Are You Smarter Than a 6 Year Old?

Week 1 and 2 of student teaching are now behind me, and with a few shaky lessons out of the way, and one pretty uplifting evaluation, I am feeling pretty good about it all. BUT LET ME TELL YOU- those 6-year-olds have blown my mind! I never would have thought that such intellectual and intelligent things would come out of such young minds. Just teaching a lesson on "clouds" was enough to floor me as the youngsters spouted off types of clouds before I could even get the information out. I have learned that these little sponges are constantly absorbing knowledge, and their innate desire to learn has been apparent in every lesson I have witnessed- or even taught. I taught the class today about how I have type 1 diabetes, fully expecting blank stares and confused gazes, but was astonished at the sensitivity and curiousness they showed as they asked me questions. I am quickly building deep relationships with these kiddos as we get to know each other, and I am beyond excited to take over full responsibility of teaching in a few weeks. I am sure I will feel the stress of it all soon as I begin to plan more deeply for that, but in the mean time I am just doing what I can. I have, however, built a PRETTY STINKIN AWESOME unit on the Chinese New Year that I am pretty sure the whole first grade team might be using... so I am pretty proud about that! Thanks for reading and of course I welcome your responses!!

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