In the Thick of It {Weekly Blog}

If you have not picked up by reading my blogs yet I like quotes. They are a constant motivation and reminder to me. Sometimes I will just Google quotes on a certain topic to read through to be re-inspired and motivated. It might sound cheesy, or maybe a little lame, but the power of words is never ceases for me.

I have two quotes posted on this blog, one about glowsticks and one about dancing. This week I was only in school for 2 days and it was overwhelming. I am a person who likes to be 100% prepared for everything because that is when I feel confident and I want to give my 100% to everyone. This I have found challenging as a teacher, especially as a new one. There are processes, procedures, and consistencies for different activities and responsibilities that become the "norm" after working through a few times. Well there was a lot of them this week for me outside of the "regular" routine. I lead my first committee through the teacher dinner the FFA held, contacted parents on parent-teacher night through phone and email, met with a parent during the parent-teacher conference times, graded speech manuscripts for the first time, and have been working through high number absences.

The glowstick quote reminds me that even though I am a student teacher that is always going to give 100% effort, I will break during the process. Once these breaks happen, there will be shining moments. These breaks are in forms of over looking details as a first timer, not planning sufficient time to complete something, students not caring, assignments or projects not understood, concepts you are teaching not being understood, and the list goes on. These breaks can be big or small but once the light bulb goes off and the assignment becomes fun and not frustrating, that is when the when the glow occurs.

The second quote I have is referencing not getting through but enjoying and loving the moment you are in. There is a lot going on. A lot of new. This week has been a challenge to take time to sit and reflect a lot on the positive because there is so much room for improvement. There are many aspects of the art of teaching that I want to improve to increase student learning. After being at our first seminar there are also a lot of areas of the three-circle model that I want to work increase my understanding and involvement in.

In saying that though it is good to state the positives because I know they were there. So here are a few:
1. The teacher dinner was a success. The students worked diligently and had fun serving the faculty at Big Spring High School
2. I developed a new cognitively high level assignment and implemented it in my horticulture class. We are still have some questions to work through, but I am very excited about it.
3. I overcame anxiety of calling and emailing parents which resulted in understanding the power in parent-teacher conversations. I set a goal to contact parents again for both positive and negative behavior.