Some Call It Bragging, I Call It Sharing My Successes!

So yesterday, my cooperating teacher wasn't at school so she had to get a substitute. This meant that I would pretty much take over the class and the sub would just be there to help. I couldn't have been more thrilled. I was really nervous, too, because I had never taught a whole day of kindergarten, and especially not with any of those crazy kids! But, it was AWESOME!!! I am still not sure if I am just going through a honeymoon phase with these kids but they were really good for me. They weren't perfect, and I would never expect them to be, but I felt like they listened to me better than their own teacher. After the day was over, the sub told me that she had never seen the class behave so well and she has substituted the class a lot over the year. I was really excited because it made me feel so good about my teaching abilities. I never thought that I would like teaching kindergarten, but being successful at it makes me feel like I could do it if I needed to. It's still not my first choice because I still don't like the "baby-sitting" aspect of it, but I love being in front of a class. And, for the first time, I loved being in front of a kindergarten class! The feeling is wonderful!

I just want to say that I love those kids. I have only known them for four days, and some of them are really hard to deal with, but I have found out so much about myself in such a short amount of time because of these kids. They have such sad, sad stories and knowing this about them makes it so easy to love them. Even when I have to discipline them, I find myself smiling or hugging them two seconds later because they are such wonderful kids. I have learned a lot about the balance that you have to have between patience and love and it had been such a wonderful experience. I think that it will definitely help me to be a better 4th grade teacher because even though I won't have to deal with as many "baby-sitting behavior problems" I will still have to discipline the students but having love and patience will make my year so much better and it will also be better for my students.

Needless to say, I am incredibly excited to start teaching!