It's September and I'm teaching Grade 3 for the first time which means life is a little BUSY! You know, just a little... but I thought I'd ignore the papers still sitting in my backpack for a little while and compile an update of strictly important things!
My new favourite font of the school year thus far is Comic Sans, which sadly blogger doesn't seem to have, so i shall settle for something a little different! Did I just say that?? Yes! Fonts are important things when you have to create endless happy handouts, updates and other such documents to print and photocopy.
Planning ahead... when parents who are taking their kids out of school more than a week early for holiday want "homework" for while they are gone, it's not always a bad thing! It is actually great to see a parent who cares about their son or daughter's studies. It just means I have to think ahead about what will be happening next week, which I am starting to do more of. For the first week or so it was hard to see beyond the next day but thankfully the big picture is slowly emerging... sometimes!
Positive vs. Negative reinforcement!!! yes, classroom management! After not having to deal with much last year with my sweet Chinese girls, there's a lot to think about in this area! Everyday it seems I swing back and forth - wanting to encourage good behaviour and deal with other behaviour in such a way that it's not always scolding and remembering this is only grade 3, but STILL they are grade 3!!! ...Wondering at times if it's my own fault for not thinking ahead and planning how instructions are given or being consistent! We're currently working hard to properly line-up and sit at the carpet in our boy-girl-girl pattern because of our 5:10 ratio of boys to girls. Some kids just tend to pay more attention when they're not sitting next to each other! Just one of many challenges!
I am however, enjoying coordinating my teacher outfits again and hiding changes of shoes under my desk. Talk about fun! Because clearly even if it was a bad day, at least you can look good ;)
Presents are also a nice thing. So far I've gotten 2 - a cute Korean pouch and one of those Starbucks mugs that looks like a simple take-away cup so i shall always appear to be drinking Starbucks now. That certainly makes me so much cooler already... so long as I wash it from time to time. Just imagine that. Wow (I know you're saying that).
Time management! Yikes, another thing to work on! It seems inevitable that one class runs into the next and somehow Math became more than an hour instead of 45 mins. And now we have 10 minutes left before lunch to brainstorm about Goal Setting that turns into a total flop on 2 different occasions. You'd think i'd learn... or something right?!? Maybe once we're able to line-up faster that'll make all the difference...
Alright, time to skip hanging out with the papers in my backpack altogether and go to bed!
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