Becoming a Teacher

Suddenly in the past two days, I've become busy. I have to say, I like it a lot. Well, except for when 6 a.m. rolls around and my body is still trying to get caught up on sleep. I had my first official day of student teaching yesterday (minus the students), as I went to Foster to help with pre-planning. This includes going to faculty meetings and grade level meetings, plus helping organize/set up/decorate my teacher's classroom. Thing I do like to do: Go through classroom books to find a wide variety of interesting reading materials for the students to choose during the school year. Thing I do NOT like to do: Cut out giant sheets of colored paper by myself to cover up an ugly chalkboard, preferably in an artistic and non-four-year-old manner. People who know me well could tell you that I am not an artistic person. I don't write neatly, I don't do well with the sparkly happy girly decorating stuff, and I don't enjoy super artsy-craftsy projects. That being said, trying to maneuver ginormous pieces of paper to lay perfectly smoothly on a chalkboard is not my idea of a good time. However, the book part of the day did make up for that. As I leafed through titles about space, nature, pets, and pretty much any subject you can imagine, I remembered how I felt in school when I got to choose ANY book I wanted for free reading time. There was a sense of wonder in that, as though the possibilities were endless. No book report, no one telling you the book wasn't on your "level" (whatever that means), no one choosing for you. It was a big deal as a kid to get to truly pick something as part of your work at school. With that memory in my mind, I did my best to choose a large variety of books with diverse subjects, illustration styles, and levels. Sometimes I wish they would pay me to just read children's books all day...

I've met some really nice teachers at the school so far. They've invited me out to lunch both days, so I feel pretty included right now. I've never been at a school that has teachers who are this friendly right off the bat; even though most of them are old enough to be my mom, I enjoy the time I spend with them and (after a little pep talk with Tracy) realize now that I'm not really in college anymore, a lot of my "friends" will be people I work with, who may be a whole lot older than me. They invited me to a jewelry party this Thursday, and I think I'll probably go :).

This first 8 weeks, I will be teaching an hour of 3rd grade math, an hour and a half of 4th grade reading, an hour and a half of kindergarten reading, and an hour of interventions (which I believe is pretty much double doses of certain subjects for certain kids). I'm actually really excited about this schedule and can't imagine a better range of ages. I love kindergarten kids, especially for reading, but I also think I want to teach around the 4th grade level, so I'm pleased that I'll be doing a little of both.

On an unrelated note, I wish Oklahoma had Publix grocery stores. That's all they have here (seriously... it takes 40 minutes to get to a Super Wal-Mart), and I must say after my first experience at one yesterday, I love it! Everything is brightly lit, the produce doesn't suck, and no one is rude/trashy/rushing you while you're trying to get your stuff. Sorry Wal-Mart, but Publix is my new grocery store soulmate... That's all for now! (Don't worry, I'll work on these endings)