Teaching: Week One!

Wow! Week one is gone! I'll admit, it was a little bit terrifying as I prepared for starting out a classroom, especially for Kindergarten, with little ones who don't know HOW to go to school, and line up, or walk in line, or write their names, or any of the basics that my kiddo's are starting to get already.

I started the week with 15 kids, and even though one didn't get there until almost lunch time, they all came. One little boy was absent the whole rest of the week... probably because of a swollen eye & a note home from the nurse saying that he shouldn't come back as long as his eye was red & swollen. I'm hoping he'll be back on Monday. I got a new little boy on Wednesday or Thursday, so that put me up to 16 kids. (an AMAZINGLY SMALL class!)

I have a little girl who is pretty much terrified to be at school. On her first day she didn't eat (except for one bite of pizza at lunch, because I begged her.) All day she cried off & on... a pattern that followed for most of the week, although each day got a little better- except for the day after I accidentally sent her on a bus that gets her home, but not the bus she was supposed to take. The next day she told me "you put me on the wrong bus." & I said " I Know, and I'm SO sorry Honey!" She forgave me & we moved on, & got her on the right bus the rest of the days. I felt awful though. (Especially because it didn't feel right to me, but I still put her on the bus I had on my list, instead of the one it should have been changed to.) Hopefully Monday will be even better, & she'll be great.

Oh, I think I forgot to mention that my class, although acting like a normal Kindergarten class, is labled Kindergarten ELD (English Language Development). I love the fact that this means I get to use my spanish... For communicating with the parents, (because it's illegal to teach in any language other than English). I Love My Class, but I don't necessarily like the segregation idea that creates at T.E.S. 2 ELD & 3 "Regular" Kindergarten classes. I like that idea even less when it means that one of my sweet little girls will be switching to a different K class on Monday, because she doesn't speak spanish. Why do they think they need to move her & change things for her when she's doing fine in my class? Poor kid. She just got used to Kindergarten, & now on Monday she'll have to start getting used to a different class, kids, & a different great teacher.

Monday I'll also get a new little boy in my class, because he does speak spanish, & only Spanish & that makes it hard for the teacher he's had all week to help him. I hope he'll do good in my class.

Oh, one more note about the first week of teaching... NEXT Friday is payday, and I'm really excited for that, because I'm tired of being the most broke I've been in my life. During the past couple of weeks I have maxed out my credit card, paid a little bit on it from my overdraft loan on my checking account, & repeated that process. It's kind of depressing. I hate debt.

I did it!

Yay!! It's been over a month ago now, but I'm just now getting around to blogging about my GRADUATION!! On May 9, 2008, I graduated from NAU with a B.S. in Elementary Education and a minor in Spanish!

Maybe there isn't a whole lot to blog about, but... I've got some FUN pictures! So... I'll show & tell a little bit.

This first, strange looking picture, is the view I had for all of graduation. The girl in front of me had bright, pink, feathers all around the top of her cap, and around her sleeves too. It was a little obnoxious if you ask me, but it made it easy to answer the text: "Where are you?" "Right behind the girl with the pink." ha ha... and we could see where we were on the giant TV screens, because of the pink.

And the on going text conversation with Mom during the ceremony. "Where Are You? Get up and Dance." "I'm right behind the girl with the pink feathers." "Good, maybe she'll want to dance with you." "ha ha" "No really, do it now or you'll miss your chance." ... Something like that anyway. It made me smile even more.

There was a big group of us from the Christensen Partnership. This is Barry, Devin, Ashley, Emily, me, & Andrea. There were a few more of us, but I haven't gotten a copy of the bigger pictures we took yet.

This is me with one of my Partnership Professors, Jeanne Dustman. She was a great support to me through the two semesters of death that preceded my Student Teaching.

Mom & I. We started celebrating all together when we got outside. Terina & Brent didn't get to stick around for the other celebrations, so this was the best we had with all of us.

This was a favorite, because Trenton was hiding, and Terina quickly ducked, & I snapped... & between our combined efforts I caught a really cute grin on Trenton, & a fun, cheesy grin on Terina. :o)

I really don't think I'm photogenic, but that it's better when I'm in pictures with other people, so... That makes this naturally a favorite, because ... it just is.

I've got more pictures of the parties... one in Flagstaff that day, and one in Chino Valley about a month after, but I'm REALLY tired for now, & I've got to get this posted & get some sleep. Tomorrow it's back to work!

Busy, busy BUSY!

I am ALMOST done! I'm almost done teaching already anyway, but I still wouldn't have imagined that these last few weeks could be SO busy. I'm finishing up my big senior capstone paper for resubmition tomorrow, I'm down to 3 more spanish classes & my final, Student Teaching is going to be over sooner than I know (and maybe sooner than I'd like with only about 7 days left!), I will finally be done suffering through my spanish 314 class at ASU, and maybe I'll have a minute to sit down and BREATHE! That is, AFTER Travis & Stef's wedding, the trip involved with that (and the fun yet to be had), and my actual Graduation. :o)

For now I'm still running around like crazy, and working on all I have yet to finish.