First Week Reflection

It's weird to be writing about my first week teaching.. when it actually began 2 months ago today. But nevertheless.. I neglected to write about it then.. and I do want to paint a fuller picture for my readers.
To help me remember my emotions.. I'll refer to my Facebook posts from that week. One moment please. :)
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Ahhhh now I remember! Thanks FaBo!
To begin with -- I started my very first day teaching with less than 2 hours of sleep! This is because I was still lesson planning hours before the school day began. This is something you will learn about me.. I'm crazy when it comes to planning. If I don't have things figured out beforehand.. then I get incredibly anxious (I'm trying to learn to let loose a bit!). It was challenging getting my classroom ready for my students AND planning a full week of lessons for 6 (K-5) classes! I see my students for an entire week and rotate through my classes that way. So each Monday I start again with a new group of students. This means when I post my lesson plans online on Monday (so my administrators can check them)... I have to have 5 days already figured out for each grade level. 5 days x 6 classes = 30 different classes planned per week. Yikes!
Maybe this doesn't seem so bad for you teachers who've been working for a while.. but for a brand spankin' newbie like me... I was a little overwhelmed. During my student teaching I had an elementary rotation which consisted of a new K-5 group every day of the week.. so as far as planning goes.. I only had to figure out day one 100% for each grade level.. then repeat until Friday.
Anywayyysssss... so back to my first week. Little sleep. Lots of anxiety.
Let's browse my FaBo posts:

August 6th - First day of school jitters! .. Not just for students!

August 7th - I slept for 2 hours yesterday... and now I've slept for 1 hour (okay.. more like napped).. tonight. Soooo Ms. Gram is going to be a bucket of sunshineeeeeeee tomorrow! Lesson planning = aargrhhhh!

August 8th - So excited to go to work today! :D

August 8th - ridiculously sick to my stomach. :/

August 10th - survived my first week teaching! :) Loving it!

I failed to include in these posts that there were days when I walked out of that school with a smile glued to my face and thinking to myself, "I can't believe they are actually paying me for this!!" :)
And days when I walked out thinking, "There is no way I can do this," with my eyes tearing up. And honestly.. I still feel like that sometimes. There are days when things go amazing - I got enough sleep, my students were excited about the lessons, were well-behaved, etc. And days when things work out less than perfectly. But such is life. Overall.. I definitely think the pros outweigh the cons.. and with time.. I believe things will continue to get better (as I further refine my classroom management skills and teaching strategies).

Before the kids came in!