I was just thinking it has been a week since I have updated all of you. It has been a very long week! The craziness started on Wednesday with a lockdown all day at school. There was an armed robbery and one of the suspects fled to our playground. It was quite an exciting (and scary) day! I was observed on Thursday and Friday by my professors. Yikes! It went horrible on Thursday, but Friday made up for it. The horrible class ended with the chaos of students running around the room and others hitting people with Orff instrument bars. I ended up in tears after the class. The following day, after getting upset with the class, they wrote a class song for their teacher's birthday. It was one of the worst moments in teaching the first day that turned into one of the best moments! I was thrilled to see how they turned around during Friday's class! I only have four more days of teaching at the elementary. It will be very strange to change schools. I will miss the kids so much! I hope the high school experience will be as good as the elementary!

I was observed today by Dr. Elsberry. It was great! The lesson was absolutely horrible. What I had planned did not work at all. The kindergarteners were very respectful, but I could just tell they weren't getting much out of what we were doing. I should explain that this is the ESL group (that means most speak only minimal English, if any at all) and the class with two autistic students. That translates into: The less I talk, the more they get out of it. I forgot about that concept today. Dr. Elsberry stayed a while afterwards and really gave me some good advice about what I should do to be a more effective teacher to such a unique class. I am really excited to come up with some new ideas for them. I look forward to next week when he will observe the third grade. My third graders are working on writing their own piece. This kind of overwhelmed me at first, but it's now one of my favorite things to teach during my day. It is fun to walk around the room and see how they go about writing their melody. Some just write "abcdefgabcdefgabcdefg"....so creative! Others take so much time and effort to find the "perfect" song. I can't wait to see the completed projects!!

My day today started out really well...ANOTHER 2 HOUR DELAY!!!! That would be the fifth delay so far. The day was pretty uneventful, except for a kindergartener crying through class. I found out this particular student doesn't communicate with anyone. I felt so bad. She just cried and cried. After school, I got my evaluation from my cooperating teacher. He is so encouraging. Everything he had to say was positive. Tomorrow, I will be observed for the second time. Hopefully, the class goes as well as my last observation!

Let me tell you how strange it feels to have four very nervous little third grade boys walk into the music classroom silently, expecting punishment for their horrible behavior yesterday (if you wonder about this, read my post from yesterday). I gave them worksheets of a keyboard and they had to fill in the notes over and over and over and over and over and over again. Then they had to copy clefs and some chord progressions. They did not finish it during their lunch/recess time, so during class time, they spent much of the time in time out working. The class was silent and well behaved. I guess they got the point that I was upset! I don't expect to have any more problems with that class!
My favorite student is in the kindergarten that came to class today (ok...so I am not supposed to have favorites...meet this little girl and then tell me she wouldn't be your favorite). She has about a hundred little two inch braids coming out of her head with little colored barrettes at the ends of each one. She has slightly crossed eyes and tiny pink glasses. Today was the first time I have seen her smile. I sat next to her at the circus a few weeks ago. She sat back with no expression on her face the whole time. I asked her teacher later about her. I found out she is a foster child who was expecting to be adopted, but the foster mother just told her she can't adopt right now. She moves to a new home soon. Today, I was singing a very silly repeating song with her class. I got to the part where everyone always laughs. I looked her way and saw the biggest grin on her face. Then, she started laughing. It was the best moment as a teacher so far!

What a day! I never thought third graders could be so out of control. I sent them to work in groups...I've done this with all three other third grade classes and they behaved fine. This class was different. It was a nightmare! Within a minute of sending them, one of the puzzle pieces I spent 8 hours cutting out was torn, one student had smashed his finger and it was bleeding, and another student got a split lip...IN ONE MINUTE!! It was quite an afternoon. Tomorrow there will be four of them coming in for lunch detention. What will I have for them to do? Hmmm...this could be fun!

Are gloves really necessary? I'm thinking not. I went to Walmart tonight to find something to do (I decided to make a scarf) and ended up getting so cold on the walk from my car to the door that I broke down and bought a pair of gloves. A waste of money? Probably, since it won't get as cold as it was yesterday and today ever again!! Oh well, my hands are nice and warm now. :)

First grade yesterday was so much fun! We played a circle game to practice keeping a beat. I was standing there, playing the game with them, and took a step backwards...I tripped over the riser and fell backwards. I laid on the floor for second, trying to figure out what happened. Then I started laughing. My first graders thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen. We laughed together for a few minutes before class was over. It was definitely a moment to remember!!