3/4 Finished!

Holy Moly! I am 3/4 done with student teaching!!

I had my major evaluation done yesterday and it went well! I was nervous for no reason. My evaluator was very nice and I really appreciate how comfortable the whole lesson felt. He kept his distance, didn't show judgment, constantly was smiling- was a great evaluator!  

My last day of student teaching is... November 17th!!! Then what? That's what I keep asking myself. I need to get one day of substitute teaching in before January 1st, 2011 so I can receive the current teacher retirement plan.

Any teachers in IL (near NW suburbs) if you need a substitute anytime in late November-all of December PLEASE let me know!!! Or if you know of any schools hiring.


I have been applying for substitute positions but I know most teachers have preferences over who they hire for their sub. 


Anyway, back to student teaching. This has been a great experience for me and I've learned more than I could possibly imagine. I actually feel ready and confident that I will make a great teacher. It's not cockiness but I feel my passion for teaching and the children. I love everything about teaching and it makes me happy. I think in knowing all of this it can bring me great success.

My Dog Didn't Eat my Homework...

I absolutely love the clever excuses children give when they "forget" their homework.

Today the weather was stormy, windy, and the electricity even went out near the school I student teach at.

So when it was time to collect homework, most of the students had it. Then I go to one child and ask if he completed his homework and he says "uh... no. I left it at home." me, "okay." Him. "well you know the tornado.." There was no tornado today but I do think it's fabulous that he can blame the weather for not doing or bringing in his homework. It was kind of hilarious (I think you might have had to hear the way he said it).

Other excuses I've heard are always not enough time, my mom didn't know how to do it, I did it and I have it but someone must have taken it... and of course- what homework? We didn't have any. I love how they try to convince the teacher that there was no homework assigned!

Mid Term

I'm officially half way done with student teaching!!! I am psyched because that means that soon enough I'll have my own classroom which is something I have been dreaming of since I was five years old! 

The weeks are beginning to go by a lot quicker now and I am so anxious and antsy. I also know that I am learning a lot from this and need to make sure I appreciate this opportunity and live it up. It's hard to not focus on the future only but I am trying the best I can. I have to admit I am excited about this FOUR day weekend!

Next week my mentor teacher is also out for three days for meetings so I'll be in charge :) There will be a sub in the room because of laws but I am still excited to say the least. 

I love the bond I am forming with these students and hopefully in a few months I'll be there sub! The days are getting busier now because I am teaching more and more and pretty soon I'll be teaching my ten day unit for my work sample. I wish it was more fun but my mentor teacher really wanted me to teach dictionary skills because the students don't have much experience working with dictionaries. Now the only part of student teaching I am dreading is the reflective paper and work sample... BLAH. I got one part of the work sample done and completed two lesson plans. My plan is to finish two more lesson plans tomorrow... Then by Monday I should have all ten lesson plans 100% completed! I really hope my plan works! 

A month from now when I'm writing I'll be talking about how I only have a few more weeks left.. time sure does fly! I hope the rest of student teaching goes as great as the first half :)!

Fairy Tales

Today in the 3rd grade a few kids were talking about six flags and roller coasters. One student said that she would never go on a roller coaster or is scared of them because she heard people throw up a lot. The boy she was talking to responded with "you don't throw up! you might feel sick but you don't throw up, that's just a fairy tale!"

Love it!

Third Grade

I'm really beginning to love the third grade class I am working with. I was never a big fan of the third grade- mainly because my own experience in the third grade was nothing special. However, I've been working with third graders since last year because of block and am beginning to really like it. They are independent and can work with glue, scissors, crayons and don't need to be too supervised but they also still enjoy school and don't have smart mouths. 

My third graders and me are really beginning to get along. I'm about to begin my fourth week with the third graders and have more responsibility now which is great. I like student teaching but am also SO ready to have my own classroom. It's a tough economy and most schools are laying off teachers so I hope I don't have too much trouble landing a job. 

Miracle Whip

I'm a horrible, lazy blogger. I know I will regret all the moments I've left unwritten but I am trying to get out of my funk- so here it goes:

RB

He's a funny kid and should not be in our classroom. He deserves to belong somewhere he fits in and will learn from. They had to write about connections to a book we read yesterday and it was beyond him.

He ended up basically writing


www.facebook.com/miraclewhip
www.twitter.com/miraclewhip
www.blogspot.com/miraclewhip
etc...  it was hilarious but quite random!

RB

Today the kids were on about me posters and these little posters had like five or so different boxes of apples and each apple had a question like describe what you look like, whats your fav. place, what's one with you have, etc...

So I was working with RB (not real name) and he is the child with autism who just moved here from the Philippines and doesn't have an IEP or anything of that sort yet, meaning he doesn't even have an aid yet when he really needs one. So I was helping him on his poster and I was describing what a wish was and asking him if he could have anything in this world what would it be, etc... and I said so if you have one wish, anything you want, what would it be? His response, "H1N1 Virus" in his robotic voice. Then he wrote one of his favorite places to be was the hospital and he wants to be a doctor, nurse, judge, and school bus driver. 

During art he was drawing and drew a helicopter, a launch pad, and even an emergency exit with the cross sign on it. Then he drew an airplane with the delta logo and said it was the delta airplane, and drew an airport, and he's just so incredibly gifted which makes it hard because he won't be getting help for a while. 

I hate the school system in that sense. It's taking forever to get someone to begin testing him and giving him the help he truly needs and deserves.