So I am now back in the swing of things. I have been taking college classes all week long. In the mornings, I have had a 4 hour long creative arts class, then in the afternoons I have a 3 hour long health class. It has done quite the number on my brain. I have yet to get back in the classroom to see my kidos, that will be on Tuesday. We have a professional development day on Monday, so it will just be the staff there. Next week the college classes continue. I have two days of intensive science class on Monday and Wednesday. And I also have a regular class on Tuesday nights that will continue throughout the semester.
I will start my residency soon. I get to be "teacher in charge" for 30 days (6 weeks). Which means I am the one who writes lesson plans and is the teacher in the classroom. My mentor teacher, Julie, will be at school (I think), but I am going to be the one in the class. Last quarter I had a good amount of time practicing this, Julie would leave the room for periods of time to let me get used to teaching by myself. I am really looking forward to my residency, but I am also pretty nervous. I hope it all goes well.
So let's see, what has gone on since I last posted in November? Here we go:
Well the week of November 16-20th, I had my mini-residency. This was a time in the my internship classroom in which I would have control of the class for a week (well almost). I have to say that leading up to this week I had a bit of a breakdown at school. I had been having a hard time keeping the class quiet. I have been assured that this is a common theme with new teachers. Well, the day of my meltdown, my mentor teacher, Julie, noticed right away and we had a little chat about what I could do to gain more control over the class. I found that when I say something, I really have to mean it and sound like I mean it, otherwise students will think it is optional (not good). With the tips that Julie gave me tucked away, I was able to go into my mini-residency with confidence and effectively teach the students throughout the week.
Since then I have been able to take on more and more responsibility in the classroom and my mentor teacher has been able to step out with confidence that I will get stuff done.
Oh my goodness! What a crazy week we have had! (We being my mentor teacher and myself). I have discovered fast that the week leading up to a holiday is insane. Much more so when it is a fun holiday in which kids get to dress up and eat a crazy amount of candy that make dentists cringe. Yes I am of course speaking of Halloween. This week has been a very loud one in the classroom and has exposed a new challenge for me, patience! I am being tested this week to see if this really is what I want to do. What is getting me through and what gives me encouragement is that this week will soon be over and we can send the kids home to their parents to work off the sugar high they will get at school tomorrow. I cannot say how happy I am that Halloween is on Saturday this year. We won't have to see them and try and teach them the day after the sugar high. Thank goodness. I just hope that next week settles down a bit.
As for my internship experience, I am continuing to learn a ton. We successfully went through parent teacher conferences. And I am slowly taking on more and more responsibility in the classroom. This week I taught math every day, 2 back-to-back reading lessons and 2 back-to-back health lessons. It was a very full week, but a fun one teaching wise. My mini-residency is coming up and the more practice before then the better!
Oh my goodness, it has been far too long since I have posted anything. I hate to pin that on anything, but my crazy busy schedule hasn't given me much time to blog. But I just wanted to let everyone who checks this that I am still alive and surviving my internship and second to last semester of college.
I am loving my internship! I am learning so much from my mentor teacher, and I think we make a pretty good team. I learned a valuable lesson the other day. It is possible to be too enthusiastic about a lesson. I was teaching a lesson on adding by 9s and I was having a lot of fun with it. But my mentor teacher especially noticed (one of the benefits of being at this for 20 years) that the kids got a little too jazzed about the lesson and weren't focusing very well on what I was saying. So next time I am going to practice being enthusiastic, but scaling it back just a little.
I am pressing on with school, and thankfully my methods classes are going to be wrapping up soon. They are pretty intensive at the moment, but one of the benefits is that we get done sooner, and get to spend more time in the classroom at the end of the semester! YEAH FUN!
There are two other interns in my building who are a ton of fun, and who I don't get to see nearly enough of. I am downstairs on one side of the building and they are upstairs on the other. They did a great job of separating us. Well I think that is all for this post, I am doing well and am still kickin'!
Oh and here is a picture of my wig:
Pattern Blocks
Pattern Blocks are amazing! This summer I have had to use math manipulatives every week. For the most part I haven't had them around the house, so I have had to make them from scratch. So far I have made color tiles (1-by-1 inch color squares), a geoboard made from cork board and push pins, and pattern blocks. However, today I stopped by an amazing little store in Wasilla, "Learning Essentials". They had pattern blocks plus much more. I had fun walking around with my mom and grandma, we saw so many things that I can't wait to get for my classroom!
A great link to a pattern for pattern blocks (that sounds weird) is:
http://www.mathcats.com/mathtoolbox/patternblocks1.gif
Color Tiles
Geoboard
Tonight though, while I was waiting for the casserole to bake, I sat at the island, listening to a book on tape, and playing with pattern blocks. It was a ton of fun and I loved making the different shapes and designs. It will be so much fun to see what my students create with them. I have a feeling I will be purchasing a lot more pattern blocks in the future, plus so much more!
YEAH! I have two weeks left of madness. I am so excited that I am close to being done with these two summer classes. Now don't get me wrong, I have loved the classes themselves, I am learning so much. I am just not all that fond of craziness that has come with these two classes. I feel like I don't have that much of a life right now, which is no fun. So many of my friends are getting ready to leave, either back to school or on to an awesome new adventure. I wish I had time to go on crazy adventures with them this summer, but sadly I have little to no spare time. Thank goodness I am almost done, and will start a new adventure myself, student teaching!
This past semester I took a class focused on language and literacy in elementary school. We discussed when and how children develop their language and literacy skills. One of the books we were assigned to read was "Reading Magic" by Mem Fox. This book shared the importance of reading to your children long before they reach school age. I never knew just how much children pick up about reading until I read this book. While reading I had memories of my own childhood pop into my head, as well as stories my mom tells about how silly I was as a little girl. She likes to tell the story that when I was little I loved the book "The Three Little Pigs". Mom read me that book so much that I knew it by heart. One day I picked up the book and started to "read" by myself. Mom thought I was actually reading it until she noticed that I had the book upside down! Silly me, but I thought it was funny. I encourage all of you moms out there to read this book, it is a short and easy read but full of great insight. I hope you all enjoy it!
Oh goodness. Summer school goes on and I feel drained. I have been taking 2 classes for the past 3 weeks. The first two weeks went by fairly well, the first week I only had Math Methods, and the second only Inclusive Classrooms. However this past week I was pulling double duty. On Monday and Wednesday I was in class for 5 hours straight. I don't think my bum has ever been so sore. That is what I get for sitting on a wooden chair I guess. All I can say is that I am glad I only have 3 more weeks of absolute madness before I get any real form of a break (and that will only be a week maybe 2 before it starts back up again). Thankfully I have the weekend to work on things before more assignments get added to my plate.
In addition to crazy summer school, I am getting ready (mostly mentally) for my upcoming internship. This past weekend I received a packet in the mail about my internship and what can be expected (for the most part). Included in the packet was an encouraging letter stating that the mess of emotions I am feeling toward the upcoming school year is normal and expected. I have to say that that made me laugh. Also included was a list of professional expectations and guidelines that I am to follow throughout the school year, I don't think that that will be a problem. I think that the key is treat everyone you interact with with respect and you can't go wrong. There was also a tentative schedule provided of the school year, as I will be following the Mat-su school district schedule this year. I received a list of important dates and what scared me the most, a "Suggested Timeline for BAEL Internship 2009-2010". This listed month by month things that I could count on doing and when I would be doing them. However one thing that shocked my very core was found in the November list, the "Mini Teaching Residency". This is a week in which I will be given most of the control of the class for a week. One day in that week I will have the class all to myself, as my mentor teacher will be off to UAA for the day. I have to say I am a little nervous, I didn't know that I would have a mini residency, I just thought that it would be second semester when I would be entrusted with the bright and eager minds of students. People more experienced than myself have told me that by that time I will be so used to the routine and students that it will be no big deal. I just hope that they are right.
Well that is enough rambling for one post. I am super excited and nervous about what is coming up in my life. I know it will be a fun and rewarding experience, but a crazy one at that.
I became a Mac user the summer after my senior year of high school. Mom and Dad were looking into getting me a laptop for college and I had heard about Macs. I was curious and we decided to check it out. Turns out it was one of the best moves we have made, our entire family loves working with Mac computers! I have loved working with my MacBook "Lou-Lou", she has been a great companion for me through these college years, and is going to stick by my side for many years to come. I will be able to take Lou-Lou with me on trips and to school, but I have decided to update my work station a bit. I have a beautiful new 20 inch iMac (who is currently nameless) that will be my primary workstation for years to come. This week I have been downloading programs I will need for school and adjusting the settings. It has been a lot of fun figuring out the upgrades my new computer has from my laptop. I hope my new computer will be as faithful as Lou-Lou has been.
My awesome brother Michael recently got back from the Royal Family Kids Camp in Big Lake. This camp is geared towards showing God's love to foster kids. Michael had a great time as a counsellor (or cousin as the camp puts it). One of the fun things that he brought back with him was what we like to call the "Tarzan Song". So here it is:
Tarzan (echo)
Swinging on a rubber band (echo)
Tarzan (echo)
Got hit by a frying pan (echo)
Ouch that hurt! (echo)
Now Tarzan has a tan (echo)
And I hope it don't peel (echo)
Like
A
Ba
Na-na
Jane (echo)
Riding on a bullet train (echo)
Jane (echo)
Got hit by an airplane (echo)
Ouch that hurt! (echo)
Now Jane has a pain (echo)
And Tarzan has a tan (echo)
And I hope it don't peel (echo)
Like
A
Ba
Na-na
Cheetah (echo)
Groovin' to the beat-a (echo)
Cheetah (echo)
Got eaten by an amoeba (echo)
Ouch that hurt! (echo)
Now the cheetah is Velveeta (echo)
And Jane has a pain (echo)
And Tarzan has a tan (echo)
And I hope it don't peel (echo)
Like
A
Ba
Na-na
Wookie (echo)
Calls his girlfriend "Shnookie" (echo)
Wookie (echo)
He ate too many cookie (echo)
Ouch that hurt! (echo)
Now the Wookie feels all ookie (echo)
And the Cheetah is Velveeta (echo)
And Jane has a pain (echo)
And Tarzan has a tan (echo)
And I hope it don't peel (echo)
Like
A
Ba
Na-na
Now we are also thinking about adding some additional verses to the song. But I am thinking about introducing it as a silly song for my 3rd graders to sing this coming school year.
Summer School, everyone's favorite summer activity (not really). I am having to take summer classes this year so that I will be able to graduate on time (May 2010). I just finished my summer History of Alaska class. I have to admit I didn't think it would go as well as it did, but I had a great professor who made the class very enjoyable. Now I am starting two more classes, Inclusive Classrooms and Math Methods. Both of these classes are online, so some days I am going to be cooped up in my room staring at my computer screen for 5 hours. That is going to be the hardest part of these classes, but I think I will make it. Wish me luck!
Pattern Blocks
Color Tiles
Geoboard
