Professional Development Day.

Ill be bold and admit, I was a little nervous today, feeling really daunted not only by the whole teaching for 10 weeks thing but more over the fact that I will be playing a part in educating a child, giving them a solid foundation to stand on, and that it comes down to me. The responsibility is huge, especially at such a crucial age like kindergarten.

Everyone has all sorts of opinions about education, of which they are entitled to, however last week when I was sharing with a customer about my internship, all I had to do was mention the word kindergarten and he reared his ugly head and replied " What are you worried about, Kindergarten is just a glorified babysitting club." To which I just stared at him in disbelief almost too astounded to reply.I paused, held my tounge for a moment and thought 'less is more', so my simple reply came "No house stands on an unstable foundation." Sure I may just be one brick in each childs house, but its the most important one because its the foundations, you get that wrong and you may as well just be a babysitting club because your sending them backwards...

So we had professional development today which I enjoyed thouroughly, It felt so good to 'feel' like a teacher and mingle with people minus all the little kids. the morning started off with a few housekeeping and general welcoming followed by a few presentations related to creating Digital Resources (yay). Im am going to be a little sponge on Internship, my goal is to get as technologically advanced as I possibly can to really create an interactive classroom. Its strange being part of the Y generation and yet feeling like Im ancient and so out of date because Im not up with the latest technology or even the basics.

I talked over a few Classroom management Ideas with my CT today, which Im excited to try. Ive decided to impliment a ' King and Queen of the day' each student gets a chance to be King or Queen of the day based on 3 principles that I will be looking out for.
1. Listening to the teacher and peers
2. Being Kind to others
3. Doing Best work

The King and the Queen of the day will get to sit on chairs (decorated like thrones) while everyone is sitting in the floor ( to make them feel important and special) and they get to wear a Crown/Tiara. The aim is for every student to have a go at being king/queen. Each Day ill take a photograph of the King/ Queen of the day and will make a booklet for the kids, each kid has to write down next to their picture what it felt like to be the king/queen for the day.

Like I said earlier, Trial and Error, we will see how it goes, if its a complete flop we can try something different. My CT suggested using a sticker chart to motivate so they can see visually as well, so if they get 3 stickers they could be up for King/ Queen of the day, I can keep reinforcing positive behaviour with visual cues (sticker chart).

So day 1 with the Kids tommorow, Im excited to get to know them, their interests, how they learn etc. Its going to be a fun day.