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 our first full day in school! Well, kind of. We were technically there all day last Thursday, but we had to have meetings in the afternoon so we didn't get to go to afternoon class. Today we went through the whole she-bang! Well, kind of. My teacher only has 3 regular classes (the rest are pre-AP) so I had an exorbitant amount of prep periods and didn't really feel like I was doing that much in my classroom. I guess that was the biggest thing that was different than I expected. I expected to be in the classroom all day, but we only are in the classes that are struggling more than the others. I did experience my effect on students today and I feel like I'm honing my stealth redirecting skills. It takes talent to refocus a student on what they're supposed to be doing without derailing their focus all together. I will master this. There should be a black belt-equivalent for this.
2. You guys, power greeting was a BLAST today. I could never help you understand how or why it was fun, but it was just really fun. I think it's because we (read: I) are starting to not care what we look like or what middleschoolers or their parents think of us. When it's time to go bananas, ain't nothing stopping me.
Also awesome was helping a girl write a creative story. The teacher had them come up with a problem for their story before filling in the details, and she picked something she was probably sure I would be shocked and disgusted by. Well I showed her: I corrected her spelling of that something and then encouraged her to write about it! And after that, she kept calling me over to read her story and tell her what else she needed to add to it. Learning.
Also a high point is that I got my coordinator role and tutoring assignment! I will be tutoring English/Language Arts (ELA)!! Superrrrr excited about that. I am rekindling my fire for reading and I fear there is no going back until I've read all the books. ALL. AND I will be co-After School Coordinator with Lexie! After school was my first choice by far, and I'm super excited that there are two of us! Look out for after school to be the thing that the cool kids do. Maybe I should manage my expectations. MAYBE NOT.
3. Low point was actually being stumped with a behavior problem today. My teacher warned me about a certain period, but I thought "surely, they're not that bad." They were. At first it was okay, but there was a student who wouldn't do what she was asked no matter how many times I asked her nicely. I even let her borrow my pretty blue pen, stipulating that it could only be used to take notes (a method that worked like a charm in another class). It worked for 0 seconds. I said that if she didn't take notes, I'd have to take the pen back. She said, "Okay, here you go." I can't stress this enough: this is a hard job. This is why we have hours of training and lots of teammates to support us! Most teachers deal with this stuff with insufficient training and little support from administration or parents.
4. I grew today when I realized that I was not as different from these students as I thought. One of my teammates was saying how much different these students were than they were at that age and I thought, "I was the same." They don't have any motivation or drive to learn. The only motivation I had in junior high came from my parents. I cared about being popular, having friends, and forcing my hair to do things that my hair was never meant to do. I was not able to conceptualize the idea that my studies and grades could some day affect my future. It wasn't until sophomore year of high school that I actually kicked it into high gear from the inside. I am SO LUCKY that my parents motivated me externally for those middle years, because I could very well have been in the situation that I'm witnessing in school here. These students don't have internal motivation just like I didn't, so I'll need to be that for them for awhile and if I'm lucky, I'll eke a teensy bit of internal motivation after them.
5. I'm excited to continue planning after school tomorrow with Lexie! I'm also a little terrified because my teacher is going to be in an ELA training all day, so the sub and I have to hold down the fort. Wish me luck!
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 our first full day in school! Well, kind of. We were technically there all day last Thursday, but we had to have meetings in the afternoon so we didn't get to go to afternoon class. Today we went through the whole she-bang! Well, kind of. My teacher only has 3 regular classes (the rest are pre-AP) so I had an exorbitant amount of prep periods and didn't really feel like I was doing that much in my classroom. I guess that was the biggest thing that was different than I expected. I expected to be in the classroom all day, but we only are in the classes that are struggling more than the others. I did experience my effect on students today and I feel like I'm honing my stealth redirecting skills. It takes talent to refocus a student on what they're supposed to be doing without derailing their focus all together. I will master this. There should be a black belt-equivalent for this.
2. You guys, power greeting was a BLAST today. I could never help you understand how or why it was fun, but it was just really fun. I think it's because we (read: I) are starting to not care what we look like or what middleschoolers or their parents think of us. When it's time to go bananas, ain't nothing stopping me.
Also awesome was helping a girl write a creative story. The teacher had them come up with a problem for their story before filling in the details, and she picked something she was probably sure I would be shocked and disgusted by. Well I showed her: I corrected her spelling of that something and then encouraged her to write about it! And after that, she kept calling me over to read her story and tell her what else she needed to add to it. Learning.
Also a high point is that I got my coordinator role and tutoring assignment! I will be tutoring English/Language Arts (ELA)!! Superrrrr excited about that. I am rekindling my fire for reading and I fear there is no going back until I've read all the books. ALL. AND I will be co-After School Coordinator with Lexie! After school was my first choice by far, and I'm super excited that there are two of us! Look out for after school to be the thing that the cool kids do. Maybe I should manage my expectations. MAYBE NOT.
3. Low point was actually being stumped with a behavior problem today. My teacher warned me about a certain period, but I thought "surely, they're not that bad." They were. At first it was okay, but there was a student who wouldn't do what she was asked no matter how many times I asked her nicely. I even let her borrow my pretty blue pen, stipulating that it could only be used to take notes (a method that worked like a charm in another class). It worked for 0 seconds. I said that if she didn't take notes, I'd have to take the pen back. She said, "Okay, here you go." I can't stress this enough: this is a hard job. This is why we have hours of training and lots of teammates to support us! Most teachers deal with this stuff with insufficient training and little support from administration or parents.
4. I grew today when I realized that I was not as different from these students as I thought. One of my teammates was saying how much different these students were than they were at that age and I thought, "I was the same." They don't have any motivation or drive to learn. The only motivation I had in junior high came from my parents. I cared about being popular, having friends, and forcing my hair to do things that my hair was never meant to do. I was not able to conceptualize the idea that my studies and grades could some day affect my future. It wasn't until sophomore year of high school that I actually kicked it into high gear from the inside. I am SO LUCKY that my parents motivated me externally for those middle years, because I could very well have been in the situation that I'm witnessing in school here. These students don't have internal motivation just like I didn't, so I'll need to be that for them for awhile and if I'm lucky, I'll eke a teensy bit of internal motivation after them.
5. I'm excited to continue planning after school tomorrow with Lexie! I'm also a little terrified because my teacher is going to be in an ELA training all day, so the sub and I have to hold down the fort. Wish me luck!
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