Meet the 1st Graders

My goal is to document my journey into student teaching because someday I won't remember these beginning experiences and feelings and it will all be "old hat".

Day one down!!

It was great, actually. I was up at 5:00 (supposed to be 5:30, thanks to Peyton for the head start...ha ha). I even rode the bike for 30 minutes and actually felt pretty good when I left with the girls at 7:35.

I feel thankful for the many experiences I've had in my adult life with children:

• I've substituted for about six months
• I've been in the Primary organization at church for over three years
• I have three children of my own
• I'm the oldest of 5 kids
• I've volunteered for 1 1/2 years in Kindergarten and 1st grade with my girls
• I had nearly a year of some great classes and field work

So there are many things that, through experience, now come more naturally for me. And instead of feeling intimidated by my Master teacher (like I may feel if I were 22 years old doing this), I feel a friendship with her. I also learned years ago from a previous boss the importance of not just doing a job well when asked to....but to be pro-active and initiating projects. So, I always try to apply that.

Today, I did lots of paper correcting, prep-work (copies, cutting etc), and helping the kids with their classwork. I will attend all the meetings with the teacher, and eventually I will teach lessons.

The kids are so cute. I love helping them understand new concepts. In first grade, they are still so eager to please and so willing to learn. Some of the girls were enamored by me and before they left to go home they said "Mrs. Maxfield, you are the best teacher". Then they said "Oh, and you're really pretty too". Awwww, isn't that cute!

I really like the teacher I'm working with. She's got lots of great ideas and is very willing to share them with me. It's also interesting to see how we're different. She's much more harsh than I am. I'm not a pushover, but I don't like to make the kids feel stupid or intimidated. Sometimes she would say (as the kids were on the rug) "I said SIT DOWN Jennifer!" really rudely. I would probably say something like "Jennifer, what did I ask you to do?" or give a warning like "Jennifer, if I have to ask you one more time to sit down, you will go to your desk.

Tucker is able to stay home with Peyton most of the time. He is working on starting a business (a topic for another time), so we've sort of switched roles for the moment. He had his first hiccup today. The school called me toward the end of the day saying "Mrs Maxfield, are you going to pick up Lexi?". It was 15 minutes after she got out of school! I was like WHAT?? Apparently, Pey had a poopy diaper on his way out the door, so he stopped to change it. I explained to him that pick up times are NOT negotiable! You drive out of the driveway at 1:40, poopy diaper or not! Ha! He learned. And, aside from that, is being a wonderful partner in all of this with me.

The highlight of the day was eating lunch with Jordyn. She came to my classroom and asked if I would eat with her. I thought and said "why not!". So I heated up my burrito and sat down at the cafeteria table with her and all the kids and ate! You would've thought I was a celebrity the way she and her friends looked at me eating there. It is so cute, this age. I am just soaking it up because someday it will NOT be cool for me to be on campus with her, I'm sure!