Exciting News!

Attention all blog followers, great news! I have decided to stay here in Florida for the whole 12 weeks! Thanks to the help of a pros and cons list I was able to effectively make my decision. I have already learned a lot from being here and I know there is only more to come.

Now, let me fill you in on how life is going down here in sunny Florida! Teaching is going great! At first I was having a little bit of a hard adjusting because my classroom wasn't like the others I had experienced. This is turning out to be a great advantage for me. I will be able to go to an interview and say how I adapted to a new situation and persevered through it. As I became more involved in the classroom I was noticing a few students that struggled paying attention and sitting still. I implemented a behavior plan for four of these boys. If they can act appropriately then I give them a stamp on a chart. They have the opportunity to get a stamp 2 times a day. By the end of the week if they have at least 8 stamps then they can have a reward (stickers). It seems to really be working for most of them. I am especially pleased with one boy who seems to be on his way to making a big turn around. This brings me to my proud teacher moment of the week! This boy frequently is being told on by other students who say he said this or did that. He always says the opposite happened. Well, I decided to keep an eye on him at recess. As it turns out someone pushed him, and what did he do? HE WALKED AWAY! I was so proud. It sounds silly, but I expected him to push back! He didn't though, he walked away to play somewhere else. You should have seen the look on his face when we told me we were proud of him. He was shocked because he thought he was going to get in trouble. It made me so happy to see him behave the way he did!

Let's see. . . what else interesting happened this week? O- quote of the day. Teacher- "Who is in charge of our country?" Student- "Marack Mo Momba". Let's be honest, it is a tricky name to say.

So, the classroom is going great. We have very supportive teachers and staff.

They aren't the only ones who have been supportive though. The host families have been great! My host mom is always very welcoming and she is there if I need her. The Ganley's always offer a friendly home to hang out. They also have made sure we get the best out of our experience here. We have so much planned that we can only find in Florida, and you better believe we are going take advantage of it! I know I will be planning on knocking off one thing on my Bucket List by going to DISNEY WORLD on saturday! YAY! I am so excited; I cannot wait to meet some Disney Princesses!

I can't wait for all the fun things ahead and for all the things I know I am going to learn! Stay tuned.