the first two weeks

On the phone this afternoon, Dad asked me if I was ever going to update my blog. Well, I was just thinking about doing it, so here it is. My first update in two weeks. Man, I'm good.

The first week of student teaching was cake. It was only three days long because they started on Wednesday, and I didn't do much except get a feel for the students and the classroom and the way my teacher teaches. There actually wasn't much teaching going on because it was the first few days of school and there was a lot of "getting to know you and me" things going on, along with paperwork galore that needed to be passed out and turned in.

On Friday of the first week, my teacher told me she wanted me to start teaching math next week. Oh crap. Seriously? After I've been there for three days? Ho-kay!

So I started teaching math, place values, which is apparently the most difficult part of the book. Glad I got to take a crack at it.

My teacher is very lenient with the children. Or she doesn't pay that much attention to them because she is so good at blocking out annoying things in her life. Not quite sure yet. I feel sometimes like I am being too hard on the children when they are doing something wrong or annoying me, but she says I'm not, and that she needs to be more "hard" on them, as well. Works for me.

We have a few children who are very, how shall I say, interesting. One is of in la-la land all day long, and only pays attention when it's time for math. Another is a new girl from Georgia who has made fast friends with one of my least favorite little girls in class. (Only because that little girl does things she knows she's not supposed to, and watches you as you watch her doing it wrong, and looks you write in the eyes.) Two little boys are in special education and are pulled out of class every once in a while. One little girl is not only shy, she's stubborn about her shyness. She uses it as a crutch, because she knows she won't have to participate if she keeps it up, even one on one with you. Another little girl is 9, wearing makeup, big earrings, shrug-sleeved peasant tops, with the sleeves pushed down off the shoulders, but it really sweet. A boy just moved here from Alaska, another from Wyoming, and of course the girl from Georgia. One little boy falls asleep during my math lessons because he already has everything done and is bored out of his gourd.

*Sigh* It's a lot of work, and I'm only doing one subject!

Also, my teacher seems (at best) disorganized. She's been teaching for 30 years, LOVES what she does, and is great, but sometimes I wonder what she would do if she didn't have me there to help her do all the stuff after school (photocopies, making posters/bulletin boards, etc.) and during school. How would she get it all accomplished?

Who knows. Next week I'm still doing math, and I'm sure I'll be helping with science and reading when the time comes. We've also been doing DIBELS and Benchmarks testing this week, seeing where the students fall in their reading abilities. Some students did great and are reading at 7th grade levels, but other students are doing miserably and are reading at 1st grade levels. It's very frustrating and discouraging. My teacher said that last year her entire class was a class of readers, but this year, we only have one REAL reader, and I can tell, because whenever we finish with something, he dives into his book. Which is great, and he's and awesome kid, but I just wish the rest of the students were like that, too.

And the entire class seriously has attention problems. I'll give a direction or ask a question, and I'll even write the information on the board for them, and they don't get it. They say, "What were we supposed to do?" "I don't get it." "What do we do when we're done with our math?" I've gotten to the point where I just tell them, "Phone a friend." Because I'm not going to tell six different students what to do when it is written on the board and I have already explained it twice. I don't have the time for it. They're going to have to learn to pay attention. Sure, there's a couple of kids who are in special ed. and need the extra help, and that's fine, but the other 20 children in the classroom are not, and they know what they need to be doing. Grr.

I guess if it were my classroom, I would run it a little differently, but she has her guidelines established, and she is THE teacher for right now, so that's how things are going to be. Maybe when I have my three weeks in the classroom as the teacher, things will be a little different, but these students are no longer primary students - they are intermediate, and they need to start acting that way. That's all there is to it.

And with that, I am pooped and need to veg out in front of the television for a little bit. Until next time!