Getting the Hang of This Teaching Thing...

Yesterday completed my first full week as a first grade teacher.  To be perfectly honest, things have felt more than a little chaotic in the classroom.  Until yesterday, that is.  Yesterday was the sort of day I envisioned when I dreamed about what teaching would look like for me.  In a nutshell, I think learning should be a joyous journey and students should eagerly anticipate the school day.  I’m not naïve enough to think that every day will be full of rainbows and golden moments.  But I do think that when you ask a child to describe school, the first word out of their mouth should not be “boring.”

Yesterday (and today), were my dream fulfilled.  I felt in charge, confident, and much more at ease with the schedule.  The students actually showed signs of getting the hang of our class schedule.  Bless their little hearts, it has been a real adjustment for them to change teachers, classrooms, and schedules mid-year.  It seems like every 20 minutes one of them would pipe up, “that’s not the way our other teacher did it!”  What I think at those moments is, “ I don’t really care how your other teacher did it.”  What I say at those moments is, “I can’t do everything like your other teacher because I’m not her.  We are going to do things differently because we are different people.”  But I know it’s been hard for them and their teacher and I did discuss before the changeover that we needed to make the transition as painless as possible. 

To that end, I have kept their daily schedule almost identical to the schedule they had in the combined first and second grade room, with a few minor adjustments.  As we sail through the next weeks and months, we may adjust even more, but for now, I want to focus on maximizing learning, not putting my personal stamp on day-to-day minutia. 

The very best part of feeling more “at home” with my role as teacher is having the freedom to play with the lesson plans.  Yesterday, our science unit was focused on The Sky, but an activity centered on finding the main idea of a paragraph, led to a mini lesson on butterflies.  The kids were luvin’ it!  We googled a Youtube video clip of Monarchs drinking nectar, and did a language arts activity of sequencing sentence strips.  At the end of the day, I was energized and satisfied with how the day had gone.  The time had flown by!  Today was more of the same.  I am very encouraged.

At the end of today, I told my students (I love saying MY students J) that it was time to put their things away and get ready to go.  “Go where?” on of them asked.  “Go home!” I answered.  “NO!”  a couple of them said.  “We don’t want to leave yet!”  I about fell over from sheer joy. 

As a side note, my round table arrived today that the Superintendant had ordered for me at my request.  I am moving the desks (“little islands of isolation,” I call them) out as soon as the big table gets put together.  It will free up even more floor space and encourage cooperative learning.  We spend A LOT of time on the floor.  Wow, would I have loved to go to school in a room with a carpeted floor and been allowed  to and even encouraged to study away from my desk.

In case any fellow educators read this, I think it would be fun to share ideas.  Good teachers plan, teach, then reflect.  As I try new things, I’ll let you know how they go over in the classroom.  Please feel free to share your best ideas with me in the comments section.  An exchange of ideas would be amazing and wonderful!  Or if you’re not a teacher, share with me your best and worst school experiences.  We’ll get the group therapy thing going J

Here’s my latest brainstorm.  I really want to get my first graders turned on to the newspaper.  We are one of those schools that get a bundle delivered everyday.  I have noticed that most of them are left untouched at the end of the day.  So first thing in the morning, I grab a paper for each child and make this the first activity of language arts time.  The students get a highlighter out of the marker drawer, find room to spread out on the floor, and then must find the featured sight word of the day.  I usually give them 5 minutes or so.  I really like this activity!  They are getting exposure to printed text, learning about the world at large, and finding things that interest THEM in each paper.  They are constantly calling out interesting things they find while they are at work.  When they are done with the activity, we place the used papers in a recycling box.