martes, enero 18, 2005
a little promise to myself
i will leave school early every day this week. if i use my planning time wisely and can FINALLY get these kids to work independently, then there will be no need for me to stay an extra 1.5-2 hours a day. i don't mind coming in on weekends for a couple hours to prep for the whole week, but now that things are getting settled i want to have more me time. i want to paint, see old friends, join a gym, BAKE... do the stuff i haven't done in years, and be able to do it on a daily basis.
my kids had an awesome morning. behavior was fantastic right up until i had to leave to test a kid and someone had to cover my class. during recess, one of my kids was feeling left out (again) so we swung together. another kid told me that adults weren't supposed to play. it's sad how serious children perceive us to be, how surprised they are when we laugh, change our nail color, or act silly. my kids started complaining about some students using bad words, so we cut math short and said one good thing about one other person in the class. my kids were in agreement that my pants were very nice, i guess that was their compliment for me. i'm pleasantly surprised to find that i really really really love my class. initially i had certain kids picked out as annoying, whiny, or generally unpleasant students, but once you train 'em for awhile there's quite a bit of good in each of them. my whiners and screamers are learning to raise their hands and wait more patiently, my lazy workers are starting to do their work on a daily basis (with only a few proddings! gasp!), my behavior issues are getting much more mild, and the perpetually silent girls are starting to talk more regularly. and to add extra glean to my rose-colored glasses, my principal left me a very sweet note proclaiming me to be a shining star for my hard work while preparing for today's awards assembly. and a pack of star-shaped post-its, and i think it goes without saying that fancy post-its are the shit. today was a very good day.
my kids had an awesome morning. behavior was fantastic right up until i had to leave to test a kid and someone had to cover my class. during recess, one of my kids was feeling left out (again) so we swung together. another kid told me that adults weren't supposed to play. it's sad how serious children perceive us to be, how surprised they are when we laugh, change our nail color, or act silly. my kids started complaining about some students using bad words, so we cut math short and said one good thing about one other person in the class. my kids were in agreement that my pants were very nice, i guess that was their compliment for me. i'm pleasantly surprised to find that i really really really love my class. initially i had certain kids picked out as annoying, whiny, or generally unpleasant students, but once you train 'em for awhile there's quite a bit of good in each of them. my whiners and screamers are learning to raise their hands and wait more patiently, my lazy workers are starting to do their work on a daily basis (with only a few proddings! gasp!), my behavior issues are getting much more mild, and the perpetually silent girls are starting to talk more regularly. and to add extra glean to my rose-colored glasses, my principal left me a very sweet note proclaiming me to be a shining star for my hard work while preparing for today's awards assembly. and a pack of star-shaped post-its, and i think it goes without saying that fancy post-its are the shit. today was a very good day.
