A Day of Firsts

Today was my first teacher observation. As far as teaching goes it went well. My supervisor did not have any issues or suggestions for improving. Which I guess is good it means I taught well and was in control, but on the other hand it doesn't give me much to build on. Observation is always a stressful time though. It's completely awkward to have someone judging you while you teach and pretty much just staring you down. Here's the best part though. I had gotten aobut 95% through the lesson with little issue. The kids were understanding the concept well, they were getting the answers correctly, and they were listening the best that 2nd graders can. I was answering a question for the class when all of the sudden a little girl comes up and says "Ms. Williams, I puked." Not only did she puke she caught it in her hands and brought it up to the front of the room with her. I responded quickly yet very caught off guard telling her to "throw it away and go to the office." Luckily I did not witness the actual puking action or I may have had an issue as well. Also I was at a decent stopping point so I had the other kids leave the room for a bathroom break (avoiding the remnants in the process). This allowed for some clean up and disinfecting courtesy of the janitor. And soon normalcy resumed:) I'm sure this will be something I won't forget!

Carrie Out

Another list

More lessons learned:

1. Children will continuously "make" you cards, crafts, and other things of which you must guess what they are supposed to be. An appropriate response is as follows: smile, say something along the lines of "thank you so much, this is very neat," and then stash it in your bag to either a. accidentally forget about or b. throw away.

2. Glasses cases are not simply made for holding glasses if you are a little boy. They also serve as hat's, pencil holders, things to pinch your classmates with, and if all else fails a nice football.

3. Apparently having a nice, quiet, straight line, is the highest aspiration of all elementary teachers.

4. Student teaching makes you go to bed at 11 on a weekend and "sleep in" til 9. What happend to 9 being early?

5. The kids that can't focus on anything will be the ones who pick up on the most discrete things. Like the fact that you can't make your number 8 correctly.

6. For students who cannot sit still in class, it is utterly shocking how much they complain when out playing games and exercising in P.E. that they are tired.

7. After skipping breakfast for most of college, it is once again the most important meal of the day...that is if you don't want to pass out from starvation before you make it to 11:20 lunch (which used to be the time I got out of bed).

8. It is amazing the amount of kids who can't read their own handwriting, even when all the words are spelled correctly.

9. If you really want to understand a kid, watch them in music, lunchtime, and P.E. A less structured enviroment is like a whole new world.

10. It is perfectly acceptable to watch youtube videos during class, your lunch break, or after school. These can range from School House Rock to a lovely video of your superintendent rolling down the street on a motorcycle.

Random

Todays random and unorganized thoughts. I had a honey nut Cherrio's milk and ceral bar for breakfast. I don't like honey nut Cherrio's. It was delicious. I am becoming more comfortable when student teaching, I am starting to loosen up more around the other teachers and am having more fun. Little kids don't hold back when it comes to being sick. I think I was sneezed on 5 times today...it kinda grosses me out. Lunch time was hotdogs and pretzels today I felt like I really was back in second grade. I taught my first lesson today that I had planned. It went well and the kids did a great job with it. Funniest moment of the day: We had our kids fill out an ABC paper on friendship and caring. Each letter of the alphabet needed a phrase about how to be a friend or caring. They were really cute and the kids came up with some neat stuff. The best one was I asked if someone could tell me what they wrote down for "I" a little boy raised his hand and in all innocence said "You could say "I like your body."" I busted out laughing, I couldn't help it Mrs. S was cracking up too. Ahh second graders. I took my car to get checked out at AutoZone the check engine light has been on this week, turns out the gas cap just wasn't on right. Yeah free fixes! Oh and my dog still has fleas.

Carrie Out

Learning

Things I have learned in 2nd grade...in all of 11 days.

1. M comes before N
2. I still do not know how to tell time
3. It is perfectly acceptable to bust into Hannah Montana songs regardless of gender
4. How to use the lamination machine
5. How to use, break, and repair the copier
6. No clock in the building ever says the same (or right) time
7. Wash your hands 1000 times a day
8. Go to bed early
9. Wearing a watch is the mark of an older person
10.7 year olds don't know what VCR's are
11. Kid's make up innapropriate words without knowing they are innapropriate
12. Teacher's don't eat lunch (at least not in the teacher's lounge)
13. Make friends with the secretary
14. Be prepared to laugh
15. P.E., lunch, recess, and Music are every teachers best friend

Sub

They it takes 21 times of doing something for it to become a habit. Well I've made it to 2 in a row lets see if it sticks. Started off the morning with AR testing (which I secretly loathe), D.O.L., and some calander work. I got to lead all three which was nice. The kids were well behaved all morning, even our kids who are usually in trouble for something. It was nice. I made 2 strange (or maybe not so uncommon) observations in my school today. 1. For it being such a small building and school, most teachers go all day without seeing another teacher aside from the other one that shares their grade. This I find odd and I can't think it's too good for staff unity. 2. No one eats in the teachers lounge...actually I'm not sure they eat at all. I eat in there every day per IWU teacher and Aunt advice. Today I ate with one other person an aide named Tammy something. I honestly don't know how the teachers do it by my 11:20 lunch time I am famished, I think I'd pass out by the end of the day if I didn't eat. We had a sub this afternoon which meant I had to hold down the fort. The sub is actually a retired teacher from the district so she knew how things operated. I taught the math lesson today then had our kids do their worksheet, only to find out when they were at PE that I had them do the wrong one. No worries though post PE we got back aboard the Math express and did the right one. All in all I think the day went well, I don't think I did too bad on my own. The evening was spent on homework and then bike riding. I also went to Hopedale to walk with Jodi, Trey, Mom, and Julie around a lakeish thing I never knew existed. But it's getting late and well it's bed time.

Carrie Out

Students and Fleas

Greetings out there! I have decided to return to the blogosphere after a long graduation and summer hiatus. The more I have thought about it the more journaling my daily experiences as a student teacher seemed like a good idea. It will help me keep a log of what I do every day as well as I am sure offer some laughs if I am ever to look back on it as a much more experienced teacher. The experience so far has been great. I never knew such joy could come out of an exclamation point at the end of a D.O.L. sentance. Or that hitting the Staples "easy button" could make an 8 year old (who would rather dilly dally) race through a math page. Who would have guessed that the simple reward of having a stuffed dog on your desk would inspire pristine behavior...at least in some of the students. I have transformed my life into that of the elderly. I am up early, I eat early, and I am in bed early. Apparently just being on your feet all day can take all your desire for night time craziness right out of your body and make you long for the time where you can simply sit down. It has been a good learning opportunity and I hope to continue to make it one throughout the semester.

In other news I had my first encounter with fleas today. I am convinced my dog has them. She has been itchy for about a month. Bren and I thought it may be dry skin because we were bathing her almost daily due to her desire to roll in gross things and dive in water. As a precaution I bought her a flea collar 3 weeks ago hoping if there were bugs on her they would move along. No such luck. Last night as I was cleaning her ears I spied one. It looked like it was swimming on her ear fur, and, well, it was disgusting. Seriously thinking about it all day gave me the willies. So I decided that right after school we needed to go to the store and get some kind of bug be gone. I bought flea shampoo and flea spray. It was an all night ordeal. I cleaned her pen, sprayed her basket, washed her blankets, and her toys. I washed her, massaged the shampoo as instructed, and let it soak. I rinsed her dried her and waited for her fur to dry. Then I sprayed her, rubbed in the liquid, and again let it soak. This was followed by more drying and a final brush through. Who knew tiny little bugs could be so involved. Anyways here's to hoping it did the trick!

Carrie Out

Library

It is 11:30 and I just got in. This would not be shocking, actually it would be considered early...except for the fact that I was at the library. Yuck. Cam and I just spent 2 hours working on our 8 week Unit for 4th grade and we are only half done. All of us are feeling stressed we have a bunch of projects due and only 2 1/2 more weeks of classes. The thing is these are all new projects just given to us so it isn't even like we put them off. It's frustrating. Spent the whole day in 4th grade, this one didn't seem as long as last time but I still don't like it. I was given own math group this morning, all the kids who struggle with math. We counted money the whole time. I get frustrated with the teacher because she constantly puts this one boy who is very smart in the low groups because he acts up sometimes and she doesn't really like him. It's not fair. I ate lunch with Kelsey Porter who is placed at the same school as me. I had a haphazard lunch made up of whatever I could find. She lives in Bloomington her mom packed her extra cookies and fruit snacks to give to me, they were awesome. The afternoon was spent on science and writing. I did get to go to art class which sped up the day. I got back to school and had to go to a Senior Exit Loan Meeting. All it did was reinforce the fact that I owe thousands of dollars I don't have, awesome. Then I went for a nice 3 mile run outside and biked at Shirk for a cool down. Met Karen and Christina for dinner then went to watch intramural volleyball. The upper classmen basketball girls have a team with Sean and Roman, I am their "Coach." It's pretty entertaining. From there I hit the library where I shall be every day til the end of April. Oh the Joys!

Carrie Out