Rebecca, Week One

Hi all! I didn't see that anyone else had posted yet so I hope I am doing this correctly.
This first week of school was really good. I did a lot of observing and assisting with simple tasks seeing as I have never been in this classroom. I am truly enjoying the advise, wisdom and personality of my CT! She has so many words of wisdom, even just simple things like making it a habit to eat in the lunch room just to be a "presence" to the students and teachers. She comes form 4 years of general classroom teaching and has a lot of crossover information. I have distinctly noticed her relationship with her students. She knows when to be loving and fun and then when to "crack the whip". LaFrance has recently become the creativity school in Anderson 4 so they are just now embracing arts integration. Thankfully this means we will be a Lafrance full time and not have to head to Townville once a week. Thursdays we get to simply integrate Art into the general classroom lessons planning and carrying the projects out alongside the classroom teacher. It is neat for me to see the beginnings of this project. This past Thursday we planned and had meetings with other teachers to begin getting this program off the ground. It was nice to see what goes into creating a program rather than just watlz into what has already been established. I feel like this experience is really going to benefit me in so many ways! Being present on the first day(s) has been a huge benefit too. It was nice to see how a school operates the first day or two and how procedures are put into place. LaFrance is doing a program (school wide) known as Focus 5. This program uses vocabulary and signals together to instruct/correct students. Student are asked to "control their voice" or "make a strong choice" versus be quiet or using the words bad/good we say strong/weak. Student have to sign a contract (with their body motions) daily and then whenever the group needs to re-focus throughout the day. The program also teaches student how to concentrate and focus and they do daily exercises to flex those "focus muscles". It is a really neat program and Monday and Tuesday my CT and I will be going to the next step in the training during the mornings. I am excited to learn more it seems to really be a huge benefit to the school/classroom.
Overall it has been a fabulous week! I am excited to begin the next but wow it is hard to wake up early! LOL