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Monday, September 3, 2007

Mrs. Jones the Kindergarten teacher

Well, as it turns out, I am really Mrs. Jones now. I am a Kindergarten teacher at Freedom Elementary in Hooper, Utah! It's been kind of a crazy couple weeks. I interviewed for emergency hire positions at Freedom and Lakeview elementaries on Monday, August 27. My interview was at 3:00. I interviewed for a 1st and 3rd grade position at Lakeview and then a Kindergarten and 1st grade positions at Freedom. They called me at 4:00 that day to let me know that I got a job to teach Kindergarten and that back to school night was at 5:30 and that I needed to be there to meet the parents and my students. (One of the interview questions was "What are you doing tonight" because it was a crucial question...)
Anyway, I went to Back to School night and the parents asked me questions and basically I told them that I didn't really know all the procedures of the school yet because they hired me about an hour ago. Some of the parents looked at me and it kind of looked like they were thinking..."She's going to be the teacher of my child and she doesn't even know what she's doing yet!" Well, anyway, I got home that night and Nick just kept staring at me like I was magically someone different. He says that it is weird though because now it's like we have to be grown up suddenly. It is weird. I'll admit. I have started a career.
So you may be wondering about my student teaching and stuff. Well I was supposed to student teach but basically an emergency hire means that I get to get paid for my student teaching and then after my student teaching, I'll have a job. We haven't worked it all out yet, so I may have to teach 4th, 5th, or 6th grades for half a semester, which I have no idea how it will work, but my principal will work it all out. I have 42 students. I teach a morning and an afternoon class. I love it. I teach all by myself. I have a classroom of my own. There are 20 kids in my morning class and 22 kids in my afternoon. It has been hard to get everything ready but it is so fun when the kids are there. Basically we just practice standing in line, tucking in chairs, walking to their cubbies, etc. We just work on routines and for last week and this coming week, we are going to learn about colors!
It has been this emotional roller coaster that is so exhausting! I worry that Nick feels neglected because I do teacher stuff every waking moment. I am usually at the school from about 7:20am to 7:20pm (when they kick me out) everyday. Nick is really very supportive of me though, and I couldn't do all of this without him!
So, I am officially Mrs. Jones, and believe me, it's only been three days, but I am sick of hearing kids say "Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones!" or "Teacher!" I had a kid screaming for his mom on the first day, and then the second and third day I had one girl crying for her mom. I just deal with it though. The principal came the first day and took care of the screamer, which was way nice.
Anyway, that's my exciting new adventure, and I'm glad that everyone is so concerned about me. I have had so many people act like they are dying to hear how it went (like they thought I couldn't do it or something.)
Well, post some comments so I can hear what you all think.
Mrs. Jones aka "Teacher Tami"

2 comments:

Em Russ said...

whew! That made me tired just thinking about dealing with 42 little 5 year olds! In a way I am jealous though because I think it would be really cool to watch them learn! I know you'll be fabulous and I am totally confident in you! You should take a picture of your class and post it! Good work on being a grown up! And good luck sorting out your colors! Go BLUE (BYU)!

Natalie said...

I still need to come see your classroom. Maybe when I don't work anymore I can come see it and take you to school lunch!