Why I miss Northdale Middle School

Today I embarked upon the next step in my student teaching experience. Kindergarten. Little did I know of the world that awaited me this morning. I approached the kindergarten "wing" of the building and was immediately overwhelmed by the grand display before me. A long hallway striped with red and yellow tiles beginning and ending with columns and an archway painted in primary colors was my path to this new world. "Kinderworld" I have named it. This hall led me to the foyer where giant stars were painted on the floor. As I entered Mrs. Lundeen's room to the left and remained throughout the day, I was bombarded with many sights, sounds and yes - smells. I thought I was prepared for this transition and that because I had been with kindergarteners before I could do it once again. Little did I know I would be in shock when my day came to an end. The following are my reasons why I miss Northdale Middle School: 10. Having a schedule that is the same every day. 9. Eating lunch for an hour. 8. There was never a "need" to sing songs. 7. Even with 100 students I didn't need a pronunciation guide for the student's names. 6. Seventh graders can tie their own shoes. 5. Thumb and finger sucking. 4. Tears. 3. Snot. 2. Boogers. 1. Taking less than 15 minutes to write: Here is Mrs. Gray. I hope I can make it through these next seven weeks. Who knows, by the end I may love it as much as I loved middle school. Only time will tell. Right now I need some time to regroup before I prepare to read Zack the Lazy Zebra for tomorrow.

Aren't they precious?

First Hour- for not being awake in the morning and having a high number of special needs students, this class turned in outstanding work! James (boy in front with solid white shirt) had a little crush on me :)

Seventh Hour- they saw my goofy side because I usually messed up words and all the hours had jumbled together by then. They were also chronic pencil tappers.

Fifth Hour- Even though you shouldn't have favorites, Ana (girl in blue in front row) can't help but win you over. I looked forward to this class every day. They all showed me how much they liked me more than other classes and boy did that feel good!

Fourth Hour - What do I say? These were the chatty ones, the ones who always had to go to the bathroom, get a drink and go to their locker. They also had one of the best discussions on the poem "The Highwayman". They all had extremly different personalities.

Second Hour - The boys in this class loved dark, mysterious and deadly poems. They were also the loudest boys :) This small class made my day every day. They wrote great poems and always made me laugh.

Seventh Grade English

Here are a few pictures from my student teaching at Northdale Middle School.

This was my "Museum de Ordinare" (I made that up obviously). The students wrote odes to everyday objects. In these next few pictures they are revealing the objects in the museum as I describe them.

I ran the whole class on PowerPoint - I know, I'm good ;)

My "Poet Tree" where I put up all of our poets of the day.

olympics

each time the winter games are on i like to watch figure skating. but for some reason this year i've been dissapointed. i find it boring. i don't get the sense that the skaters are graceful like the used to be. maybe it's because there are a lot of younger first time girls. not sure. perhaps it has to do with the fact that i only get to see the low scoring girls. i understad the whole saving the best for last thing they do - but when i can't keep my eyes open at 10pm and there are still a few left that's a problem. out of the three girls who won medals last night i saw none of them. however - i have been enjoying the snowboarding, arials and speed skating. i've never liked watching these before. perhaps it's because i live with a man now and those are more manly sports. or maybe i'm ADD and i need short sports or fast paced events. i just found it all interesting how my preference of olympic sports have changed. summer olympics however are my favorite!

my future...

Nick sent me this link today from work. as we read through it together when he came home i decided this will be our home in just a few years. i look forward to every moment of it! Why Geeks Make Good Fathers

it's been seven weeks?

i can't believe how fast my student teaching has gone. i only have wednesday left and then i'm finished with my middle school experience. holy cow! i have enjoyed it so much and definitly feel like i could teach this age group and love it. some things were a little tough like knowing i wasn't completly in charge and starting with the children from the first day of school like i will in my own room someday. but the experience was rewarding. my cooperating teacher was fantastic to leave me alone frequently and even though she made me cry that first night - she turned out to be very fun and helpful. poetry has come to a close. the students read their poems in front of the class friday while i sat in the back grinning from ear to ear like a proud parent. i talked to them afterwords to see if their opinions had changed about poetry. it ment so much to hear the student who hated poetry say, "well i guess it's ok now - i know how to write it." and then i heard, "well i thought poetry was so hard, but now i know you can write about the little things and it's not that hard" my goal was that they'd find poetry fun and not intimidating, and i feel like i accomplished that goal. i'm so proud of them! if only i could have spent more time on poetry and shown them so much more. that will just have to wait until i have my own room.

time flies...

whew! where has the time gone? teaching full time is bizzare. the days go by so fast, but then the week ends up seeming long (especially in the mornings when i can't get out of bed). then suddenly the weekend's over. wow. i'm loving teaching full time. this past week i had three days with a sub because my teacher got really sick so i was seriously full time. i didn't realize how much my teacher took care of while she was floating in and out during the day. i also liked to have her to throw ideas around with and get feedback from. but it was good to be "alone" and really see the full effect. my life has completly revolved around school and planning for school. i'm pooped as soon as i get home and i've started getting daily headaches. they start durinig my last hour - not sure if it's those kids or just the day, but i've never gotten headaches this frequently. i used to brag about how i never got headaches. (guess i've learned my lesson) today i ran the whole clas using powerpoint and the students loved it! if i could do powerpoint for every lesson i would, but borrowing the projector each day, the cords, the time it takes to make a sweet one...can't really do it yet. they also liked that we turned the room into a museum and wrote odes to every day objects. i had so much fun and they made me laugh each hour. it's going to be hard to leave those kids. we talked in one of my classes about my last day and i didn't want to talk about it. i've been blessed with such great students. i'm attached. i can't imagine how i'll be when i leave my kindergarten student teaching or even worse my first classroom as a real teacher. i'll cross that bridge when it comes.

Act Now!!!!

poetry here we come

started my poetry unit today. even though i taught my own lesson all day, i didn't feel like i really had complete control. my teacher was in and out a lot and she still did attendence. i know it's not really my own classoom, but i wanted to be responsible for more than just the lesson. i've noticed i get nervous when she's in the room. you see - i don't feel nervous, but i end up droping the dry erase marker cap, fumbling over words, forgetting where i left my handouts and other dumb stuff. i guess i don't care if kids see me look stupid, it's when the adults see me that i get scared. today i had the kids write down their feelings about poetry. they could write one word, a sentence - whatever (as long as they didn't swear). then i shared about how i hated poetry at one point, but have come to love it. i hope they got something from that and i hope they will at least like poetry when the unit is over. i'm taking their "opinions on poetry" and i've made them into poems myself that i will use in another lesson. i'm struggling with keeping the chatting to a minimum. one class who was so loud while taking out paper i asked, "how do you think that went?" and they realized they had done a bad job. they realize they screw up, but they have a hard time fixing it. i don't like being the mean teacher who keeps them after the bell, but i have to show them i don't put up with any crap. i've been told i don't command their attention and that's hard for me to deal with. you see, i don't feel like i command anyone's attention. i've realized i'm very much like my dad in that way. i love my dad, but when he goes to talk or add to a story sometimes he gets lost in the chaos of the coversation and people don't hear him. i've noticed he has funny or interesting things to add, but people just don't focus on him. lately i've come to realize i'm this way too. i don't want to be loud and obnoxious, but i want people to hear me. i have good things to say! what am i to do?