First Week: Surprises and Realizations

So I survived my first week at Wyandotte...except, there wasn't much to survive. Now, it wasn't all unicorns and rainbows either. There were a fair share of fights in the building...none on our floor though. I think it will be an anomaly if I ever see a fight during my time at Wyandotte. We had all of our students start on Monday, and by Tuesday I had realized something: these students are exactly the same as any other students in any other school district. I had started this experience thinking these students would be different than others I had encountered because they were "KCK Public School Kids." I had done exactly what I shouldn't have done...I judged my students before I even met them. And I think a lot of that judgement came from my own fears. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to build any sort of meaningful relationship with my students because of our different backgrounds. I couldn't have been more wrong. We've had students for five days and I'm already bragging about the students in my class. I love watching them learn...they're like sponges just soaking up all of this information (when they want to of course). And I know it seems silly, but every time I hear a kid say "Miss Riss" my heart sort of jumps a bit. I've waited four years to be in a classroom teaching students, and now that I am it seems sort of surreal. My fears have started to subside, and as I'm starting to plan lessons my excitement is growing. Next week will most likely be last week of observing and then I'll start to take over the classroom full time. All the doubts I had about being able to be a successful teacher are gone...I'm ready!