Last week in first grade

I think this week went really well. It seems like when I finally get into the groove of things, it is time to get ready to go. It really is hard to come into a classroom and learn how a teacher runs her room, take over the class, and give it back over, all in 8 weeks!

On Tuesday, my CT was sick so I had the class really on my own this time. Of course I had to legally have a sub. We got along great and she was a lot of help. Tuesday just also happened to be the day that the assistand principal was coming to observe me during Language Arts. I was a little nervous about being alone to teach and him coming, but it actually went pretty smooth. I told the kids ahead of time that the assistant principal was coming in to make sure they were behaving well and they behaved really well! The assistant principal even sat down with me for about 30 minutes and we went over the whole lesson in detail. He told me the things he really liked and gave other suggestions for the future. He then gave me three big tips on what an administrator is looking for in an interview!!!

I have been so blessed at this school and wish I could stay here all 16 weeks! I am nervous but excited about my next placement. I am getting a little anxious thought because I cannot get a hold of my next CT. I am not sure what to do, and don't want to just show up next Monday without even talking to her. I pray that I will be able to reach her!

I will miss my first graders so much and will definitely have to come back and visit when I am all done! This week I am teaching one lesson here and there, trying to make the transition back over to my CT. I am also observing many other classrooms this week and am very excited about that. It is amazing to me how fast it has gone!

Tough love

This week has definitely been a better experience. It really takes several weeks to just get the hang of classroom management and behavior, especiallly at the beginning of the school year. I felt like this week I had to show a lot of tough love! I really do love these kids, but had to really crack down this week and ask many students to put their bears in the basket. The students have three colored bears, and has to put a bear in the basket if they can't behave correctly. At first, I gave a lot of warnings, but my CT encouraged me that they have had plenty of warnings and are pushing the limits. So this week I was much more strict, and overall it did greatly help. I think the children are finally starting to realize that I am serious and will not put up with their behavior.

The assistant principal is coming to observe me on Tuesday morning for Language Arts. I am very nervous, but am glod that I waited for him to come until I had bevaior more under control. I will be teaching all day again this week! I really am starting to be able to enjoy it and can't believe there are only two weeks left! I told some of my students that I will be leaving in two weeks, and I had a lot of sad faces. They couldn't understand why I didn't just stay there forever!

I had my first real parent-teacher conference on Friday. I have spoken to many parents, but this was the first time actually having a scheduled conference about the child and their behavior. It really is enlighting when you can find out about the background of the child. It really helps you put things in perspective and why they may be bahaving the way they are. It is amazing how some of these children are able to function with the type of home life or past they have had. After the conference, it made me realize the importance of being a teacher and helping a child whose most stable and loving part of the day may be at school.

I am looking forward to two more weeks with my class and will miss them greatly! Though it was a rough start, I am so thankful for the experience God has allowed me to have and has taught me in this time. I pray that behavior continues to imporve and that this week will be the best one yet!

A Challenging Week

Well, it has been an extremely challening week! I started taking over a lot more of the class this week. Overall, I think that the lessons went well, but it was a very challenging week with behavior. Up to last week, I really had not had any major behavior problems. However, this past week was more challenging. My CT was out of the classroom a lot more and the students were taking advantage of that. I thought I had been strict enough with the kids, but soon realized it was not enough. I really had to crack down on behavior. At times I really felt mean, but once I started getting more strict, things started getting a little beter and I seemed to get more respect.

I simply just felt overwhelmed this week! I came home each day feeling defeated and had many cries. However, I know that no matter what happens, I will make it through the semester and it is almost over. God has gotten me through this week!

On a more positive note, I taught a technology lesson on Friday. It went pretty good, but I learned that you really do have to explain every little thing on the computer to some students. The students were making a calendar on the computer and had to type in each date. After a while, I found that one student had completed the calendar up to day 9 and then stopped. I asked him why he had stopped. He simply told me that he couldn't do anymore because he ran out of numbers. This cracked me up! It never dawned on him that you might have to type two keys to make a number.

Even though it was a very rough week, I am trying to look forward to next week and not look in the past. Only three more weeks in first grade, I know I can do it!

4th week!

I think that my 4th week went very well. There is always up and downs and discipline problems, but really I have been extremely blessed by God to be in a wonderful school and with a wonderful CT. This week I really felt like the teacher when I was teaching. I have tried to make my presence known as a teacher to the students from day one so that they would look at me in that way when I started taking over the classroom. Overall, it is working very well.

I taught Math and parts of Language Arts this past week. I noticed my CT stopped intervening in my lessons pretty much now, so I guess I am starting to get the hang of things. My CT did my mid-term evlaution and it went really well! That really did give me a boost of confidence because I really wasn't sure how she felt about my performance so far. The main thing that I need to work on is transitions. It can really be hard sometimes to make quick and nice transitions between projects and subjects with first graders. Honestly, sometimes I feel like they need to talk a little bit when it is about time to change gears because otherwise they get so burned out and can't focus on the next lesson. I feel like they are only six and they need that time to talk and clear their mind if you really expect them to focus again on the next project or lesson. So transitions is my big goal that I am working on this week.

I will be teaching Math and Language Arts this week. Those two subjects pretty much cover the whole day. We only usually have time to cover social studies and science two days a week for about 45 minutes. I am looking forward to teaching more language arts this week and taking over most of the roles in the classroom. I have found myself starting to get attached to my kids already and know that it is going to be hard to say goodbye in only 4 weeks!

The Teaching Begins!

I would like to start with a quote from a little girl in my classroom, "Why do we have to do all the work?" Needless to say, I have felt extremely busy this past week! I started teaching math lessons, and overall I think it went pretty well. I feel like I am just trying to learn how my teacher runs the classroom and the particular way she wants things done. With 23 first graders, it is a hand full but they are sweet kids. I really like the classroom schedule. We have all morning to do calendar and language arts. It is really nice when you have a couple of hours to devote just to language arts! They have lunch at 10:54, which seems early to me, but the children are always asking "is it time for lunch yet?" After lunch we have math, then either content or a special, and then they have PE everyday. Many times we are able to use that afternoon time during specials and PE to get planning and grading done and it is a nice break towards the end of the day. Unfortunately, this week their schedule is going to be completely thrown off because of 4th and 5th grade testing. They have to switch PE and specials times with the older classes, so this week will be a little hectic with the schedule.

We had open house on Wednesday and it was great getting to meet a lot of the parents. Most of the parents are very involved in their student's education and we have a few stay at home mom's that volunteer in the classroom often and are a great help.

I will be starting to teach parts of Language Arts this week on top of math and am excited! I am just trying to not get too overwhelmed with our classes and work due on top of student teaching and writing lessons!

First week with the children

Overall, this past week has been a very good experience! I have been able to learn how my CT runs her classroom and how she handles behavior. I have got to know many great children and am sure that I will miss them a lot when I am through in six weeks.

This week really has just been watching how things are run and basically be a teacher's aid. I have got to read a few books during carpet time and that is always fun. The students haven't really started doing much school work yet, so it will be interesting how things go this week when students are required to start working a lot more. Honestly, I have been very blessed with a great school and a great group of kids. Most of the parents are very helpful and involved in their child's education. Of course like any classroom, there are a few discipline issues that I can tell could become a problem, but my CT is really good with them and I am really glad to have her with me. I am definitely exhausted by the end of the day, and it does make it hard to come home and cook dinner, and do classwork, and write up lesson plans. But I am sure I will learn eventually how to balance it all.

I will be starting to teach math this week. I think that math is a great subject to begin with and am sure that it will be fine. It is always a little nerve racking to teach in front of someone that really is judging and grading you, but as long as I don't think of it like that than I am ok. I just try to think about how I am able to help the students grow in new knowledge!

I think it will be a great week, I just need to find a way to get more sleep! In everything I do I like to reflect about my favorite verse that has gotten me through so many trials in life. Philippians 4:13-I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Also as a little side note. I was blessed with a new niece this week, Elizabeth Joy (they are going to call her Ellie) was born on Wednesday morning. Unfortunately they live in Ohio so I am not able to go see them.

Pre-Planning Week

I had a good first week at the school. I really am grateful that I had the time to work with my CT and get to know her before the children came back. However, I was amazed by how many other things we had to attend and do and what little bit of time we actually had in the classroom. Centerville Elementary does their 7 hours of professional development during their pre-planning week so Tuesday was seminars all day and left no time for working in the classroom. I can't imagine trying to get all of that done by yourself. Hopefully I was a help to getting the classroom done in time. I had a lot of fun doing the wall outside of the classroom. My teacher loves frogs and I love frogs too so we did a frog theme. It said "Hop into First Grade". I made frog cut outs and put their children's names on them. It was nice to do something creative again! I will try to take a picture and post it.

Everyone at the school is very friendly and helpful. Everyone is constantly asking how I am doing and if there is anything they can do to help. There was even one teacher in a completely different grade that found a book called "First-Year Teachers Survival Kit" and she gave it to me thinking it might help me when I start teaching. I was also amazed by how close all of the first grade teachers are. They plan all their lessons together and use all the same type of discipline plans as each other in the classroom.

My CT went over what lessons we will be covering this week, but most of the first week will just be establishing rules and procedures. This is why I think it does make it a little bit more tricky trying to do student teaching in the Fall. Our third week in, when we are suppose to start teaching, is when the first lessons really begin. I am excited though and am sure it will work out just fine. My CT has been teaching for 15 years and had a Regent student intern two years ago so she already knows well how it all works and what is expected.

I know that many schools had open house this past week, but my school stopped doing it that way. They did have a "Meet and Greet" on Friday for kindergarten and all new students so they can see the layout of the school and all. However, we did have a couple of students come into the classroom and it was nice getting to meet them and introduce myself to the parents. Next week the school has open house for 3-5 grades, and the following week they have open house for k-2. I am also excited about seeing exactly how open house is run and what exactly the teacher does at it.

I am just trying to take each day one step at a time and I know that God will help me prevail!

First meeting

After our first student teaching meeting on Thursday night, I feel more overwhelmed than ever. I realized that this would be a full time job, but it seems to be much more that just that. "Busy" will be the word of the semester! However, I know that God has lead me to teach and that I am following the right path. Phillippians 1:6 is a verse that I ran into in my devotion the other day and felt like it was the perfect verse to lift me up during this time. "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6)

Tomorrow I start student teaching with my coordinating teacher (CT). I am excited to get to do pre-planning with her and hope to learn about how things are run. I met her at the beginning of summer in June. I believe I will learn a lot from her and am ready to begin my new adventure!

A new semester!

Hello everyone! This is the first time I have had a blog, so bare with me for a while. I thought I would share a few thoughts about student teaching and this semester. I am very excited and very nervous. I am so excited to finally be in the classroom, but not sure if I am prepared yet. I am trying not to get too overwhelmed and remember that God has it all under control!
I am also very excited about the technology class and all the ways we can help and stay connected with students using technology.
I hope to learn a lot this semester from everybody and am looking forward to what God has in store for me this semester!