4 weeks down 14 to go!

Wow, the past month has zipped by, especially the last two weeks.  Every day in the classroom I feel more and more sure about my decision to become a teacher.  I wake up in the morning excited to see our 22 smiling faces, and look forward to learning from our 2nd grade team.  I love that even though our daily routine doesn't change, each day brings something new and different!

I began leading morning work about two weeks ago.  Every morning when the kids come in, they have their routine "check in" procedures (making lunch choices, handing in HW folders, etc.), and then they sit down for morning work.  This is either a poem to read, questions to answer about the poem or DOL's (daily oral language, this is reading and writing practice).  From a teaching standpoint, this is easy.  I just monitor the students, to be sure they are on task and trying their best.  Then, we all go over the work as a class.  Easy, right?!  WELL, this is where being a teacher REALLY comes to play.  Finding these routine moments to insert extra learning.  I feel like I'm constantly on a game show, trying to come up with good questions to ask the students, and how to relate it to past lessons or connections to the real world.  This part takes some practice, you have to be on your toes and ready to expand the student's learning.  It's fun, sometimes challenging, and I feel like I'm part of an improv show!

Another great milestone was my first full day of teaching!  My CT was gone and so it was me and a substitute.  The sub works at our school, and for my CT on a regular basis so she's pretty familiar with the routine.  She was so kind in letting me take over, and just stepping in where it would be beneficial to have two teachers!  She was great to work with, and complimented my teaching, which meant A LOT!  Since then, I only take over here and there throughout the day.  The students are learning routine a bit still, therefor so am I.  The things that don't change much each day, are the things that I typically lead since I'm familiar with them. In about 2 weeks I will hopefully be doing 75%-100% of the teaching on a daily basis.

My class helped me celebrate my 27th birthday on September 4th!  It was the most exciting birthday song I've ever had!  I passed out cookies, the kids sang to me, and I got 27 "high-fives" from them.  They sure know how to make someone feel special!  In the mornings the kids with birthdays get to announce it on the intercom.  My CT sent 3 kids up to announce my bday.  They each said "Hi my name is ___" then they said "and today is Ms. Fat-nellys, I mean Fanelli's birthday!" hahaha, it was pretty amazing!

A gift from PTO, a candle and Panera gift card!

We went on our first field trip this past Friday.  I never thought a field trip would be more exhausting then a full week of teaching.  Holy cow, manning 3 boys with selective hearing was a lot.  They taught me more about patience and reasoning, and they made me appreciate our school routine that much more.  With that said, it was a FUN day at the Highlands Ranch Mansion.  We learned about our towns history, and got to participate in some cool activities like a hay ride, a petting zoo, and crafts!

Check out the size of this bunny at the petting zoo!

Adding their art to this map

As I've said on Facebook, the teaching is the part that gets me up and going in the morning.  I'm thrilled  that I'm so motivated for an 8 hour day on my feet, watching these munchkins expand their knowledge every day.  What doesn't thrill me as much, is our TWS and Capstone project that have added some stress to the weekly schedule.  TWS stands for teacher work sample, and it's basically a formal unit plan we have to create and teach.  We did a MTWS (mini teacher work sample, right grad friends?! I've forgotten already lol!!) in one of our classes, so the format is familiar.  The difference is the size of this particular project.  I'm doing my TWS focusing on habitats.  This should be interesting because its a science lesson, and we all know how much of a priority science and social studies take in the classroom these days (not!).  My CT said we will make it a point to fit it in when I'm scheduled to teach, though.  Wish me luck!

I've also finally settled on my Capstone project.  Our capstone is a big final project that incorporates pieces of everything we've learned while in our grad program.  We have the option of several different project types, and just before graduation, we present our project to our peers and professors.  I am doing a literature review of Backward Design. Backward Design is a specific way of lesson planning that is HUGE within the district that I'm teaching in.  I figured I should educate myself on the topic, from from to back, so I can go confidently into an interview with this district and show them how much I know!  I have A TON of reading and writing ahead of me, but I am sure I will finish with a very informative piece of work!

Here's to another month of school, and another month closer to accomplishing a huge goal in my life!

Ted, he's cute.