I Wrestled With Third Graders - 04/29/2019

I wrestled three third graders at the same time, actually, and I won.

I had initially planned to start at AEMS at 10:00am, but instead went in closer to 9:00am to collect permission slips from the office and went to the K-3 classrooms to stir up some interest for the gymnastics classes I'm offering after school. I was overjoyed to see how excited the kids were when I told them about gymnastics, students started jumping into the splits on the spot, flipping over into cartwheels, and raising their hands to ask "can I learn to be a ninja?"

At 10:00, I went to Mr. Hubbard's third grade classroom and was greeted by the usual hugs from the kiddos. We went to gym class and played freeze tag, walking chain tag, and a game where we wrestled over a pool noodle tire. I admit, it took me two tries before I won a point, but I still earned a point for my team, so it counts. After that, we went back for math class until it was lunch time.

I made my way over to Mr. Wiley's first grade classroom at 11:30. I met the students for the first time, and was immediately welcomed by all of them, as I jumped right into running a small group of math activities. I know how cheesy this is going to sound, but kids amaze me so much with the way they think. Often, they don't get the correct answer, but their thinking process is so intricate and extraordinary, it almost makes me reconsider how correct the correct answer is.

At 1:00, I headed back over to third grade with Mrs. Peters. I worked with two super bright girls on social studies, and then I worked with a little dude and little lady on their reading aloud skills. I forgot how fun little kid books are. After that, it was the end of their school day, and one of the Proctor kiddos asked me to walk her back over to Proctor.

At night, I spent 2 hours doing planning for my Proctor faculty Mandarin classes, as well as the gymnastics classes that will be starting on Wednesday or Thursday. Also, instead of teaching Mandarin after school, I most likely will be working with some "enrichment program" students in fourth grade, which I am excited for.

Part of me wants to skip the next few years and just fast forward to the day I have my own classroom, but I am probably still in the "honeymoon phase"...

Time: 10:30pm
Hours Today: 8
Total Hours: 8