This post is going to have to be mostly about me. These past two weeks have been CRAZY! My first week of student teaching was so much fun, but very hard on my back or my feet depending on the shoes I wore. I got some really comfy shoes from Clarks - with about 1 1/2 inches of heel. It was the smart thing to do to keep my feet from hurting, right? Well, I discovered the hard way that higher heels help my back not hurt. So, now I need to get me a nice pair of 3 in Clarks heels! After school has been hard as well, but in a different way.
My mentor teacher is awesome! During the first week of school I observed for 2 days and was teaching portions of the lesson by the third day. It's gone very well and this past week I have taught every day a little more of the classes. I got to do instruments with 2nd-5th grades. It's been a bit of a challenge - remembering what all to teach as far as expectations for playing instruments, how to play the instruments and then the parts on each instrument. The hardest part has been that, since there are 3 different instruments, the students have to take turns practicing them. That means there is dead time for 2/3 of the class and that turns into a serious potential for talking. Luckily, the classes have been mostly behaved. I've had to give reminders, but mostly that's all.
Today, while my mentor was outside in the hallway watching thru the window, one of the kids decided he needed to talk. I reminded him not to. He did again and I made him and his friend he was talking with sit on the risers to behave while I was practicing with the others or he would loose his turn playing the instrument. He was good for that practice time, so I let him and the others back with the instruments. On the next round of instruments, I caught him talking again while I was working with another group. He lost the opportunity to play at all. Later he had a conduct card written. Come to find out, he'd been hitting (apparently not hard) a friend with one of the instruments while I was working with a group.
Another incident today was that during 6th grade choir, my teacher got a call then she had to leave for a bit. I suddenly got thrown into teaching the 6th grade by myself - no help and no prep time! The projector we were using to help the kids see all the words to their music wasn't working the way it should and I couldn't figure out how to fix it, so we had to turn it off, then it wouldn't start again. Needless to say, the kids got talking and I could never get it back under control completely. SO, they didn't get to have their letter for the day to give them recess time on Tuesday. But for the most part, the class went well all things considered. We got through everything we were supposed to cover and I figured out how to work it all without my mentor there to help me. I came up with a plan B and will have to make sure I'm more prepared for an incident like that in the future!
The after school situation is difficult as well. At school, the energy from the kids helps me push through the day and enjoy it. At home, the energy from my kids drains me till I can't take it anymore. It's like I'm a different person in some ways. I come home tired and exhausted and then while I'm trying to get dinner on or the kitchen somewhat under control, my brownies are running around like hyperactive noise machines. Mostly, they are trying to have fun, but I need their help with things here and there (like having them bring their folders so I can see what they brought home), setting the table or emptying the dishwasher. But they just ignore anything I do to try and get some help with all the myriad of things needing to be done. They've already had time to play and relax, but I don't get that - hardly ever. I try to spend time with them (usually at the park or something active) then go home and work on homework while getting them ready for bed and work on homework while they go to sleep and work on homework till I get up, get things ready for the next morning and then I can shower and go to bed. By then, Jacob's been in bed for a while and asleep too.
I'm ready to be done with school. I would rather be either a stay at home mom, or if I do end up working, I'd like to do it without all the added school work on top of it. I feel like I'm a fun, cheerful person at school and a stressed, student mom at home. I need to find a way to get the two different Donuts to merge and be a smaller, better Donut!
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