Student Teaching...

I am currently sitting in bed half a sleep and it is only 7:45....teaching is exhausting! For student teaching I am suppose to slowly start teaching all day, but my co-operating teaching doesn't really plan so I teach in spurts. Last Friday we decided I would teach all day today. I got to school around 8 and was nervous. I was a little frazzled about the idea of teaching all day. I don't mind it, but I think I just want to please everyone and be perfect. I am hard on myself. I want everyone to approve of what I do. The bell rang so I went and got the kids. I brought them into the classroom. All I could think was "uh oh, this is really happening" lol! I can proudly say that there were no major disasters just things to improve on. No kids got into fights, no kids ran away or yelled back at me. PHEW! These are the things I learned today:

• After a day of teaching it is nice just to get home and relax
• I need to be tough or the students will walk all over me
• Transitions are really hard, so I need to be more clear and strict with my instructions
• It is really hard to deal with discipline and teach at the same time
• It is hard to watch the whole classroom at once
• Giving out rewards for answering questions correctly really does work
• Writing names on the board when a misbehavior happens helps - these students stay in for part of recess

Those are just a few. When I first decided I wanted to be teacher, which was in elementary school, I never imagined that amount of work invovled! There's so much to do at once. It is definitely a juggling act. It is also physically and emotionally draining. No one really understands that intensity of teaching until they start teaching. Many teacher put on a great calm and relaxed face. There is always something new going on or thrown at them that I have learned that the calm and relaxed face is usually a mask. Don't get me wrong, I still want to be a teacher, but I have learned the amount of work it really is. It is definitely rewarding and worth it though. I love going each day into the classroom! I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now! I have included a few pictures of my siblings and I on the first day of school in elementary school! It gives me a good laugh :)