Friday, August 22, 2008

we finished our 2nd and 1/2 weeks of school. i have already graded 252 papers, scheduled 2 conferences, written at least 5 notes and put 5 students in study hall (detention). wow! but you know what? i wouldn't do anything else. i truly love teaching!

i had several "atta girls" this week from my principal! it was really nice b/c she doesn't give compliments all the time. we were asked to come up with goals for our teaching, what we wanted to work towards. i had actually been thinking about this this summer (slow summer ) so i was ready for this. they are ambitious goals to be sure but what's a goal that can be easily reached??? anyway, my principal was so impressed with them she e-mailed them to our curriculum director who wrote her back with "WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

the other thing was about my kids. i am so glad i was able to move up with them. in social studies we have been discussing goal making and why goals are important. this is one reason i wanted to move to 5th. these kids are just beginning to have opinions of their own and understand what these mean and the importance of them. anyway they came up with goals of their own and they also wrote a class mission statement which was pretty awesome. my principal thought this was terrific also!

if you can't tell i am very glad to be working with 5th graders again and so far i have had a good start to the year. i think it will be a good year with lots of hard work on my part and my students' part. i told them i was going to work them hard and they could rest on the weekend!

i would like to share some things i have learned over the years as a teacher. keith is forever telling me i should write a how-to book but for now this will do. so here goes:
  1. remember that each and every child you teach is someone's baby
  2. you are not the most important person in a child's life but you can definitely be one of the important people in their life
  3. always give a child a chance to save face, if you back a child into a corner they will come out fighting and you will lose
  4. be enthusiastic and honest when you teach
  5. never be afraid to say i don't know and then try your best to find out the answer

more later : )

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