I survived the first week

One week of student teaching.

One week of setting my alarm for 4:45 AM. [Takes me back to Master's Commission mornings!]

One week of awkward, I'm-not-sure-what-to-do moments, mixed with I-AM-SO-IN-LOVE-WITH-THIS moments.

I think you can all relate. Student teaching is like on-the-job training status. It's a vulnerable position to be in, because, while everyone understands that you're "learning," you know that your job [or future job, in this case] is on the line.

In other words, minor mistakes are acceptable, but your overall character and work ethic need to be impeccable.

Phew!

In the midst of all of this, there are 20 cute, 9-or-10-year-old kids going through life, with me, every day. Oh, GOD, what a responsibility! And what a privilege.

Anyway, I'll stop gabbing, and I'll let the pictures speak for themselves [with the help of captions!]

Flowers from little Alexis. The big one was just a thin green bud when she gave it to me on Monday. Then, what you see in the picture is the surprise I got when I walked into the classroom Wednesday morning. It had bloomed overnight!

After days 1 and 2 of throbbing feet, I realized that my current shoe collection is not going to cut it. So, I visited our local Famous Footwear, did some research on comfortable teacher shoes [believe it or not, there are actually sites and forums all about "teacher shoes" - haha] and splurged on the brown Clarks shoes above, and what I call my Dr. Scholl's "Friday shoes" below [because we get to dress casually on Fridays!]:

This is what the kids are working on in math. Does it take you back? I got to provide some intervention for a couple of kids who were struggling with this.

And this [the Oregon Trail, if it's not evident from the photo] is what the kids supposedly don't know ANYTHING about yet, that I will get to teach them after Spring Break! But, before I can teach them, I need to brush up on the history myself. Praise the Lord for informational kids' books, which I believe were made for the teachers just as much as for the students!

Thank you for letting me share with you a little about my first week as a student teacher.
Stay tuned for more, and happy Spring! :)