First day back!

After possibly the most eventful spring break ever (a trip to the beach, finally seeing The Hunger Games, a job interview, 2 trips to the emergency room, and a lot of spring cleaning), I was ready to get back to school today and see my kiddos.  Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling all that great today-making it a rough day for teaching.  Thank goodness I have the best cooperating teacher ever who helped me out and took over Teacher Directed Reading for me.  I know I won't have that luxury when I'm the classroom teacher, but I sure appreciated it for today!

I'm doing a little bit of informal research on how other teachers use data to drive their instruction - as this is a Big Thing with the Common Core.  In my research, I came across the point that "Standards are the minimum."  That's something I definitely agree with, and it defines my instruction.  Most of my students are meeting the standards, which is good, but they are capable of going beyond that, and it's important for me to keep challenging them to do more than simply meet the standards.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/using-student-data-inform-teaching-rebecca-alber

Saturday night fever

Well, it's a Saturday night, and guess what I'm doing?

Working on my Impact Project, of course!  Thankfully, it's the last weekend I'll have to spend on it!  :)

Graduation is only 28 days away:  I can make it.


As of right now, I've applied for 12 jobs around the state (I haven't informed my mom that the majority of those opportunities are 6 hours away from home - I'll let her know once I secure an interview).  I'm really hoping that the Teaching Fellows name is as strong an influence on principal's decisions as I've been hearing that it is.  It's crazy that I've been going back and forth for the past 2 years on what I'm going to do post-graduation: stay home or move away.  And I still don't have an answer.  I'll find out in the Lord's timing though, I suppose.

Sometimes I feel like my life is one big awkward moment

Well, I had my interview this morning and I'm not sure that I really impressed the principal.  I think I'm a blabbering fool who can't get whole sentences out in most situations, but when I'm teaching, I feel confidence that I usually lack otherwise.  I just wish that could shine through when I'm interviewing.  Here's to hoping that it went better than I believe it did, and that I'll have more chances to redeem myself with more interviews at other schools!

Questions to continue practicing...
What question haven't I asked you that you would like to answer?

How do you use technology professionally? (Not with students, but professionally).

• Does Pinterest count?! (joking...kinda)

I gotta study up on some more specific ELL strategies and interventions.  I know some, but as soon as the question was asked it's like my brain kinda went blank.  The principal mentioned SIOP, which is something we touched on in Block 1, looks like it's time to dig deeper and find out more!  http://www.cal.org/siop/resources/index.html

Now, before I forget, there were a few stories I wanted to list, because I never want to forget them!

One morning, a student entered the classroom excitedly announcing that he had some concentration pills (aka medicine for ADHD).  We were excited for this student and to see how it would affect his learning and behavior.  Later on that day, another student was acting up and talking back to the teachers, and my CT had asked him to stop being silly and listen. Without skipping a beat, student one chimes in, "Dude, you just need some concentration pills!  They will help you so much, and then you'll be able to listen and stop acting silly!  I have some at home; I can bring them to you tomorrow!"  Needless to say, we emailed his mama and let her know to keep those pills locked up!

A completely unrelated story that happened that same day:  We had a class pet guinea pig named Rocky, who was actually a student's pet that she chose to share with the class.  Unfortunately, Rocky was old and died one weekend.  When we came back to school and found him, we contacted the student's mother, who happens to be a vet, and the mother came to pick up Rocky's body.  She promised us that she would come back later in the week and give a memorial service for the kids to say goodbye to Rocky.  The day she came back, she led a serious discussion about Rocky's death, what happens to people and animals when they die (bodies are cleaned, may be frozen so they don't rot right away).  The kids' comments were all very sweet and heartfelt.  One child asked if we were going to bury Rocky at school, and the mom responded that no, they were going to bury him at home with the family over the weekend.  Without missing a beat, the child who owned Rocky exclaims, "Yeah, and Rocky is in the freezer right now, and Daddy doesn't even know!!"

There's never a dull moment with first graders :)

Trapped!

It's the second day of my spring break, and I'm trapped inside my best friend's apartment with no food and no transportation...woo hoo!  More time to work on my Impact project and continue prepping for my interview on Friday (and check out teacher blogs, one of my favorite things to do!)

Hello Spring Break!

Spring break could not have come at a better time!  I love teaching, and the team I work with, but I was also ready for a few days break.  I never realized how tiring student teaching would be; and my friends constantly joke that I'm the "grandma" of our crew because I always go to bed so early.  I'm not ashamed of my "grandma" status though; if going to bed early helps me to feel well-rested, and therefore helps me to be a better teacher, I'll take it!

The fact that Spring Break is here though, means that student teaching is nearly over.  I have an interview coming up that I'm excited and nervous about.  Since when am I old and mature enough to be going to big-girl job interviews?  This semester is the first time I've really felt like an adult.  I think getting away from the college town and working real-world hours (7:15 to 4:30 on a typical day, anyone?)  has really helped me to grow up.  Of course, being responsible for 20 first graders and collaborating on a daily basis with the other first grade teachers on my team has added to that feeling.   Even though I'm still technically a college student, I feel like that phase of my life ended on January 17 (my first day of student teaching).   Now I refer to what I do as my profession (despite the fact that I'm not getting paid!)

Here are some questions I'm going to practice answering thanks to my upcoming interview!

• What are the most important things a teacher must accomplish during the first few days of school? 
• How would you integrate technology into the curriculum?
• Describe some innovative projects or hands-on activities you have been involved with.
• How can you make your subject relevant to the lives of your students and at the same time incorporate state standards?
• Give an example of how you have used cooperative learning in your classroom.
• What teaching strategies do you use to motivate students to learn?
• How do you integrate curriculum across subject/content areas?
• How do you handle classroom management issues?
• What are your classroom rules and procedures? 
• What methods of classroom management have you tried which were not successful?
• What teaching strategies do you use to address the different learning styles of the students in your classroom?
• Talk about a time when you have experienced success in the classroom.
• Describe a lesson that went poorly. What would you do differently next time?
• How do you teach something that you don’t want to teach, but must?
• Why do you want to teach at this school/district/grade level?