Be Quiet, Miss is Reading!

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 went much faster than I am used to expecting, and everything went really well. My classes are slowly improving in behavior as I try out different methods of interacting--or not interacting--with them in class. 

2. High point #1 was during power greeting and there's no way it's going to be as funny in this post as it was in person, let's just get that out of the way. We do a chant in power greeting that goes as follows:

Corps Member: "My name is [name] and you know what I got?!"

Rest of team: "WHAT DO YOU GOT?"

Corps Member: "I gotta team that's hotter than hot!"

Rest of team: "HOW HOT IS HOT?"

Corps Member: "Batman and Superman"

Rest of team: "UH-HUH UH-HUH"

Corps Member: "Can't do it like [name of other corps member] can!"

Rest of team, while the called-out corps member dances: "GO [name] GO [name] GO..."

Other corps member takes over, and so on

So we were doing this cheer, and it gets a little silly because we're using our last names that the students call us by, like Miss C, and Miss Liquez, and Mr. Perez, etc. Today, one of our team members, JoAnn (Miss San Miguel) got called out and she faltered on her first line and it came out "Me name is..." in a hilarious voice. I would best describe this voice as the voice of an Irish pirate. Anyways, we all completely lost it and the cheer devolved into hysterical laughter. It was awesome, and the kids definitely saw that we were having a good time.

Also a high point was that I tried something different with the difficult class today! Instead of walking around and redirecting them, I practiced doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing. I read silently, I took notes, I waited quietly for instructions. It actually worked during reading time!! I was sitting at a table that is notorious for giggle-fits and outbursts, and I sat down and started reading. They eyed me, but read for a bit and then started talking. I looked up from my book and said quietly, "Excuse me, I'm trying to read." and they were quiet!! A couple minutes later a student hushed another student and said, "Be quiet, Miss is reading!" It was partly for the laughs, but it wasn't disruptive! I was thrilled that the students who wanted to read at least had a little more of a quiet atmosphere to do it even if some students still chose to sit in their seats and not read. At least they were quieter! Also, at the end of class, one of the students who knows me said, "Where were you all period, Miss? You weren't in here while I was in here!" I told him that I was but that I was quietly doing what students were supposed to be doing. He was shocked! :)

Also the weather has been GORGEOUS the past couple days. Highs in the mid-80's with it being closer to 60 in the morning. I will totally be able to do that for 9 more months.

Also I got to hang out with Alex after school and go with him to buy a violin, attempt to go to a yoga class but get lost and decide to go tomorrow instead, and try a healthy Mexican place close to my apartment I've been eyeing. It was a great way to spend my evening!

3. While I was trying to model good behavior for my students, some students were misbehaving in other parts of the class. I guess I'll keep having to try to figure something out, but at least there's a slight improvement. 

There are tiny little "low points" throughout the day, but today the little "high points" outweighed them, so I really don't have much to add in this section. Hooray!

4. I grew today when I thought about how much the phrase "I'm proud of you" can mean to a student. It always seems awkward to say to anyone. But why? Is it that it implies some sort of ownership or superiority to that person? I feel like that's what often stops me from saying it. I've been intentional about saying it to Pat a lot, because there is SO much to be proud of him about. It's always worth saying because I know that I love it when my parents say it, even if it makes me blush. So today I used it with my students generously. Because I am proud! I am proud when my student does something that I ask them to do! I am proud when a student ignores the boy saying something really hurtful to him because we talked about not giving that bully what he wants! I am proud when a student shows me the creative story they wrote about dinosaurs. I just am, so I told them. And when I told them, it occurred to me that they might not hear that from anyone else. A lot of these student have wonderful parents who are proud of them, but some of them don't. And there is no way to tell who is who. SO I TELL THEM ALL. The end.

5. I am excited to get feedback on our after school proposal from the principal! Our official proposal was submitted today so that we could roll out the student interest survey by Thursday and get our program started ASAP. I'm actually proud of what Lexie and I put together for the proposal so I'm excited to hear what the head honcho has to say. 

Also I'm excited for Power Reading tomorrow. On Wednesdays we have taken to reading quietly in front of the school instead of cheering. It makes the students wonder what we're doing and gives us a chance to talk about how much we love reading! Plus, we make it look cool.