I'm a Teacher!!!!

And I love my 4th grade classroom!

So much!

I'm not entirely sure how anyone could be a teacher without absolutely loving it. 12 hour work days, constant planning,  constant adapting, faculty meetings, even more meetings, etc (and I could continue on for many many paragraphs). It baffles me that there are some teachers out there that continue to do it and do not love it. I'm not entirely sure why they would put in all of their guts and hard work into a teaching job, but whatever. Teaching is not a job for the fainthearted, that's for sure. I literally have never been so tired in my entire life. Pure exhaustion. I don't think I have stopped in two weeks. 

About a month ago, I called my mother sobbing. I was overwhelmed with all the stress that I was feeling towards teaching. I felt inadequate, stupid, unprepared, and completely stressed. I hated being the new girl. I questioned my ability, my time, and my strength. 

And let me tell you, that was a fair assumption. Hahaha.

But let me give you a little hint: seeing those kids show up every single day with an enormous amount of energy, with smiles on their faces, it makes everything worth it. And I mean that wholeheartedly. 

Today, I had someone very important in the education world tell me that I am a "natural" at teaching. She explained to me that I had those students eating out of the palm of my hand; that they could not take their eyes off me and that they were so excited to learn. 

I do not tell you this to boast, I simply would like to explain to you that it feels good to do good in this world. I feel like I have a purpose every single day and I am so grateful for that.

When my alarm goes off in the morning, I want to die. I would do anything to just sleep for one more hour. But i have learned a very valuable lesson about life over the past couple of weeks: You still show up, especially when you do not want to.

I have a real life job now. I cannot just sleep in whenever I feel like it. 

I have 25 amazing, talented, hilarious nine and ten year olds waiting for me to motivate, excite, and change their lives. 

This is going to sound so cliche, but I feel like I was made for teaching. I love what I do; despite the exhaustion. 

My classroom theme is Sports. And I did not do this simply because I am obsessed with sports, but because I want my students to learn that we are all a team. Student to student, student to teacher, parent to teacher, etc--that we are all working together to learn. It is absolutely amazing to watch these students already learn to work together. 

I have 16 boys and 9 girls in my class. 

Yikes, right?

But, you know what? 

I absolutely love it.

I feel like I am constantly telling them to be quiet, but I love the boys' enthusiasm for life and learning. I love their energy and strong personalities. 

I have learned more about life in the past two weeks than ever before. 

It has taught me that I need to not take life so seriously. That I need to be passionate, excited, and energetic like those nine and ten year olds in my class. I have learned that I need to keep going even when those kids got me sick (already! I was a freaking zombie yesterday!). I have learned that I can make a difference and that those kids are worth it. I have learned to be positive, especially when I do not want to be. 

I'm still alive people.

Tired and can barely keep my eyes open, but alive and smiling, nonetheless.

I wanted to show you some pictures of my classroom (instagram status, do not judge the awful quality!). I love it. 

The lunch count! They put popsicle sticks on whichever one they are having for the day.
Whomever doesn't do it, I assume is absent. Great for attendance and lunch count!

"Aiming for our goals" bulletin board.
Each kid wrote their goals on a soccer goal and I posted it.

Hey look! It's official!

Such a great quote. I say it to my students every day. 

Reading "Dugout" or Corner. 

Before

After!

Those chairs took me 9 million years to make. So worth it though. 

Home Run Writing Board

Class Management. We are still working on our "inside voice" ha. 

Literacy wall.

Come by my classroom anytime. No, but seriously!! I love visitors!
xoxo,
Miss Ainge :)