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Guest Post: Ms. Nelson

A note my dear teacher friend in Minnesota sent me that I think everyone (ESPECIALLY first year teachers, TFA and non-TFA) should read. Hannah, If we’re being honest here, this is the first time I’ve read your blog post, BUT, I’m very glad I did. And here’s why… I feel the same way. You are bored living in the Delta. I am bored living in St. Cloud. I feel there is no one here who is under the age of 30 and not married. My college roommate lives nearby, but she doesn’t like driving into town on the weekends. I drove out to see her a few times. Then I stopped. Since then, she’s seen me once, after work. She has yet to drive into town just to see me. I feel like I should make friends, but I spend 12 hours at school and I live alone. I tend to leave on the weekends so I can see people I know. So, I tell myself I don’t have time to make friends. I convince myself next semester will be easier. Maybe I’ll make friends then. As far as teaching goes, I’ve been barely keeping my head above w

bad teacher.

"same old, same old" I don't mean that in the "my life is so boring" way (even though sometimes I want to RUN FAR FAR AWAY FROM HERE BECAUSE I AM SO VERY VERY VERY BORED WITH MY SOCIAL LIFE BUT IT'S OKAY I'LL SURVIVE RIGHT TELL ME I WILL SURVIVE PLEASE OKAY THANK YOU). I mean it in the way that when someone asks me how my day was, my current response is literally always "SIGH. Same old, same old." Not "Oh, fine." Or "OH MY GOD GUESS WHAT RIDICULOUS THING HAPPENED TODAY." Just same old, same old. Like, okay, the same frustrating behaviors happen every day, sometimes the kids handle it better, sometimes I handle it better, sometimes I have zero patience and just lose my cool and think WHAT THE EFF AM I DOING HERE and sometimes I take a really calm breath and say "Let's think about our choices here." Sometimes I blame the students, sometimes I blame their environment, sometimes I blame the school, sometimes I

getting domestic (it's for the kids).

This week was a short week (HALLELUJAH) because we have fall break today and tomorrow! (Thus the sudden bombardment of blog updates.) SO I decided to make it a fun(ish) sort of week where we mostly did science centered around, wait for it.....PUMPKINS. We've already talked a lot about making observations (come and ask any of my students what "observe" means...they'll tell you AND show you, it makes me so proud), so we reviewed that.... "When we observe we carefully hear, taste, touch, smell, or look at something."  And then I showed them this: And I told a little bit of a "story." (Based in reality...with some made-up details to make it more exciting.) I told them that I had something VERY special to share with them. My dad grows PUMPKINS! This is a picture of me with my dad's biggest pumpkin when I was in Minnesota! And every year we have a big competition (where people try to win something) to see who has the biggest pumpkin. M

Round 2 (okay. quarter 2. not that big of a deal.)

ANNND for 2nd quarter we have a NEW CLASSROOM SET UP! It is VERY exciting. Riveting, really. (I like to think that getting excitement out of making a new seating chart is proof that I'm meant to be a teacher....then again some days I'm grasping at anything to prove that to myself..SOMEONE JUST TELL ME I "SURE CAN TEACH THE HELL OUT OF SOME KIDS" OKAY.) Anyways we're now in pods/table groups. I'm trying to give the little ones a little more ownership and responsibility in the classroom (now that I feel like I have control... well at least like 87% of the time....a huge improvement from the 14% of time I had control in the beginning ...these are just approximations of course..) so I'm planning on teaching cooperative learning strategies starting next week. I've put them into partners, and we're going to start WORKING TOGETHER (fingers crossed). Each person in each pod has been assigned "partner A" or "partner B." Partner A:

miss forrssttaaaahhhhhh

If you haven't heard me say it, then you can't understand how funny it is. My kids, in their cute little accents, call me MISS FORSTAAHHH...or, if I'm lucky, just MISS FOOORRR (drop the STER...seriously it's too much effort).....it's actually just the highlight of my life sometimes. And sometimes the most annoying thing in the entire world. I'm sure any teacher will tell you sometimes you get so freaking sick of hearing your own name that you want to go to the town hall (or whatever) and have it legally changed....but I also just love it. Especially when I hear it down the hall and it comes along with a beaming child running to give me a hug. Or when  cool high-schooler says it while passing me in the hall even though I don't know who they are...#popularity. But anyways here's the update of Miss Forstah's first grade adventure in the Mississippi Delta (lately I've been referring to it mostly as "this godforsaken land"....#oopsies...bu

Week 6: Where are we now?

Like I wrote about before, things are literally in a constant state of change here. My classroom is never the same two days in a row, but I'm finally starting to figure out which things really stick. So here's where we're at: Yesterday I talked on the phone with a teacher who has the BEST behavior management I have ever seen. This noteworthy lady, Mrs. Garla Pacek, has been teaching 2nd grade in California for many years. I had the privilege to observe her for a month straight during January of my freshman year of college (while living with my aunt and uncle, it was paradise...this homegirl went home and sat in the pool/hot tub in the 65 degree heatwave...californians thought I was NUTS)...anyways. I called her this weekend to finally say I NEED HELP WITH BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT. ENLIGHTEN ME. REMIND ME OF YOUR JEDI TEACHER WAYS. PLEASE GARLA PLEASE. She is INCREDIBLE, and I got off the phone with a plan. Today I put that plan into action, and it was the best day I've ha

the jig is up.

Well, I had my first actual visitor last week and it's now official: the jig is up. Someone from the outside world has come and actually seen what my life is like down here first hand. Poor Nicole. She definitely came here thinking I was living in "southern paradise." I called her like four times before she came, trying to warn her, "Nicole, I need you to understand it is not southern paradise. I live surrounded by poverty. It's hard." Lalalala classic Nicole just kept saying "Oh, Hannie, I can't wait to see it!! I'm so excited!" Then she came to school and saw the chaos that is bus duty at the end of the day. BAM. IN YOUR FACE. No gradual "Welcome to the Delta." BUS DUTY. If you are a teacher, especially if you are a teacher down here, you know that bus duty SUCKS. At our school it is almost always utter chaos and confusion. Some buses have to do two routes, so they aren't there and then they come late, almost every day a b

change is good

MY CLASSROOM TRANSITION  (it felt like an episode of hoarders/extreme home makeover) this is the classroom i walked into three and a half weeks ago. four days before my students started. yeah. (the vision in pink is my guardian angel, mrs. jones, who literally helps me to survive every single day. her first act of grace was helping me with this room. bless her heart.) chaos. cleaning. i honestly think "hoarders" could hire me to help after this ordeal. just keep enjoying. AND then, after four days of hard work, including help from the amazing and selfless muresuk mena, my room was ready for the students to arrive. it wasn't perfect, but it looked like a classroom. check out that beautiful, brand new SMART board   clean, organized (ish), right? beautiful clean whiteboards! My desk has never looked and will never look this clean ever again.  READY FOR KIDDOS! :) ....................