Gonna Be a Productive Day Ya'll

I'm changing a bit of my hiney kicking... I've decided along with my 30 day challenge, I am also going to do my daily gratitude thought in here too! So let's start with today...

I have 8:00 a.m. class, so I had to get up at 6:30... early morning... Carson and I pulled up to park at the same time, so I had a buddy to walk to the school with (1st blessing). In our first class, we were put into groups and had to put a list of 23 things that are important for children to know to be successful in our society in order from most important to least... I had a great group and got to use scented felts to make our list (blessing #2.. i love the smell of those markers). Our second class was cancelled today, so I went to the library and got a great start on references for my essay. I have a 3 hour class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which I thought was really going to be horrible, BUT I thoroughly enjoy this class every week. I would say it's probably my favorite class so far! Today our teacher did a bit of a skit. She pulled me aside before the class started and asked if I would disappear for a while and come in late to the class. She explained that she was going to point out a very important part of teaching and that she was going to make sharp comments to me and I was to only say "I'm sorry and it will never happen again". I was pretty pumped to be part of this little insider skit. So I wandered around for a good 8 minutes and then creeped into class. The class had started writing a "pop quiz" (really she doesn't believe in pop quizzes) and she ripped a strip off me. The class peered up wide eyed and taken back by the reaction of our dear Mavis. I apologized and sat nicely in my chair. She continued to make a couple more comments about how I had disturbed the class and shown no professionalism as a future teacher. We continued to work on our pop quizzes and near the end, she made one more comment to me and then asked us all to turn our papers over and express in writing how our learning style had changed because of the circumstances that had occurred.

She then asked a few students to read what they had wrote. Although I knew it was all a skit, I was nervous to hear what my peers were going to say about me and the situation. Some expressed frustration, nervousness, agitation and so on. After hearing from a few students and having a couple almost in tears, she asked me why I was REALLY late... and I said "because you told me to come in late" :) The sighs, gasps and smiles my way overcame the class. Mavis was making the point that teachers can have a huge influence on a classrooms environments and on children's learning styles by the way he/she reacts to certain situations. It was a great lesson and an eye opener to the responsibility and power we have as future teachers. I started reflecting back on my childhood and on certain situations where the same had happened, not so much to me, but to my classmates and friends.

So the 3rd thing I'm thankful for is the GREAT teachers we have at Concordia in the Ed program! I feel every day the deep passion that each and every teacher has for our success as future teachers and it is quite empowering! It makes me more excited about my future as a teacher! Mavis and our other teachers are so creative in how they teach us and let us be more involved in the learning process! School is very busy right now, but I am really happy where I am and am looking forward to continuing to learn and grow as a educator:)

Day 2

Dear Crush,

Right now you are somewhat non-existent. You have come and gone over the last few months, but I've decided that right now you're just not ready to handle the stellarness of me. So I hope you can be patient because I have some things that I need to focus on for ME! I'm sure someday you will be lucky enough to get a sliver of my attention and on that day, you had better impress or you may be waiting a while longer :) Good luck to you!