My first semester as a teacher! And by successfully, I mean the students all went home alive for Christmas break! I kid, I kid. Kind of. I can't believe how fast it went by! It honestly feels like I just started teaching. Sure, I know the kids more and we have a routine but I still feel like the classroom is a 3 ring circus all the time. I guess that doesn't have to be a bad thing. I am balancing different curriculums. But being busy is nice during the day because I'm running around like a crazy person and the next thing I know, it is the end of the day and the kids are getting on the bus. There are many things I have learned so far...
-to pick my battles
-be confident with my decisions (I really am the boss man now)
- always accept a hug from a student
- students never forget when you promise them something
-but they do forget something related to academics 5 minutes after you told them
- be kind to everyone on campus, it really makes a difference
- patience is incredibly important in my job
- my paraeducator and I can have a whole conversation through facial expressions
-speaking code in front of students gets more and more difficult as they learn to read
-never underestimate the power of a prize box, it can make kids do anything
-teaching the rules of 4 square to students is one of the most difficult things ever
-sometimes you need to stop everything, put on some music and dance
-if I look like an idiot, but it makes the students laugh-totally worth it
- take it as a compliment when students call you mom, I just tell myself that they see me as very important in their life and know that I love them, just like their mom
- I have the best job ever
- I have the best job ever
One thing I do need to work on it clocking out. When the day is over, and I'm coming home, I still can't help but vent everything to whoever will listen. I need to leave it at school. Especially all the sad things, no one wants to hear about that stuff. Anyways, IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily, I have all my Christmas shopping done. I did, however, brave the mall yesterday to get an outfit for The Nutcracker tonight with grandma. Found some amazing deals, so it was all worth the madness. Ryan and I had a great time in Disneyland. We definately needed the mini vacation. It made me extremely excited for when we have our own children and we start bringing them. Ryan also got a new job, no more petsmart! He is now a manager at a storage unit facility. They also just asked him if he would be interested in being a general manager which would be a raise and more responsibility. I really hope that works out. He is liking his job a lot more than he did petsmart, which makes me very happy. He is not embarrassed anymore about where he works. It is hard to find time to spend together because his days off are in the middle of the week and mine are on weekends. But we are trying to save money for a down payment on a house. We are lucky with our living situation now because it gives us the chance to save a lot of money each month. Here are some pictures from Disneyland...
