Constantly Learning

I am trying to absorb everything that comes my way during this unique and amazing experience. I am trying to grasp every opportunity that I can and learn as much as possible, so that I can be the best teacher for my students. The assistant principal is quite impressed with our work thus far, and she is a lovely woman so that is great. Today was a very busy day at school, but we got a lot accomplished. The students really buckled down today and got a lot of work done, and were very well behaved. I love that my students respond very well to my nonverbal cues and they know just by a look that I give them what they should or should not be doing. It is wonderful and allows for instruction to carry on without all of the disruptions. The students really listen to me and behave the same for me, sometimes even better, than they do for the teacher.

Today was a breakthrough day for one of our students who has been having quite a bit of trouble. This student has had trouble following directions and just seems to always get into trouble. Today I came up with the idea of talking to him at the very beginning of the day about trying to have the best day possible. I told him how it makes me happy to see him succeed. I asked him if he likes it when I have to give him the "teacher stare" and he told me no, and I said don't you like it when I can give you a thumbs up and good job and he told me yes. I told him that we were going to make it a day full of good jobs and high fives. Everytime I saw him doing something good I gave him such positive reinforcement and his face lit up it was so beautiful! He had his first EXCELLENT day since school started! I was so thrilled! At the end of the day I told him to bring his mom over to the classroom so I could tell her how wonderful he was. His mom was so thrilled. I do not think he had ever had a good report home before. I am learning so much about individual children's needs and how to help them succeed it is amazing! I love this profession. Going to work everyday is going to be a delight!