Classroom Fun

I can't believe it's been over a week since I blogged. Time is flying by so fast- I though it was only a few days ago that I'd blogged.

I'm on Winter break this week-my 1st time since starting college, but since I am "student teaching" I have it off. I don't feel like a student teacher at all. The 2nd week in the classroom-when I was only suppose to be teaching 1 lesson a day, I was already teaching 2-3 lessons. By the end of that week I was teaching 50% of the day. And now, I am doing all but 1 hour of the day . The other student teachers in my group say they are only teaching 1-2 lessons still. I'm blessed with the experience, but it is a lot of work. Not to mention, the grading and then entering the grades into the computer, meetings, school plays, teacher luncheons, and work I have to do for my supervisor. (I managed to get myself into a few "extra" things at the school-somehow this always happens).

So this was Valentines Day. We had a little party with big messes. Somethings you just have to let go-like realizing you cant always having the classroom "in order." The kids were so excited and had such a fun time. We watched a Valentines Day cartoon-Charlie Brown, The kids loved it.

After the kids left for the day we rearranged the room a bit. Now this looks like a classroom conducive for student learning. 

I've never wanted kids to call me by my last initial- L, but I did not want to put them through trying to remember how to call me so Miss. L it is.

 As I've mentioned above, teaching has been a lot of work but I am loving every minute of it. I sometimes wondered whether I love teaching for other reasons than "loving to teach children" because I do like the busyness of it, the structure, the leadership, etc. but those fears faded. My favorite parts of the day are helping and watching the kids learn and grow! I also always had this fear of "what if I'm not a good enough teacher-what if they do not understand anything I say" and even that fear was put to rest. They seem to "get" what I teach-Praise God! (I hope I did not say that too soon). I know it might seem silly-because "how hard is it to teach?" but I don't want the kids to suffer because of a student teacher's inability to be effective. Teaching is not as easy as it looks-at least in my opinion. 

I can't believe I have a little over 3 weeks left in this placement. I am going to miss these kids so much. Even in my short time there, I have grown to love them and am so happy to see them every morning.  

Blessings,