Week 15

Well, looks like we've finally made it to the end. It's been a lot of ups and downs, highs and lows.  This week in particular was especially tiring for me between the trip to D.C., taking on my entire co-op's schedule, trying to get final projects underway, and also trying to keep up with all the other things life has going on these days. 

During this week, I think I benefited the most from being able to interact with my students outside of school on our field trip to D.C.  I was able to see them in a different light, and they were able to see me in a setting outside of school as well.  It was a great educational trip, but it was also a great time to just interact without me having to provide them with instruction and learning, though I was still in a position of "authority" over them.  We had a lot of fun and were able to converse in ways that aren't possible during a lesson/typical class period.  This was the most enjoyable part of my week.

I also enjoyed being able to all get together in Hershey for the BU BE Spring Workshop.  It was so enjoyable to be able to spend the day with fellow student teachers and BU faculty. As I mentioned at our dinner, although we are truly all in this together, we don't often get to see each other throughout the week aside from C.S. on Monday nights.  It was great for me to be able to have a day to learn new things while being around many of the people that have made this semester what it has been for me.

If I could do one thing differently, I would have looked into creative ways to get more sleep (haha).  Although on Wednesday I had a prep period entirely to myself; no one else was in my room for almost an hour and a half, I resisted the urge to put my head down and fall asleep as I could have done so easily.  Thankfully however, I was able to make it through the week successfully and didn't have any problems getting done all that needed to be.

As I always say, "Overall, another good week."  I truly feel that no matter how enjoyable, difficult, depressing, fun, or exhausting, every week has taught me something else throughout this semester.  Although I still have much more to learn in so many ways, this semester has been a great learning experience and as Dr. Olivo has said so many times in the past, "we now have the foundation; how we build the house is up to us."  I'm very eager to start building my own house! I look forward to staying in touch with all of you in the future to see what kind of "houses" you all build.  

"61:3" - Just about there! As for now, this has been a Mr. D production.  Over and out :).

Week 14

Due to the laughter that was present thanks to the wordiness of my blogging, perhaps this time I will seek to be more succinct ;).

The most beneficial of my week would have to be a combination of letting my students know that I will be with them until the end of the year, which evoked a very desirable response from them, which was very encouraging to me, as well as the fact that I was able to take my last personal day on Friday to get outside and get some work done for some "fundraising landscaping" I'm doing for a mission trip for my church.  The combination of the two events made for a great end of the week for me.

If I could do anything over again, I think I would have been a little more determined to get more work done throughout the week. I was feeling very burned out at times, as we all are, and I was not all that determined to make every minute count being that I had so much on my plate as it was.  That being the case, right now I have "lots" left to do!

That wasn't so painful I guess, though I still have much more left to say (lol). I will say this, I found out that even though my seniors are dealing with a hefty load of "senioritis," they do tend to look forward to my class, even if they dislike all of their other classes.  This was encouraging to me throughout the end of this week, especially when it was coming from students who don't verbalize how they feel often.

It is bittersweet for me to have been asked to take over my co-op's schedule while she fills for the vice principal who is filling for the principal who is getting heart surgery this week and will be out for the rest of the year. This bittersweetness is due to the fact that for the past 3.75 semesters of my education career, I have been eagerly awaiting April 29, 2009 being that I, like all of us, are in need of a break.  However, I am very grateful that they think highly enough of me to ask me to temporarily fill the shoes of a teacher like Mrs. Gavitt.  This is sure to be a great experience and something that I will benefit exponentially from. Just for the heck of it; 58 down, 7 to go, (plus another month and 2 days for me, but a new countdown will be held for that when I've got my own classroom ;).  See you all Monday night!

P.S. In case you didn't pick up on it, I was just kidding about being succinct! 

Google Docs Podcast Video...Enjoy :)

Week 13

Between senioritis and the approaching Easter break, this week was a challenge in a few ways, but it was also a lot of fun in other ways.  Being that my co-op went to the national NBEA conference in Chicago, I covered all classes from Tuesday through Thursday.  The combination of my co-op being gone, with the other factors mentioned above, caused the students to be rather excitable, or else the other extreme; entirely non-energetic and unmotivated. In the following situations I have found both what I learned the most from, and what I would change if I had it to do over again.

In addition to the factors of Easter break approaching and senioritis setting in, I occasionally get hyper.  On Wednesday I was hyper about 90% of the time from about 6:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M.; don't ask me why, I don't know.  This was a learning point for me this week.  At the start of my first personal finance class I was acting rather energetic and the students could tell.  When one of them asked me what I was so happy about, I said "I don't know, I'm just hyper." That's all it took for the whole class to follow suit.  This being the case, one of the things I would do differently this week would be to not so blatantly let on when I am feeling overly energetic.  Although I could contain myself, and it was working to my advantage as far as keeping the attention of my class, making the material interesting, and having fun, the students were not as apt at keeping their energy under control.

Another learning point came on Thursday with my advanced applications class.  I am still getting the knack for teaching through "guided practice" and this is proving to be challenging with a diverse class.  Some students don't pay attention, then panic when they realize they are behind, some students know the material very well, and work ahead, and others are somewhere in between.  Keeping everyone on the same page is a challenge, especially when working with programs like Dreamweaver and Fireworks.  If I could do this over again, I would pace myself a little more, spend more time on each individual step, and tolerate less talking and interruption from the students. Being that this class is already one that is wound up the majority of the time, it was difficult to feel like I had a successful lesson with all of the nonsense going on,  (not to mention the fact that it was the last day before Easter break, and these students could hardly sit still for 5 minutes).

All in all, another good week, and with what I learned from the above situations, I feel more prepared to improve the next time around. Hope everyone else is doing well, and remember (drum roll please,) 55 days down, 11 to go!

Week 12

This week was sort of chaotic and very exhausting.  As you all know, the first half of the week involved being at FBLA. Also, as most of you know, I had to share a room with three students because that is how my co-op wanted it. This never got too awkward, but it was little odd at times and kept me from getting a good night of sleep from Sunday night through Tuesday night.  Let's just say I was happy to get home on Wednesday, and to be able to sleep in my own bed.

After that, it was kind of awkward to get caught up, and to pick up where the sub left off. It seems that the sub didn't stick to the plans I had left in some ways, so some of the students had no idea what to do even though I painstakingly made the instructions very clear (so I thought).  This being the case, I had more wasted time when I returned to class on Thursday a.m. than I would have liked.  It was hard getting the "slow workers" caught up to where the "good students" had gotten to when I was gone.  All is well now though, for the most part, and I'm looking forward to starting from a clean slate on  Monday.

The only things I feel like I could re-do from this week are due to hind-sight.  It was very hard to know what to expect after being gone for three days with a substitute trying to handle my classes.  Knowing what I do now, after being home from FBLA, it's easy to point out the problems that could stand to be corrected.  However, I had no way of knowing how the classes would be until I actually got back into the classroom.  

The most beneficial thing for me was the whole process of planning out lessons that the sub would be able to do in my absence. That was a good learning process.  This, combined with taking the class back over when I returned, all proved to be very beneficial, and is something I can apply to the rest of my career, as there are certain to be days that I will not be able to be there that a sub will have to cover for me in my absence.

Overall, another week down! My days down vs. days to go ratio is now 51:15.  Bring on that last day!

Week 11

Another week has gone by in a flash, and we are all one week closer to the end! Overall this was a good week, though it, like every other week, had its ups and downs.  

As you all may be aware, I took over my third class a couple of weeks ago (Advanced Applications) and this is one of the most hyper, "screw-ballish" classes of them all.  The students are a great deal of fun, but can be hard to keep on task, to say the least.  This week was the first time I ever led this class through "guided practice" for the full 80+ minute period, and I learned that if you don't intensely prepare, and intensely prepare some more, it can be hectic.  I understood all of the content, and was comfortable with the material, but when there is a class of 15-18 students (10 of which are not the best at staying on task,) it can be VERY difficult to keep everyone working on the same page.  Also, anytime I made the slightest mistake, it was earth-shattering to the students who were just looking for something to squeal about.  This was a very good learning experience, and it really was not too hectic/out of control, but it was certainly beneficial for me as I continue to learn how to improve on my teaching styles. 

This in mind, it was probably the most beneficial part of the week for me, but also the one part I would like to do over again. As I said, I learned a great deal from it, but I also would like the chance to go back and do it over again because I feel there are many things I could have improved upon.  Again, hindsight is 20/20; learn and move on.

Another very beneficial part of my week was yesterday; an in-service day.  I worked almost non-stop from 8:15 a.m. until about 4:10 p.m., with a very short lunch in between.  This entire day was spent coordinating activities and lessons for next week being that we will all be at FBLA.  I had to develop detailed lesson plans for the sub, instructions for the students, rubrics for their activities, and back up activities for all of those early finishers.  I know how students can be for substitutes, especially when they do not have work to keep them engages, so I attempted to have enough quality work for them to do while I am gone so that they do not cause any unnecessary issues for the substitute.

Once again, a good week overall. I learned more than I taught, as usual, but I also had some great breakthroughs with some of my students.  As far as I'm concerned, a student teacher can't ask for any more than that :).  

Oh, and by the way, 49 days down, 17 to go (of being in school, that is.) Bring on April 29th!!

week 10

"Another one bites the dust..." One more week down, and many new learning experiences along with it.  Overall it has been another good week. Monday started off as one of the longest days of my semester being that I had a full schedule of classes, followed by Clinical Studies for a couple hours, then back to Selinsgrove for the school board meeting. Although there were some things about Monday that made me feel that this week may be a drag, it turned out to be a pretty good one in the end.

I also started landscaping for the season this week, which means that I go from school to work that could be anywhere from Millville, Bloomsburg, Danville, Buckhorn, or wherever else the work is available.  Although I love the work, and NEED the money, it still makes for long, tiring days.

As far as what I benefitted most from, it would probably be improving on time management skills. I've taken on my third prep this week, which is requiring me to balance even more workload as I attempt to do more with each hour of my day; balancing work, sleep, school, and still meeting the needs of my co-op and students, along with the Clinical Studies assignments that keep us all busy.  Tweaking my time management skills has definitely been a beneficial part of this whole experience, but especially this week.

If I could do one thing differently this week, it would probably something simple like re-wording a few questions on Wednesday's assessment I gave to my Personal Finance classes. Overall the students did well and I felt that they knew the material very well, but I always try not to confuse my students when providing them with assessments, and there were a couple questions that seemed to be worded in a way that confused them which caused a few of them to select a wrong answer that they otherwise may have gotten right. As they say, "hind sight is always 20/20."

A good week all together though.  Can't wait for April 29th! It's rapidly approaching :).