Star Chart AHOY!

So ladies and gents, the results are in the star chart is a...(drum roll please) HIT! My kids love it and they are behaving the best I've ever seen them. The first week my students were Stepford students, I mean the straightest backs you've ever seen in line, hands behind their backs, just beautiful. Excellent reports from their specials teachers (like when they go to art, library, music, P.E. etc), and not only do they love it but the parents love it as well. Whereas before, although their child was extremely intelligent and well-behaved, they never heard anything back about how their child was doing in class unless it was during parent teacher conferences. Now they hear about it every day. I love it.

It's not quite perfect yet, there are still some days where students who earn a star student award don't receive it because of the fact that I'm not teaching all day yet and Mrs. Dorsey doesn't generally award check marks to students when they behave. I am determined to make sure this doesn't happen again though (I had a student in tears on Thursday because of it, and an extremely upset parent). I really feel like the whole atmosphere in the classroom has changed though! I'm able to do more with my kids like stations, small group activities, and rotations. As time goes on I am discovering more and more, what my teaching style is and who I am as an educator. For example, from Day 1 I have discovered that an excellent way to keep students engaged is to use things students love in the lessons. In Math I have included Sponge Bob, Mario, motorcycles, dinosaurs, rocket ships, air guitars and anything else I can think of in my lessons and my kids seem to really love math! They love the idea that I'm challenging them and trying to trick them, and showing me that they know more than I think they do.

As time goes on I am falling more and more in love with my kids and the DCPS district. I look forward to going to school and miss my kids when I don't. We took a field trip to a nearby schools farm a couple weeks ago (we used the public bus for transportation, 70 kids plus about 15 adults, plus whoever was already riding on the bus, it was a squishy ride haha) and I was taking pictures of the kids like crazy.

Oh, and it's official! I finished my TWS (teacher work sample, its like this giant 21 page paper plus lesson plans etc that I needed to finish in order to graduate), and as long as I pass (cross your fingers) I will be graduating from BYU in December with a Bachelors in Elementary Education! I have started to apply for jobs in the DCPS district and am hoping to stay if I can. Who knows what the Lord has in store for me though, it might not work out. We shall see.