November Already...?

This past month has been absolutely crazy!  However, I have had many incredible learning experiences.  Just to give a "snipit" of our past month, I'll share our schedule for the week of Halloween a few weeks ago.  In one week, we had the day off on Monday for a teacher workday, on Tuesday, the Honors Society students from the high school came to our school to provide a trunk or treat for our students, and on this day students were allowed to wear their Halloween costumes for the event.  Wednesday, we had our Halloween rotations where every teacher hosted a different event, and every student went around the hallway to visit every single other teacher.  Thursday, we had our school's fun run fundraiser that every student in the school took part in.  This absorbed the entirety of the afternoon.  That week was by far the craziest of the month, but there were many more crazy weeks and days added on top of that one.  My largest takeaway from this crazy month was that my CE was capable of still maintaining control of her classroom and facilitating learning for her students throughout this crazy, messy month.  She definitely has a talent of playing on the students' excitement to use it to her advantage.  Rather than shutting the kids down and forcing them to hide their excitement, she plans learning activities that put their excitement to good use by making it an effective drive to further their learning.
As far as networking goes this month, I have seen my CE and her first grade coworkers work together like no other group of ladies I have ever seen before!  Through this crazy month, the first grade teachers have also faced multiple sick days, days when their children are sick, and one has been out on maternity leave.  It has been incredible to see how these ladies have shared resources, lifted one another up, encouraged one another, and picked up each other's slack.  I can not imagine a group of teachers has ever been as cohesive as these ladies and their assistants.  I hope that I will have a community that has a chemistry similar to that of the ladies at my Clinical Placement.  I know that when I am a teacher, I will do everything I can to encourage collaboration among my coworkers and be as uplifting and encouraging to them as I can possibly be.
Another one of the professional teaching standards that I saw evidently reached in my clinical placement this week was the standard that talks about how "teachers demonstrate leadership."  I have watched my CE diligently show leadership in her classroom and among our grade level.  On meeting days, she always keeps everyone focused and on task so we are certain we have enough time to discuss and plan all that needs to be done.  I also saw her demonstrate leadership when she asked the office to prepare the medicine bag for the whole grade level before we left for our field trip.  It has been incredible to see how she is in a position of leadership among the other grade level teachers, but it isn't written anywhere or officially decided.  Her drive and her ability to motivate and gently take charge has made her an incredible leader.