learning

>>One thing I love about being a teacher is the learning aspect. Every year, every month, every second I am learning new strategies, new lessons, new everything that will work with my students. One minute you think you have the best most effective teaching methods. And the next you see something that completely blows you out of the water. I love that. I have recently becoming obsessed with a website called pinterest. It has a whole education section, where people post interesting items related to education. I have found SO much I want to do in my class just in the last few days. Everyday I am printing out file folder games, organization tips, sight word worksheets etc. I have also found about a billion teacher blogs, who instead of complaining all the time, use their blog to share resources and post work sheets that they use. I think I may start doing this. I want to be a productive member of my teaching experience. And although it is only my 2nd year, I think it's time to get it together, figure out what I need for my students and either find it or create it.

>>I had an impossible day today with a certain student, and I finally stood up to his mother regarding a few issues. IT FELT AMAZING. I always tiptoe around parents, but sometimes you have to stand up for what you believe is best for the student, and I finally did! I am so proud of myself.

>>Finally, this has been brought to my attention recently, and I think it needs to be addressed. "witch-aide" is an awful name for my new and really permeant aide. I LOVE HER. She is beyond amazing. A perfect balance of sarcastic humor (that fits in perfectly with me!), toughness, love, creativity, and fun. She is AMAZING. She brings in extra food to share with everyone. She's kind, funny, and just awesome. Her new name needs to be amazaide! I am very happy. I will post a picture of the new bulletin board she made during our half-day week.

>>Another thing I need to touch base with is confidentiality. I know I SHARE a lot of daily happenings, my life, my students life, their disabilities, etc. Every name in my blog has been changed. Most of you know who I am. Know my personal name. But, that is mentioned no where in this blog. The school I work at, even the state I live in is left out specifically so I feel like I can share everything and not feel like I need to leave anything out. I honestly hope I am covering all my basis, but I honestly don't know. If there is something else I should be doing please let me know.

Things I have learned in my first year of teaching..

>>Things I have learned in my first year of teaching #1: Never be afraid to ask questions or ask for help.

I am definitely the type of person who finds a way to do something and sticks to it. I am sort of controlling in the sense that I like my routine. I like things to be structured. At least I like to know what to expect. Although it's really hard as a teacher, and I can go with the flow, if it is up to me I like to know what will happen, what time, when, who will be there, even to the point where I practice what to say before I meet with people so that I am prepared. I like organization. I like to have my own style of organization that works for me. Even though I have 3 instructional assistants in my room I like to do a lot of the work myself. I like to plan the lessons. I like the prepare the worksheets. Make the copies. Copy my assessments. Organize my IEP files. Discuss issues with other teachers. Plan my meetings. etc. etc. etc. Throughout this year I have had to learn to ask for help. Not only with these small things like organization or teaching a certain skill, but with the kids. I have had to admit that I cannot handle everything and that there are a lot of people who have a lot of experience and I need to be able to ask. I need to ask advice and ask when I don’t know how something works, what something is, or what I should do. I have learned that it doesn’t make people think you are less experienced or unknowledgeable to ask them questions, or ask them what I should do. It has made me a stronger person I think to be able to admit when I need help.

>>On another funny note, I got super glue in my hair today while I was gluing one of my student’s backpacks together after one of my other students ripped it apart. The funny part was, I didn’t notice I had gotten it in my hair until about 2 hours later and (I am almost embarrassed to admit) there were many things I thought could have been hard and crusty in my hair before I remembered the super glue. Wow, this is how it must feel to be a parent.

>>And finally, maybe this is just a kid thing, but I am so sick of tattle tails in my class. Everyone has to be involved in everyone else's business. I have kids telling me all the time about this kid did this to another kid, they are telling me about things that they weren’t even involved in. I had to give a big speech that unless it's something someone is doing to YOU, or if it is something dangerous I do not want to hear about it. I feel like that is almost cruel but its getting to the point where I have 7 people telling me about one situation or I am getting told about what so and so is doing every single second. There has to be a balance. Hopefully we can find it.