Yesterday I heard the two words a student teacher (in distress) wants to hear most: SNOW DAY! I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I basically got a Saturday in the middle of the week. A day to sleep in where I have no choice but to stay in the house due to the mounds of snow blocking my car. I soooo needed this day to catch up on lesson plans, grading and laundry.
Then just a little while ago the clouds parted, the sun came out and I got a call with the sweetest words I've heard, well, since yesterday: school is closed tomorrow, too! Sweet baby Jesus it's like a 2nd Christmas! It couldn't be better timing, really. First, I've been fighting a sickness for a few days now. Somehow my immune system is preventing it from really taking hold. Second, I am definitely more than a day behind on writing Olivet-version lesson plans. And finally, my University Supervisor was supposed to come observe me tomorrow...so, I'm off the hook on that one til at least next week.
The downside is that now I won't finish student teaching on a Friday. I'll have to come back and finish up my days the following week. But, hey, I'll take it.
As far as student teaching goes, it's going pretty well. This week was my first week of teaching full-time. It's my 4th week total. It's going good so far...despite being interrupted by the snow. I started the Holocaust unit and next week we start reading Diary of Anne Frank and Night by Elie Wiesel. I'm actually happy that my week of background info is being interrupted because I'm not well-versed in Holocaust history. (Or any history for that matter.) Now, we will just brush on by and start reading the stories, which is fine by me.
The toughest thing so far is planning. It's way more time consuming than I ever expected. Also, it's really hard to use someone else's classroom. I would organize my classroom differently and it's hard to make someone else's room work for you. I can't decide how to organize my lessons...by day of the week, by folder, by class (reading or language). All of these little things can be so complicated.
The easiest thing so far is my comfort level at the school. It makes it so much easier to do what I have to do at school everyday. I know so many people there and I feel comfortable asking for ideas or just talking to the other teachers. That comfort level is priceless.
Gonna start grading persuasive essays tomorrow, so stay tuned for some hilarious posts!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Ch- ch- ch- ch- changes!
So, I'm finally starting this blog that I planned to start approximately 15 times already. Original plan: Write about my trials and tribulations with cooking, baking and such. Post pictures. Talk about restaurants I've visited. Etc. If you know me, you know I love to find and try new recipes and share the food with my friends and family. (Here comes the but) But, finding time to cook is hard enough, so reflecting (that's for you, teacher friends) on the food I just cooked/baked/burned became too laborious.
So, here I am, 4 days into student teaching and I've decided that the best way for me to use this blog is to document my experiences along the way. If graduate school has taught me one thing (and this may be the only, ahem, most important thing it has taught me) it is how to reflect. But this point, the word reflect has become sort of like nails on a chalkboard. So instead, at times I might refer to this blog as my opportunity to complain, cry, scream or something other than the "R" word.
Let's see...day 4. I totally should have started this Monday, or perhaps Sunday when I was in a complete and utter anxiety-induced panic. Have I told you I'm a planner? I like to know what's going to happen 3, 4, 5, days/months/years down the road. It's a sickness, I know. Nevertheless, starting student teaching without a clear picture of what lies ahead was more than scary to me. Today, I am much more at ease.
I say that phrase lightly. At ease. I am as much at ease as I can be at the moment, with a unit on the Diary of Anne Frank that has yet to be planned, a barely put together nouns unit that starts in a week and a Martin Luther King, Jr. lesson that needs to be taught tomorrow. Oh yeah and the lesson plans I have to write for every single lesson I teach in the next two weeks. (Come on, we all know how to write lesson plans already.)
Despite all that, I am somewhat at ease. I know what topics I will be teaching in the next few weeks and my cooperating teachers have given me a lot of material to get started planning. And, I have found two things to be thankful for. (Three, if you count wine.) My cooperating teachers, "F" & "C" are awesome. They are incredibly easy going and extremely helpful whenever I have a question. They have made me feel welcome in their classroom, are encouraging and supportive. I am lucky to have been paired with great teachers.
That is all for now. Tales from 8th grade, to be continued...
So, here I am, 4 days into student teaching and I've decided that the best way for me to use this blog is to document my experiences along the way. If graduate school has taught me one thing (and this may be the only, ahem, most important thing it has taught me) it is how to reflect. But this point, the word reflect has become sort of like nails on a chalkboard. So instead, at times I might refer to this blog as my opportunity to complain, cry, scream or something other than the "R" word.
Let's see...day 4. I totally should have started this Monday, or perhaps Sunday when I was in a complete and utter anxiety-induced panic. Have I told you I'm a planner? I like to know what's going to happen 3, 4, 5, days/months/years down the road. It's a sickness, I know. Nevertheless, starting student teaching without a clear picture of what lies ahead was more than scary to me. Today, I am much more at ease.
I say that phrase lightly. At ease. I am as much at ease as I can be at the moment, with a unit on the Diary of Anne Frank that has yet to be planned, a barely put together nouns unit that starts in a week and a Martin Luther King, Jr. lesson that needs to be taught tomorrow. Oh yeah and the lesson plans I have to write for every single lesson I teach in the next two weeks. (Come on, we all know how to write lesson plans already.)
Despite all that, I am somewhat at ease. I know what topics I will be teaching in the next few weeks and my cooperating teachers have given me a lot of material to get started planning. And, I have found two things to be thankful for. (Three, if you count wine.) My cooperating teachers, "F" & "C" are awesome. They are incredibly easy going and extremely helpful whenever I have a question. They have made me feel welcome in their classroom, are encouraging and supportive. I am lucky to have been paired with great teachers.
That is all for now. Tales from 8th grade, to be continued...
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