3

I learned...that first graders are so much bigger and more mature than you think they are. Yet, at the same time they are still only six years old. It's fine balance between what we expect from them and what they are truly capable of doing. Sometimes they seem so big, but then they are homesick and really want their mommies.

Something great that happened was...I received my first compliment from my supervising teacher today. At the end of the day she said I was doing a great job working with our student who only speaks Swedish. It felt really great to hear that, even better knowing today he was able to participate in the greeting at morning meeting and spoke to me a small amount in English!

Something challenging that happened was...dealing with my first schedule challenge. Today I learned that the district super is requiring all interns to be with the class at all times, just incase a child needs support. I had to carefully voice my concerns to my supervising teacher and to coordinators from my graduate program (via email). Inside I may have been going "AHHHHH" but I was able to remain calm and composed and voice my concerns.

A question I have is...how do you set differentiate expectations, when some children are able to perform differently than others in terms of behavior and maturity.

I wonder about...how much the children will grow and change and learn over the course of the year. They already seem so big and smart, I can only imagine what I will think come June.