Well, folks, I did it. I survived my first day of lead teaching (Hallelujah!)! For those of you that are not hip to the teaching lingo, this means that I am completely in charge of the classroom beginning this morning through November 11th. While I am only asked to have ten days of lead teaching, my cooperating teacher and I decided the more the better and am thus lead teaching 14 days.
My first encounter with the kiddos today was saying good morning to them and their first responses including, but not limited to: "Your voice has changed," "You sound like a monster," "You sound like Cousin It." What shocked me more than anything was that A.W. knew who Cousin It was.
Unfortunately, over the weekend, I let my guard down and allowed myself to catch a virus (What was I thinking?). Due to drainage, I have a sore throat and a very, very low and quiet voice. According to my kids, I sound like a monster--at least I sound like something interesting. While I struggled to speak all day, I did make it through with the help of Halls and water. I'm so glad I went to the pharmacy and picked more up yesterday! Today was like any other day, despite all the voice issues.
My lessons went pretty well, I thought, and it took until about 2:30 for me to be completely frustrated with my children. While I do enjoy being with them, teaching them, and helping them learn, I am still surprised some days at how easily they can frustrate me. While I know that they all know how to follow directions, it shocks me at how rarely they do. While I review (and review and review and review) the expectations with them often, they still struggle to do so. I have got to figure something else out here because whatever I'm doing now isn't working well enough.
And a happy story to end this post:
On Friday, I was asked by E.F. how many millimeters there were in a mile. While I could have easily told her to find it out for herself, I decided to make it my homework for the weekend. After doing some converting, I was able to give her an answer. When I told her that I had figured it out, she was so happy. I explained to her how I determined the answer, it was clear that she wanted to know more about my process and while I did not have time just then to explain in any more detail, I told her that I would help her through the process later. It was wonderful to see her eyes light up because I had 1) found the answer to her question and 2) not forgotten her question and 3) cared enough to figure it out. She asked if she could keep the piece of paper I had written my work and answer on, I gave it to her, and watched her smile as she looked at it the entire way back to her seat.
Teachers are bombarded with questions like this each and every day. I'm finding it hard to decide which questions to answer for them and which to challenge them to figure out for themselves. Each time I've answered a question such as the example above, the kids' eyes have lit up with joy at finally knowing the answer. It's been such a joy to see this all happen because I know learning is happening, even if I'm the one providing the answer. Ideally, I would want the kids answering their own questions. For now, however, I am happy to answer questions like "How many millimeters are in a mile?" and "Why is the abbreviation for pounds lbs.?"
(For those that are curious, I challenge you to find the answers to the above questions. :) )
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