pretty good day

wow. i had no real idea whether or not today would turn out well, but it actually did. it was a really fun and funny day with my students. of course they were talkative but also really positive. it did not help that they were telling me that they like me. my afternoon (aka crazy) class was really great. i mean, they talked too much and the 7th graders were a little crazy as usual, but overall it was a pleasure teaching them today. i am trying to give them more choice, responsibility, and initiative in the classroom. i want my classroom to be a place that kind of runs itself--that's my ultimate goal. i gave student jobs: take attendance to the office, recycling, cleanliness monitor, telephone answerer, visitor greeter, substitute assistant, scissors and glue assistants and a couple others. that means that i don't have to think about who is going to take the attendance, pass out supplies, i don't have to ask a student to answer the phone when i don't want to, i don't have to deal with people who come to the door, i don't have to remember to do the recycling because one of my students will remember, and hopefully they'll remind me that they need to take the attendance. maybe you didn't know that i have to do all of those things (and a million more) in the course of a day--but it's nice to have a routine where i don't have to worry about those things.
i would almost say that i'm working more than last year--maybe not working more, but working smarter and so it's taking more brain power. i don't know how to describe it, other than all i want to do is work for my kids. it's a really weird feeling. last night i was reading about how to teach reading for over an hour--it was so exciting and inspirational. i know, it sounds super nerdy and maybe it is but....it's really cool, too. it's interesting, i think that this is what a lot of people's first year of teach for america is like. the way i'm working now is the way that TFA wants us to work, which is probably where i get it from. but i never really got my feet under me until the end of the year last year (which is when i started teaching smarter) and so i never got to this point last year. the difference is that a lot of those TFA teachers will leave and i am not going to leave--i want to keep getting better.
and yes--it does stroke the ego to have kids say that they like me.