Week 1 = Check. Fire Drill Included.

Well, my first week of student teaching is finished, and I must say: WOW.

This is by far the most fast paced, upbeat, energy sucking thing I could ever imagine.  But I must say these kids are amazing.  They try so hard all the time and are the most respectful, kind children I have ever known!  It's such an honor to be able to work with everyone at Richardsville and I'm learning something new everyday.

Yesterday, I got to work with the chorus for the 5th and 6th grade students.  They have been working on a lot of Christmas music for their performance they had in December, so now they're working on newer things.  I'll eventually be teaching a few of these songs, but it'll pretty tough because the kids can be wild sometimes.

Today we had our January Fire Drill!  Nothing special...just a loud fire alarm, and everyone lining up quietly outside - at least it was in the mid 60s today!
In class today, there were a few IEP-type kids that were being difficult to work with, but having this real-time experience is really helping me figure out the best ways to help them learn or engage in the activities.
Students marched into class today to "Bugler's Holiday" by Leroy Anderson -- and it was fitting because we talking about brass instruments (trumpet overload in that piece!).

One thing I really like that Mrs. Thurman does is have each grade level sing an Alma Mater of one of the state's different universities (UK, UL, WKU, EKU, etc).  She'll video tape them too and send them to the Presidents of the schools!

I'll have my first solo teaching opportunity on Wednesday -- 5th grade!  Dr. Swanson will be out there to observe, so that makes me a bit nervous.  Mrs. Thurman said she's slowly gonna start adding classes on starting next week, and I'm excited about it, but I just hope I'm able to pace things well enough to fill the 45 minute class slots!

Wish me luck!