Staying Alive

Week one: Complete.

Was it a success? I guess you could call it that. I picked up 3rd grade this week, lucky for me. If you were wondering, I'm teaching them the body parts. You know, head-shoulders-knees-and-toes and all that jazz. Fascinating stuff let me tell you. So, here's the breakdown.

Last weekend, my dad took me shopping. Yes, I am 22. Yes, I will be graduating college in 2 months. And yes, I still absolutely love it when my Dad gives me an "allowance" and takes me shopping. So anyway, my point is, is that I had a new fabulous outfit to wear on Monday. My first day teaching, I wanted to look snazzy, dressed to impressed. Well, I'm not sure how impressive I really was, I'm pretty sure my wardrobe equaled failure. Not that it wasn't school "appropriate", it was... I'm just not sure that it was "head, shoulders, knees and toes" appropriate. Picture this: A beautiful long "sweater dress", black leggings, knee high boots. I got a lot of compliments. And almost died. Okay, so not literally, but I'm pretty sure I was close.

Let me just paint you a picture. I'm in my first class, and we start doing head, shoulders, knees, and toes (in Spanish of course). We continue to sing the song faster and faster, until eventually it's a huge jambalaya of nothingness. So, there I am, singing faster and faster, and heating up inside that dang sweater of mine. By the end of the song, I was seriously sweating. Yes, maybe this is an indication that I need to work out more (we're not even going to talk about the fact that by Wednesday I could barely walk because my thighs were hurting so bad), but I also think it is an indication that I clearly do not need to wear "winter" clothing in my classrooms, because my life could potentially be in danger. At the end of the class one of the kids raised his hand and was like "Uhh.... your face is really red" ... Yes, I know. Thank you captain obvious.

And ok, so I have to admit it. I have picked a favorite. I'm sure that I probably shouldn't do that, but I can't help it. No, not a favorite student (although there are a select few that I like more than others), but a favorite class. There is one class that does exactly what I tell them to do, when I tell them to do it, and how I want them to. They're quiet when they need to be, sing when they need to sing, and repeat when they need to repeat. They have spoiled me. I get so used to their class, that half the time I feel completely unprepared for the hooligans that enter my classroom. Seriously, I'm pretty sure some of these teachers are handing out Mountain Dew as exit passes before they come to see me. No joke. It's like someone said "Let's give this student teacher one class of perfect little angels, and then make sure every other class is chock full of adhd-asperger-attention seeking psycho students". So basically, I guess it's going to prove to be interesting. I'm sure I've already said that 50 times, but really I don't know any other way to describe it.

On a side note, my computer crashed Wednesday night. I had all sorts of things to print and cut and laminate... Annnnd then my computer decided to do the opposite of be cooperative, and just shut down. Turns out it was just that I needed a new power cord, but I still had a mini panic. I mean, how did teachers survive back in the day?! I was lost without my computer, I seriously had no idea what to do. Luckily it only lasted a night... Hopefully it never happens again.

Today I only had one class. And they were DREADFUL. I understand that it was Friday,  but these kids were just off the wall. And I was completely ineffective in settling them down. Hopefully next week it will be smoother, I don't know, but I clearly need to figure out some better tactics for those crazy classes that don't seem to want to listen to me no matter what I do.

Well, until next week.... Happy Friday!