Drip, Drip, Drop Little Pencils and Notebooks and Papers and...

I never realized how often 3rd graders drop things off their desks.  Pencils were dropping like rain, papers floating to the ground like leaves off a tree in fall.  One girl whose desk was in front of mine had trouble keeping things in her desk.  In her defense, her desk was rather small and didn't have enough room for everything.  She'd open her desk to get her ruler out and consequently shove her planner out the other side, on accident, of course.  Then she'd bend down to pick it up aaaand drop her pencil off the other side.  Her desk still open, she'd stretch for her pencil and that dratted planner would slide out the other side!  So she'd reach for it again and this time her paper fell off her desk.  Another student got that one for her.  This happened at least three times in the two minutes they had to get ready for reading.  But eventually she got everything straightened out and settled down for some learning.  Sometimes I shake my head, wondering if I was ever that uncoordinated and noisy... sigh, most likely. 

In which I begin my journey...

One of my good friends (who is currently in South America teaching English) suggested I keep a blog of what's happening during my student teaching experience, the funny things kids say, interesting mishaps in the classroom, etc.  And I thought to myself, "you know, I've always wanted to keep a blog.  I guess this as good a time as any..."  So, we'll see where this goes.

About two weeks ago, I started a clinical experience in a 3rd grade classroom.  For those of you who don't know what a clinical is, it's basically a mini-student teaching experience.  I go into the classroom and observe and teach a few lessons under the watchful eyes of my supervising teacher.  This clinical is only for three weeks and is good practice before I student teach next semester.

The first day of my observations, all the students walked in and noticed me immediately.  Of course, it's kind of hard for a short 3rd grader not to notice a 5'7 unfamiliar girl standing at the back of the room.  I could see some of them whispering to each other, sneaking glances at me when they were sure I wasn't looking.  One boy kept staring at me; and when I made eye contact, he'd smile and give me a little wave.  Then, a tiny girl with a huge personality came up to me and tapped me on the leg, "Um, Miss Heintz?" she whispered.  I bend down to hear her better.  "All the boys think you're pretty."  Ahem.  Yes.  I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that; I've never been in this situation before.  I'm pretty sure I said something like, "Oh, okay," nodding my head trying to come up with a better answer.  The little girl laughed and pranced back to her desk.  Somewhere in the corner of my mind I'm sure I was thinking, "Hey, maybe they won't misbehave if they think I'm pretty."  Since then, I've gotten to know these students more and although they aren't perfect angels, they aren't little terrors either.  Whether there is a correlation between their behavior and my looks, I have no idea, but that little girl's compliment sure made my first day a little easier.