Day 1

FYI My pictures still won't post and I don't care enough to fix it so sorry for the boring picture-less entry.

I need to write down some of these experiences from student teaching somewhere so I am doing it on my blog since it's kind of like my journal at the moment.
Today was my first day of student teaching and it went pretty smoothly I think. I slept really well last night (despite my brain going a million miles a minute with every worst case scenario out there) and I woke up to my alarm. Unfortunately, I had set my alarm for 6:00 am when I was actually supposed to set it for 5:30 am so I had a late start regardless. Nevertheless, I got to school on time and prepared for the day.
I was really expecting to have some pretty bad nerves before class started but I think all the praying and vicodin (just kidding) helped because I found myself just getting up and doing what I needed to do. The only time I was really nervous was that moment when I walked to the front of the class 1st period and began to take control of the students. It reminded me of when I went cliff diving with my family at Lake Powell-I was standing on the edge of the cliff and knew that as soon as my feet left the ground I would have to fall but I also knew it was going to take a purposeful physical effort on my part to make it happen.
As soon as I started talking, I felt like I had been a teacher all my life. It was kind of amazing. It was even better when the students behaved like I was a teacher. They listened to me and paid attention to me which relieved my #1 worry (Although truthfully I have to remember that it was only the first day...).
Even better the students seemed to like me. They laughed at my jokes and a couple even smiled at me in the hallway later that day. My cooperating teacher seems to think I am doing pretty good too. The only thing that I am feeling nervous about is when I am going to have to discipline the students because that is definitely my weak point. But I will cross that bridge when it comes to it!
I was completely exhausted by the end of the day and I am definitely not getting enough sleep so I need to start working on getting an earlier bedtime so I don't kill myself.
All in all I enjoyed the first day but I still have so many worries and "what-ifs" that go though my mind when I am not in the class. And I am feeling a little stressed at the schedule my cooperating teacher has put me on-a student teacher is typically supposed to observe for the first 2 weeks and then slowly take over the class finally taking over the class completely around the 6 week mark. I am doing this the very first week. Kind of terrifying. But with the Lord's help I think I can do this!


PS I still miss Rexburg more than I can say. But I am sure student teaching will help me forget that REAL quick!

And the countdown has begun.

Goodness. I really can't believe that I start teaching in less than a week. 5 days to be exact. I met my cooperating teacher Ms. Alber who seems like a perfectly lovely person but makes me so nervous I sweat in places I didn't know you could sweat from. (TMI? Oh well, it's true). She has been teaching for 15 years which makes her really laid back. I like that but it also makes it hard on me because she doesn't write things down anymore. ("It's all in my head," she tells me with a reassuring smile. Can you transfer that through a USB drive? Cause a whole lot of good the info in your head does for me...) And she wants me to start teaching on the very first day. The usual expectation is for students to observe for the first week at least. Although I may seem like I am complaining, I am actually really excited and think that Ms. Alber is going to teach me a lot. I just will go through a lot of deodorant and tears the first few weeks of my experience! NBD.

In other news: I am officially gone from Rexburg and I miss it terribly. I can honestly say that my experience there has been one of the best experience of my life. I am so grateful for that experience.

And here are just a few of the many happy memories from the last three months that will help get me through the next three months!

AND FOR SOME DARN REASON THE PICTURE INSERTER THINGY ISN'T WORKING. SO ONCE IT WORKS...PICTURES!