teacherlife.blogspot.com

Now that I have started my new job teaching 1st grade (woot woot! holla!), you all will probably be thinking from pretty much now on that the domain should change to teacherlife.blogspot.com because I will probably be mainly sharing about my teacher life! Now that we have gotten into the swing of things, I have a little (more like a sliver) of more time to share with you all the first several weeks of school for me. **Cue remembering music***

The First Day-

Imagine my horror, i mean excitement, when my first little firstie shows up at my door at 7:30. Mind you school does not technically start until 7:50. Yikes! Then more of them came piling in with lots of parents! Luckily, we had a good morning with no lingering parents.

• the good parts: We started reading Junie B., First Grader at Last! and my kids absolutely loved it! They thought Junie B. was so funny, some of the things that she did and said. And I think they also really liked that she was a first grader just like them. Also, no major behavioral issues like talking back or sass.
• the rough parts: since I was new, I didn't know a lot of the school procedural stuff. Do I take them to specials? Does the specials teacher come for them? Do I pick them up from specials? Does the specials teacher bring them? How does the lunch line procedure work? Where is our lunch table? The kids want ice cream, (we sell ice cream?) What is this snack shack thing the kids keep mentioning?Also, I expected the kids to come in doing their normal school stuff. Reality check: they come in acting like they've never been to school before. So all day there was no raising hands, many friends getting out of their seats and even a few students that tried to leave the classroom without asking!

So basically, the kids left and I sat in my mentor teacher's room and bawled like a baby. But the good news is that there have not been any more tears since then and the kids have been making progress with the procedures every day!

And so far the parents have been super great, helpful and supportive which I always need!

Let the Tears Begin

Alright bloggers, I'll be starting a never ending series about my days as a first grade teacher. Yesterday was my very first day having my own classroom, and my own first graders. The morning was ok. It was the first day so kids were coming in super early which I wasn't really expecting. We got through the morning ok with a little first day sheet and calendar. Then we moved on to a Find a Friend activity which they figured out how to do on their own after I did not explain it very well. Then we tried doing an M&M graphing activity. I was going to go through it with them step by step but some of them zoomed through the graph and some of them weren't quite sure what to do. Not to mention there ended up being a gaillion M&Ms all over the floor!

But basically all of those little classroom management things that drive every teacher crazy all piled up on me and I had a meltdown! I don't know why I expected them not to do this but they were shouting out and getting up out of their seat all over the place and couldn't walk quietly in the hallway or in a straight line in the hallway. And lunch was a complete and total disaster. Everyone ran to the table and called seats and then the table and the floor was a mess afterwards and throwing away trash was a disaster. The kids came back from specials and I put on a magic school bus DVD that we watched for 45 minutes because I couldn't handle doing anything else. Then we tried doing a craftivity which was a mess all over the place and most of them didn't finish in 45 minutes! Also, packing up was also a disaster! I have no idea what the kiddos took home and what they didn't!

Then I sat down in my mentor teacher's room and I cried. I sobbed because I felt helpless. I wanted it to go so smoothly and it was total chaos! I'm trying to be thankful that the Lord is humbling me from my expectation of being a great first year teacher and stripping by definition of a great first year teacher. I can see now that I thought that if everything went smoothly that I would have everything together and we would flow right into a routine. That idea could never be far from the truth! So, we'll see how the rest of the year goes. Here's to hoping we learn something in the next 178 days!

10,000 Reasons?

Preparing to lead my small group at church tomorrow night I again become confronted with my doubt in the Lord, his power and in his sovereignty. Tomorrow night I am using one of Jesus' healing miracles to teach that Jesus has compassion over us, that He has power over all and that He is the true Messiah. As I have been preparing tonight, I am confronted that these are just a few of the many reasons that we have to celebrate and worship Jesus.

In the end, I plan to present the truth that the mission of Jesus' miracles was to demonstrate his power and his identity so that the people would believe in Him, trust Him as the Messiah and tell others about Him. Jesus tells us that our response to grace is to serve Him and worship Him. It is as simple as that. And yet over and over again I fail at these miserably. And I doubt Him and I harden my heart towards Him, instead looking inwards in the face of a storm and wondering why life isn't just peachy. I daydream about a life that is free from struggles and strife; a world where I picture myself freely and wholeheartedly worshiping the Lord. 

The problem with this picture is that my worship, my service, my love is circumstantial. Often, I find myself believing the lie that I can achieve this dream, that the more that I grow to be like Christ, the more perfect my life will be. And then I get slapped in the face with a wake up call. "Hello Kathleen! Anybody home? Did you read the part where Jesus was tortured and crucified on the cross or did you just skip that part?" Jesus, my savior, my redeemer, lover of my soul; he was perfect and yet he suffered the most because he desired to know me. How can I even begin to think that I deserve to even remotely consider a life without pain, sorrow, and suffering when each day I sin against Him. I am not worthy and yet so many times I fail to remember this. 

Yet because of Jesus, I live another day today to remember how unworthy I am in the midst of worshipping Jesus who is worthy and yet still suffered so much. My suffering can never compare to what He endured so that I might have grace. I am reminded of Matt Redman's "10,000 Reasons" and worship the Lord knowing that there are more than 10,000 reasons to do so and pray that whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes.

Covers Fun!

So this post has nothing to do with life or Jesus, but I love great covers! And youtube just has so many great ones, and not so great ones too! So here's a few that I think are really good and fun!

This is a cover of "Some Nights" by Fun, done by a YouTube artist and a bunch of his friends. It's one of my friends. But be warned this vid's not edited so around 2:50, be prepared. 

Anybody remember the song "MMMBop" by Hanson from the late 90s or early 2000s? Oh yeah, my childhood right there. And of course ten years later, still we don't know what exactly MMBop is, but enjoy it again with this cover by Paradise Fears and Hollywood Ending. 

Cassadee Pope and Hey Monday cover a stripped down version of Jason Derulo's "In My Head". 

A little bit country, Emily Hearn covers "Colder Weather" by Zac Brown Band at the beautiful Flat Rock, NC! 

And of course I had to throw in a little bit of Tigeroar, the men's a capella group from Clemson University. These guys cover "All of the Lights" remixed to show their Tiger pride!