Assignments and Excitement

Today was the day I received my student teaching assignment. For the sleep I got on Friday night, one would have thought that it was my first day of student teaching - I was so excited to get placed, I could not sleep for the life of me!

My dear, sweet, kind friend Lisa picked me up. She even brought me coffee (she seriously deserves a medal of honor for that!). We arrived perfectly on time to a room filled with our student teacher colleagues. We talked, we ate and drank coffee, we picked up our packets, and we discovered who our university supervisors were.  I was lucky enough to be assigned to one of my previous professors, a woman who I totally adore and gives me infinite amounts of energy, to be my supervisor. How lucky am I?

Then came the waiting. Yep, we (well, some of us had to wait while some of us found out way earlier - jealous!) had to wait to find out our school, grade, and subject assignment. So, we sat for a couple of hours and listened to representatives from organizations, the career center, previous student teachers, and our department leaders. I think the wait was killing all of us. It was really difficult to pay attention, but we plowed through.

I see tote bags in my future,tote bags galore!
http://www.katelynskreativestitches.com/

Finally, the moment of truth. We broke off into our groups to meet with our supervisors. I was handed my paper. I have to admit, I was panicking a little bit. When I originally put in my paperwork and chose my preferred grades, I circled K through 5th. I was terrified I would be placed in an exclusively math classroom, which I would gladly embrace but is definitely not my strong point. As I looked down at my grade assignment, my heart skipped a beat.

4th grade. No subject. Just 4th grade. 

I really hope it's not a fluke. I really hope it's a 4th grade room that is taught by one teacher only. My 4th grade classroom was like that and we had the best time. Some of my most vivid memories of learning are from my 4th grade room, such as:

• Reading Hatchet. I can't say that I loved the book, but I remember reading it and not hating it. The same goes for Julie of the Wolves  (yeah, my nickname for the rest of my elementary years) and Island of the Blue Dolphin.
• My teacher reading Where the Red Fern Grows aloud and crying to a book ending for the first time ever. Seriously, complete water works in front of the whole class. I was a mess during the end of that book. How embarrassing.
• Dissecting owl pellets - oh yeah, we did that and yes, I loved every minute.
• My teacher dressing up in a long coat, black fedora, and big black sunglasses to help teach us writing. No, really! She would say she had to run an errand, then come back in all dressed up and in her "secret agent" character, carrying a small speaker that was playing the song "Secret Agent Man" as she entered. She would then tell us how we had to be detectives in our writing and uncover the details within out stories and give us "special missions". I loved it. 
• All the animals in the room. She had a hedgehog, 2 cockatiels, and a rabbit named Moxy. She had us write stories of their adventures, especially Moxy. Let me tell you, I put Moxy into some serious situations. 
• My teacher, Ms. Ross. I remember her vividly. She was crazy about running and tried to make us crazy about running, too (every morning - 1 mile on the track - and it had the opposite effect on me). She was obsessed with Elvis and Butterfingers (if we got in trouble, we would serenade her an Elvis song and bring her a Butterfinger. Luckily, I only had to do this once). She was hard on us a lot of the times, but she really made learning an adventure. 

Anyways, there is so much more. All of my elementary years were blessed by excellent teachers. So, as I begin my teaching journey I want to make a commitment to be like them. I will strive to make learning fun and to do things that will leave a lasting impact on my students. I'm excited. I'm ready. 

Where is my Magic School Bus?! I'm ready to get to it!

The Beginning of the End

Hey there! Boy, it has been a long time, hasn't it? I have been having such a fantastic winter break that I lost track of time and the goal of blogging. Let me tell you, though, it has been one of the best and most relaxing breaks I have ever had. I vegged on the couch, I did a TON of shopping for new clothes that I can teach in, I visited my parents, and best of all: I relaxed. Seriously, me relaxing is a huge deal. I normally worry about every little thing, stress out, keep my schedule jam packed, etc etc. It has made such a huge difference in my life to spend even a couple days just relaxing on the couch, re watching some of my favorite TV shows.

Anyways, Saturday is the student teacher kick-off meeting. I find that I have mixed feelings about it. I'm so happy I will get to see my friends again, and I'm so excited to find out my school and grade assignment. However, I'm so nervous about what is going to happen on the first day I'm in the classroom, during the first week, when I try to take over the class, etc. I'm sure we are all feeling it. We aren't going to be sitting in our safe classrooms taking notes on classroom management strategies anymore. We are going to be out there, in the classroom, hopefully living and implementing all of the tools that we have acquired from our fantastic professors. But it really is nerve racking, isn't it?  I think it has to do with fear of the unknown.

So! To get myself excited and motivated, I have been pinning recipes like a madwomen. I have to make sure that I eat healthy and enough food during my time teaching. I am moderately hypoglycemic, therefore if I'm not very careful with my food intake, student teaching could end very very badly.  Here are my food goals:

1. Make breakfast. Eat breakfast. Every single day.
2. Make lunch. Eat lunch. Every single day (I bought a new really cute bento style lunch box just for this!).
3. Make lunches the night before to make mornings easier on me.
4. Pack at least two healthy snacks along with my lunch.
5. Go to the gym at least 4 times a week. I'm thinking Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Not really a food goal, but a fitness goal.

So, there they are. I am creating Breakfast, Lunch, and Snack boards. I even made a big list of healthy snacks. I would be happy to share my list if anyone is interested!

It's been awhile!

Oh my, so much has been going on.

First of all: finals of doom. I studied for a week solid to ace my finals. The studying paid off. I did extremely well on 2 of my finals, and mediocre on another (which is fine, because I didn't really need the points). I have my last final on Tuesday (math concepts -eeek!), and then I'm done and will start getting ready for my student teaching adventure!

Second: down time. Seriously, I was dog tired from everything... the holidays, the studying, the paper writing, the traveling back and forth to school everyday, etc. So I decided to take the majority of last week to stay at home, clean the house, and lounge around in my pajamas. It was glorious. I really must do it again someday.

Third:  friends. We've been getting together an awful lot. Another glorious thing in my life that I must do more of.

Anyways, over the break, I don't imagine I'll be writing much. I wont have a lot to say and it honestly depresses me a little bit when I look at classroom ideas. I hate getting all of these awesome ideas that I just have to save up. It really gets me down. But once January 7th hits, I'm going to do my best to blog once or twice a week during student teaching.

...student teaching... not sure if I'm terrified or excited, haha!

Check out this awesome t-shirt I found for inspiration! I think I might actually get it!