The results are in...

I got the results from my mid-term today. It happened quite some time ago, but RM and SM (field supervisor) had told me that there was a lot of information to cover and it would take a while. I was patient-- hey, I figured if I was going to get a failing mark they wouldn't have let me continue to lead the students! I got an A- on the mid-term, but I understand why it wasn't a full A. This is still tough to swallow for my perfectionist self- hopefully I can still pull an A out of the class with my papers and whatnot- otherwise I'm blowing a GPA here. Really though, I'm not going to stress about it. I will just  make sure I get a regular A for the final. They wanted to show my areas of improvement actually improving- which makes sense. I know I have certainly grown a ton since I started so I'm excited to see where I end up. 

Something peculiar happened today. When the school year first started, I had a couple of students display the attitude that I wasn't their "real" teacher. RM set that record straight right away and made sure they knew that they were to respect and pay attention to me just as much as they were to her- and that I was there to teach them and not just fill their time. I really appreciated that! This week RM introduced Math Workshop. I had taught a few math lessons a couple weeks ago and we have been working on understanding digits and words related to numbers. There hasn't been a lot of "new" teaching regarding this because we are strengthening their understanding of this. Today RM introduced some new things to the students and was exposing them to the workshop format we will be using. She was moving at a slower pace because she wanted to make sure everyone understood the process and what the expectations were. The quick finishers (the students who get done quickly and want to know what to do next) were coming to ME asking what they should do next! Robyn was leading the lesson yet they were coming to me. Of course I hadn't planned her lesson so I didn't know what she wanted them to do-- therefore I was referring them back to her (or asked her myself and then guided them). But my point is, they totally trust me and understand that I'm capable of leading them and helping them with their questions. At the moment, I was stunned and shocked- but after talking to RM and getting some feedback I realized that this is a good thing- and that I'm not really taking over her classroom but instead helping to make it an even greater place to be.