Drumroll Please

I've never been a particularly good blogger/journal-writer/record-keeper of any kind. Filling drawers and bookshelves in every home I've ever lived in are probably about three hundred partially filled journals (partially filled meaning two or three pages) and littering the internet are dozens of blogs started and promptly abandoned. Let's be honest: I just have no time. Or, if I have time, I just get bored and move on to the next exciting project. But this is a blog I'm determined to keep up with, though I am setting some guidelines for myself.

1. Do not give yourself any kind of requirement on how much you have to blog. You hate required writing. You may think you like required writing, but really you hate it. 
2. Stay anonymous. It's better for you. 
3. Length does not matter - this isn't REQUIRED WRITING. See guideline number one.

Mainly, I'm going to be using this to talk about student teaching, success and failures, to post resources for myself and basically keep myself sane. Clearly, I like to set impossible goals. 

On to more interesting things!

I have quite the class this year. I'm in a Title I fifth grade classroom. I didn't think I'd enjoy fifth grade all that much but wow, I do, I really do. They're weird and funny and heartbreaking, though I think any class, no matter what grade, is much the same in that regard. But there's something different about older kids. They understand more about the world, they're sharp and intuitive and they don't need you all the time, but most of them still want to make you happy. 

They make me wonder if I could teach middle school (though part of me cringes at the admission). It used to be that I could never even imagine teaching middle school, but I think that was due to having a horrible time when I was a middle schooler. Who knows what will happen in the future.

Today I taught my sixth lesson this semester, leaving me with two lessons left (!!!!!!!!). Time flies absurdly fast. Graduating in May still seems so far off, even though in reality it's only around six months (holy cow). 

Today we did a hands-on lesson involving ocean currents which used a pie pan filled with water and pepper. I was nervous, I'm not going to lie. My professor was observing me, I was stressed about my non-English speaking darlings, my sweet kids who turn me inside out by not participating and the angels who have a hard time grasping most concepts. I love them all, but I really just needed them to function like a well-oiled machine in front of my professor, when most days they're usually a few screws short of a full toolbox. I personally know my trouble kids and I know who can do what and how they're going to perform, but my professor doesn't and that's a little nerve-wracking. 

But all that worry was for naught. Everything that wasn't as good as I wanted it to be was entirely my fault, which I can deal with. It's real life, I'm not going to have a perfect lesson every time. However, my professor and my cooperating teacher scored me well and I have a handle on things I need to fix for next time. 

Until next time,

Ms. Bee