So, it happened! I was placed into my very own classroom of second-grade students just this last week. I am the proud teacher of Room 210 and all the awesome students that come with it!

After the two years of teaching creative writing while attending UCLA and gaining the experience I needed from my current job, I felt ready to take on my own classroom.

For about five months, I was the roving floater, and then, head floater for the private school system that I work for. This meant that I was placed wherever I was needed -- in a classroom, in the office doing administrative tasks or even just assisting out an over-worked teacher. I learned incredibly important classroom management and personal management skills from the teachers and staff. I, also, learned the best ways to connect and bond with students throughout my time there.

The first trick that I learned was to learn every student's name as soon as possible. I figured out that just addressing a student by name makes them feel noticed and that I took the time to know them and their face. This was the first tip that I applied with my new class. I made my primary mission to not only learn their names and faces but to associate at least one thing that they like to the student. For example, one of my students is a voracious reader and basically wolfs down her books.

I started to include introducing books and literature into most of my conversations with her. I have another student who adores cats. Sometimes, especially when it comes to word problems or examples, I try to include cats (or other animals) in the sentence.

I am incredibly excited to see what the rest of this year and term will bring for me. Most of all, I am incredibly thankful for all my previous mentors and current supporters at both schools who have helped me along my journey to be the best teacher that I can conceive being.