my future's so bright, i gotta wear (stunna)shades

I've officially completed four days at my new job and I have learned more these past four days than i did working 7 months at Boys and Girls Club...first off, I actually got TRAINED. I never even got that at "the Club", just kinda thrown in and I suppose I was just supposed to guess how things worked and what i was supposed to do. Another thing i love is how people communicate with each other. That's a HUGE thing that was lacking when i was at the Club. I felt like I never knew what was going on, or when i did know, it was always last minute.

My first two days were typical training days. They were my "observation" days where i basically spent an hour or two with a certain age group, observing the teachers and their interactions with the kids. Boeing Family Center has a few age groups..they are infants, toddlers, preschool, and pre-K..i think i'm missing an age group...anyway...

Yesterday, Wednesday, I shadowed one of the Pre-K teachers, Theresa. She is going to be my mentor while I'm working at BFC. Theresa has been working in the field since she was 14(she's 35 now) and is very good at what she does, the way she talks to the kids, and interacts with them. The company actually paid for us to have lunch together so we can get to know each other a little better. We chose SushiLand in Renton, and it was soooOOOooo good!(even better that it was FREE!). I feel really comfortable with Theresa and am so glad i have someone to talk to if i have any questions/concerns who actually KNOWS what they're doing and has wisdom and advice to share.

Today I worked in classroom with the preschoolers that i will be teaching, assuming i choose to accept the postion (i'm getting paid like i'm in the position, and it's pretty much mine if i want it, they just wanna make sure I'M really sure i want it). There are several other girls who work in the same suite as me(that's what we call our classrooms,it's one big room, split in two, for the two different classes) and they all seem really nice and are about my age. I'm having a good time getting to know the kids and their different personalities. There are 20 kids in the classroom, but 10 will be specifically my OWN group. I'm glad i'm getting this trial period because it gives me a chance to know the kids and get their respect while learning their routines and how the classroom is set up before jumping in and teaching them...from 12-3 is naptime, and i can already tell that is going to be my FAVORITE time of the day.

p.s. i google image searched Boeing Family Center to find a pic of the building and the pic above came up. It's from the Seattle Times and it's a pic of my mentor(!!!) and a child from about a year ago when they wrote a story on her. That pretty much makes her a celebrity.