The sun is starting to peak over the horizon...

It's the eve of the first day of the 3rd week of school and I'm feeling quiet a bit better than I felt a week ago. Don't get me wrong, last week was a struggle, but it was better than the last week. On Thursday, I became so frustrated that I had to step out of my classroom to cry for a moment while a Pre-K teacher took over for 5 minutes. Needless to say, my birthday was fairly rotten [except for when my lovely boyfriend surprised me with a home-make chocolate fudge cake complete with 22 pink candles :)]. So Thursday night I thought through how I wanted, how I needed, to change things.

Then came Friday.

Friday was great. Not perfect. But MUCH MUCH better. The kids were more in control, I was more in control of my class. I changed my tone and my approach and that made a HUGE different. The atmosphere of my classroom was more fun and light. I didn't feel as though I was a dictator of my classroom, I felt like the teacher. More of my students were sent to 'take a break' in the hallway, but that allowed me to teach the rest of the students for more time. I was able to spend more time instructing because I didn't spend as much time correcting student behaviors.

It is super late now and I need to rest my head but I needed to take a moment and reflect on my second week. I hope that tomorrow and the rest of the week goes as well as Friday did. Although I am knee deep in lesson planning (the reason I'm up so late on a Sunday), I am ready, and excited, to go back to school. I had more joy on Friday and my students noticed. My goal now is to above all, always enter school and my classroom with a joyful attitude.