The Fourth Week Thus Far...

It is so funny how teaching has its ups and its downs. Of course I could have told you this before I even began the student teaching experience since I used to teach at The Manor Schools. Nonetheless, student teaching has over emphasized the fact that one day you can be on top of a mountain and then the next day you can be low, low, low in a valley. I say all of this because the end of week three, I was one bad math lesson shy of having a nervous break down. I literally came home Thursday night, looked at my husband with tears in my eyes and said, "I don't think I can do this. I do not think that I am cut out to be a teacher." Thank God for a blatenly honest husband because Kevin looked at me with this crazy expression on his face and said, "Honey, you're tired. You need to go to bed." So I took his advice and went to bed.

The next morning I woke up two hours later than I normally do because I had to go to a "Teach at the Beach" seminar. Therefore, I had plenty of sleep and was now able to function with a clear mind. After the seminar, I headed to John B. Dey only to later find out that the students had taken a math test that morning. Mrs. Hartin quickly ushered me over to a table and told me to sit down--she had something for me to look at. As I flipped through the tests, I was rejoicing over the students success because the majority of them made a 100%, while all the rest made a low A or high B. I could not have been any happier at that very moment! All of my hard work, sweat and tears had paid off! To say the least, I was on top of a mountain.

This week, thus far, has gone just as well (if not better). I have had a few of those "this is why I am a teacher" moments. The more and more I get into the routine of becoming an elementary school teacher, the more and more I realize that this is exactly where I am suppossed to be--this is truly my calling. Therefore, I cannot let a single, solitary lesson get me down in the dumps. I am have to try to keep my head held up high, try harder, work harder and continually strive for excellence. Not only that, but I also realzied that due to my math lesson gone bad, I was able to exeplify to the students the well known phrase, "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again." This seems to be a resounding quote that we have heard the past couple of weeks throughout numerous lessons. So I guess I can truly say that I too learned my very own lesson!

In closing, I felt that it was more than appropriate to share a few words to encouragement that come from Phillipians 4:13, NIV. It says, "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength." So if you happen to be in a valley, simply know that you won't be there forever. Keep your head up high and know that even when you feel like you cannot write another lesson plan, teach another lesson or share another smile, you can because you have an almighty God who is on your side and cheering you on. He is your strength, your peace and your rest!

The Second and Third Weeks...

The second and third weeks have been just as great as the first week. I must admit, by the second week I was extremely frustrated with the math program. Virginia Beach city public schools use a mathematics program called Everyday Math from Chicago Institute. I think the developers of this particular math program were really on to something when they first created this program because it takes a spiral approach to mathematics. In other words, just like every child does not learn how to walk or talk at the same time, not every child may be able to grasp or understand a math concept at the same time. Therefore, you might teach addition or subraaction strategies many times throughout the year because of the spiral approach--INGENIOUS! However, as you might have noticed, I mentioned addition or subtraction strategies. I am sure you are wondering what I mean when I say strategies because after all there is only one way to add and subtract numbers, right? WRONG! Now there are numerous strategies like the counting up strategy, the partial sums strategy, etc. So instead of being able to simply add or subract a math problem, you now have to memorize a wide variety of strategies to help you come up with an answer. So it was slightly frustrating trying to retrain my brain to use all of these strategies as I am teaching the children. All is good now though!

Oh and I must tell you all what I have been working so hard on the past few weeks. The children will be learning about Egypt during the month of February. Therefore, the media coordinator and I collaborated on a project that the children will complete. First, we set up pen pals (using E-PALS). The pen pals are a second grade group of students in Pennsylvania who are learning about Egypt the same time as we are. The children will write to their pen pals using friendly letter format (which they just learned about). They will start out with a simple intro letter telling about themselves. Then the students will converse about what they are learning about Egypt. At the end of the month, the children will have an opportunity to video conference and see their pen pals face to face. My class will perform a few songs from their Egyptian musical that they will be performing for their parents. It is called "Temples and Tombs." We might also have a trivia contest between the two classes, but we will have to see. The plans are not etched in stone quite yet.

The next project we are working on is poetry. I just introduced the poetry unit last week to the class. Throughout the next month, the kids will learn how to write a free verse poem, a haiku, and acrostc poem and a couplet. They will go through the writing process using the writers workshop format. Next, the students will draw a simple illustration of their poem in art class. After that they will take their very best poem and "publish" it in a class poetry book. Then at the end of February, we will have a book signing and meet the poet party and nvite the parents to come in.

Other than that, everything has gone particulary well! I have been so busy writing lesson plans, which is the story of my life these days! So far, so good...no complaints on my end!

The First Day and Such...

So I had every intention of blogging about my first day of student teaching on the first day. However, that just did not happen. Therefore, I will give a brief overview of the past couple of days.

I have been assigned to John B. Dey to work in a second grade classroom for my first student teaching experience. I must admit that I was slightly nervous about the first day, but knew I was all prayed up and ready to jump in feet first. Everyone was very welcoming and helpful to make my transition to John B. Dey a successful one. Mrs. Hartin even set up a desk just for me to make her classroom feel like my classroom. I thought that this was a nice gesture.

As far as the children are concerned, they thought that it was really cool to be able to have two teachers. One little boy in particular really touched my heart. Every Monday the children compelte a weekend update. Well, as he was reading his vacation update to the class, he told everyone how "he did not have a good Christmas. Infact, his Christmas was not great at all. He had a wonderful new years though." Once the children had gone to lunch, Mrs. Hartin told me that this little boy has seven brothers and sisters and sleeps on matresses that are on the floor. She went on to tell me that the mother apparently went psycho and tore down the Christmas tree and told the children that they were not going to have Christmas this year. Therefore, this little boy did not receive any Christmas gifts or even celebrate the Christmas holiday. So here I am standing in the classroom with tears in my eyes thinking to myself, "this is why I teach." With all of that being said, I have to say that the first day went smoothly and the children were absolutely adorable!

Days two and three have also gone extremely well. Over the past few days I have had the opportunity to meet the principal and assistant principal. They are both very nice, but you can tell that they expect their employees to be a step above the rest. Therefore, I say....BRING IT ON! Other than that, I have been keeping myself busy getting to know the children, taking down and putting up bulletin boards, grading papers, making copies, tidying the classroom, reading books to the children, planning lessons, etc.

So far, so good! I cannot wait to see what the next few weeks have to offer. Blessings to all!