Student Teaching Update

Today I had my Mid-Semester Review. It went well. The biggest area I need to grow in is classroom management--no big surprise to me. Lots of strengths mentioned, which was encouraging. I also had a chance to sit down with my soon-to-be cooperating teacher, Inge. Inge is the high school ESL teacher. Tomorrow is my last day at the elementary, and then on Monday I'll switch to the high school. Should be interesting.

After my discussion with Inge, I brought home two social studies textbooks and an interesting-looking novel about a Spanish-speaking immigrant to Vermont. That's what the intermediate ESL class will read next, after finishing a poetry unit. Meanwhile, I can start working on the unit that I need to do for my portfolio/seminar. I'll be doing it on Native Americans (a little) and early settlers in the U.S. Two things already excite me about this:

1. Essentially I get to teach about the first immigrants and refugees to come to the U.S.--a great connection to my students and opportunity to learn about their experiences.

2. I get to talk about the Pilgrims/first Thanksgiving and the Puritans. *grin*

My first day of student teaching at the high school should be pretty easy; Monday is Id-al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, the biggest celebration of the year for Muslims. Apparently, a lot of students will be absent so that they can celebrate.

Believe it or not. . .

. . . I'm still alive. :-) I've just been extremely busy, so I haven't posted on here in a while. I know--bad me. Since a few folks have commented on my lack of postings (e.g.--see Rabia's comment for my last entry), I thought it was time to write again. Plus, I don't think I have the mental energy to write anything I am "supposed" to write, like my "reflective teaching journal" for my seminar class, or the lesson plan I think I need to give to my cooperating teacher tomorrow.

So, what have I been doing lately? Well, I've been working a lot. Last week was my "solo week" in the elementary school, meaning that any planning and teaching that my cooperating teacher would normally do, I did. I was fortunate because we have also been doing the state standardized testing (NECAPs, pronounced like "kneecaps") for the last few weeks. Therefore, I've had less planning to do. Unfortunately, I had to administer the NECAPs to students who are not yet fluent in academic English, which means that the test is really rather hard (imagine going to China for a year or two and then having to take a big test in Chinese on reading, writing, and math and you'll get the idea).

Okay--I'm going to stop myself before I start ranting. ;-) Although I think I already started up there, briefly. :-) In addition to working--both actual teaching duties and working on a portfolio for the state--I've also started attending a few church ministries. One is my home group, which started a few weeks ago. I am so thankful to the Lord; I'm in a group with mostly the same people as last year. With all the busyness and stress of student teaching, plus the fact that I have to look for a job in the winter/spring, it's nice to have some relationships already established; it takes less energy than getting to know new people. Plus, I do get to know one or two new people. :-)

The other ministry is College & Careers, our church's singles ministry. I really like that the focus this year is maturing in Christ. There'll be Bible studies on this topic and times when we get to hear from older, wiser folks. Plus, there are nice service and social aspects to the group. I'm very excited because I actually get to go away briefly this weekend. I don't have school on Thursday or Friday due to a teacher's conference. Therefore, on Friday and Saturday I'm going to a retreat for young adults. It'll be nice to get away and relax, fellowship, and spend some time focusing on the Lord and my relationship with him.

What else have I been doing? Honestly, I've been vegetating a bit--enjoying some TV shows on DVD via Netflix or on my computer via iTunes. Teaching requires quite a bit of thought. I like it--being rather a thinker naturally, it's a good fit--but sometimes I need to just not think for a bit. Otherwise, I think my head would explode. Seriously. Too going on up there for my little mind to process.

This is getting long, so I'll end and then add a shorter, more random post. Hopefully, that will be followed by a post with pictures of the apple-picking trip I took earlier this fall. :-)