March

I am sorry that I am not the best at keeping up with my blog. It has been a great year so far and time gets to be hard to create. I have really come to enjoy my job this year. I love that I can see inside so many classrooms with my job and to see what different styles each teacher has. I hope that when I at long last have my own Art classroom that I will have a mix of the best methods. I especially like seeing how each teacher handles the morning differently. Some use different jobs for the kids, some have the students sit down right away, and others have a warm up activity that the students get started on right away. I like the last one because it slowly gets the attention of the students and slowly gets them into the learning mode. I also like seeing how teachers set up their classroom. Some are messy and others are a little too organized. I think a mix of both works best after seeing the pros and cons of each type of room. It does seem funny to me that the best teachers I know have the messiest classrooms.

Also, as the last part of the year is here I have now started Track. We are really excited for this season. We are a week and a half in and the amount of young kids we have is fantastic. Last year was the first year for a lot of the coaches and we had a great learning experience last year. This year we are off and running a lot sooner and excited about what the kids can do. I love being in the classroom, but it is also a great feeling to get to know the kids outside the classroom. One thing that is different is that the other distance coach and I train with the kids. If we ask them to run 7 miles, we go with them. In math class if you ask them to do 50 problems, they do the work and you check it. The coaching experience allows you to gain the respect and trust of the students in a different way. I know a couple times that a student has complained about a teacher or class and because you have their trust they will listen to our advice. It is a different type of tool and way to teach the kids stuff that can't always be taught in a class or by doing a worksheet. I can't wait to move one step closer and be in my own classroom so that I can use all of the little things that I have learned the past two years. I really think I have gained so much more this year. I didn't spend a chunk of my time trying to figure out what was going on or how to do something. I have instead had a chance to improve on things that I have learned and experienced.