August 30, 2009

1 down, a whole lot more to go

My first week is over, and my first weekend as a teacher is coming to a close. It was filled with catching up on sleep and hours upon hours of planning, but also some relaxing and catching up with friends.

After my down in the dumps post on Thursday, I'm happy to report that Friday morning I woke up with a renewed positive attitude and fresh optimism. I was excited to get to school, and had high hopes for the day. I talked with my kids about what went wrong on Thursday, and we resolved to make it a better day. It was so. much. better. After the centers disaster, we went back and just practiced quiet transitioning, not bothering to take out all the activities (baby steps). They nailed it this time. I'm still not sure they're ready for centers next week, but maybe in the near future we'll try practicing again.

It's amazing how this job plays with my emotions. When Thursday was rough, I was choking back tears all afternoon. But when Friday was better, I was happy as a clam after school. I once heard that really passionate people feel every emotion with an incredible intensity. The good things can bring you rapturous joy and the bad can bring you to your knees with frustration and despair. I guess that's certainly true for me when it comes to teaching. I also guess that it's better to have this rollercoaster of emotion because I'm doing something I'm so passionate about than have a career that may be easy, but that is void of emotion.

Anyways, after spending my entire weekend save a few hours planning, I think I am ready for the week. At least for reading. We'll see about those other subjects :) I have a hella lot of copies to make tomorrow morning, so I better get there nice and early so the other teachers don't crucify me. I'll update soon to share how my brilliantly thought out plan for teaching guided reading pans out in the real classroom, as opposed to the perfect classroom in my head :)

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