Day 2

Today was another great day. I'm learning new faces and seeing a lot of great teachers at my school. I was able to see a conversation today between my mentor teacher and the principal of the school that was not really business related. I love seeing schools with principals who care about their faculty and their staff. I was also able to see more great instruction given by my mentor teacher.

I decided to wear a short sleeve polo-styled shirt today to get all of the hype of my arm out of the way. So far I've had no problems with having a brand but it felt great to have a conversation about this with my mentor teacher a few weeks ago. He told that I should not be ashamed of it and that I should professionally and educationally explain it to the children. One of the student's finally noticed it around 9:00 and asked me what it was. I showed the children that were in the class and when the whole class was present, I took a few minutes to explain what it was, what it meant, and the historical significance of it. My mentor teacher gave a quick lesson about what fraternities and sororities were and told the children that it was a personal decision of mine and that they too would have chances to go to college and join these organizations if they chose to do so.

Lunch was also fun today. The teacher allowed the children to come back to the class and watch an old Batman movie. We all laughed and enjoyed the "bad acting" of Adam West during the movie. The students were rewarded for their hard work which being posted around the classroom. My mentor teacher feels as though it is the student's classroom also, and as such, their work should be displayed more than posters and other fun but unnecessary items. I completely agree with this idea and by the end of the week, the student's will have multiple assignments from all subjects all over the room.

The students remain very talkative but enthused about what they are learning. So far we've had no major behavior issues but we both have to regain control of our students at times. I still wonder how the behavior may change once it becomes just me in the room with them. I think I'll handle it well and I look forward to the challenge.

After school we discussed the set up of my first lesson plan since I will be teaching Grammar all next week. I'm thoroughly excited do dive right into teaching. My mentor teacher is also helping to prepare me this by having me lead the read aloud today. His voices are much better and have much more expression than mine, but he continues to tell me that I'll get better and become more comfortable with time. I sure hope he's right.