Last weekend...

It seems as if I've been up to my eyeballs in school work so I packed up and drove home for the weekend.

It just so happened to be precisely what I needed. A place to get my work done where I knew my family would bugging me so I didn't feel completely alone.
Saturday morning, my parents and I went out for breakfast at a little cafe in my hometown. Completely stuffed from breakfast, we decided to walk around at the little Saturday market across the street. I remember in years past this effort at a small market falling short, but we found some goodies this past weekend. My mom and I finding an adorable porcelain, glazed serving platter and fresh basil for 25 cents a stem! My dad finding an apple cider slushie and bacon.

That productive morning led into a lazy afternoon of taking our dog, Loki, for a long walk on the bike trails by our house. A walk that was made awfully exciting with the sighting of a snake (eek!) and Loki marking her territory so frequently that I feared dehydration for the poor pooch.
While on my walk (not aided with an iPod), I began thinking about the characteristics I most wanted to exhibit as a teacher. I decided during those 105 minutes that as a teacher I want to be creative, consistent/accountable, approachable, well-rounded, and reflective.

The process of thinking of these characteristic led to the thinking of mantras that would best suit these characteristics. They are a work in progress, but I've been pondering them this week on my walks.

Kids just say the darnest thing....

My first semester at Eastern I was required to observe so many hours in the classroom for one of my classes. I observed an art class at an elementary school. This was the greatest part of the class because I got to sit down and observe the animals in the wild.

I was shamelessly eavesdropping on a conversation at a table nearby. I noticed two kids were engaged in a heated conversation. I tuned in to find the source of the conflict. I heard the first hopelessly dorky boy who likely didn't have an athletic bone in his body and combated this by being a know-it-all say to another boy:
"No, I'm sure poison ivy plants have berries. There are poison ivy berries."
The second boy had to stand his ground to this kid so in reply all he had to say was:
"You're wrong. There is no way you're right"
"No, I know this. My cousin, who is a medic, told me that poison ivy has berries."
"Is your cousin a teacher?"
"No."
"Well, then he obviously can't be right."
Hahahahaha.
This is a true story.

Few points of interest?

I'm taking a health studies class that focuses on integrating health education into the classroom. Our instructor is incredible passionate about what she teaches and raises the interest level greatly for me. Each week, students are required to conduct an "energy break" in which they lead the class in some sort of activity to get us up out of our seats. We Tooty Ta'ed on Tuesday. So much fun. Try it!

I was in hysterics over this video. Can you imagine a second grader bustin' a move with Jack the Tooty Ta guy?

In a journal article I reviewed today in the Illinois Reading Council Journal, they had some amazing ideas for conducting effective parent-teacher conferences.
Conferences are one of those topics that produce knots in my stomach. A completely frightening thing in my eyes. This article suggest sending a bulleted summary of topics for the conference (3 topics may be the student's strengths, goals to strive for in the next quarters, and suggestions for parents to help at home). To make this task a bit shorter, the article suggested creating a template with general strengths and goals and putting check marks one by the topics to be covered to send home with the student before conferences. I really liked the ideas in the article. If you want further information on this article let me know.

The beginning of the end...

It's here.
Finally here.
The last year.
The last fall semester.
I've entered my final semester of classes before I begin student teaching.
Holy cow!

As I've begun my Block II classes, I've realized that I have such mixed feelings about student teaching that I, myself, can hardly keep up. Many moments are consumed with exuberant joy. While others...pure terror.

It's a roller coaster. Between worrying about crossing my t's and dotting my i's with pre-placement student teaching tasks and chugging along on class assignments, I often find myself with a glazed look in my eyes trying to feign attention throughout the day.

It is said that reflection is one of the most important things a first year teacher (not to mention student teacher) must do for improvement. I, myself, hope to be the very best teacher that I can absolutely be. How will I reach that point without constant improvement?

I (and Toni) had the idea to to start a blog to express frustrations/worries/joys/etc. and so forth about the process of student teaching and the semester leading up to it.

Just like a grade schooler, I'm giddy to tell whoever will listen all of the fun things I do in my classes. The interesting articles I stumble across. Ideas I have for activities. I don't expect everyone to get excited about these things, but I just feel the need to share.

Thaaaaaat is exactly what this blog is for. Sharing. Venting. Collaborating. Suggesting. Whatever my student teaching heart desires so you in return (my possible 5 viewers. Hi, mom.) can comment your heart's content.

Thanks.