A Smile Wrapped Around My Head

Thank you for all of your prayers as I began my first day as a student teacher!

I can honestly say.... The day could not have been more perfect. I woke up, packed my lunch:

and then went to my first class- Math methods. My professor stopped her lecture, and then she said, "Dylan, can I just say how much I love your laugh and the fact you are laughing at such an early hour on a Monday morning?" I smiled really big! Then, later, I taught the class the "Put Your Label On Your Answer" song. 

Then I had my commute to school. There's about a 3 mile stretch or so I have to drive through the city to get to the school, but it will always be worth it!

I was greeted warmly by my students with hugs, all kinds of questions, (2 of the most common were, "Are you married?" and "How many kids do you have?"). They were great! After first recess, one girl brought me in a bouquet of dandelions! My smile grew even bigger! I didn't know that was possible! 

Then, I observed for a bit, and then we had lunch. The students all fought over who got to hold my hand on the way there, and then who got to sit by me. I told them we'd take turns over the next few weeks. 

After lunch, we had outside recess, and they all wanted me to play on the playground, I went on it, but just watched them, and that satisfied them. Then they wanted me to push them on the merry go round but they said I didn't push fast enough. I thought my smile was a mile wide by now, but it expanded even further!

Then I got to read my book, First Day Jitters, and then the ABC book I made. They asked so many questions, and we added the books to the classroom bookshelf.  My smile was gigantic, but it still grew bigger.

In the afternoon, we talked about being kind to other people. We talked about "porcupine words" and "teddy bear words"- porcupine words hurt other people, but teddy bear words make other people feel good. They drew slips, and I read them out loud (some of the porcupine words in a very mean tone of voice!) and they had to decide whether they were porcupine or teddy bear words.

I ended the day talking with my co-op and we are planning a unit on worms. She's getting live worms brought in, and we're going to watch them grow and go through their life cycle. I bought some worm books tonight, I'm so excited! My smile just kept right on growing.

In today's newsletter, my co-op teacher wrote: "Beginning today, we have a student teacher working with us in our classroom, Mr. T. Mr. T is a student in his final year at ------ . I have had the privilege of working with him in the past, and am very excited that he will bring his love for books and reading to our classroom. " YES! She knows me so well! I think I defied the impossible and my smile grew bigger still.

After class tonight I went to work and found this:

My smile was probably wrapped around my head at this point. Those bars were from my boss, for my birthday (on the 19th). They are chocolate-peanut butter-butterscotch-peanut-marshmallow. They are AMAZING and she knows they're my favorite!!!! 

My smile is still so big, it's wrapped around my head. Dreams are coming true, and nothing can or will get in my way from achieving my goals and pursuing happiness.