Student Teaching

I have started a new blog for my student teaching experience. I may not be posting anything here for a while - what's new! I will probably blog daily on my other one - though it will be pretty PC and PG since it will be used in my portfolio.

But if you want to follow along: http://reflectionsofapractitioner.blogspot.com/

Can't Stop Giggling

I know this is a little bit naughty, but I can't get stop giggling about the fact that I am at my dad's work and the mailbox didn't survive the first snow. Guess the plowmen are a little rusty!

Spring Break!!!!

I have been desperately counting down to Spring Break for months. I thought the only true way to let you know how I have been feeling during the last few unbearable days was by showing a picture from one of my previous visits to OR.

JOD - Field Trips

What could possibly be smarter than having a field trip the last day before spring break - oh, telling the teachers Monday night that students will be missing Thursday - I mean really, it isn't common to give tests this week.

Student Response

"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank

Part of a student's response: My personal opinion is that "good" and "evil" are not real. They are only what we think when we reflect on our values and beliefs.

March 3, 2010 - I ITCH

The craziness began 5th hour when one of my students was pulled out of class. I didn’t find out to lunch what it was about – even though I had my suspicions, and automatically started to feel itchy. LICE! It seems like lice might be going around. Every time I think about lice I think about my sister driving my mom crazy.

My mom is a totally freaked out about lice. I don’t quite know why it scares her so badly. But the story goes that there were lice at my sister’s school when she was in kindergarten. My sister brought home a note from the school talking about how some students had lice and how parents should check for certain signs like itching the head. Well, as soon as my sister heard the word “itching” and “head,” she did what any kindergartener would do, she started scratching her head and my mother started freaking out. She didn’t have lice, but my mom was so paranoid that it didn’t really matter.

The investigation continued and in my 7th hour class, the 8th grade students were taken out one at a time to check. Only Ben got a pass since he has recently sheared off all of his hair. It is funny to see how quickly news spreads in a school. I didn’t say anything about checking for lice when the first few students left, but within seconds of coming back, it was like the whole class knew. It amazes me how quickly they figured out what was going on. How can they pass info like that so quickly?

Scratching our heads and talking about lice has become a fun way to terrorize my mother. I actually can’t wait till I go over to my parents tonight and start scratching my head. I guarantee you that when I tell her that we had lice checks and she sees me scratching my head, she will say to me, “Allison, that is not funny.” I’ll get a good laugh. Right after I take a shower – I seem to be itching everywhere! Maybe the school secretary should check me for lice.

JOD - Exams

Next week is exams. Unfortunately, I really don't know how many students could tell you when they are. This is all because it doesn't seem important to tell students or teachers when the exams are.

Monday morning I inquired about the exam schedule - I figured someone should finally ask the question we were all wondering. My principal told me that she saw the schedule the previous week, which is fine, except that information wasn't communicated to the teaching staff or the students.

So, on Monday I got the exam schedule. In the brilliance of planning we have an exam scheduled on next Friday. This may not seem like an issue, except for the fact that students have the day off on next Friday.

The memo was dated on the 4th, we got it on the 11th. This is problematic in so many ways, especially since all of our exams and study guides are to be turned in (if possible) by the 13th.

Here comes the conundrum: Do I turn them in on the 13th since I started working on them last week knowing that exams would come eventually or do I turn them in according to how long it would actually have taken me to if I first started planning on the 11th? I see pros and cons to both course of action, but can't quite decide which one I should pursue. What do you think?