this season

I am so excited to be able to look back-- a year, two years from now-- on this exact moment in my life and be able to see that I made it somehow. Right now, I'm looking at the upcoming months with anticipation and uncertainty, planning to just go day by day and hopefully come out okay on the end. :)

3 H's

Let me just say that I am so so happy with where I'm at right now. I'm overwhelmed and have all of these thoughts going on and things I'm trying to prepare for and a balancing a million other little responsibilities at the same time, but I'm happy. I feel like my life is going one day at a time, which is good, because it's forcing me to slow down and take things step by step. Kind of like instead of doing a bunch of things all at once, I'm learning to start one thing, finish it, and then move onto the next. It's nice.

The one thing that's keeping me balanced though is the students I'm working with. Getting up at 5:30 in the morning is a lot easier when I know I have the day with them to look forward to. It's so fun seeing them line up at the door in the morning and give us one of the three H's-- a high five, a hug or a handshake. :) Being in this class and community completely affirms that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. And as one of my friends reminded me, not only am I not being paid to do this right now, but I'm actually *paying* to teach. ;)

The students in our class are really insightful, and so funny! They make me laugh every day. I love seeing growth in their learning, the way they interact with and help eachother, and their openness with us and the class. We're a team, which we always remind them, and you can see that attitude providing a sense of belonging for them. We have such a variety of kids, but each one is unique and provides something special to the class. We have challenges each day and different circumstances we have to navigate around, but I'm so happy with where I'm at. It makes all of this busy-ness completely worthwhile.

[almost] first day of school

ahhh... the week is pretty much over. It was seriously such a great week, and totally not what I expected it to be. At the end of last week, I still didn't have a fall placement and wasn't sure where I was going and what would end up happening. Thankfully, I was able to join my cooperating teacher for winter term at Conestoga Middle School during their in-service and staff development week. I showed up Monday morning and was welcomed by the staff and faculty so genuinely. It made me realize how blessed I was to have this school as my winter placement, because it's such a great environment! My cooperating teacher and I set up her classroom and prepped for next week, and also got to attend meetings and just sync about how she runs her classroom, who we are as teachers, what my goals are, etc. I feel so fortunate to be in such a supportive environment. 

Then, I finnnnnallllyy got my fall placement on Tuesday afternoon, and am officially student teaching 5th grade at Hopkins Elementary in Sherwood. I spend Wednesday and Thursday with my cooperating teacher and 5th grade team at meetings, and got to connect with so many different staff members of that elementary school. I feel equally fortunate that I was placed in Sherwood, because A) it's so close to my house and B) it's such an academically strong school district in this area. Last night we got to meet all of our students during supply night, and they were awesome! I'm so excited to start the school year next week and see how things come together. I know each student was placed in our classroom for a reason, and we definitely have so much to look forward to!

Today I went back to Conestoga for their 6th grade preview day, and had another great day meeting all of the [nervous!] students as they got their own special day to explore the school, get comfortable with their schedules, make new friends, and be prepared for their first day of school. It was so fun, and I'm really looking forward to spending the winter and spring with everyone! I have a lot on my mind in thinking about next week and preparing to get through this ridiculously busy semester. Oh, and not to mention my 6 George Fox classes this term, writing 2-week work samples for this term and starting to think about my action research project. Crazy. So excited to graduate. All this prep time makes me wish I were setting up my own class... :)