Recounts of Week 1

Oh my gosh! Five days down, 170 more to go and I'm looking forward to every second of it.

My first week went suprisingly well. I think my strenght is definitely classroom management. Although it could be that my students are so scared they don't move. My weakness is knowing what from my list of a million things to do, I should try to cover in 50 minutes. (35 minutes due to all the half days we've had because of the heat advisories) There is just sooo much to do and half of my to do list comes straight from my pricipal. How do you not do what you're prinicpal says???

Besides all the time constraints, my first week went well. The students were well behaved. I was extremely impressed with the level of engagement. I've started the year with a poetry unit and they are super excited now because I gave them a preview of what we'll be working on- the I AM FROM poem.

On Friday we had poetry stations where I posted all kinds of examples of the I AM FROM poem. Some examples were live from the computer, some just sat plainly on desks, and two examples were in picture book form. It was a little chaotic, just a little, but we all enjoyed it.

Next week, they will be given the template for the poem. They will work on it all week and conference with me. On Friday, they will present their poems. Also, throughout the week, very staff members have volunteered to come to my class and read their version of the I AM FROM poem. I'm excited to see how will go, but I won't be surprised if it gets post-poned because teachers are flexible! :)) My kids will be excited whenever it happens and that is all that matters.

Hopefully my students keep this excitement and motivation for the next 170 days.

So Much of Everything

Wow. I have been meaning to post on so many differert occasions. First, I wanted to post when I bought my first set of school supplies. Second, I wanted to post about the first day I spent dedorating my class. It was the Monday before last. Then I wanted to post about my first day of New Teacher Orientation which was last Tuesday. Obviously, I wanted to post about my first day of orientation at my home school which was yesterday. Now, I just want to recap and post about everything thus far! Here goes an attempt at condensing the last two weeks.

On Monday, July 6th I stepped foot into my mildly spacious classroom, otherwise known as 105. It was definitly in need of cleaning, color, and life, but somehow it was still great. I brought my sister along for support and help. Immediately we began cutting out letters, putting up bullentin boards, and borders. I managed to get all the bulletin boards done in about three hours, except for my personal teacher board.

New Teacher Orientation was okay. Even though my self-diagnosed ADHD wouldn't rest, I was particularly pleased with the amount of enthusiam and positivity from the existing staff. There was a real "Can Do" attitude energy throughout the entire week and it definitly touched me. We did get a lot of good resources and learned about a new disciplinarian model which is really effective. I'll post the name of it when I remember it.

Then I came to my school on August 7th. This is where the fun kicked in. My team members are great, the staff is really supportive and giving, the principal and the assistant principal are fantastic! My mentor is FABULOUS; she's like walking pedagogy! Not to mention, my classroom is coming along beautifully. I'll put pictures up soon.

Those of you who know me, know that I don't get excited easily, so the fact that I'm not getting any sleep for thinking about all the things I want to do with my students, says a lot.