There is safety in standing on the side of the pool, nice and dry in the comfort zone. Taking leaps into the unknown has never been my strength. Diving into this blogging world may seem small, but it has always seemed like a mountain of a task to me. I like to feel confident that I can commit to something before I start anything. I’m sure we all do, right? My step 1 of *attempting* to live a balanced life: only saying yes to things I can fully invest in. In honor of summer and a corner of life where I’m ready to take on something new, I’m taking the plunge into learning and starting a blog! It doesn’t look like this is going to be a graceful dive, it might look like a belly flop, but I’m going to be okay with this being a work in progress. 🙂
In the event you’re still reading and want to know a little about me, I have taught 1st grade for 11 years. I stumbled onto 1st grade during student teaching and immediately fell in love. The span of student abilities and skills to teach is so wide. From reviewing letters and sounds at the beginning of the year, to developing writers that can write paragraphs on topic and reading chapter books at the end. Each year the personalities make it brand new. In my experience, challenging behaviors often seem to peak in 1st grade. Maybe because of the stress the fast paced curriculum has on 6 and 7 year old minds or simply the desire to test boundaries. I do find joy in meeting the challenge of getting my students, especially the less motivated, to fall in love with the subject matter and be engaged during lessons.
Creating engaging resources for my kiddos keeps the love of the curriculum alive for me. I am known to change up lesson plans as I go if I see the kids are responding to a specific topic. Hats off to the teachers that can stick to your lesson plans! I like to give a variety of activities to practice skills: hands on, games, crafts, independent practice, sorts, and “around the room” style activities.. often using QR Code Hunts! My classroom is not a quiet place with perfectly still children. Kids are often in stations working, playing a game, or creating with partners or a group. If I do need a grade/worksheet style assignment, I prefer “around the room” activities for the kids to have an opportunity for movement or using iPads to scan their QR codes. I use a lot of real world examples/photographs in my lessons. I’ve found that teaching is a delicate balancing act of bringing the real world into the classroom, keeping the curriculum relevant and giving students motivation and confidence to learn and create!
Lastly, in the event you are curious, my last name is spelled Duguid but pronounced “do good”. Ahh, the endless teasing that came with that name through my school years has paid off by being a pretty perfect name for my first grade students. “Be good for Ms. Duguid,” I’ve heard the parents call out to their kids countless times.
For our students to be good for us, though, we first have to make sure we’re doing good for them!
Thank you for stopping by and click here to find me on the IG so we collaborate and share ideas!
@dogoodforfirst
Here’s to breaking out of comfort zones and plunging into new adventures! 🙂