A Dream Come True, Thank You, and Pictures of the Classroom

It's true.  I am finally a classroom teacher.  It's wonderful, stressful, challenging, tiring, rewarding and everything in between.  Yesterday (Friday) I came home from work at about 6:00 and Trent and I headed to Costa Vida for date night.  After date night, we went back to the house to play board games. But first, I suggest that we take a quick 30 min. nap.  It was about 7 o'clock - so not too late.  Later, I heard someone moving around the room and I shot out of bed.  It was Trent.  He said that it was midnight and he was just going to bed.  Apparently, he had tried to wake me up at 8 and I growled at him so he just let me sleep.  So basically I went into a small coma.  I was only up for about 5 minutes and I fell back asleep until 8:30 the next day.  Do the math, folks.  That is over 13 hours of sleep.  Seriously, I was exhausted.  I wake up at 5 every morning, I keep up with 19 kids all day long and then I stay until 7 {maybe later} every night.  Then I do more work at home until midnight and I start my routine over again.  It is grueling. But I LOVE it. I know that sounds crazy, but I would do anything for those children. But something I am working on is time management and learning to listen when my body says, "STOP!"   Also, decorating my classroom was like a stressful, but also a dream come true.  I feel like the pictures below do not do it justice {Trent - let's get a better camera}.  Seriously.  You should have seen the kid's faces when they saw it the first day of school.  "Wow!" "Cool!" "Awesome!" "Yes!" were all common phrases.  Success people! But that success would have not been possible without a few people.   Ambrey: You are such an amazing friend.  Seriously - what would I do without you!? You spent so much time with me getting my classroom ready the first week before you went to Utah.  You ran errands with me and it was nice having a fellow perfectionist in the classroom because you understood my OCD tendencies.  Thank you. I owe you TONS. P.S. - I am sorry I am so good at phone tag ;)   Kayla and Chad:  Is there anyone better than the Merrells?  I suggest not.  Kayla, how could I ever thank you enough?  You are pregnant! A child is growing inside of you and you are running to Idaho Falls {twice}, helping me hang things from the ceiling, cutting hundreds of letters, organizing, painting, and reassuring me after every decision and project.  I could not have done it without you.  You have seen me as the tired zombie, fed our little family, and have just portrayed the true love of Christ.  And Chad - when we die and go to heaven - I am going to prove to you that SO many people have complimented me on the stadium lights. Because it has happened at least 6 times!  Dead serious.   Gail Merrell:  Over 300 books... I still can't believe how many books I have collected in the last week.  Thank you so much! I can't imagine how long it took you to sort and pack all those books. I just want you to know that I appreciate it!  I wish I could have recorded the children's faces when they saw the books.  Thank you! Thank you so much! I truly appreciate it!   Mommy and Daddy:  You know how much I love you. I hate being so far away from you.  Thank you for driving the 16 hours to give me those books.  Only a deep love for a child could possess two individuals to drive so far, only to stay for one day and then drive so far back.  I hope that I can become as patient, selfless, and long suffering as you two {and you know that last part is true}.   Trent: You are my rock.  You are my everything.  What husband takes his free time to decorate his wife's classroom, build her a hutch, and basically spend all his free time revolving around her.  You are the most selfless individual I have met. I love you.   There are so many other people I should say thank you to!  Sam - for bringing me fabulous treats that helped me get through my preparation week, Talia for training me to become an excellent teacher. Seriously - I just want to be like her.  Kelli for our first teacher support groups ;).  There is SO much that goes into teaching.  So much preparation, love, challenges, and fun.  Here is to a successful year!   So my classroom theme is about teamwork - that is why it is a sports theme.  We talk about how in this class, we are all working together to try and help each other succeed.  Let me tell you, the kids have ATE this up! They absolutely love it! The first week, I taught them how to teach.  We talked about not giving the answers to our peers but showing them how to come up with the right answer.  It is definitely a work in progress but they are doing so well.  It's amazing.  I love this teamwork theme.  We have a big poster that says, "T.E.A.M. Together Everyone Achieves More."  Having that as our motto has made a huge difference in our classroom environment. Now for the pictures:  

I was SO nervous.  Seriously, I thought I was going to pass out.  Nothing you do during college can prepare you for that moment.  

 You see that white board underneath that sign - yeah. I did that. Well Ambrey did that.  That was a chalkboard people and we turned it into a white board. Hold the applause.

Those are their book bags on that stylish 70's bright orange backpack rack.  I actually just moved our locker room down below the backpacks so that I could put up Mountain Language above the backpacks.

Please, stay awhile.  You are always welcomed here.

Kayla hung the footballs and baseballs from the ceiling.  Later, I found thin plastic bases.  I am gong to put a hole punch through it and then hang it above the groups.

Get it - Lunch is "Served." Thank you Pinterest.

Excuse the mess.  I wasn't completely put together when I took this picture. But how cute is this banner?

 The kids LOVED this.  Also, I am getting pillows and bean bags for them to relax on while they read. Notice the 12 boxes of books! Thank you Gail!

 Every kid has a job and it is related to a something in baseball.  For example, the assistant coach is the teacher's assistant and the concessions manager is the lunch count.  They love it!  Also, they had to interview for their jobs.  Best. Day. Ever.

 Math Rotations, Fast Finishers, and Writing Section.  Whenever a child asks a question that I don't know the answer, they write it down and put it on the corkboard.  If they finish their work early, they come and grab any index card and research the answer and then report their answers on Friday.  They love it!

 They really are tough words!

 The stadium lights. I should have taken a picture of it far away.  It looks SO good with the rest of the classroom.

   

Keep Calm... and Follow Through

Teaching is wonderful. Honestly. In my biased opinion, it is the most rewarding profession.  We not only teach them facts, but we shape them. We teach them manners, how to be kind, how to independently calm yourself down, how to deal with an injury, how to share, how to speak to one another, etc.  I am sure you get the idea.  And it’s rewarding, and I wouldn’t change my career choice EVER.  I love these kids more than anything and I love seeing them grow.

But then we have those days where you think, “Why did I become a teacher?” And ladies and gentlemen, this was one of those days.  Now, I am only a student teacher.  And sometimes this is hard because they know I am not really their teacher.  Also, school gets out in one week and they are antsy. So this week we decided to do a non-competitive tournament with the other teachers.  We played each class in softball.  It was just a fun activity to get the kids outside and not stuck in the classroom. The kids have loved it and been fantastic all week.  But today a few things happened:

·         As teachers, we didn’t coordinate our rules so we were both making different calls

·         The kids were just arguing, pushing, and getting mad at each other

·         Kids were doing gymnastics on the field and one girl kicked another girl in the neck while doing a cartwheel

·         Calling names at the other team

·         Here is the biggest one: The students started arguing with ME

             Now, the last one is what boils my blood. They argued with me.  ME?! They know I am the law.  What Mrs. Thompson says is what will happen. Now, some of the calls I made may not have been accurate.  But there were 60 kids on that field. I can’t see everything all the time.

 And then I made the biggest mistake. I threatened but did not act on my threats.  I can hear myself now saying, “If you say one more negative comment, then we are going inside!” “Don’t do that again, or we are going inside?” “We’ll go inside if you don’t talk nicely to other people.” Can you see where I became a broken record? Because I had “threatened” so many times, they didn’t believe I would actually do it and it just kept getting worse with every play.  Finally, I stopped the game.  The kids went inside and I had to report to my cooperating teacher (their actual teacher) what had happened on the field. I was completely embarrassed in front of the other teachers on the field. But worst of all, I didn’t have the students’ respect.

To make a long post shorter, my cooperating teacher had a stern talk with the kids.  She talked to them about what happened, what we could do next time, and how should make things right.  Then, my cooperating teacher asked me to say a few words….

“Boys and girls, I feel like Mrs. Thompson should say a few words to you.  She was the one outside with you, not me.  And she has a right to say how she is feeling. Right now, it might be hard for her because she has been hurt by the comments you have said. But when she is ready she will talk.”

BAM. Lost it. Tears just formed in my eyes. I walked over to the library and acted like I was reading something. I don’t know if they saw me or not but by the end of the day, I had 30 apology letters.

Teachers do more than teach Math, Science, History and English.  We shape children. There is so much that goes on the classroom every. single. day. Each moment is crucial because a habit is forming, a decision is made, and the students are growing.
 I guess the moral to this post for any individual who deals with children:

 Give the expectations and follow through with the consequences you have said. 

Do not be a broken record like I was on the field.  And THINK before you say the consequence. Honestly, I shouldn’t have jumped to the worse consequence like, “We will go inside and not play tennis ball anymore!”  I should have said, “Next person who says a rude comment will stand by me for the next 10 mintues of the game."  Then, it is not affecting the whole class, just the offender. See where I am going with this?  By the end of the day, everything was flowing smoothly. But boy, oh boy, thank goodness I am learning these lessons now.  Anyone have any managment techniques they use with their classrooms or children?