Kleenex

Yesterday was my last full day at the middle school doing my student teaching. I was really sad to go, but at the same time, really excited/nervous about my new High School adventure. I stayed pretty late on my last day still helping out kids to the end (I'm really going to miss them).

I didn't get to pick up Parker until about 4:30 that afternoon, and then we didn't get home till about 5pm. I let him kind of run around and do as he pleased while I changed my clothes and wound down from my long day at the school. Before I know it, he is calling to me from his room.

"Mommy, I made a mess!"

So here I am thinking that he had just dumped out a ton of toys or whatever and was telling me that there were toys all over the floor of his room. Boy, do I wish! I walk in there about a minute later and I see something that kind of resembled this:

(courtesy of Google Images)

Kleenex was EVERYWHERE. He decided that it would be a lot of fun to take the full, large, Kleenex box and empty its contents all over his room.

Now, I bought this box of Kleenex last week. 

 (courtesy of Google Images)

I had maybe taken out two of them. The rest? Covering his floor as if it had snowed Kleenexes. I might have freaked out a little. I mean, its not like I am made of money, and Kleenexes are like gold in my house because of how much his nose runs. There goes that money down the drain. I sent him to time-out, and regretfully, I don't think he realized that he had done something wrong. That boy was crying. After the time-out, I sat down and explained to him that Kleenexes need to stay in the box unless we are using them... and even then, we only use one at a time. I think he might understand now, but who knows... this could be a weekly occurrence.

Sure sounds fun though, right?

Good Work

I've noticed a trend lately. I've been doing a lot of work at home between the hours of 8:30pm and 11pm getting ready for the next school day. What I've also noticed is that my cooperating teacher is appreciating my work. I think today makes the third time in the last 2.5 weeks that she has passed on what I have created to the other Language Arts and Social Studies teachers that teach 6th grade. I've made a powerpoint Jeopardy game, created a review worksheet for a test they're going to take, and a lesson/worksheets on inferring. And they've all wanted it all. These teachers that have been teaching for years and are pros want my work?! I'm only a student teacher and have only been actually teaching in a classroom for 5 weeks! This is crazy! But it's also really exciting. I feel like I am a teacher, and not just learning to be a teacher now. 

I only have one more week at this school, and it truly saddens me. I love the school I'm at, and I can honestly say that I want to get a job at this school in the future. I am curious, however, to see how things go at the high school I will be at in Vancouver.

The Pros of a Non-Traditional Classroom

Goodness, there is so much to talk about! Practicum started on Monday, and I have been so busy and so tired! I apologize in advance if this post seems to ramble a bit, but I am not sure how I want to formulate this post yet... So this may be interesting. 

I was a little skeptical about my practicum placement at first. Through email, it seemed as is my cooperating teacher did not really know what was going on, which made me really nervous. Not only that, but she does not have a traditional classroom. She has a 7th grade AVID class, and then has 2 reading groups and a writing group. All of these groups are for students that need extra support in the two areas. Twice a day, she goes into other classrooms (social studies, science, math, etc.) and helps with literacy issues related to the subject. For instance, this week, she went around to all the sixth grade science classes and taught the kids how to navigate through a state scoring guide so that they would know what was expected of them in a lab write-up. Parkrose is already a pretty low-income school--many kids are free/reduced lunch, and there are a few that are even homeless. Not to mention I have already seen three kids that can barely read or write (they're in sixth grade!!)

I've been in the classroom for a week now (tomorrow is a grading day, so there is no school for the kids) and I have never loved a job this much!! I absolutely love the kids, and I love being in a middle school. Until recently, I thought I would hate middle school. I was totally set on teaching High School, but I am finding myself wishing I could stay here for the rest of the school year (after only four days!!). I love working one on one with a struggling student and seeing the light bulb go on in their head--they get it!! And this happens with other subject stuff as well! I've been staying after school with my cooperating teacher and helping kids with homework they are having problems with (math, for example). I love love love love looooove this school, this grade, this teacher, and everything about my experience so far. 


Tomorrow my practicum supervisor is coming by the school at 10am to have our first official meeting all together (me, Mrs. Alfrey, and my supervisor). I also have to have some sort of a lesson plan figured out and ready to go tomorrow for a writing lesson that I will be teaching on Monday. The kids in that class will be brand new kids. So it's their first writing intervention class of the trimester. I have to start out strong with something that will make them excited for the rest of the class... hard shoes to fill. I think I am going to try to aim for something more fun, less workworkwork. It's just a matter of figuring out exactly what to do. I've had many ideas: acrostic poem, I am poem, a stream of consciousness writing, a get to know you partner essay, etc. 


I just keep thinking about the kids in the different classrooms. The kids that are homeless are also the kids that cause the biggest disruptions and are the hardest students to handle... but you cant get mad at them, because they have all this other stuff that they are going through that you cant even imagine. And then there are kids that miss 2 weeks of school in a row because of some family crisis/secret that I cant really go into full detail with. The situations that many of these kids come from is so sad... but it also really makes me want to teach them more so they can rise above their situations now and be something/somewhere better. 


I really hope there is a job opening here next year... and I really hope that they would hire me if there was.