| Finding myself again! |
[May. 28th, 2007|12:45 pm] |
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Ever since I started this program I have felt disconnected from the world. I've had no time for friends and family the two most important things in my life. There were times when I would be so stressed out and irritable that I didn't even know who I was anymore. Now that I have finished student teaching I am now starting to feel like my old self again. I don't have to spend dedicating my whole weekend to writing lesson plans. I can now go see my family and friends. I still have my Mater's classes to worry about, but I know I will finish it. I never realized what a huge restraint student teaching was having on my life. I loved going to school and teaching my kids, but it was killing me at the same time. There was no down time, right after teaching I would go to seminar and than prepare for the next day. I am glad to be back and so are my friends and family. I can actually be normal again and go out =) |
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| OMG! No more Student Teaching! |
[May. 25th, 2007|05:36 pm] |
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Well ladies and gentlemen I have officially ended my whole year of student teaching and it feels great. It was an interesting quarter, one of the most stressful one ever, but I have made it through. I have now gained back 8 hours in my day, which I will be using most of that time for sleeping haha! It was a year filled with laughs, cries, frustration, exhaustion, and love. All of kids that I met this year will forever me in my heart, each of them whether good or bad have made a mark on me. I know that I have defiantly made a few impacts on my kids as well, hopefully all good ones =). For those of you who have a few more weeks to go, hang in there it will come sooner then you think. Good luck to everyone, see you at graduation! |
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| I'm done! |
[May. 18th, 2007|09:42 pm] |
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I want to be done with this year so bad. Everyone keeps telling me your almost done, your at the home stretch blah, blah, blah! I never been so eager in my life to end something before. I just want to be done with this year. It has been a roller coaster year, there were laughs and many tears, well at least for me. If you are reading this and you have not shed one tear throughout this whole year going through this program than I applaud you, because you are something! The kids are great, but man do I need a break from little kids for a while. I am not bitter or anything, but I think I am burned out. I think many of us feel this way and are counting the days until graduation. To all my fellow teachers best wishes and I shall see you all at the finish line on June 18th. |
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| Teacher 911 |
[May. 16th, 2007|09:35 pm] |
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This week I was teaching my little first graders how to play kickball. Today was the first day that we got to put everything together and play the game. Well, 15 minutes into the game, one of the little boys in my class comes up to kick the ball and falls hard on his back. He was laying on the ground and was telling me he was having trouble breathing. I was a bit panicked myself, but I did not let the fear show because I had 18 other students around me being dramatic and saying things like " OMG, he's gonna die", "Someone call 911", argghh, kids are annoying sometimes. I was not sure to move him or not, I kept talking with him and told him to try to calm down and breath with me. One of the students ran and got him some water and he started feeling better. I was worried that he might have injured his lower back and sacred of lawsuits and etc. My DCT was of course suppose to be out there with me, but as usual she was not around. It was up to me to handle the situation. It was a scary situation to be in, but a great learning experience. I saw my injured kid the next day and he was back to being a happy little kid and he came up and hugged me and said "Thanks for saving me doctor teacher". Oh kids, you can't live with them and you can't live without them =). |
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| Weeks in Charge |
[May. 12th, 2007|11:32 am] |
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I just finished my two full weeks in charge and man was it a lot of work. I have never looked so forward to the end of the week before. The kids have been crazy and have made teaching them ten times harder for me. I have never had or seen a class like them before. These first graders love to torment each other, make each other cry, and put each other down. The negative atmosphere makes me not want to be there and teach them. I have desperately tried to fix the environment and have talked to them numerous times of how to respect one another and talk to each other, but it goes in one ear and out the other. They live for getting each other in trouble by tattle-telling on one another. It was a tough two weeks and boy am I glad it is over. I hope that when I have my own classroom my students will be shaped with my personality and the positive atmosphere that I will bring into the classroom. This quarter has been so stressful. There seriously needs to be more time in a day or they should implement nap time into every grade level. I know that we are almost done, but I do not know how much more I can take. |
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| The Gift |
[Apr. 20th, 2007|12:08 am] |
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I student teach in a first grade classroom and just recently we got a little girl added to our class. She is from Ethiopia and does not speak a word of English. She is the eldest of four siblings and they were just adopted by couple of white folks who are simply amazing people. These kids were orphans and now they have a home and they have changed the lives of a couple who have wanted kids of their own for so long. I have had the honor of working with her. She is like a sponge that soaks everything in and is eager about learning. She is a sweet and beautiful child. The language barrier is a major difficulty, but the language of love and caring is universal. The little girl and I have bonded in a short period of time and I am pleased that she has taken a liking to me. This little girl reminds me of myself when I first entered the United States. On the first day I saw the same look of fear on her face that I had on my face when I came to a new place. I knew that she must have experiencing culture shock to the full extreme. I came as a first grader too when I moved to the U.S and I did not have anyone to translate for me because not a lot of people speak Farsi. I feel this little girl’s pain and maybe that is why she has gravitated towards me. I have had a blast working with her and I know she will start to pick up the language fairy quickly. My teachers were the ones that were my friends and helped me learn the language and now I can share my gift with her. I am fortunate to be able to help this little girl. She re-affirms my passion for becoming a teacher and helping students just like her. To all the teachers out there, I thank you for sharing your beautiful gift of: love, wisdom, and patience with all your kids! We are making a difference, believe it or not. |
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| What a difference! |
[Apr. 5th, 2007|10:40 pm] |
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My Goodness the difference between grade levels is amazing. I currently teach 1st grade and man it is a zoo in there at times! Managing them is a whole different business. I feel as if sometimes the kids are like vacuums sucking all the energy out of me and using it to their power to become crazier haha! There have been days when I just come home and fall on my bed and seriously cannot get up until i have taken at least a two hour nap. Today I videotaped one of my fellow student teachers. He teaches sixth grade and the minute I walked in I was amazed. I have always had this fear of upper grades, especially fifth and sixth graders, but this class was so nice and sweet. The kids were so well behaved, all my fellow student teacher had to say was "okay, guys quiet down" and then like magic it was silent. After a blissful quiet hour in the sixth grade, i walked back into my room and faced the reality. Today's experience with seeing how higher grade levels are, I might now be considering teaching higher grades. I love the little ones, but i see myself having a real connection with the older kids and having more fun with them. It was a good experience for me to say the least. It has been thinking what grade I would really be interested in teaching if I were given the choice. What grade do you like to teach and why? |
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| What a week!!! |
[Mar. 10th, 2007|01:38 am] |
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As I mentioned in my two previous journal entries I have just begun my last quarter of my student teaching. I am in a first grade classroom this quarter. After two days of being in that classroom, I was thrown in as a substitute teacher for the rest of the week. I was even told I might be the permanent substitute teacher. Something very unfortunate happened to my DCT, she had and still has a family emergency to take care of so I was left in charge. The first day in charge was rough, because it was unfamiliar territory. The second day, things got better and the students came to understand that I was in charge. They kept saying but that’s not how we do it and I would remind them "well, it is when I am in charge" hehe! little rascals. Today was my third day of substitute teaching and it went great. I learned a lot about myself in these past three days. I found out that I can be an effective teacher and that I have learned many great teaching strategies from my two previous DCT's. I guess as hard and intensive as this program is at times; it is also quite helpful to teachers in training like myself. During these past three days I got a chance to get to know my students really well. Some are quite challenging and need a lot of guidance and repetition to get something done, which can be frustrating at times. It is amazing at how many different personalities and behavioral types of students a teacher has to deal with. I have a very unique class to say the least, but they somehow mesh together in weird, quirky way. Some of my students crack me up and others make me want to scream hehe! It has been a very long, exhausting, informative, and exiting week for me, how was your week everyone? =) |
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| A Purpose |
[Mar. 7th, 2007|05:57 pm] |
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I believe that all of us student teachers have a purpose of being in a certain grade with certain teachers. One can learn a great deal from a great DCT or learn how to better and improve themselves with other DCT's. I have been placed in 1st grade for my last quarter and although is has not been as smooth sailing as I hoped it would be, the students that I have encountered thus far make it all worth while. It has almost been a week and believe it or not I have seen improvement in some of my students. One of my students is doing a much better job in his penmanship skills, because his writing is actually eligible now =). I have an ELL student who only speaks Spanish and I have been using my limited Spanish to try and communication with her and try and help her to the best of my abilities. Just yesterday she spoke a whole sentence to me in English. I was shocked and so proud of her. She is adorable, everyday she brings me a little gift, such as a pencil, a pen, a bracelet, or a drawing she has made. I love working with her because she is like and soaks up everything you teach her. She is very enthusiastic and eager to learn. I wish all students had some of her love for learning. Another students of mine was labeled "the lost cause", well I took him on as my case study. He is Far Below Basic. He is in the fist grade, bur reads at almost a kinder level. He does not know his phonics and cannot decode or anything. Just after a few days of working with him, teaching him how to separate letters and how they sound, he can blend the letters together to make words. The smile on his face when he gets something right is priceless. The students are making my experience in first grade memorable. I believe I have a purpose to be in that class, because those kids need me. |
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| New Class |
[Mar. 4th, 2007|05:25 pm] |
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Well I have finished my second quarter of student teaching. So far in my student teaching experience I have had a combination 3/4 grade class, a second grade class and now starting tomorrow I will have first graders. I have stuck with mostly primary grades because those are the grades that I would like to teach. I hope that my experience with my new class will be just as touching and rewarding as they have been with my 3/4 grade class and my second grade class. I was truly blessed with two amazing master teachers that have taught me a lot. I hope I can hang in there for another quarter and get to the finish line. I will keep you all posted on how my first grade experience is going. I am excited, scared, and a bit nervous for my new class, but that is how I always get when I am going to a different grade. I cannot believe that I am in my last quarter of my student teaching. It will be a tough last quarter, but I am in it till the end. I wish all my fellow student teachers the best of luck with their final quarter of this program. |
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| Time is flying by! |
[Feb. 26th, 2007|08:03 am] |
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WoW! I remember back in August when we all started this program, it seemed like a lifetime that we would all ever get to see graduation again. NOW, graduation is only a couple months away, I seriously cannot believe it. I guess we have all been so busy with student teaching and our seminar stuff that time has just flown by. For all of you who thought you can't make it another quarter in this program, hang in there because we are almost at home stretch. Keep up the great work and remember we are and already have affected so many young people's lives. You are all my heroes hehe!!! Let's hear three cheers for Teachers everywhere!! Hipp Hooray, Hipp Hooray, Hipp HOORAY!!! GO TEACHERS! Ummm maybe I should consider being a cheerleader too haha!, jk. |
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| Teaching is not a job! It's a passion! |
[Feb. 21st, 2007|05:35 pm] |
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Lately is has occurred to me that I am in a profession where my work is always going to be with me. Teaching is not a 9-5 job. My roommate is a business major and works from M-F 9-5pm and then when she comes home she goes out and has fun. Her weekends are always occupied with outdoor activities and relaxing. Then there is me, I go to school M-Th and spend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday doing lesson plans and finishing my assignments. I hope that it only this hectic this year due to the program I am in. I miss having a life of any sort. I am always on edge. People who are closest to me worry about me at times, but I cannot do anything about it but to keep on working and getting everything done. Teaching is one of those professions that a person is always occupied doing something, whether it is grading papers, doing lesson plans, or thinking about certain students. I know that not all teachers put in as much effort and do treat teaching as a 9-5 job, but teaching is not just a job it is a passion. So to my fellow teachers that are working their behind off like myself, keep up the good work because it will eventually pay off when a child's life is altered due to your efforts and dedication. |
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| Appreciate your voice! |
[Feb. 20th, 2007|06:54 pm] |
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This last week was one of the hardest weeks of teaching for me. It was due to the fact that I had laryngitis and could not speak a word. The worst part was that show had the go on and I had to teach. My voice got worse and worse each day because I was straining it. My kids became great readers because I wrote a lot of stuff on the board. Some students took advantage of the fact that I could not speak, which made it even more frustrating for me. Teaching is one of those professions that require a lot of speaking and not having the ability to speak was killing me. I now understand why little kids or babies get so angry and frustrated, it is because we cannot understand them and do not know what they want. I was walking around everywhere with a pad of paper and a pen writing everything down. I was going insane. Then another fear struck in me after my third day of not being able to speak, I wondered to myself what if my voice stays like this? Luckily after the fourth day my voice came back and I was able to speak again. I learned to be grateful for the little things in life, like my voice. We speak everyday without thinking about it, but imagine opening your mouth, but no sound comes out. So my advice to you fellow teachers is to please take care of yourselves and be grateful you can talk and people can hear and understand you =). |
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| Who Knew! |
[Feb. 8th, 2007|06:26 pm] |
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Planning is such a critical and crucial element of teaching, but my goodness the amount of it sometimes is unbelievable. It was time for me to plan out my science unit. My DCT told me that the second graders were on Earth Science and that I had to teach them about rocks, soil, and fossils. She handed me the science book and sent me home with about 20 something books having to do with Earth Science. Looking at all the books and all the foreign topics I had to teach was making me very worried. I spent about 8 hours trying to figure out what the heck I wanted to do and want direction to take with this unit. I was so frustrated and overwhelmed that I thought OMG, I can never do this as an actual teacher. Then I decided to stop complaining and JUST DO IT! as Nike recommends, haha!. I started writing the lesson plans and planning each day out. For the past two weeks I have been teaching science and let me tell you it has been one of the best experiences of my life. The students love science, I can actually see some of my students come alive during science and get involved and interested. I myself have been learning with the students. I have learned so much more about rocks, soil, and fossils then I ever did. One of the perks of being an educator is that you are always learning, and that is why I think teachers are so smart =). Anyways, my point is that all the hard work paid off. We sure do a lot of hard work as teachers, but remember it is all for the kids, they do and will appreciate what you do for them, eventhough at times it might not seem like it. |
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| No Pain! No Game! |
[Jan. 15th, 2007|08:50 am] |
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Being in my second quarter of graduate school the work does not seem to ever get any easier. There is always something that needs to be done or is due. I constantly find myself working until the every last minute. I am one of those people that does not like to leave things until the last minute, procrastination is not in my dictionary. However, lately I have been feeling as if I can never caught up and finish my work earlier or maybe just have day of freedom and not do anything. I feel as if I have no life at times and my friends always tell me that they miss me and that they never see me anymore. The worst part is that things are not going to get any better. Spring quarter we all have a heavy load of 23 units. It’s going to overwhelm me even more than I am right now, because I have never taken more than 16 units at a time in my life. Graduation seems so far away, but no pain, no game right? I’m going to hang in there and wish all my fellow teachers the best of luck trying to get through to the end of this year together. I know graduation this time around is going to be 10 times more sweeter than undergrad. TEACHER’S ROCK!!!! |
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| The Substitute Teacher =/ |
[Jan. 12th, 2007|06:25 pm] |
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I teach second graders this quarter and so far it has been a great experience. This week although was a bit different. My DCT was extremely sick, so I had to substitute for her for a consecutive three days and it was getting very tiring. I started thinking to myself OMG!!! how can I possibly go on for five full days when I have my own classroom one day? Teaching is a hard and demanding job, but when they are your own students it is a different story. When I was their substitute teacher the students were good, but a few of them tired to push my buttons and see what they could get away with. I exerted a good amount of my energy dealing with them and letting them know that they are not going to win. Finally, on the fourth day my teacher came back and miraculously the students who were “acting up” were perfect little angles for their teacher. I was not too happy with the circumstance, but it sure was an eye opener for me. I look at it as a learning experience and will know that when I have my own students they will know what I expect from them and playing devils advocate is not an option haha! |
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| What a great gift! |
[Nov. 4th, 2006|12:59 am] |
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I have just completed my first quarter of student teaching. I was truly blessed with an amazing DCT that helped and supported me every step of the way. These past three months flew by so fast for me, because I really was enjoying every minute of it inside the classroom. I had great students that have made a big influence on me. I will not forget them, especially one of my students. This student of mine was my "trouble maker" in the classroom. He always liked to push my buttons and get a reaction out of me. On the other hand, when he decided to be good, we made a great team together and worked well with one another. There were days that I was sure my student hated me, because I once heard him whisper “I hate you!” which hurt me a lot. I actually cried at recess because his words were so hurtful to me. As it turns out one of my goodbye presents from my DCT was a booklet of letters from each of my students. The letter that captured me and took me by surprise was from my "trouble maker". In the letter he wrote, “I am sorry for always getting you angry, please forgive me!" "Do not leave, please stay forever". He also mentioned that he would be good only if I decided not to leave and stay. He wrote that he would miss me and not forget about me. After, I had finished reading his letter I was in tears, because I could not believe what I was reading. That little boy made such an impact on me. I guess what they say is true; it is always the difficult students that you will always remember. I will sure remember my "trouble maker" =). |
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| WOW! |
[Sep. 27th, 2006|05:49 pm] |
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I have been student teaching for about five weeks now, at Highland Elementary School. The things that teacher face and go through is so unexpected. I have had a great time so far teaching, but sometimes the kids that one would never expect to do anything wrong, take a turn for the worse. I recently had Back-to-School time with my DCT. She is amazing. She introduced me to the parents and I got to really feel like an actual teacher =). One of the kids parents kept asking about her son's behavior in class. My DCT and I said he was doing great and there have been no problems with his behavior. Than, after a few days that same "good" boy starts acting up in class. I make him pull his card so does my DCT. He gets a letter sent home saying that he has not been doing his HW and acting up in class. It amazes me how children can change so suddenly, from one week to the next. Teachers are amazing, I do not think any other profession deals with so many different situations in one day than teachers. TEACHERS ARE THE BEST! |
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| Too much stress! |
[Sep. 21st, 2006|09:56 am] |
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OMG! I have never experienced any stress like this before. My body has broken out into a rash and my throat started closing in on me yesterday. I went to the ER the other day and the doctor gave me five different types of medication. I had to go and buy one those old lady pill holders, the ones that say Mon, Tues, Wed etc. I’m only 22 this should not be happening to me. I have come to realize that maybe I have a little more on my plate than I thought I could handle. I am in the M.Ed program. I student teach in the mornings, than go to class and on top of that I work for my rent. All this work is taking its toll on my body. I still do not let it discourage me from becoming a teacher. I know that I face a very challenging and intense year a head of me, but I also know that with all the support and love I have from my friends and family, I can make it through this year. A word of advice for my fellow teachers lets be a great support system for one another, because we are among the only professions that try to help one another and not compete. It is all about collaboration and team work. I wish you all my best wishes and let’s get through this year of madness together. |
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| Becoming a teacher! |
[Sep. 7th, 2006|10:08 pm] |
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All my life I have had a great appreciation for teachers because of the gift of knowlegde that they gave me. Now that i want to become a teacher myself I have new found apprecation for teachers. Becoming a teacher is very hard. I feel so overwhelmed in this program that I am in right now, but what makes it worth while is my student teaching. It is very hard to get up in the morning and go to teach, but once those little faces smile up at you,you know that you will make a difference in some of these children's lives. I am spreading myself thin, with work, student teaching and the program to get my master's and cerdential, but I know all the hardwork will be worth it. So to those of you who feel me on this added stress and many nights of countless sleep, let's hang in together and guide each other to make a difference. |
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teacher21's journal