One word. Challenging.

I'm going to be honest here. The past week has been a mix of emotions/feelings. I've been tired, I've been annoyed, I've been frustrated, I've been excited, I've been empowered, and I've been happy. I like it. It's not easy, and while I usually don't really like to have to work for things (just to be honest,) I'm excited to see what's going to come of my hard work here. I got through my first three full days last week, Wednesday-Friday, pretty well. The kids talk SO much, and I've really toyed with the idea of putting super glue in their seats to keep them down. They ask more questions than I ever thought possible, and they tattle like you wouldn't believe. That said, they're so sweet. I definitely have some stinkers (literally and figuratively...there's alot of flatulence in first grade,) but none I can't handle.

There was a marked improvement in the kids behavior from the first day to the second day, and that was really encouraging. There wasn't as much improvement from Thursday to Friday, but that's alright. I feel so mean because I'm having to be really firm with the kids, but they still hug me and try to impress me, so I know they like me. Today's behavior was even better. They were quiet all throughout the morning when I asked them to be quiet while they were working, which is something they didn't really do much last week. The afternoon wasn't quite as good, but that's understandable. Last week, I had SO much extra time, but today we ran out of time for recess, so I'm taking that as a good sign. Maybe the kids are really learning something. Hopefully I'll be able to time it a little better tomorrow, so we have time for a break.

The hardest part at first was that the room is so full of stuff. The last teacher's stuff is all still up there, and since she's been teaching for 30+ years, that's quite a lot. I spent about five hours up at the school on Saturday with my friend Joy, and we got tons of stuff organized and put up. I feel like the class is starting to become a little bit more mine, and I'm hoping that sometime in the near future I'll be able to make it even more mine.

The kids in Irving aren't as funny as the kids in Abilene, so I don't have any exciting stories about them yet. Hopefully I'll have some in the near future. I didn't think this would be much harder than student teaching, but now I know. I now have even more respect for the great teachers I worked with in Abilene than I already did! Your continued prayers are solicited and much appreciated. I'll take as many as I can get!