The first week of my practicum has been a process of steep learning. I have continued to deeply love being with my students and getting to know them better as learners and as people. I have had moments of great joy, such as working with a student in Math who is behind the rest of the class in her current skills, and seeing her grasp concepts and grow in her understanding. I have also been able to ignite enthusiasm in my students towards my lessons and units and I love to see their faces light up as learning becomes enjoyable. One significant highlight of the week was taking my students out to the school yard for a lesson, and having them all tell me afterwards that they found the lesson engaging and would love to participate in more learning experiences like it. I am excited to continue with the lesson planning process, as I have found a passion for this portion of the teaching job as well. However, even with all of these positive moments, this week has been challenging for me. I have struggled to assert a position of authority in the classroom in order to get students to listen to me and view me as their teacher. I taught one lesson in particular where it was quite difficult for me to gain their attention for any significant period of time. I have also struggled to find the line between the students showing their enthusiasm and being engaged in the lesson, and the students becoming out of control. For example, I taught one lesson where the students were highly engaged in the activity but the volume level also became much too loud for the school environment. Facing these obstacles, I at first began to question whether I truly have the skills to succeed in the practicum experience at this time. However, after reaching out to colleagues and advisors, I have begun to see these experiences as positive and temporary stepping stones of failure that will launch me into the shoreline of success. I now believe that I need to struggle in order to grow as I should and that it is only by learning what does not work that I will be able to find the strategies that do. My next steps will be trying out new management strategies, such as calls and responses and clapping in patterns, to see whether they are more effective at grabbing student attention than my current ‘quiet coyote’ strategy, and then mixing up the strategies throughout and between lessons so students do not learn to tune my signals out. Overall, although I still feel the struggle, I am walking into this week excited to see the growth that will occur.