Today was my first day in 1st grade! There were many emotions that went along with this! As I drove to school it hit me that I am no longer with my third graders and the great staff I worked with for 8 weeks. But I held my head up high and kept my composure as I walked into a new, strange building trying to find my way to my new teacher. My teacher greeted me and showed me around the school a little bit. Get this! The school is NOT a circle and every classroom has DOORS! How crazy! I actually like the circle layout of the first school because it's simple, not a maze, and you see more staff members than just the few from your grade's team since you have to walk around the circle to get to some parts of the school.
My new teacher seems great and I've heard many times that she is a master teacher and one of the best! The other members of the 1st grade team seem nice and helpful, too.
One thing that really frustrated me this morning was something my teacher told me. She was telling me that she had a student teacher earlier this past fall. She said, "But I'm sure you already know who it is." I was very confused about this. She proceeded to tell me that she was also a Luther student that I had had classes with at Luther. I was upset because I feel like I'm being compared to this student teacher now. She said I'll have to compete to win the students over because they loved the past student teacher so much and they ask everyday when she is coming back. Great! I'm not too worried about the kids liking me, I'm more worried about the possibility of being compared to the other student teacher by my teacher. Hopefully this won't happen and I'll I can do is be myself and do what I do best!
The morning started with greeting the students and introducing myself. It quickly got interesting because a student threw up all over the carpet and a little on a student during the morning meeting time. The teacher rushed her to the nurse and took the other student to clean her up. I had to take charge and read a book to the students in another corner of the room. Needless to say we avoided that area of the room for the rest of the day, even after it was cleaned!
It's going to take some adjusting to this new school and classroom. It is completely different from the third grade class I was in.
Some things that are different from my third grade room:
- 5 deaf or hard of hearing students in my 1st grade room
- a very structured schedule that rarely changes
- no severe Emotional/Behavior disorders
- many adults in the room at one time for the deaf students and ESL students
- a lot of art projects themed for the holidays and months
- picture storybooks instead of chapter books (I love this change!)
- the school is not a circle
- there is a door on the classroom
Some similar things between the two schools:
- I'm teaching
- there are students
- I have an experienced teacher
Today was an interesting, overwhelming day! It's difficult to start completely over with new people and a new environment but I will adjust soon (I hope!).
Thank you for your continuous support!
Dana
No comments:
Post a Comment