For a variety of reasons, I can say that I am a very happy person at the moment.
It's a little late for me to be writing about last week, but I didn't want to post until I could say this:
I am done with the TWS.
Wow, that still feels good to say. 43 pages and 8,678 words . . . it's my very last "real" assignment in college. Of course I still have lesson planning and job applications, but nothing that is graded!
On Saturday I went to a job fair, so before that I was working constantly on getting my online portfolio up and running. Visit it here if you're interested. My resume, letter of recommendations, and TWS is on it for the world to see. Not to mention, I took two videos of myself, which I find super annoying but others have said they're great. Since I took a basic web design class a year ago, I was hoping to write my own code, but I didn't have time for it. A little disappointing, but I'm happy it's done anyway!
So on Saturday I went to UNI's teacher job fair. I'm not going to say anything to jinx it, but one international position looks extremely promising.
As far as the middle school, so far so good! I'm excited to start teaching on my own. I start with a group of Level 3 (of 5) on Monday. My teacher left me alone with them last Thursday just to see how it would go. Since it was my first time being in front of them AND alone at that, I'd say it went pretty well.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
Middle School Student Teaching!
I have had quite an eventful week! On Monday I took my final PRAXIS test (assuming I passed!) and Tuesday I had my first day of student teaching at North Middle in Sioux City.
And so far, I'm having a great time. There is definitely a learning curve going from elementary to middle school, but I think I'm catching on.
Two summers ago I worked at a camp in Sioux City with kids who were fourth graders - and two of those kids are ESL students I see every day! Pretty cool. I even have a thank you letter still from one of them.
I've already decided with my cooperating teacher what my lessons will look like. I'll start with one group next Wednesday, so I guess I really need to get planning! I'll be teaching Greek Myths, the book Chocolate Fever, and different reading strategies like finding the main idea and making inferences. I'm also observing a second ESL teacher for one period a day. She teaches a social studies class for the lowest level students we see. This is such a great thing this school provides and I'm excited to become a part of that.
Soon I'll be heading home to help celebrate by 16-year-old baby brother's birthday! Then I have one more week at school and then spring break! See ya soon, Cedar Falls!
And so far, I'm having a great time. There is definitely a learning curve going from elementary to middle school, but I think I'm catching on.
Two summers ago I worked at a camp in Sioux City with kids who were fourth graders - and two of those kids are ESL students I see every day! Pretty cool. I even have a thank you letter still from one of them.
I've already decided with my cooperating teacher what my lessons will look like. I'll start with one group next Wednesday, so I guess I really need to get planning! I'll be teaching Greek Myths, the book Chocolate Fever, and different reading strategies like finding the main idea and making inferences. I'm also observing a second ESL teacher for one period a day. She teaches a social studies class for the lowest level students we see. This is such a great thing this school provides and I'm excited to become a part of that.
Soon I'll be heading home to help celebrate by 16-year-old baby brother's birthday! Then I have one more week at school and then spring break! See ya soon, Cedar Falls!
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Leeds Last Day
Wow! Today went by way too quickly. My last day at Leeds was so great, I'm really going to miss all of my students.
As a gift to my teacher, I got her the book The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney along with a stuffed lion doll. The students are allowed to use stuffed animals as long as they read to them. So I thought this would be a good present so they could still have the book we read in my unit. For each of the students, I made these word clouds from Tagxedo. I put in the student's first name and 3 adjectives I thought described them. I got them printed at Walmart and then backed them with card stock. They were a hit! I told the kids they could use them as bookmarks or hang them in their bedroom or lockers. Some said they would frame them!
A lot of the students wrote me thank you letters and pictures. They were all so thoughtful. Maybe I'm a sap, but one almost made me cry! "The student who get you as teacher when you become like Mrs. Miles (my cooperating teacher) they are really lucky. . . . You are really fun and I hope the other kids see it too." Another girl made me a little origami frog thing that she brought in, and another brought me a snack that she bought for me the day before. So sweet!
I am going to miss these kids so much! I didn't tell them I would come and visit again, because I don't want to get their hopes up if it doesn't happen . . . but I really would like to!
I start at the Middle School next Tuesday. Not only will I be dealing with raging hormones, I'm also going to have to adjust my sleep schedule AGAIN because I have to be at the school at 7:30 every day! It will be quite the change!
A lot of the students wrote me thank you letters and pictures. They were all so thoughtful. Maybe I'm a sap, but one almost made me cry! "The student who get you as teacher when you become like Mrs. Miles (my cooperating teacher) they are really lucky. . . . You are really fun and I hope the other kids see it too." Another girl made me a little origami frog thing that she brought in, and another brought me a snack that she bought for me the day before. So sweet!
I am going to miss these kids so much! I didn't tell them I would come and visit again, because I don't want to get their hopes up if it doesn't happen . . . but I really would like to!
I start at the Middle School next Tuesday. Not only will I be dealing with raging hormones, I'm also going to have to adjust my sleep schedule AGAIN because I have to be at the school at 7:30 every day! It will be quite the change!
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Google Lit Trips: How To
I have three more days left at Leeds and then will move on to North Middle after a short break. I’m definitely anxious to move on, but I’m sure I will feel better about it once I get there.
So my popularity as a blogger must have gone up, because I had a request to blog about something! (Okay, it was from my mom, but still! Counts for something.) I mentioned in another post about using Google Lit Trips, but I didn’t talk about how you actually use it. And since it’s not very clear how to use the program, here’s my understanding of how to use it.
Google Lit Trips are created by Certified Google Teachers. The books are separated into four categories - K-5, 6-8, 9-12, Hi Ed.
First off, it’s good to know that these are suggested to be used after students have read the book. While I think these could be a fantastic way to build schema before starting a book, these aren’t set up in this way. However, this isn’t set in stone and the teacher could certainly change how it is addressed.
So to do a Google Lit Trip you need to have Google Earth downloaded. After downloading Google Earth, choose your Trip and download it too. When you open the downloaded Trip, it will be saved in “Temporary Places” in Google Earth. It can be saved in “My Places” by dragging it into that folder.
The next step is to edit the view in the “Layers” section below Places. The layers you select to be shown should depend on the time of the story. For example, stories set in current time will benefit from having the 3D Buildings layer selected. I would suggest experimenting with each of the layers to decide which are necessary and which are not.
Once the layers are taken care of, you’re ready to start your Lit Trip. Open the entire trip by selecting the gray arrow next to the title of the trip. Double-click the first location without selecting the underlined blue link. Once the application flies to that location, click the link for additional information, videos, or outside links.
And that’s basically it! Pretty simple, but the kids I did this with absolutely loved it.
So my popularity as a blogger must have gone up, because I had a request to blog about something! (Okay, it was from my mom, but still! Counts for something.) I mentioned in another post about using Google Lit Trips, but I didn’t talk about how you actually use it. And since it’s not very clear how to use the program, here’s my understanding of how to use it.
Google Lit Trips are created by Certified Google Teachers. The books are separated into four categories - K-5, 6-8, 9-12, Hi Ed.
First off, it’s good to know that these are suggested to be used after students have read the book. While I think these could be a fantastic way to build schema before starting a book, these aren’t set up in this way. However, this isn’t set in stone and the teacher could certainly change how it is addressed.
So to do a Google Lit Trip you need to have Google Earth downloaded. After downloading Google Earth, choose your Trip and download it too. When you open the downloaded Trip, it will be saved in “Temporary Places” in Google Earth. It can be saved in “My Places” by dragging it into that folder.
The next step is to edit the view in the “Layers” section below Places. The layers you select to be shown should depend on the time of the story. For example, stories set in current time will benefit from having the 3D Buildings layer selected. I would suggest experimenting with each of the layers to decide which are necessary and which are not.
Once the layers are taken care of, you’re ready to start your Lit Trip. Open the entire trip by selecting the gray arrow next to the title of the trip. Double-click the first location without selecting the underlined blue link. Once the application flies to that location, click the link for additional information, videos, or outside links.
And that’s basically it! Pretty simple, but the kids I did this with absolutely loved it.
If you need more direction, I found the following pdf super helpful: Click the "Downloads, etc." link on the top of the page and click the "Basics of Viewing a Google Lit Trip.pdf" link.
Good luck!
Good luck!
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