew as an example, or they'll start critiquing my art skills and I'll NEVER get any teaching done!! ;-)
Lunch: First, let me just say how much I LOVE lunch time. Thank goodness teachers have that rest period during the day! Anyway, today was nice to see the school community shown -- one teacher was having an off day, and every staff member in there was SO supportive. Wherever I end up, I hope that kind of support is there!!
Afternoon: Social Studies was about MLK Day -- the kids were so adorable!! I love that they have no concept of why on Earth there would be any reason to separate the African-Americans from the whites, or why someone would want to shoot another person. They are all about making sure everyone's equal and treated fairly. It was awesome! [ Note: I need to use a thesaurus and start including synonyms for 'awesome' in my vocabulary ;-) ]

I've decided to start including 2 different sections now: "Helpful Hints" (things my CT and other teachers say to make teaching smooth) and "Need a Smile?" (for those happy moments in the day that we could all use more of).

Helpful Hints
-Get familiar with technology, fast!!
-Try to call on a variety of students -- not the same ones every time.

Need a Smile?
-Student: "Miss Wodrich, you're a good citizen!"
-Student: "You're a good teacher!"
-Student: "You're slow at that."

Wednesday: YES!!! I finally feel like the morning routine went smoothly!!! Now the students seem to be testing me. One boy must have asked me to use the bathroom three times. When I gave him a time limit, he pushed that to the end. Two girls didn't want to come to the carpet for a read aloud. Even when I counted down, they moved as slow as molasses. I feel like taking a star for not being on the carpet in time is entirely too harsh, so I didn't. Hope they don't take it to mean I'm a complete pushover. Geez, balancing this is going to be tough.
Again, I helped a portion of the class with math. This section is so hard for them!! And then... half of the week was over.

Helpful Hints
-Have students pair and share stories when they want to talk about every page in the story.

Need a Smile?
-"My mittens are brown like babys." (From a tiny white girl whose whole family is white. Where did that come from???)
-Student boy: "Ladies first! Boys, let the girls get their shapes first!" (There is hope, chivalry is not dead!!!!!)

Thursday: Calendar went well again, woohoo! WAY more students came to play The Mitten game than were done with their center work. When I said that they had to have all their work done and that I was going to check, a few did go back to finish. When we were grading later, we found out some kids were less-than-truthful. To be expected, I suppose.
After lunch: Two students got in a fight. That was the biggest downer ever. My CT called down to the office and they were both bawling... my heart was breaking for them! That's going to be one of the hardest things for me: getting over the tears.
Later: I decided that we were going to tiptoe to our special. It kept them quiet, but it was slow going. We were already late, and a few kids were STILL trying to change from boots to gym shoes! I enjoyed it anyway :-) By the end of the day, I was ready to fall into bed.

Helpful Hints
-Time management! Try to get to specials on time. ;-)
-Share, share, share!!

Need a Smile?
-"My mitten is as brown as a beer." (I think he meant bear... but my CT and I could have used one of those at that point--what a week!)
-Me: [I'd found a hat in the hallway] "Do you like my new hat?" Student: "Give that back you ridiculous hedgehog!" [ From the play some of the students did! Great text-to-world connection! ;-) ]

TGIF!!! The honeymoon period of student teaching is definitely over; now I see the 'work' part. That's OK, hopefully there aren't too many down days!
The morning routine went well. I led the start-up for centers, which I thought I explained well, but there was a little confusion. Some the students performed a play! It was adorable :-)
Later: I led the "Lost Mitten" activity. I wish I would have thought about it more beforehand, though, because it didn't go super well. I needed a way for all the students to stay engaged.
Today was a huge blur. I'm slightly surprised I made it without falling asleep or completely snapping at one of the kids unintentionally! Thank goodness, though :-)

Helpful Hints
-Maybe it's OK to be a little stricter... kids could use some structure.

Need a Smile?
-Picture little first graders waddling like penguins down the hallway ;-)


Even though I'm dead tired, I'm still enjoying my experience a TON. My CT and the other teachers are amazing!!! ( And I'm not just saying that because they're reading it ;-) ) Everyone's just so nice!
I'm learning a lot from my CT, including something I like to think of as "SuperTeacher vs. RealisticTeacher." Since we don't have super powers, we can't be SuperTeacher all the time. We know what we should do, but with time restrictions and natural human imperfections, we can't physically accomplish it all. I'm glad I get to see the two sides; going into student teaching, I was worried that I was going to be expected to be SuperTeacher all the time!! I'm glad I'm allowed to be human :-)