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.