All Things New

I have been living my life now for 23 years, but as of this month of August I feel that I am living a brand new life. A life I have always dreamed of living. I have this new job, new town, a new marriage, new house, and lots of new feelings that I am dealing with.

This new job is an adjustment. I mean do not get me wrong I love what I do but it is not easy by any means. This I think is one of the toughest jobs on Earth. To deal with someoneelses children all day long, trying to teach them not only educational things but also worldly things and behavior as well. You can't yell at them, spank or smack them or cuss at them. all of which at some point this week have crossed my mind. There is so much paper work involved that I feel like I don't have time to even teach the things they need to know.

This new town thing really hit me over the weekend. I never thought I would miss Fayetteville but I do. Ian and I miss our favorite restaurants, our friends, the park, and Dickson. It is hard to get reacquainted with a town when you have been gone for years. I have decided that you cannot be unhappy so I have made new friends, Ian is playing soccer, I have found new restaurants and new parks and I will make new friends eventually.

Ian and I just bought a house. We are very excited and so ready to move in. We move in 15 days and could not be more ready to be in our own place. We are very thankful to my parents for letting us stay with them but we are ready to be on our own.

Ian and I have been married for a year on Sunday. It has been one crazy year. Many ups and downs but I wouldn't change a thing. I could not have made it without him. He is my rock and the love of my life.

There are so many changes that have been going on. I am very excited and nervous about all the changes and ready to start my life, the one I have been dreaming of for so long.

The First Week

The first week of school just ended and I could not be more happy that the week is behind me. My week was full of chaos, firsts, mess-ups, laughs, frustration and the never ending feeling of the unknown.

On Monday I met all of my students. They were the most precious eight-year-olds I could have asked for. But by the end of the week their true colors began to emerge. I decided that the first day of school is just a show. All the students are usually on their best behavior and then after they get comfortable things begin to change. By mid-week I had students talking out of control, singing while I was talking, climbing on chairs, sitting in the lunch buckets, and doing cheerleading jumps in the room!! I realized then that the stern Mrs. Walton needed to come out.

I have always heard of peoples horror stories of the first week of school but I always thought it would never happen to me because I was prepared. Boy, was I wrong. I am very glad there is new week ahead of me and that I know what to expect from my little ones. I have decided that it is a new week and we are going to start over.

Randomness of my week:

One student said that her friends thought I was pregnant, so I decided it was time to start working out again no matter how tired I am.

My principal came in during the time that my students claimed they had no clue what they were supposed to be doing.

The districts Pathwise assessor came in and in mid sentence I fumbled over my words and it took me a good thirty seconds to recover. Thankfully the lady complimented me on the lesson.

Three of my boys told me they thought I was the prettiest teacher they have ever had.

I had one student on the first day cry when we were going home for the day because he said he wanted to stay with me!

Redecorated Classroom=Sucess

With weeks of working in my classroom from morning until dark my classroom is finished. Well for now at least. My parents and my husband need to be thanked from now until eternity for all the work they put into making this room feel like home. We painted, cleaned, organized, cleaned, rearranged, cleaned, decorated and did I mention clean? This room was a disaster. Not only did it look like it hadn't been cleaned in years but it was very unorganized and that was not going to work in my room. These are pictures from before and after.

Before...


After...



Before...



After...


Here are my bulletin boards

Keys to a new beginning.

Today, I received the keys to my classroom. Well, actually I wouldn't really call it a classroom quite yet. This place need A LOT of work in order to be identified as a place where one learns and gain experiences.

As I stepped in today I began to realize that this place is going to be where I spend the majority of my time. I decided right then that this place needs to reflect who I am. With that being said safari print came to mind. I cannot imagine my second home not feeling a little like my first home and not being a reflection of my style. I think I was born with an attachment to safari print. It can be zebra, leopard, or giraffe but anything with those prints always seems to grab my attention, so I thought why not make my classroom the same.

Next, I thought how my classroom needed to reflect what I want my students to accomplish throughout the year. Now, here comes the tricky part. I know I want my students to learn the curriculum and some life lessons that are crucial to the real world, but how I am going to accomplish this is the root of all my apprehension. Organizing, and decorating I have no worries about, but when it comes to deciding how my students are going to learn something or what they should learn (aside from the standards), and to what depth they are going to learn makes me one anxious new teacher.

This new blog is going to be a reflection of my days, weeks, and months of being a first year teacher. I am positive there are going to be some good days and not so good days, some challenging days and some days when I think I am the best teacher ever. I am hoping this is going to be something I can look back on years to come and make changes to the way I teach and the way I reflect.