Placement+1+Week+2+Experience

Week of January 25th, 2010

1/25/10

I am so glad for the teacher workday today! I brought a green file folder to Kristy with all the paper work she'll need for our time together. While she spent the whole day working on inputting grades for the students' report cards, I was able to ask the million and one questions I have about things that were on my "Classroom Evaluation Report" and "Classroom Management Report," plus everything else I could think up.

In the afternoon, I looked at the clock in disbelief because I couldn't understand where the day had gone. It really flew by!

1/26/10

I can't say it enough ~ I am so thankful for the teacher workday yesterday. I feel like it gave me a leg up on the classroom operations by being able to spend the whole day with Mrs. Herring all to myself and ask endless questions. I discovered that she and I share a lot of teaching values and classroom expectations. For example, we both think that an exceptional educator's ultimate goal is to provide a learning environment that is positive and promotes the success of our students, but we're not afraid to show 'em a little tough love too. I also like that Kristy uses a lot of artistic and creative elements in her lessons. Although she cautioned me that drawing a response to a story is not district recognized when it comes to writing or testing situations, she has found that especially with her EBD students, it is a medium through which they can show comprehension, express thought and emotion, and not feel quite so critical of their own (or other's) abilities as they tend to in other subjects.

Two funny things happened today. In the morning, one of the boys told me I was beautiful. Then, later in the afternoon, another hugged me completely out of the blue. I want to make sure that they understand I am in their class as an authority figure, but it's also nice to feel accepted.