Biggest Surprises So Far...

This week's prompt is all about surprises! There are so many new and exciting things that we are learning and experiencing as student teachers and this blog post is about the things that have surprised us the most since the year started. For me, there has been an endless amount of surprises but since I don't have the time or the space to list all of them, I want to focus on a couple that really stand out to me and some that I believe many other student teachers are experiencing also!

Surprise #1- Teaching is exhausting! I just want to take a moment to give kudos to all of the teachers in the world because teaching for 6 hours is so tiring! I haven't even done it yet, and I'm still tired!! I have only taught one lesson at a time, but just being in the classroom all day and working with the students non-stop can be mentally and physically draining. Of course, when it comes down to it, the students are worth every minute of time that you invest. But I want to give a hand to all of the teachers out there who have taught day in and day out for years and years and who continue to work for their students even after the actual school day is over. This just goes to show that teachers are truly amazing people and they deserve so much respect!

Surprise #2- The lessons you assume will take forever, don’t. The lessons you think will be quick, aren’t. It is so difficult to judge just how long an activity or lesson is going to take. Sometimes I think no matter how much you plan it out and how much time you estimate, it’s hardly ever going to be the right amount. I have learned how powerful flexibility is! This is especially true in Kindergarten because often times the littlest activity can be very time consuming. For Halloween, the students drew a pumpkin on a piece of paper and then painted it. Once the orange pumpkin dried, the students were able to go back and paint a face on it with a different color. I had assumed that painting 2 eyes, a nose, and a mouth on a pumpkin wouldn’t take very long, I was wrong. We ended up scrapping the entire afternoon lesson because we needed to make sure that every student had enough time to finish up their pumpkin before Halloween. I have learned that sometimes it doesn’t matter whether it takes 5 minutes or an hour, as long as the students are learning and working hard that’s what counts!!

Surprise #3- I love Kindergarten! I knew that I would enjoy working with children in the primary grades, but I had no idea how fun and exciting Kindergarten would be! This is my first time working with Kindergarten students and I think it’s safe to say I have found my niche! I absolutely adore the students in my class and it is so exciting to watch them make progress each and every day. I have such a sense of pride when I watch them hard at work and observe them making good choices, giving 100%, and improving in areas they were once struggling in. These kids are so incredible and I am so thankful that I get the opportunity to work with them because they truly are a blessing. They are so smart and so full of life, they love coming to school every morning, they love their teachers ;) , they are learning how to make friends, and best of all they love to learn! I am just amazed at the work that these students put out and the attitudes they have towards school. I could only hope that they are learning as much from me as I am learning from them. It is going to be very hard to let these kids go in June and accept the fact that I won’t see them much anymore, but I hope to have my own Kindergarten classroom someday soon.