#2 first day

first day of teaching = success.

trying to teach a 30 minute lesson on writing out a three digit number in written form -- with a handful of activities -- is tough! on some days, I need to drive back to sherman and get to my 9:30 class, so I teach a shorter lesson. today was one of those days..and on my very first lesson too!

but I think it went fairly well. the students were all engaged and they got the math concept down (hopefully). I didn't see any yawning and I saw everyone participating! I love it when I see students excited to learn -- I love how you can just see the enthusiasm in their eyes. my cooperating teacher is really nice and very helpful but for the past week when I was observing, she taught out of the book. the kids literally looked bored and many were not engaged. with that in mind, I tried to plan hands on activities and let me tell you, it took a lot of effort and time.

I don't know how some teachers plan creative hands on activities for each of their lessons (and for each subject). **props to them!

and YES I am teaching 2nd grade math! there are only 18 students in the entire class, which makes class management a lot easier than having 23 students. the students are really well behaved and they listened very well today. i still had some students who weren't always with us, but everything went well -- it's always a challenge to make everyone listen and focus the entire time.

what i learned: there are some times i need to sacrifice some of the activities i plan, due to time constraints. i planned a lot of activities for today's lesson and wanted to do each one -- but yeah, i learned that i need to not be so selfish and just go with the flow!
teachers = always planning ahead but at the same time, need to be ready for change!

tomorrow's lesson = comparing numbers with shaving creme activities.
hmm i'm excited :)