Playing Catch Up: Full Time Teaching and Phase Out

The last time I posted, I had just begun my full time teaching. It is crazy for me to think about that being over a month ago. Let me tell you, it was a wild ride. As crazy, hectic, and stressful as it was, I loved every minute of it. Knowing that I had to be the one to make the decisions felt really nice and even though James ultimately has control of the classroom, he left me a lot of room to make decisions for myself. 


The one thing about full time teaching that really struck me was how easily I fell into it all. As soon as Tuesday morning rolled around, I knew what I had to do and how to do it and I went in a got it done. You could say that I was in the 'teaching zone.' I am sure that I overlooked some of the smaller things, like addressing minor issues within the classroom, forgetting to handout the reading logs on time, and overlooking minor details, but overall, I think those three weeks went really well. What is very comforting is how natural it felt to be in control and in charge of the classroom. 


I ended full time November 10th and have since been in what is called phase out. This phase out process means that I slowly give back more responsibility to my mentor teacher by teaching progressively fewer lessons. For me, however, the start of phase out meant that I was feeling almost bored in the classroom. I want(ed) to be in charge of the classroom because it all seemed so natural. Sure, while the chaos of children running around, students calling you a liar (yes, this actually happened--I'll address this in a later post), having to make a million copies of pointless worksheets that I will be forced to grade later, and making on the fly decisions about the day kept me on my toes and stressed beyond belief, I wish I were still in the mix of that. I miss being in control of the classroom and my kids. 


What really hit home that I had entered phase out was when my students kept asking me why I weren't teaching more. It just about broke my heart to tell them that Mr. Postman would be taking over more things now. Fortunately and unfortunately, the kids seemed genuinely saddened by this and begged for me to teach more. So, basically, I dislike phase out very, very much (even if it means that I can actually see my roommates).  


As it has been over a month since my last post (I'm sorry to all those that check this blog regularly--you know who you are), I hope to over my break catch up on what you've all missed out on. While it would be impossible for me to give you every detail of each of my days, I will try my hardest to fill you all in. For now, my future posts will focus mostly on behavioral issues (this may have to be put into several posts, as this has been the biggest obstacle for me), silly things kids say, conferences, my unit, and other random things.