(no subject)
tonight: the moon, deep orange and with the best man-in-the-moon i've ever seen, hanging low in the dusky purple sky. when i walked past the chapel here, its steeple glowing red, i had to stop and take a breath and think about how much i love colors, and the moon, and sky.
today i taught for the first time. and it was fine. good, even. i have the feeling i'm going to be the mean teacher out of my collaborative, but i am so far also the one they listen to the most. it was sort of satisfying to walk between the groups of desks as they took their math pre-test, my sensible black pumps making a grown-up clacking noise, my very presence causing children to stop staring into space or whispering to their neighbor and sit up straighter, work harder. i wonder if i'm going to be one of those teachers, the ones you love to please but don't want to get on the bad side of. anyway, teaching was great. . .
but it did make me realize the enormity of this undertaking. geez, these kids. their very personalities made me think of all the ways our class could get out of control even in the next couple of weeks. the class also has some characteristics that will affect the summer - most of the kids have been in bilingual classes their whole lives and are dealing with english-only instruction for the first time. also, we have a lot of kids with low scores, especially on math, and then three kids who are wayyyy above grade level but get sent to summer school because they have nowhere else to go. it will be challenging. i have to admit, i have a favorite student so far, but he has troublemaker potential. carmelo reads at a sixth grade level and is really smart and enthusiastic about learning, but also tends to be fidgety and distract other kids. he raised his hand to show me a place on the copyright page of his book where it said, "taylor publishing group" and grinned at me in a way that made my heart melt. kids are cute, and way smarter than we give them credit for being. teaching is HARD. really hard.
i finally met my mentor teacher, mrs. meneses, who will also be my co-worker on the fourth grade team next year, and she is absolutely awesome. i will learn so much from her! she's already told me all sorts of secrets about the school, like that they'll give me the lowest scoring class because i'm new and that principal benardo will be hard on me for at least the first year. she's lent me like, half of her teaching supplies and is generally so nice and helpful.
p.s. 86 is beginning to feel like home. i can really see myself there for the next two years. scary thought - i could maybe even see myself there for longer. but let's take one step at a time. i mean, my entire teaching career amounts to an hour.
lesson plans take hours to write.
it's funny how right now six hours seems like a lot of sleep. this entry has no coherency. i can't believe i am still awake and functioning. and it will continue.
today i taught for the first time. and it was fine. good, even. i have the feeling i'm going to be the mean teacher out of my collaborative, but i am so far also the one they listen to the most. it was sort of satisfying to walk between the groups of desks as they took their math pre-test, my sensible black pumps making a grown-up clacking noise, my very presence causing children to stop staring into space or whispering to their neighbor and sit up straighter, work harder. i wonder if i'm going to be one of those teachers, the ones you love to please but don't want to get on the bad side of. anyway, teaching was great. . .
but it did make me realize the enormity of this undertaking. geez, these kids. their very personalities made me think of all the ways our class could get out of control even in the next couple of weeks. the class also has some characteristics that will affect the summer - most of the kids have been in bilingual classes their whole lives and are dealing with english-only instruction for the first time. also, we have a lot of kids with low scores, especially on math, and then three kids who are wayyyy above grade level but get sent to summer school because they have nowhere else to go. it will be challenging. i have to admit, i have a favorite student so far, but he has troublemaker potential. carmelo reads at a sixth grade level and is really smart and enthusiastic about learning, but also tends to be fidgety and distract other kids. he raised his hand to show me a place on the copyright page of his book where it said, "taylor publishing group" and grinned at me in a way that made my heart melt. kids are cute, and way smarter than we give them credit for being. teaching is HARD. really hard.
i finally met my mentor teacher, mrs. meneses, who will also be my co-worker on the fourth grade team next year, and she is absolutely awesome. i will learn so much from her! she's already told me all sorts of secrets about the school, like that they'll give me the lowest scoring class because i'm new and that principal benardo will be hard on me for at least the first year. she's lent me like, half of her teaching supplies and is generally so nice and helpful.
p.s. 86 is beginning to feel like home. i can really see myself there for the next two years. scary thought - i could maybe even see myself there for longer. but let's take one step at a time. i mean, my entire teaching career amounts to an hour.
lesson plans take hours to write.
it's funny how right now six hours seems like a lot of sleep. this entry has no coherency. i can't believe i am still awake and functioning. and it will continue.