1. How did today differ from how I expected it to be?
2. What are the high points of the day?
3. What are the low points of the day?
4. What is one experience that caused me to grow today?
5. What am I excited about for tomorrow?
1. Today was much better than I expected!! Hooray!!!! There was still a sub and there was still terrible behavior and kids still ignored me and didn't do their work, but my perspective totally made it better! I focused on the students who were gaining something or changing their behavior because of what I was doing and it was 39238 times better! Also, we had parent night in the evening, and there were a LOT of parents there, which was a pleasant surprise! We got 24 parents to sign their kids up for the after school program before we even have the first day planned! I was so excited about that. So, overall, much better day than I prepared for it to be. Especially for a day where I was at school for 12 hours, 7:45 to 7:45.
2. First high point that comes to mind is food-related (duh). Between school and the parent night, a few of our team went out to a barbecue place and it was the best brisket I've had so far. It was soooooo good. I was dubious at first because it looked questionable on the outside, but the inside was very clean and decorated really creatively, and they had some of the best mac and cheese I've had to date.
Also! One of my students who I've had a lot of trouble with in class signed up for after school program! In class he refuses to do any work because he says it's too "babyish" and he needs harder stuff to do. I made it clear that he has to show that this work is too easy by doing it really well, but I think it will take a couple more days for that to sink in. BUT his parents came and asked about after school and said it sounded really great for him and signed him up. HOORAY! I definitely did a happy dance inside because I am sooooo willing to give him harder work to do once he shows me he can do the easy stuff.
AND another student from class found me in the cafeteria as I was floating around before school and wanted me to sit with him and his friends! So I sat and talked with them about Purdue and Drew Brees and my favorite football teams until it was time to go to class. This is why I do what I do.
Also, I was all prepared to ride the bus home from school at 8:00pm, but my teammates made sure that one of them gave me a ride! So Elisha drove me all the way home 10 minutes out of her way! We had an adventure with surprise rain and construction that got us all turned around, but it was still at least 45 minutes sooner than I would have been home. I am so thankful that she offered to give me a ride!
3. I feel like my low points of the day are going to start getting repetitive, because my low point again was that some students verbally or nonverbally told me that they were not happy that I was there. Today the good outweighed the bad for sure, but there were still students who ignored me or disrespected me and that always sticks out in my mind.
4. Also, a few of my students are going through emotional times. They have a lot of frustration for any number of reasons, but they tend to take it out on each other and then keep it inside, which is painful to watch. Sometimes they want to tell someone, anyone about it, but sometimes they shut down, won't do their work, and won't tell you why. This age is already so hard with all the hormones that our bodies aren't used to, which can make boys violent and girls dramatic, but these students have problems to compound the struggles that all of us went through during that time. It's hard to watch them go through that, remembering how terrible I felt during this age with a small fraction of the worries these children have on their hearts. It's growing for me to reflect on how I felt during this age and how far I've come since then, and try to translate that into helping these students overcome all this difficulty to focus on important things.
5. I am excited for my teacher to be back in the classroom. There will still be behavior issues I'm certain, but at least she can be there to dole out discipline and give the students definite tasks to do rather than having to guess with a lesson plan that the sub was given.
2. What are the high points of the day?
3. What are the low points of the day?
4. What is one experience that caused me to grow today?
5. What am I excited about for tomorrow?
1. Today was much better than I expected!! Hooray!!!! There was still a sub and there was still terrible behavior and kids still ignored me and didn't do their work, but my perspective totally made it better! I focused on the students who were gaining something or changing their behavior because of what I was doing and it was 39238 times better! Also, we had parent night in the evening, and there were a LOT of parents there, which was a pleasant surprise! We got 24 parents to sign their kids up for the after school program before we even have the first day planned! I was so excited about that. So, overall, much better day than I prepared for it to be. Especially for a day where I was at school for 12 hours, 7:45 to 7:45.
2. First high point that comes to mind is food-related (duh). Between school and the parent night, a few of our team went out to a barbecue place and it was the best brisket I've had so far. It was soooooo good. I was dubious at first because it looked questionable on the outside, but the inside was very clean and decorated really creatively, and they had some of the best mac and cheese I've had to date.
Also! One of my students who I've had a lot of trouble with in class signed up for after school program! In class he refuses to do any work because he says it's too "babyish" and he needs harder stuff to do. I made it clear that he has to show that this work is too easy by doing it really well, but I think it will take a couple more days for that to sink in. BUT his parents came and asked about after school and said it sounded really great for him and signed him up. HOORAY! I definitely did a happy dance inside because I am sooooo willing to give him harder work to do once he shows me he can do the easy stuff.
AND another student from class found me in the cafeteria as I was floating around before school and wanted me to sit with him and his friends! So I sat and talked with them about Purdue and Drew Brees and my favorite football teams until it was time to go to class. This is why I do what I do.
Also, I was all prepared to ride the bus home from school at 8:00pm, but my teammates made sure that one of them gave me a ride! So Elisha drove me all the way home 10 minutes out of her way! We had an adventure with surprise rain and construction that got us all turned around, but it was still at least 45 minutes sooner than I would have been home. I am so thankful that she offered to give me a ride!
3. I feel like my low points of the day are going to start getting repetitive, because my low point again was that some students verbally or nonverbally told me that they were not happy that I was there. Today the good outweighed the bad for sure, but there were still students who ignored me or disrespected me and that always sticks out in my mind.
4. Also, a few of my students are going through emotional times. They have a lot of frustration for any number of reasons, but they tend to take it out on each other and then keep it inside, which is painful to watch. Sometimes they want to tell someone, anyone about it, but sometimes they shut down, won't do their work, and won't tell you why. This age is already so hard with all the hormones that our bodies aren't used to, which can make boys violent and girls dramatic, but these students have problems to compound the struggles that all of us went through during that time. It's hard to watch them go through that, remembering how terrible I felt during this age with a small fraction of the worries these children have on their hearts. It's growing for me to reflect on how I felt during this age and how far I've come since then, and try to translate that into helping these students overcome all this difficulty to focus on important things.
5. I am excited for my teacher to be back in the classroom. There will still be behavior issues I'm certain, but at least she can be there to dole out discipline and give the students definite tasks to do rather than having to guess with a lesson plan that the sub was given.
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