" The early bird catches the worm". Well, that didn't happen, my worm was eaten because I arrived at 7:30am on the dot and when I stepped foot in the office there was a line! By the time I was given directions to my teachers room it was 7:35 am, when I got there they were GONE. They had already left for the daily assembly. So not only was I now late, but my teacher had to come over and get me from across the room to join him/her and the other intern who got there ON TIME. I was not feeling confident at that point. Although I knew I had tremendous experience with kids, the school still seemed like a foreign place to me. All schools have their own rules, protocols, and culture and I was an invader who felt.. well left out.
When we got back into the classroom the teacher started the calendar right away. First take away: I was so impressed by the way the teacher was able to infuse math and math concepts in the weather & calendar routine. The teacher also used more than 1 way to represent numbers within the 1st 15 minutes of entering the room. SUPER IMPRESSED!
The rest of the day I was just watching the teacher as they gave small/ whole group instruction in Math, Science/ Language Arts. 2nd Take away: I LOVE THE WAY THIS PARTICULAR TEACHER HANDLES CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT! I will most likely post another entry soon about all of the positive techniques they use.
The teacher instructed the other Intern and I that we could just observe the first day and then after that he/she would be guiding us to teach portions of the planned lessons. HOORAY! I was hoping that I wouldn't get a teacher who would make me run errands, sit and watch for the whole semester, and go make copies. What a waste of money and time that would be. Thank goodness I have a teacher who understands and values the roles and structure of this program. I'm 100% sure I will learn a ton TON TON from this teacher.
How did I feel: I was exhausted after the first day and an 1 hr 15 mins staff meeting after school. I was appreciative that everyone was so welcoming, but at the same time I was nervous about what impression and message I was sending. I felt comfortable with the children and I was eager to use what I have already learned about inquiry based learning with my interactions with them. I feel like I can do this... I just wish someone would hire me at the end of this semester, not 1 year from now.
On another note: In class today we talked about writing in a new way that I hadn't thought about before. I wanted to make sure I took note in this space of some of those aha moments.
- Children often feel like they are unable to write because they often feel like their stories aren't worth being heard
- As teachers we should encourage students to write, not only for themselves but to share the writings with other people ( " Only write for 10 minutes, just put anything down, no one will have to read it"
- Don't be naive, your perceptions about writing are visible to your students and often have a negative impact on how they view writing
- We need to be more reflective about our personal writing and encourage our students to do the same.
