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 :).

Week 9

Another week down, just like that. The semester is really rolling at this point, and things are continuing to go well overall.  There were not any major moments/incidents this week that stick out in my mind, but as always there were more learning experiences for me.

One of my favorite parts of the week was having hall duty in the mornings.  From 7:50 to 8:00 every morning the students are restricted to either being in the lobby near the rear entrance or in the cafeteria, so teachers have to monitor the lobby, hallway, and cafeteria to make sure that students are abiding by the rules. It has been quite a bit of fun for me to just stand in the lobby/hall on my "post" and wait to see which students seek me out.  Some of my best conversations and most memorable moments come from this part of the day when I get to find out about what the students had going on the night before, and what they have going on for the day ahead.

As always, this week has been a busy one.  Being that everything has gone fairly smoothly, it's hard to say what I would change if I could do it over again.  However, being that there is always so much work to do, it's always easy to say that I would have utilized my time a little better in hind-sight. As they say "Hind-sight is always 20/20" and looking back there are a few things I could have done to be more efficient with how I managed my time.  Although this is difficult to put into practice at times due to the frequent and unpredictable interruptions that occur so often in school.

Again, my favorite part of the week, and the part that most beneficial, was the time I have had to get to know some of my students better by interacting with them for an extra 10 minutes each day while I'm on hall duty.  Students are becoming more and more open with me, and willing to share information that will greatly help me relate to them, even when they are not aware of the fact that they are doing this.

For all of you who are wondering, my approximate countdown is down to 40 : 28 (days completed : days left to go) of days that I'll actually be in school...only 28 more!

Week 8

According to my daily countdown, I am over the hump! 35 down, 33 to go.  Exciting! On top of that, this week has probably been the most fun I've had up to this point in student teaching.  Ironic being that I have spent my evenings (as I am sure all of you have as well) working on assignments due, on top of lesson plans and organizing resources.  However, this week was still a great time for me.

The highlights would have to be found in Thursday and Friday.  On Thursday my co-op was out due to having to speak at a conference, so even though I had a sub in the classroom, I got to run the show for all of the classes that I typically do not teach.  These groups are so much fun, and I had a great time working with them.  In the Advanced App's course that I covered on Thursday, we took the whole period to watch persuasive PowerPoint presentations that the students had worked very hard on for the past couple weeks.  This was for the purpose of peer grading.  Some of the work these students come up with is simply amazing, while others left a fair bit to be desired.  Whatever the case may be, it was a great time.  It was also in this class that I had to be the most stern that I have had to up until this point.  It was nothing too dramatic, but I did have to project my voice (more than usual) and tell one or two students to get back to their seats after they were causing a mild disruption.  It evoked a few "ooooooooooo's" from the other students, but it did not escalate and all was well.

Today (Friday) I was asked to be a judge for a foreign foods contest in the cafeteria at the end of the day.  This meant that I got to sample ethnic desserts for approximately 20-30 minutes. For obvious reasons, this was also a great time, and I was able joke around with many students during a light hearted time of hanging out and eating some great food.

Overall, this has been a great week.  As far as things I would change, that would primarily pertain to the day I video taped myself.  I taught a lesson that mainly pertained to compound interest, and I could clearly sense that towards the end of my lesson there were many students that were starting to trail off due to the content being somewhat confusing and a little dry at times.  I under estimated the amount of time I would have to spend on it, which made it more difficult to maintain their attention.  The class was still fairly successful, but there are things I could have done to improve it.

What I benefited from most this week was simply getting to know students a little better, and having the opportunities to loosen up and let them get to know me better as well.  This is very important to me as a teacher and as an individual because it not only lets the students know that I am very much human which allows them to relate to me better, but it also increases trust and respect so that when it comes to classroom management and related factors, it is rather easy to get their attention and have them respond positively to me.  

All in all, a very good week.  This is reinforced by the fact that we are over the half way mark...Yipeeeeee! =)

Week 7

This was another very eventful week for me at Selinsgrove Area High School.  As you all know, I'm teaching on a block schedule so this was the week that I started teaching a second class.  This calls for more structured time management, learning new names, and becoming more familiar with course content.  

Aside from that I have been proceeding with my two personal finance classes, and all has been going well there also.  I am still having to learn the material prior to teaching it, but to a large extent I just need a refresher.  My classes seem to be more interested in this material than they were originally when I started with the Federal Reserve System, which makes perfect sense because the material I am in the midst of now more closely pertains to their individual lives.  This includes topics like budgeting, banking, check writing, etc.  

I had to address a few classroom management issues this week, but nothing that was too dramatic.  My classes have been going well for the most part, and there has never been a time when I have felt like the effort I put into it wasn't worth it. 

If there was one thing I could go back and change, I would have made a more conscious effort to go out of my way to individually get to know each student in my new classes prior to this week.  I had been going around and talking to each one, asking what their plans were after high school (especially since it's a career prep course) and trying to find individual characteristics of each student.  However, I was not as thorough as I would have liked to been so now I have a little catching up to do.

One thing that was most beneficial to me this week was trying a few new strategies in teaching.  I developed some in-class assignments so that students could "learn on their own" with my guidance.  This worked even better than I expected, and is something that I plan to use with appropriate balance throughout the rest of the semester.  I have found that I tend to want to "have my hand" in what the students are doing, yet most of my students tend to learn best from being held responsible for new content by giving them guided assignments (that correspond with my instruction) to do in class.  This tied in well with my teaching and I was happy that I utilized this approach.

Overall, another good week.  If nothing less, we are just about half way home :) Good luck to everyone else out there! Keep pluggin' away.

Week 6

Although this week started off with an in-service day, it was still just as busy as every.  I had a very good experience sitting in on the APL workshop on Monday, (which you will all hear more about later) where I had many refreshers on classroom and time management techniques, as well as many new tips and methods.

Tuesday through Friday were relatively normal days, and were very busy as usual.  Everything is continuing to go well with my classes for the most part, and I'm getting more comfortable with the material and the students.  It's very interesting and educating to interact with the students as they get to know me better, and continue to open up with me more.  I've come to find that some of my students live in foster care, struggle with issues of alcoholic parents, live out of relative poverty, and then there are others who have entirely different struggles.  It is ever-evident that as teachers we have to be able to individually and sensitively reach all of them without leaving anyone out. This is for me, as with all of you I'm sure, the biggest challenge. I'm reminded of the following quote from Donald D. Quinn:

"If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance,  had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job" 

It is an on-going, rich experience for me though, and I'm really taking a liking to teaching.  Needless to say, there are still a few things I would change about this week.  One of the major areas that I'm continuing to try to find balance before/after each lesson is, planning an adequate amount, but also not trying to fit too much into a lesson.  I often try to get a large amount accomplished being that there is so much potential material for a subject like Personal Finance, (especially these days,) but in the process I have lost some students in the past, which I'm trying to avoid.  In this respect, I might trim down some of the content so that I could go "deeper" in a few small areas.  This is nothing major, and I feel as though it will come more naturally the more that I teach.

The most beneficial aspect of this week was probably a combination of attending the APL workshop as well as trying a few new techniques in my classes.  These techniques include the way that I ask questions, the way I probe for answers, and also the general way that I try to involve the students in each lesson.  It is certainly a great learning experience for me and I'm looking forward to the upcoming weeks.

Week 5

Another good week is in the books.  It was a very active week, as most are these days, and once again there were many things I learned.  

Last week we had a good start into our new section on the stock market, and i continued with the content on Tuesday.  However, it seemed like I never got into a"flow" in the lesson and it seemed to be somewhat dry at times, which I didn't like.  Everything went well, in that there were no problems or embarrassing moments, but it just wasn't what I would call a "Good Lesson."  So, that caused me to rethink some of my approaches and recognize that preparing, and then preparing again, is always essential, even when you feel like you're getting into a groove.

That being said, the one thing I would have changed this week, is to see to it that I had a better, more captivating lesson on Wednesday.  Part of this could have been due to slighter-than-usual planning due to time crunches, and part of it could have been trying to fit a large amount of content into one lesson.  So, despite it not being an A+ performance, I still benefited from it. Chalk it up to another lesson learned.

What was most beneficial this week is a couple of approaches I took to implementing the stock market game that my Personal Finance classes are participating in.  I assigned their groups (which some were O.K. with and others were not; though I held my ground none the less), and I saw to it that I got plenty of one on one time with each group.  Also, my learning center that I made has plenty of practical rules, guidelines, and tips for everything that the students have the most questions on concerning the stock market game.  It was great to be able to direct them to the board when they had a question on the rules, processes, or questions pertaining to a variety of things.  This took a large amount of demand off of me, and helped them learn how to locate and apply information without it being spoon fed to them.  Also, I started using the Google "Define: " command quite a bit this week.  If you're not familiar with that, check it out - it's very beneficial.

Overall, like I say, another good week.  There was much accomplished, but still much to do.  And so it goes...

Week 4

Week four was a good week overall.  Monday started out with finishing up some presentation projects I had my students start on last week, and overall that went pretty well.  Wednesday we started a new section on the stock market (in my personal finance classes) and I think we got off to a pretty good start.  The students are interested and seem to be looking forward to starting the stock market game this upcoming week. This Friday, I took my personal day for a coaching clinic in Hershey, so my week was cut short, (which is always nice).

Looking back, if I could change anything, I think I would have been a little more prepared for the presentations on Monday.  Our projector has a nice habit of turning off unpredictably, and although I did manage to print out some sides for the students as a back up, it was sort of done at the last minute and it was a little bit of a scramble to have it done in time.  This reinforced the fact that over-planning is almost always necessary.

The most beneficial part of my week was using things that the students are interested in to tie into the lesson. For my first lesson on the stock market I used a clip from Batman Begins for the intro where Bruce Wayne and the CEO of Wayne Enterprise engage in a conversation about "going public" and the selling/purchasing of shares. This fit in nicely with my lesson throughout the whole hour that I taught.  Also, I had students talk about the clothing they wear and the stores they shop in, and used this to expose them to finance.google.com and nyse.com.  This all seemed to work well.

I'm continuing to look forward to the following weeks, and continue to enjoy getting to know the students better.  They are opening up more with me and seem to enjoy getting to know me better as well.  However, I am still feeling like I'm pushing mud in my "lunch class." It seems now matter how much the first class loves the material, the second class is always half asleep and doesn't want to be there. I have a feeling this is an uphill battle I'll be fighting all semester.  Aside from that, I couldn't ask for more up to this point.

Week 3

Well, it's another week down and a few more lessons learned.  This week was sort of an odd one being that we had a snow day followed by a two hour delay (on a day which I had my two sections of personal finance).  Needless to say, the periods were shorter on this day, but this worked out well because I had an activity planned anyway, and as it turned out, I was able to make the activity fit perfectly into the shortened periods.

My "lunch" class continues to be a challenge though.  The challenge is three-fold: the class seems to keep one eye on the clock, eagerly anticipating lunch, then after lunch it's often difficult to re-engage them, though I've been reasonably successful thus far, and finally (and most significantly) the chemistry of the class is such that the majority of the students are not interested in the least.  This being the case, the lessons that often captivate and engage my first class, don't have the same impact on my second class (let alone the whole lunch issue).  So, I've been getting a good hands-on lesson in differentiating instruction.  I am trying a new approach with involving a few of the quiet "leaders" in the class who are good students, but don't seem to care much for the material...my hope is to involve them more and start to "beat them from within" little by little.  Overall though, both of my classes are going well and the students seem to be retaining the material...though I will know more in this area after some presentations/quizzes this upcoming week.

The most beneficial thing of my week would have to be interacting with the students on an individual basis.  They seem to enjoy interacting with me individually, and I'm always eager to learn more about them.  Many of them have great ideas huge personalities, so I'm always trying to think of ways to make these factors work to my benefit, and the benefit of the class as a whole.

Also, I find it very beneficial to include two or three of the most important points from the content of the previous class in my introduction each day.  I find the students will often dig pretty deep to try to recall what we talked about, and also it's a good way to fasten the important points to their memory while linking it to new information before we get into the thick of class.

There wasn't anything that went "wrong this week" so it's tough to say what I would change if I could do it over again, however there is one thing that comes to mind.  On Thursday - with my "lunch class" - I had it in mind to split them into groups of three by counting off by numbers.  So, naturally, if you want groups of three (with a couple groups of two being that I had 16 in class on this given day) you would count off by three's, right?? WRONG...I learned this lesson this week after counting off by three's and then finding I had primarily formed groups of five...DUH!  So, with that in mind, I would have learned how to count earlier in the week so that I didn't stumble around in front of 16 seniors who didn't want to be there anyway (haha...it actually turned out fine, and they are all comfortable with me and vice versa, but it was still annoying that I was oblivious enough to make that mistake right off the bat in the beginning of class). Aside from that, I enjoyed this week and have gotten to be very comfortable in front of my classes.

*Lesson of the week for all of you reading this - KNOW HOW TO COUNT BEFORE YOU TRY TO SPLIT UP YOUR CLASSES BY 'COUNTING OFF.'

Second week

My second week started off without any ungraceful incidents, which is more than I could say for the first week. It was a very busy week though, and it seemed that no matter how much I got done in a day, there was always more to do that I wasn't able to get to. However, everything did go smoothly, and even my first lessons went relatively well. There were awkward moments in the first lesson simply because my co-op suggested a spontaneous change of plans that sort of threw off the flow of things to an extent, but it still worked out well in the end and I believe it was beneficial to the students overall.

My best lesson up to this point probably came with my first class on Friday. I seemed to have the students attention and kept it moving at a fast pace which worked well. Being that I have all seniors, and this is their last semester, they are not too interested in applying themselves unless it's upbeat and lively (which can be difficult at times because many of them are not interested in "The Fed" and other opening topics of personal finance, but so far so good.)

If I could change anything about the week, I would have had assigned seats ready for the students on the first day as well as name cards placed at each of their computers (for the sake of learning their names). This is something that I had prepared for the second class, but it would have been beneficial for me to have this done in time for the first class so that I could get a jump on learning the names. Other than that, everything went according to plan this week.

What I found to be most beneficial was the manner in which I "chunked" the lessons of my second class (I only taught two lessons/four classes this week being that it's a block scheduled 1/2 credit course). The segmenting of material, and varying methods of instruction (group-work, discussion, active reading, videos, and games) proved be beneficial in keeping everyone involved and entertained as much as possible. I felt good about Friday's classes.

The most challenging aspect of the week would be the fact that my 3rd period class has a "split lunch" which means I get them for about an hour, then they go to lunch and come back for the last 20 minutes of the period. This presents challenges in some obvious ways, so I am learning how to be creative in adjusting the material accordingly.

Overall it has been a good week, and I look forward to being able to tweak a few things in the upcoming week to improve on what I've learned up to this point.

My First Week of School...What a way to start ;)

Ahhh where to start. Perhaps I shall start with my very first morning. Although I got up at before 5:00 a.m. to be sure to be on time to Selinsgrove High School where I am placed (which is over an hour from my house), nothing too eventful occurred until approximately 7:25 a.m. when I, as I have done thousands upon thousands of times before, attempted to get out of my vehicle upon reaching my destination. Being that the weather has been especially balmy this week in NE/Central PA, the surface of the parking lot where I was told to park was not unlike a skating rink. I, being the bright, conscientious individual that I like to think I am, carefully surveyed where I parked and was 100% certain that the surface was simply plowed, somewhat soft, snow (rather than the 0-friction ice that it turned out to be.)

No doubt you can tell where this is going, so I'll cut to the chase...I energetically hopped out of my truck, left foot first, quickly followed by the right, only to find that my carefully surveyed parking spot was not so wisely selected after all. Without so much as a fleeting hope of preserving my footing, BOTH of my feet led my legs to become horizontal to the ground, landing me square on my rear end (keep in mind I have not even had contact with Selinsgrove "soil" for a single second of my first week yet.) Luckily, I was early to the school that day so there was only one other woman in the parking lot, and she was blocked from sight by a couple vehicles...the first of which was a pickup truck of which I almost kicked the door in when I so ungracefully "bit it" as they say. Miraculously I managed not to split the rear out of my pants, nor did I dirty myself...both of which I was certain happened to me in the midst of the chaotic opening seconds of my arrival.

Oh, but there's more! I managed to stand up, feeling rather like a child who hadn't quite learned how to walk without hanging onto something secure. I opened my back door to pull out my briefcase and other necessities, only to be greeted by my lunch bag which appeared to have been projected from my back seat onto the solid ice underfoot. At this point I was in such disbelief that I silently and sarcastically rejoiced, pumping my fists and quietly saying "OH YESSSS!!!"......I was off to a spectacular start. The only disappointing aspect from that whole chaotic, potentially embarrassing situation, was that no one was around to witness my awesome skill.

Beyond those first few minutes, everything for the rest of the week has gone "according to plan." I've been learning my student's names, working hand-in-hand with my co-op by grading papers, taking attendance, compiling resources, and gathering ideas for how to connect with my students through the content I will be presenting. It has been a wonderful learning experience already, and I have greatly enjoyed working with the students. I'm now referred to as "Mr. D" on a regular basis, (or any other number of names for that matter,) which range from "Mr. Schwarzenegger Jr. Sir" to "Mr. Bodyguard Man" (being that Mrs. Gavitt refers to me as her bodyguard) if they can't remember "Mr. D." I am eager for the upcoming weeks, and although I am very eager for April 29th, I have been enjoying myself thus far, and anticipate a wonderfully beneficial and enjoyable semester overall.