My Life as a Teacher-Day 4

This is such a challenging job. I'm dog tired right now, but I'm still really happy. Some of my kids are challenging, but I'm glad that each one of them is there. So many things have been learned this week:

• I have amazing colleagues who are great to talk to
  
• I withheld affection from my students because I had the old "Don't smile til Christmas" mantra, but that made it so that it was hard to build trust. There are certain kids who just need a lot of validation, and I have to be willing to give that to them, even if it means I'm not doling out attention evenly among students.
• Stay calm, I'm in control. Students know it. I'm actually a lot stricter on students than I realize.
• Don't stay up all night lesson planning. You need at least 6 hours of sleep or you and your lessons are roadkill.
  
• Don't get impatient. It's natural to want to get all of the classroom structures up, but not healthy, sane, or possible. Slow and steady will win this race.
• Show that you control the class, but also give students voice and agency to move the class as well.