Patience

Breathe in one, two, three. Hold. Breathe out one, two, three. A lesson I have learned this week is to stay calm and be patient. Even though we are starting our fourth week this week, we are still at the beginning of the school year. Routines are still being set in place and figured out. Yes, we are doing things out of order (due to the extended day), but you will be okay. Just breathe.

Upon entering the first grade, it would be a miracle if every student was at the exact same level. But we know that could only happen in a perfect society. A part of my patience lesson this week comes in the form of shoe-tiers. Yes, it may seem strange, but I think we take for granted our abilities to tie our own shoes. Precious minutes are spent in class re-tying shoes and I think to myself sooner or later they will reach that stage where they will be able to do it fast, but for right now they need to slow it down to make sure its done properly.  There are so many things that the students are just learning to do (like tying shoes if they don't know already) that will be valuable lessons for the future though it may seem hard to find them so now.

Patience this week has also come in the form of sitting down and waiting. A new trick I have discovered is to wait the students out. They now have a morning recess for 15 minutes, but if they don't get their work done then we have to stay inside to complete it. If the students are being in one of their talkative states (and me not willing to yell above them), I simply walk over and pull up a chair in the front of the room and sit down, cross my arms, and wait. Pretty soon the students realize that their attention needs to be on me and we move on in a quieter level. The students realize that if they meet their targets for classroom behavior, then they will get to do the things that they want like go to recess. I simply tell them its their choice on whether or not they want to go outside to play. They typically do, so they quiet down and listen to instructions. :)

Now one a completely random note, a lot of things have been happening this week. First of all, we did not have school on Monday due to it being Labor Day. Yesterday was our first full day of school and confused the students terribly. Today we welcomed another new student into our classroom so she makes 21, and lastly tomorrow is picture day.  I am also videotaping my calendar math lesson tomorrow so I can complete my first improvement paper for my ELED class. So I breathe in and out and I count to three (or a higher number if need be) because even though there are so many things to get done, I know that they will just in their own time. Just like with students, be patient in the tasks that you have created for yourself like designing lessons. There is no need to rush through them and then not have them planned out to the fullest. Instead work on little bits of it here and there and eventually it will all get done. Patience: when the world seems overwhelming, step back, breathe, and know that everything will be alright.

Until next post, think of the little things that took you the longest time to do whether it may be tying your shoes or learning how to tie a tie. Now thing about something that you are struggling with now (like improving keyboarding skills) and know that with patience and time even that will become easy.

Miss Higgins