10th Week

It's hard to believe I am about to start my 10th week of Student Teaching. After this week, I only have about five weeks left before I travel back to the mitten to graduate with a Bachelor's of Science in Education. 

Man, has it been a long five years, but in a way, I am not quite sure I am ready for these years to end. In a texting conversation the other day with my friend Vince, we discussed how we wish to stay in college forever, but have it be free. The lifestyle is so carefree, fun, and feels like home. 'Growing up' and 'entering the real world' can be scary terms, but we all have to do it sometime, right?

Five weeks; that means I have five weeks to get my portfolio finished. I mostly have all 14 artifacts, I just need to upload them and write a lengthy rationale for each....

I'm not sure I'm ready to say goodbye to my Parenting class. I had a rough start with these students, but now we really enjoy each other and we have fun in class. They're pretty brutally honest with me, but I have taken their 'hurtful comments' and turned them into constructive feedback :)
At the end of the day, they are great individuals, no matter how different they may be. I hope that when these five weeks are done and I hand the class back over to Mrs. McDonald, my students will have enjoyed themselves and have learned many things about Parenting and Child Development. 

I really thank them for being my "experiments" since I am new to this whole teaching gig :) 

Play-Doh Fun :)

Lately it seems I am taking teaching day by day rather than planning out the week. I am falling into a routine and slacking on adding a creative touch to my lessons. It might have to do with these awful fevers and this awful cough, or it could be because I feel I am up to my ears in tasks I need to complete before December and I am feeling overwhelmed. Mrs. McDonald said today, "Somedays Jodi, you just don't feel up to teaching an interactive, crazy, lesson. Somedays you need to assign them busy work just to take care of yourself. In order to be an effective teacher, you can't run yourself down. Take care of yourself first." I know she's right, but I still find myself staying up late at night and staying after school to work on things when my body is screaming, "Take Motrin, go to bed, sleeeeeep!" I'm stubborn.

Last week my students did a neat 'Play-Doh Activity' and I wanted to post some pictures of what they created. I had students pick a number 1-9 from a cup and gave them each a container of play-doh.  Their assignment was to create a baby for their assigned month (1-9).  Examples: If a student chose the number 1, they would most likely create a very small baby since the baby is the size of a pin head during month one. If a student chose the number 9, they would most likely create a fairly large baby (not too large since they are only given one container of play-doh!) and the baby would have arms, legs, a face, umbilical cord, basically everything since a baby is developed by month 9 :)
The students LOVED this activity. Some of them were so creative. I was very impressed. When students were done creating their babies, I had them place their babies at the back table and students were able to visit and take a guess at which month the play-doh babies belong in. When going over students guesses, majority of them guessed correctly!

Seeing my students this excited about learning pushes me to be more creative with my lessons. I am not going to let this sickness get the best of me! :)

The Mexican Fisherman

I received this email from Jake yesterday. Read this story and tell me your thoughts. Such a simple way to get an amazing message across. Where are your priorities? Is money your key to happiness? Do you want to look back on your life and only see a career and money? What is important to you? What are your goals? Are you the American Investment Banker or the Mexican Fisherman?

 

 

I was in Jimmy Johns the other day and this story was on the wall. It really hit home with me and I thought I'd share it with you.

The story has an amazing message that it gets across very effectively, and will really resonate with you if you ever found yourself reconsidering the line of work you’re in, what your goals are, and what happiness really means to you:

The Mexican Fisherman

The American investment banker was at the pier of a
small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with
just one fisherman docked.

Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna.
The American complimented the Mexican on the quality
of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, “Only a little while.”

The American then asked, “Why didn’t you stay out longer
and catch more fish?”

The Mexican said, “With this I have more than enough to support my family’s needs.”

The American then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat: With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the
processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York where you will run your ever-expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15 to 20 years.”

“But what then?” asked the Mexican.

The American laughed and said that’s the best part. “When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions?…Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

Update

Life is pretty crazy and great lately!

Between doctor's visits, paperwork, lesson plans, students, meetings, running, family time, and trying to stay sane, I am a pretty happy girl! :) I think it is safe to say I am getting the hang of this thing called 'student teaching.' Tomorrow I completely pick up my second class, which is all senior girls, and we are going to make Space Mud in order to help explain the words coherence, function, and originality within a child care environment. I might even have them make Origami also. I attempted to make a sea turtle the other night and it didn't turn out as cute, but my elephant turned out lovely :) 

I am such a fan of hands-on learning and trying to integrate as many visuals as possible. Today, in order to help my students learn conception, I enlarged a picture of the female reproductive system on the whiteboard and used different colored markers to explain the route that sperm takes in order to fertilize the ovum. When I turned on the projector, my students began to laugh and one said, "Miss Moore, you are crazy!" when she saw the projected image on the whiteboard. Surprises can be fun :)

On Friday, my students take home those battery operated babies. I can't WAIT to hear how their weekends went with those crying dolls :) They are excited right now, but Monday morning I am sure they will be happy to hand them back to me. 

Yesterday I attended my first IEP Re-Evaluation meeting and my first TAT meeting. The meetings were a great learning experience. The IEP Re-Evaluation was regarding one of my occupational students, and basically it was a conference call with various individuals from J.H.Rose, myself, and the girls' mother. We discussed how she was doing in my class, if I needed to make any extra accommodations in order to help her succeed, and we also reviewed her paperwork to make sure everything was up to date. The TAT meeting was an attempt for me to have a student of mine tested to see if she can receive curriculum assistance. The meeting didn't seem to accomplish much. I was told ways to help her succeed and then in two weeks I have to show if she has improved in my class or not. I am going to try those suggestions and see what the future brings with her! 

My next observation is Friday and I am hoping Mrs. Harris sees improvement from her last observation. I have been trying to implement her suggestions into my lessons. Each day I am learning something new, therefore I am anxious to see what her suggestions are after Friday's lessons :)

Next weekend is my trip to Raleigh/Durham with Jake. Another city to check out on my list of many. We are attending a Duke game while we are there, which should be fun! Maybe Raleigh will steal my heart....we will see! 

Day-Dreaming.

I'm craving something new. I am craving an adventure. I'm craving new experiences and lessons. I'm craving a place completely out of my element. I'm craving book stores, coffee shops, boutiques, large buildings, bikers, runners, businesses, concerts, all kinds of individuals, taxi's, and subways. 

I'm craving something bigger than myself.

That's it. Something, somewhere bigger than myself. 

What better place than a beautiful city?

Let the research on Boston, Queens, Brooklyn, Chicago, and Raleigh continue....  

I'm SO excited!