October 30th, 2012

I had another unordinary day at the Geneva School District. Due to the tropical storm that affected our region I was not even sure if school would happen today. All of the other districts were closed, and I cannot say that I agree with that decision. Much of the storm had already passed midway through the night. Even though the Geneva School District was not closed there was a two hour delay. This caused many of the students to unfortunately miss the second day of the Great Pumpkin unit. The first class I had today was so small in numbers. Eight of the students were missing because they did not show up to school, a pattern I would soon see in all my classes today. I was not teaching two classes either for this lesson, so having fifteen students for the Great Pumpkin activity was quite a new experience. We were able to get all of the students to be the Great Pumpkin, and I even was able to participate a few times. At the end of the class the students said I was the “best gym teacher” I do not really agree with the whole “gym” thing, but I took it as a complement and it made my day start off right. We can always work on grammar. The next class was a double class, and these were the two “off” classes of the year. I made sure I was extremely clear cut with these students and I did not let anything go. Unfortunately I had to sit a student out today for a few minutes. They did not want to follow my safety rules, and after repeated reminders they still did not follow me. They cried and I felt horrible, but that is what need to be done sometimes I suppose to get a point across. It was my first experience punishing a student, I did not like it. My last classes went much better. I had one of my favorite third grade classes, which listen so well, and after that was my A.P.E. class. That combination made my day end right.