Practicum

I haven't written in a while; I've been pretty busy getting ready for my practicum. I'll be spending 5 weeks away from work as a student teacher in a school library. There was a lot of work to be done so that I could be away from work - I have a few staff evaluations due during that time, and I needed to prepare things for the managers who are covering for me while I'm gone.
Today was my first day of the practicum. I'm in a 3rd-5th grade school in my favorite school district, and I was a bit nervous going into it. Then one of my old storytime kids was in the first class that came in this morning, and I had to smile. I felt more at home then. My cooperating teacher-librarian is great, too. I think part of what had me being nervous was some bad practicum/student teaching experiences in college. I think this one will go well, though. I feel much more confident now than I did then. I even stepped in to help some students with research during one of the classes.
My best friend's husband works at this school, and he stopped by at the library to say hi, too. That helped as well.
I think this will be a whirlwind experience, though. I'm glad to be able to focus just on school for a brief time - dividing my focus between work and school has been challenging, to say the least.