One down, only 179 left to go!
Today was the first day of school and it was amazing and a lot of fun and just so neat.
Adrenaline is a wonderful chemical and I was just so excited throughout the entire day. Everything went better than I was expecting. The kids were pretty great and we're all going to learn together, them how to be first graders and me how to teach first graders.
I told them that we are a team and we are going to work together to make this an awesome year. We're all going to work hard to learn to read and write and do math and be good friends. I told them that instead of calling them "boys and girls" or "children" or "first graders" I will be referring to them as Team LastName, because we are a team and I want everyone on the team to succeed. (So I guess that answers that question.) I'm working on developing unity and a respect and pride for the classroom so that they take care of it.
I did the first half of this lesson (via ReadWriteThink) today, and plan on doing the second half tomorrow as a way of understanding why we are at school and what we can do to make it a good place for learning.
I wish I had the time to go through the whole day step-by-step, moment-by-moment, in way more detail than anyone on the internet cares to read, but unfortunately I still have essentially nothing planned for tomorrow.
I did smile though when, as I was closing the door after shooing the parents out of the room, I heard one of them comment to another that, "Suena bien la maestra." At least they approved of the five minutes of activities I allowed them to watch.
Let's see what tomorrow will bring!
(Also, I do still plan on writing about that book. Maybe over the weekend. Maybe not. But it will get done because I am passionately critical of the book and want that broadcast over the Internet.)
Adrenaline is a wonderful chemical and I was just so excited throughout the entire day. Everything went better than I was expecting. The kids were pretty great and we're all going to learn together, them how to be first graders and me how to teach first graders.
I told them that we are a team and we are going to work together to make this an awesome year. We're all going to work hard to learn to read and write and do math and be good friends. I told them that instead of calling them "boys and girls" or "children" or "first graders" I will be referring to them as Team LastName, because we are a team and I want everyone on the team to succeed. (So I guess that answers that question.) I'm working on developing unity and a respect and pride for the classroom so that they take care of it.
I did the first half of this lesson (via ReadWriteThink) today, and plan on doing the second half tomorrow as a way of understanding why we are at school and what we can do to make it a good place for learning.
I wish I had the time to go through the whole day step-by-step, moment-by-moment, in way more detail than anyone on the internet cares to read, but unfortunately I still have essentially nothing planned for tomorrow.
I did smile though when, as I was closing the door after shooing the parents out of the room, I heard one of them comment to another that, "Suena bien la maestra." At least they approved of the five minutes of activities I allowed them to watch.
Let's see what tomorrow will bring!
(Also, I do still plan on writing about that book. Maybe over the weekend. Maybe not. But it will get done because I am passionately critical of the book and want that broadcast over the Internet.)
posted by Not Quite Grown Up... at 9:50 PM
7 Comments:
That is awesome! I'm so happy for you.
LOVE ReadWriteThink!
I love "Team LastName"! That is so perfect for (elementary) kids! (Don't think I'd get very far using a similar tactic with my high school kids... :P )
You are a much braver soul than I am, letting parents observe you that very first morning (!!!) I would have stuttered in panic and tripped all over myself.
Congrats on a great first day! :D
Yay for a great first day! Sounds like you've got the hang of this whole "teaching thing" already!
Word of unsolicited advice: Don't start counting the days. It could be torture! (I tried that once, and it just made me depressed!) Forget what day (out of 180) it is and just remember to take it one day at a time!
Good luck on the rest of the year!
OnTeaching - I'm thinking of buying an "Invisibility Cloak" too, to use when I'm testing kids one-on-one or during guided reading groups. (So the rest of the kids, who will be in reading or math centers, don't bother me). That's probably another tactic that may not work so well with high school kids.
Profe - I only said that because EVERYONE at school said that. Any person I saw after school let out on Monday gave me the countdown. I didn't even know how many days of school there are in the year. (Perhaps this is something I should have known.) Also, I wouldn't say I quite have the teaching thing down. I did though set incredibly low expectations for myself. Since I didn't loose any kids over the course of the day, I met my goal! Therefore: Success!
Invisibility Cloak!!! You are genius!!! (Sorry, I'm also a huge Harry Potter nerd.)
:)
I've actually not seen Harry Potter. I didn't realize that's from Harry Potter (though all of the Harry Potter stuff is such public knowledge due to it's popularity, I guess I just didn't realize the origin.)
Sorry I'm so late, but congratulations! It sounds like you've been doing a rock star job! :D Nice work!
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