Week 1

Wow! What a start it has been to this new school year. I am glad to be back at Watson for my internship, since this is the school that I am most familiar with. Watson has changed since I have been gone with a lot of new faces in new positions, and a lot of new attitudes. The faculty and staff at Watson are trying to make changes for the better, starting with a new behavior management plan. It has been interesting to see this plan in affect for its first few days, as the basis of it is positive attitudes toward everyone. The students seem to be benefitting from it so far, as most of them want to be great students and do not want to be called out by a teacher for bad behavior.

The students in my second grade class had a great first week back to school. It has been amazing to see the difference in how students look at you when you are in their room all day, everyday, instead of for just a few hours, and a few days a week. It seems to me that they feed off the presence of the people in their room, and as an intern I feel like a big presence in their room. Mrs. Decker has been more than a big help so far this year. I have learned more from watching her this first week, than I may have learned in all of my last two years. She has total control in her classroom, and it's amazing to see how well the students listen to her.

I haven't had an opportunity to teach from my own lesson plans quite yet, but Mrs. Decker has allowed me the opportunity to establish a leading position in the classroom. I can't wait to start planning lessons by myself, and with the help of Mrs. Decker. I hope we have as good of a second week as we did the first!