HEAD TEACHING.

PHEW. I am...exhausted.

So, last week I was essentially head teaching but under the supervision of my cooperating teacher. Things were easy as pie. Every lesson went smoothly. No major issues.

Today and Monday (we had a snow day on Tuesday) were not the case. Among the things I had to deal with were: 3 crying students before 1 pm, stopping lessons 4 separate times in 2 days to have major talks about behavior/listening/following directions, trying to resolve arguments between students while transitioning the whole group...All things I know I will have to deal with when I'm teaching in my own classroom. I fell asleep for about an hour and a half after school today because it was that draining.

HOWEVER. It has been a blast, and I really mean that. That's the weird thing about teaching - it's an odd juxtaposition of both extreme happiness/fulfillment and extreme agony/frustration/wanting to rip your hair out at the same time. It's those little moments that count, I've found.

Like today, when I sent an email home to parents explaining it would be my last day head teaching on Monday and that the class had earned another reward. I received a really touching email back from the parent of one of the quietest students in the class about how thankful she is for all of my help and how much her daughter enjoys class when I'm teaching. As a teacher, I always think there is more I could be doing. How can I help this student more? How can I help the group succeed together? And I always think I'm failing. But those short emails, or the kids running up and giving me a hug during the middle of a transition between activities, or getting a note that simply says "I like you Miss Rock" - that's what motivates me through each day. :) (All of those things happened today, by the way.)

I also tried bringing my ukulele in today to help teach a few lessons. I started off by singing a "piggyback" song to welcome the class to the carpet, which went over really well. For the most part, the students were very respectful of the instrument and wanted to learn more about it. There was an instance when a child was crawling around the room during rest time and knocked it over, but that was an issue that was quickly "squashed," as my cooperating teacher would put it. If I brought my ukulele in again, I'd probably be more explicit about the types of things I expect from the students about how to be respectful of the instrument/how to take care of things.

Honestly, my brain is so scattered right now it's hard to think of specific things today to reflect on. But the main thing I think I've learned is to be as proactive as possible. This is something I try to do every day, but I think with students at this young age I also need to be as explicit as possible. I've tried to provide positive feedback, telling the students I know the amazing things they are capable of...and it has worked, to an extent. I think tomorrow, to make things run more smoothly, we'll have a quick "group meeting" in the morning about our behavior for the day so I don't have a repeat of the last two days.