"Upside- Down, bouncing off the ceilings"Yup...that about explains life as a 1st year, 5th grade teacher. Whoo!
Six Weeks Later...
and I am now writing my first post.
Wow,
what a ride it has been! People are continually asking--"Is being a
first year teacher what you expected?" Umm...no. Definitely not. I think
it is nearly impossible to have an "expectancy" for one's first year of
any job--especially in the teaching profession. Having 24 students with
different personalities, learning styles, and interests leads to no one
day being the same as any other.
I
am so blessed, however, with an amazing class, wonderful coworkers, and
supportive administration and parents. I'm having a blast and hope that
the students are learning a lot.
This blog is meant to act as more of a "personal" blog with views from my perspective, not just the students. Please extend grace as I muddle through this mess called blogging!
So really-- my kids are hilarious. From the beginning of school, I have hoped to create a "family" atmosphere within the classroom where the students feel safe to explore, mess up, inquire, and most of all learn. To write about all of our adventures thus far would take far too long, so for tonight I will leave you with two clips.
The first comes from a vocabulary activity that we did. Students were partnered together and had to introduce their word in a creative manner (newscast, poem, puppet show, song, etc). Needless to say--these two got it, and got it good.
Secondly, Wednesday,
September 19th was International Talk like a Pirate day. We celebrated
in a variety of ways including: shaking "hooks" as a morning greeting,
studying pirate jargon and using such phrases throughout the day,
pairing actions with various phrases and doing them throughout the day,
and researching and presenting reports on a few real-life pirates. It
was a fun day for all!
Here is a wee clip showing a bit of what me mateys looked like throughout the day. Arg.
