W22D114 (Friday) So every time I think that my practice is going well, I have a day like today. Wednesday, my first grade class, which is not an inclusion group was amazing. They showed their amazing cooperation and skills. Always on the verge of being a little antsy, as a class, I was able to adapt to their needs. Today for this same class, whether it's because I was tired or maybe just because it's Friday and I just didn't work as hard. It was completely out of my grasp, and I always wonder if on those days I should just take it down a notch and not expect as much.
But I did expect them to be capable of doing work that was equivalent or better work than what they did on Wednesday. Today, this same class was incapable of keeping pace with the expectation. I try not to blame myself or place the responsibility solely on my lesson plans; it's a lot of expectations on Friday so even though I feel crappy, I have to give myself permission for making some tactical errors; for not realizing they might not meet those expectations. And it doesn't mean that things are getting worse in my practice, it just means it was a bad day and I have to accept bad days happen.
Though all my classes were unspectacular I adapted and accepted that though the students were noisy we all ended up working together and as I adapted some activities to make it more fluid, now I have to realize that though I couldn't manage them, I was flexible. So I'm trying to give myself permission for not being perfect, and also for realizing that they have off days, as do I, and we'll start again again next Wednesday and we'll hope that that will be a better class.
