The Joys

I know that there are so many jobs out there that are boring, heartless, and lack enjoyment. I have always thought about how I could never have a job that didn't directly serve other people. I know I'm not cut out to be in the business world or even be a salesperson. I may not know if teaching is for me; but I know I'm heading in the right direction.

Today was one of those reflective days for me. I was in a sad lull and was noticing that I was easily annoyed and frustrated - not a good combination for being in first grade for seven hours. At around noon today it hit me: there are so many joys in this profession - you just have to wake up and appreciate them. Today at noon, a boys dad surprised him. I never thought it would happen while I was at Ware, but sure enough, his dad who had been gone surprised him in the lunch line. Now, what do you have to say about that? Wow. I wanted to cry. Is there really any other job out there that can turn you around and make you realize how amazing life can be? Teaching may not be the career for everyone, and it may not even be the career for me; but I do know that it is a career that will always bring a smile to your face even on the most difficult days. When you're having a bad day, when you're disappointed in a kid, when they just will not stop talking, when everything seems to go wrong... there will be that one moment that will top it all, that moment that will make you smile for a good long while.

This week has been an interesting one. As always we have seen those unique personalities that those little first graders have. And gosh have they made me laugh! I wish my hilarious stories from this week were blog appropriate. It's great how kids will say the most inappropriate things and not have a single idea. Innocence at it's best. Tomorrow we will reach another Friday. Mrs. K will be gone which I guess makes me the go-to-gal. We will have a sub in the room, but you never actually know how useful they will be. I'm a little nervous, but I think I can do it. And if it really is as rough as I have had dreams about (yes, I had an anxiety dream about it) then I will just drive straight to Aggieville. Though, I don't anticipate that. :)

I did the count down today. I have eleven days left in first grade. I'm going to miss those little kiddos so much. Can't believe how quickly the time has flown by.

As always, here are some things I've learned.

• You feel better when you don't procrastinate. I have finished all of my lessons that are due tomorrow - which has never happened before - and which is why I'm blogging. 
• Dealing with parents: be calm, be firm, be real, be nice. Don't sugar coat it, tell the truth, and don't let them walk all over you. Let's just say, we've had some parent run-ins this week. 
• Appreciate great professional development, especially when it gets you out of the classroom for a bit. This week we had some prof dev while the kids were in school. It was great to have a morning break from them while we learned a lot! 
• A behavior strategy and a funny story: when a specific kid is having his normal melt-downs, we've learned that all you have to do is get out the video recording ipod and tell him that we will record his behavior and show his mom. In an instant he is under control. It's awesome. We don't actually record him, but it works like a charm. The funny part of this: the other day I propped it up and told him to leave it there while I went to help another kid. I turn around to check on him and see him do a shy wave at the camera, look right into it and say, "...hi Mom." HAHA wish we were actually recording that! 

It's been a weird, rough, wild week and thank goodness it ends tomorrow. 

Happy October and Go State! :)

Until next time, 

Miss Everhart

76 Days

You know that when your hobby becomes a part of your to do list, you have just gone to far. I sure did have intentions of blogging more often, but this past week and a half has been just too busy. Blogging became a part of my to do list that kept getting bumped to the bottom. So here I am again with some student teaching updates. Lots has happened in first grade, believe it or not.

My life has gotten so unbelievably busy. I'm writing about 20 lessons per week, plus teaching prep, plus portfolio work. Let's just say, I am SO ready for December 10th. Don't get me wrong, I love student teaching, but I HAVE TO GRADUATE SOON or I will loose my mind. Just did the count down; it's 76 days until the day that I accept that ridiculously expensive degree. The time is actually going pretty fast, but not fast enough. I have completed six weeks of school and only have three more weeks with my first graders. When I'm done in three weeks I will probably do a mixture of crying and jumping up and down. I will be sad to leave my precious little friends, but I will be so freaking excited to be done with that huge part of student teaching.

So let me get to updating you. Here was the last week and a half (honestly, I don't remember much of it): Now-a-days I'm teaching everything. SFA reading program in the morning, math skills right before lunch, math and writing after lunch, and then our social studies rotations after that. Every day seems to be a hot mess. I'm drinking at least one coke a day plus lots of chocolate - that's honestly they only way you can make it through first grade. The kids are still cracking me up. Every day they do or say something so funny, but Friday was one of those special days. Nothing seemed to go right for us. The technology wasn't working, they were saying the most ridiculous things, and kids were cheating like like it was okay. Yeah, for real, first graders cheat. It was just one of those days where you had to laugh all day because it was so out of hand. And the clocks were ahead three hours from a power outage, so when it was 3:30 dismissal time, the clock said 6:30, which made you think that you were never going to leave that place. Thank the good Lord that it was Friday.

A lot of funny stuff has happened. A lot of it I wish I could just record and show you all because it would be so much better than reading it on here. One boy took a look at my name badge that had a picture of me that was taken a month back. He said, "Miss Everhart? Is this a picture of you when you were a baby?" That's one of those things when you want to say, "Whhhhaaattt?" But instead just have to turn around and walk away. Another great story: A boy and the Para were trying to decide what in a picture was living and non-living. He said, "well, the people are living." The Para agrees and asks for more examples. He responds with a very confident, "....and Jesus Christ is living. Because He is the Son of God." Now there you go, we have a first grader who is already doing some missionary work. Power to ya. I'm telling you; you cannot beat first grade.

Last week I was totally doubting why I was in this career, and I even had some other options picked out, but now I'm starting to wonder. I seriously don't know what I want to do with my life, and I'm starting to hit crunch time. Apparently I'm supposed to be sending out applications now. Yikes. I think I'll just procrastinate on that until I have a solid life plan (which may be a while...).

Things I'm learning:

• It's okay to procrastinate. You have to make time for yourself too. 
• Some days are just destined to be one huge hot mess. Instead of getting frustrated, just laugh at everything. 
• Wearing pajamas to school is truly a gift from God. 
• You have to let go and have fun. It's okay to jump up and down, dance, and act really weird in the middle of the lesson - that will really engage your kids. Sometimes when I'm just bored with my lesson or need to get the kids attention, I will just dance or jump or turn what I'm saying into a song. One kid even asked me to stop singing the other day. They think it's so weird.

Sorry this blog was disappointing and lacked excitement. Maybe exciting things will happen this week. :)


Until next time,

Miss Everhart (I'm back to being called Miss Hart, bummer)


PS: How about that one Miami!? Go State!! EMAW

You Look Like a Circus

Might I say that the funniest thing I heard today was far from funny and far from a complement, but those first graders don't know any better. To begin this blog with a bit of funny, here is the story: I'm wearing my glasses (a rare thing) and my dear first grade friend (he will remain un-named, but he is the one who says all the funny things I've posted) says to me, "Miss Everhart, you're funny." And my reply was, "..and you're funny too." I giggled with the excitement of winning over another first grader with my great humor, but that was not the case. He continues to say, "you're funny because you have glasses." I bite back a chuckle and tell him that that isn't very nice. But oh, no, that doesn't stop him. He continues with, "you're glasses make you look like a circus." I'm baffled, first. How do glasses remind you of a circus? And really, do I look that silly? Oh these first grade will always, without a doubt, say whatever comes to mind. Got to love truthfulness.

Today was a good Monday, big surprise (no sarcasm whatsoever). The best part of the day? Getting scholastic book orders in. If you're familiar with the saying, "a kid in a candy store," then you know how I was feeling. Way too excited. I might have gasped with excitement when I saw the package. Another great thing about the day? Mrs. K., the para, and myself have linked together to drink as much diet coke as possible. We alternate buying cases, and today Mrs. K and the para each brought a case - I anticipate having to buy a new one by at least Thursday. Just kidding - maybe? I kept my diet coke intake to one today, where as the others had a few more. On a not-so-exciting note, the lice has made its return to first grade! YAY - not. I insist that if I bring home a few of those white bugs I will just laugh, but I know that's probably not the case. I also know that if I bring them home, my roommate will probably buzz my hair off in wild anger - again, just kidding - maybe?

Let me get back on the actual student teaching/school track. I have taken on a few more duties this week. I'm teaching full time math and writing! YIKES! That leaves me with teaching math skills, social studies, writing, and full math. Next week I add reading. Which means I will be teaching everything! Bring it on? This week I have seventeen, yes, SEVENTEEN lessons due Friday. Which is of course why I'm blogging instead of working on them. Procrastinators unite tomorrow, right? I have another observation tomorrow, so say a pray for me please, I need strength, patience, strategies, and a heck of a lot of confidence!

Better include my traditional "things I've learned today:"

• Find something to look forward to each week to help you get through the week. This week it's the half day on Friday. Next week it's that Bridesmaids comes out on DVD. 
• Sometimes you must leave school before 5 pm. Just get the heck out of there. 
• Rejoice in the days of having no wet pants (that was today!). 
• Relax. Somehow relax. I'm considering investing in some bubble bath soap. 

Here it is, already 9:30 pm and time for me to go to bed. Don't you wish time in the day would just keep on going until you got everything done you needed to get done for that day?

Hope for a great Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and HALF Friday -- Booyah!

Until next time,

Miss Everhart

You Win Some, You Lose Some

You win some, you lose some. You have good days, you have bad days. This week, (even though it was a short four day week) I managed to create a "win some, lose some" kind of week. A bad day mixed right in with the good days can really throw you for a loop, and that it did.

Thursday I was faced with a couple of observations. My lessons probably weren't that bad, but I managed to beat myself up over them. The stress of my rapid-student-teaching experience set in and I could begin to feel the pressure. {If I hadn't mentioned, I am dual student teaching - which means I have 8 weeks in the general classroom and 8 weeks in the special education classroom.} After a Thursday that never seemed to end, I went home to write lessons (of course) and get my fill of the one and only, far too trashy, but oh so classy, Jersey Shore. Oh the little things that can make you happy. {I probably shouldn't say that  I love Jersey Shore since this blog is about teaching - ha ha.}

I somehow motivated myself to wake up on Friday after a short nights sleep and head out the door with a fairly motivated attitude and a crummy lunch. Friday seemed to speed by and I seemed to be right back in my teaching mood. I worked some counseling magic my Dad taught me during our class bully meeting to answer kids' bully questions -- too bad first graders do not know the difference between real questions and story time. Friday afternoon was one hot mess at Ware Elementary - we had Freedom Walk! All of the students, and I mean ALL 762 of them congregated in the gym for a patriotic sing along. We were all in red, white, and blue - the kids had their craft project hats on and waved American flags. We all sang a combination of God Bless America mixed with Justin Bieber - it really was a good time. Finally, we made our every attempt to have our twenty-six first graders stand 4-abrest (hello, impossible!) as we walked a half mile around the neighborhood. We ended the day with a school picture writing out 2011 and chowing on some red, white, and blue popsicles. Freedom Walk is an annual tradition where our students, teachers, and parents gather to remember those lost on 9/11 and those serving our country. It really was an amazing afternoon. Though the kids were begging for the walk to be over, it really meant a lot to see these kiddos so full of patriotic spirit!

This week also faced us with wet pants galore - and boy is that just thrilling! Not only do first graders still wet their pants, but they also wet their pants and sit in it for an extended period of time. My hope is that our dear first grade friends will learn how valuable a toilet is. I know (I hope) they will learn soon! Another thing we will work on teaching our students is that digging for "gold" isn't socially acceptable. One of our kiddos just digs and digs in his nose non-stop - that's just a boy thing, right?

I feel like much more has happened this week, but my head has been in a haze -- no other reason than just stress and being way too busy! But for now, here is what I've learned this week:

• When bad days come, somehow manage to make yourself smile. Usually, for me it's the kids. If that just doesn't work, then go home, watch some trashy TV, and go to bed, and hope that tomorrow is a million times better. Every day is a new day. 
• Either leave school at 4 pm or 7 pm -- traffic between Ogden and MHK is terrible! Actually, take that back. Leave school whenever, but when stopped in traffic, pull out your notebook and start lesson planning - great use of time but totally unsafe. 
• When things get rough, call on your friends who know the feeling. My other teacher friends know the feeling of a hard day too. In fact, after my rough Thursday, my parents called to say that my kindergarten teacher and another teacher had sent me a care package - talk about perfect timing!
• Don't just go to your job knowing that it is just a job, but learn your purpose. 
• Keep close tabs on how full/empty your Aleve bottle is -- valuable supplies as a teacher!

Enough for now. Maybe you'll hear from me this week sometime - but it's looking doubtful because somehow I just get busier and busier. Happy 5th week of school! Only 4 more weeks in gen. ed. - bring it on!! 

Until next time, 

Miss Everhart 

I Can Talk Like a Princess

Can you believe it, it's 12:30 am on a Friday night and I'm still awake?! I haven't even had a nap today to get me to this hour. I'm pretty pleased with myself, especially since I'm ridiculously exhausted and fighting off massive yawns. Somehow, it never fails that first grade just hits me like a brick wall once I hit Friday at 4:00 pm. On my twenty minute drive home I was even close to taking a snooze, but some how I'm still going. I anticipate turning my phone off and sleeping for an unknown (but very long) amount of time.

Though I'm exhausted now, somehow I find all the energy in the world to make it through the week. I think it's a combination of a 9:30 pm bed time, running off adrenaline, and the kids of course. The kids always keep me energized. They drive you a little crazy, they ask too many questions, they do the weirdest things, and they make you laugh like crazy. I will begin my blog with a few silly stories from this week:

• A girl who is known to me just plain silly came up to me. "Hey Miss Everhart, I can talk like a princess..." "awwwhahawawwhaha." And she continued to talk like a "princess," though I would say that she was sounding more like an opera singer. She has said this to me twice now, but today when it happened, she would not stop singing, so I had to close it with, "okay, dear, that's lovely, but have a seat."
• Crushes are alive in first grade. Our class was doing their morning work so there was some commotion in the classroom. A boy who was across the room and not in ear-shot quietly said to girl, "hey (girl's name), I like your dress today." Precious, isn't it? Well get this. Later I caught him winking at another girl during a read-aloud. 1) What a ladies man. 2) A read-aloud - what a place to pick up the ladies. Haha, oh first grade. 

On a not-quite-as-fun note, I had to write quite a bit of lessons this week, specifically last night since I major procrastinated. I have to submit lessons the Friday before they're taught so Thursday's are usually crunch time. Next week I will teach my social studies unit and more math -- time to half hour, shapes, and number identification to be specific. It's a blast! Today when I was thinking about what lessons I would need to write for math for the following week, I realized that I would need to cover everything on the pre-assessment (duh). But then I realized that the students will be tested in October, and judging by their pre-tests, it's not good. Knowing that I would be teaching them the next few months, I felt a little pressure. If these student's don't do well on the October assessment, then say so long. So talk about pressure. But then I thought, this is fun, I'm so up to the challenge! How awesome is it to have a set of kids who struggle greatly, work your butt off, and finally see results?? 

This week we started a new reading program called SFA (Success for All). The SFA classes are divided by levels and each teacher gets a new set of students to work with on reading. Our reading class has 14 kids and it is a special class. The students are fairly low level readers and need a lot of help. We work on letter sounds and then work on sounding words out in a story. If you all could see the patience that I have at reading class - you would be amazed. Helping students take about 2 minutes to sound out a four letter word - whoa - talk about hard. Sometimes I just want to tell them, but you can't, they have to learn on their own. Not only is their reading level low, but we have many unique behaviors. Lack of motivations, some ADHD tendencies, tantrums, and lying/sneakiness are some of the prominent characters in our class. It's hard because not only do these 14 kids need serious help with reading, we have to deal with about five students who need serious attention due to their behaviors. It's hard, it's so hard. I just wish I could record it for you because there is no way to explain it. 

With the weeks up's and down's, I'd say I ended pretty good. I'm seriously loving this all, but don't want to love it too much in fear that there will be a serious down fall eventually ( I hope not). But until then, I'm having a blast. Here are some things I've learned:

• Applicable to all people besides teachers: Don't take old left-overs to work. You will get sick. Right when I was starting to teach a lesson, the lasagna wasn't settling too well. I wouldn't say I saw it again, but I sure wasn't in the right teaching mood. 
• Sometimes kids just need to see another face to get them back on track. In SFA there was one particular students who was causing a ruckus with his whiny tantrum. The teacher was getting frustrated and he was too. Later on when he came to work on reading during his recess I worked with him instead of the teacher, and it went smoothly. Sometimes we just need to see another face that doesn't upset us at the moment. This is also applicable to life. 
• At least one day a week you must fall asleep with out a single alarm set. That's tonight for me and I'm so excited. 
• It's okay to get on kids (not literally of course; in a management way). I had to get on kids this week with my serious teacher voice. I hadn't had to use it yet, but this was the week. I was teaching another class in our rotation system - I hadn't ever seen these kids before and so I just was firm with them at the beginning to let them know my expectations. But the KEY is to turn your voice right back into friendly. After being firm, let them know that they are going to have fun. This way they will be convinced that they will be having fun, but will also not be running you over. 

It's been a heck of a week. 

But it's the weekend. 

Go Cats! 

Happy Labor Day!

Until next time, 

Miss Everhart

{Sorry for grammatical errors. My eyes could literally not stay open any longer to proof-read. And I don't like to proof-read).