Long day

Today is just a regular day, with a schedule change for PSSA. We had specials right after our morning meeting at 9:35, and when we came back, we only had 10 minutes until lunchtime. After lunch, we did our 3 rounds of Daily 5 before it was time for snack and pit. We had one student arrive late today. Yesterday he was out of school because he had broken his clavicle and he came in in a sling. He also got a haircut. When he arrived, my CT explained what had happened, and that we need to be careful not to bump into him. A lot of students were surprised because they noticed his haircut and not his sling.

The day was kind of a hard one. Our schedule has been very crazy with PSSA and we had a long afternoon in the classroom today. By the end of the day, the class was pretty restless. I have been trying out some new strategies to deal with this, but it is something I really want to work on more. I also feel like when I have my own classroom with my own rules and procedures it will be a little better because I can set up my own rules. I also get the feeling they don’t consider me as a full teacher…they know I’m a student teacher. I’ve even had one student say that to me – but you’re still a student too. That drives me crazy.

I met with the principal after school today to talk about the lesson he observed yesterday. The meeting went well and he offered some great advice and suggestion while he also explained what he liked about my lesson. He liked seeing my interactions with kids and he was impressed with my lesson planning. He gave me some suggestions on how to engage everyone fully and how to redirect if a discussion veers off topic. Overall, it was a tough day, but productive. I am hoping to start the day off well tomorrow with a good morning meeting using a new greeting I found.