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 pretty on par with my expectations. I expected that I would be pretty happy because it was Friday, but that the students might be a little rowdier for the same reason. Both were true, except in one class! Usually, all three of the classes that I assist in are pretty terrible behaviorally. Today, though, there was one that was surprisingly on task and respectful. It was great! My heart definitely swelled when I looked around and didn't have anyone to redirect and could actually sit down and model student behavior by reading my current book (Redwall by Brian Jaques).
2. OMG I had a great moment today. A student who is a huge behavior problem came into class late per usual, and was talking out of turn per usual. But for some reason, he respects me, so I asked him to please take notes and he half-heartedly did. And then the teacher asked a question and he looked at me and said the answer. I told him that he should raise his hand and answer and he did! The teacher called on him and he gave the answer and she said "great job!" It was seriously like a climax scene from a feel-good movie. That moment carried me through the whole day. I hope I can work with this kid more often. He has terrible problems in other classes with yelling at other students and using profane language regularly. But today, he came back to the classroom I serve in between every period to talk to me. He would tell me how many cuss words he said in the last class and I would tell him that he doesn't have to use that language. I would say, "You know you could keep those words in and then come talk to me about it, right?" and he would say "Yeah, but you're not in all of my classes!" So I told him we could talk about it after school and that I'd see him on Monday, but he said he was suspended from school on Monday. I HOPE and PRAY that I can make a big enough difference in his behavior before he gets expelled from school, because that is a legitimate concern. It will definitely be hard for me if he leaves school because I can feel a rapport building and I know he is far less likely to graduate if he has to go to alternative school starting in 6th grade.
Also, we did appreciations as a team! I knew that I would be needing some uplift at the end of this long week, so I suggested to our team leader that we do some kind of affirmation/appreciation. Those of you who know me know that my love language is totally words of affirmation, so I jump at any chance I can get for people to say nice things to each other! --plug: my Wall of Affirmation is still taking material if you feel compelled to send any warm wishes my way via snail mail. :)-- So we all wrote a bunch of positive things about one another. I loved it.
And Alexa gave me a ride home today so I didn't have to ride the bus!
And I'm about to go to Rosario's for some top-notch Mexican food and see my friends from other school teams!
3. I'm still nursing my cold, but it is much better today by far! One other not-so-cool thing was that my bus this morning was a full 2 minutes early, so I saw it as I was walking up to the stop and had to sprint ahead of the light to make it on time! However, I was telling Shelby that one thing I love about taking the bus is that you only have to be late once. Once all that panic and sprinting of making it onto the bus, you're instantly right on schedule. Compared to driving where you're late the entire time until you make it to your destination, I prefer the bus feeling.
4. I grew today when I wrote appreciations for my team. I am so thankful for every person that is a part of our school team and I loved taking time to reflect on why exactly that was. This group of people is outstanding, but in such different ways. here are so many strengths on the team, but they're certainly well spread out among our team members. It's really beautiful to be a part of such a diverse, effective group. I know it's going to be an amazing year.
5. I am excited to finally know for sure that I'll be with my teacher all year. Once we find that out, I'll be able to have a one-on-one meeting with her to figure out how to tackle these classes for the rest of the year and which students I'll be meeting with for extra tutoring help!
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 pretty on par with my expectations. I expected that I would be pretty happy because it was Friday, but that the students might be a little rowdier for the same reason. Both were true, except in one class! Usually, all three of the classes that I assist in are pretty terrible behaviorally. Today, though, there was one that was surprisingly on task and respectful. It was great! My heart definitely swelled when I looked around and didn't have anyone to redirect and could actually sit down and model student behavior by reading my current book (Redwall by Brian Jaques).
2. OMG I had a great moment today. A student who is a huge behavior problem came into class late per usual, and was talking out of turn per usual. But for some reason, he respects me, so I asked him to please take notes and he half-heartedly did. And then the teacher asked a question and he looked at me and said the answer. I told him that he should raise his hand and answer and he did! The teacher called on him and he gave the answer and she said "great job!" It was seriously like a climax scene from a feel-good movie. That moment carried me through the whole day. I hope I can work with this kid more often. He has terrible problems in other classes with yelling at other students and using profane language regularly. But today, he came back to the classroom I serve in between every period to talk to me. He would tell me how many cuss words he said in the last class and I would tell him that he doesn't have to use that language. I would say, "You know you could keep those words in and then come talk to me about it, right?" and he would say "Yeah, but you're not in all of my classes!" So I told him we could talk about it after school and that I'd see him on Monday, but he said he was suspended from school on Monday. I HOPE and PRAY that I can make a big enough difference in his behavior before he gets expelled from school, because that is a legitimate concern. It will definitely be hard for me if he leaves school because I can feel a rapport building and I know he is far less likely to graduate if he has to go to alternative school starting in 6th grade.
Also, we did appreciations as a team! I knew that I would be needing some uplift at the end of this long week, so I suggested to our team leader that we do some kind of affirmation/appreciation. Those of you who know me know that my love language is totally words of affirmation, so I jump at any chance I can get for people to say nice things to each other! --plug: my Wall of Affirmation is still taking material if you feel compelled to send any warm wishes my way via snail mail. :)-- So we all wrote a bunch of positive things about one another. I loved it.
And Alexa gave me a ride home today so I didn't have to ride the bus!
And I'm about to go to Rosario's for some top-notch Mexican food and see my friends from other school teams!
3. I'm still nursing my cold, but it is much better today by far! One other not-so-cool thing was that my bus this morning was a full 2 minutes early, so I saw it as I was walking up to the stop and had to sprint ahead of the light to make it on time! However, I was telling Shelby that one thing I love about taking the bus is that you only have to be late once. Once all that panic and sprinting of making it onto the bus, you're instantly right on schedule. Compared to driving where you're late the entire time until you make it to your destination, I prefer the bus feeling.
4. I grew today when I wrote appreciations for my team. I am so thankful for every person that is a part of our school team and I loved taking time to reflect on why exactly that was. This group of people is outstanding, but in such different ways. here are so many strengths on the team, but they're certainly well spread out among our team members. It's really beautiful to be a part of such a diverse, effective group. I know it's going to be an amazing year.
5. I am excited to finally know for sure that I'll be with my teacher all year. Once we find that out, I'll be able to have a one-on-one meeting with her to figure out how to tackle these classes for the rest of the year and which students I'll be meeting with for extra tutoring help!
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