Mornings

Well I am not going to the classroom in the mornings and boy does my body have to adjust! The other kink is that for the next two Wednesdays I have my yoga class in the mornings, which means I am there in the afternoons instead. Although this throws a wrench into my sleep schedule, I do like being there in the afternoon, because I still feel that connection to the afternoon schedule that I have been helping with for the past month.
Now that we are doing a morning schedule, I have been mostly observing and always interacting with the children, and this week/beginning of next I will begin to lead the lower case letter learning, since we will be finished with the capitals on Tuesday. I look forward to this piece, because leading lessons helps to boost my confidence as well as help me reflect on my skills as a teacher. I mentioned to Jean earlier this week, that I have really taken to heart the positive learning instruction and how she encourages independent learning and thinking amongst the students. After co-teaching with Jean, I realized that at work I have been over directing the children and have taken a few steps back and put the responsibility of learning and problems solving back into their hands, rather than trying to take over and do it for them. I think that as adults sometimes we instinctively want to 'make things right' and since it's quicker for us to lay down the rules, we forget that children do not learn self control or how to think for themselves if we are constantly jumping in. Therefore, I am appreciative of this reminder and have been reminding myself to allow the children at work, as well as at Chugach, time to be responsible for their own actions and giving them that time to take control of the situation or themselves rather than telling them how it needs to be done.
Overall, it has been quite a new week with this new transition and the morning play times have provided me opportunities to observe the children as well as build lasting relationships with them and their families. More and more to come I'm sure!!