Dear Me,
You've made it through the first week of school and prevented tears and helped kids find the bathroom and walked them to lunch and passed out hand sanitizer. You've started the year out well. Remember that you really do love teaching when it gets hard. And you love instilling a passion for life-long learning in your kids.
Remember! Deescalate and don't take students' and parents' responses to you personally. It's not about you. It's that their gerbil died the same week that their parents got divorced. It's that they don't know how to ask for attention because their special needs sibling gets most of it.
Remember! Proximity is helpful! Walk around the classroom. Wear comfortable shoes.
Be present in your students' lives. Go to volleyball and soccer games.
Respect them as people.
Praise them for the stuff that they do well.
Keep your expectations reasonable. They are kids. They make mistakes. So do you. Apologize and be humble.
~Rose
