It's a Bittersweet Symphony, This Life....

Wow, I have a lot of catching up to do.  It has been almost a month since I've updated everyone, and now I've reached the end of student teaching!

As my title says, leaving is very bittersweet.  I couldn't be more excited to be graduating on May 1st, but Tuesday (my last day in the school) is going to be very hard.  I don't want to leave my students, and trust me, they don't want me to leave either.  That's all I ever hear from them anymore! "Don't leave Miss Trundle! Do you have to?" It breaks my heart. 

I feel that my students and I have grown a lot together over the past few months.  I have definitely developed as a person; gained more patience than I ever thought I would have, more compassion, and I just love every single child in that class.  I have watched them grow not only academically but also emotionally and socially.

I have 18 girls and 8 boys in my classroom, so you can just imagine the drama that goes on (yes, even when they're only 7 and 8).  One day, the drama between the girls was getting so bad (I got sick of hearing "she was mean to me on the playground!" "She said I can't play with them because I don't have a blue shirt!" etc.) that I sent my 8 boys to art class and kept all 18 girls in the classroom with me for about 20 minutes.  We sat in a circle on the floor (I was down there with them) and I asked them to raise their hand if someone in our class has ever said anything mean to or about them. Everyone raised their hand.  Then, I asked them to raise their hand if they had ever said anything mean about someone else in the class.  Again, everyone raised their hand.  So, I said "if you know what it feels like when people say mean things about you, why would you ever want to say mean things about someone else?"  I let them sit and think about that for a moment, before we moved on.  I let them share times that they felt hurt by someone's words, whether it was someone in the class or not.  Once everyone had a chance, we went around the circle and had to say something nice about the person sitting to their right.  It worked out almost better than I had expected, they all seemed to love the activity and appreciated me caring enough to try to do something about it.  Things have been going much better since.

Even moments like that, I am going to miss.  I went to Fun Night last night, stood in a gym for 40 minutes with a ton of 2nd and 3rd graders running around screaming, and I had a smile on my face every second.  Some people think I'm crazy, but I just can't explain it. Being in the presence of a child can brighten my whole day.

As I said, Tuesday will be very rough.  Every year will be rough, I was only with these children for 3 months, I can't imagine what my first full year will be like (which hopefully will be next year!).  I've made little postcards for each child as a parting gift of sorts, and I know they've made something for me (because they're too young to keep a secret).  I can't believe its already the end, time flew by this semester.  I couldn't have hand picked a better group to be with, and I'll be very sad to go!  I'm hoping to make it through the day without any tears, wish me luck!

Winding Down

Last week was crazy, it went by really fast and left me feeling quite tired for the weekend.  We had parent teacher conferences last Tuesday and Thursday.  They were pretty enjoyable; I liked having the opportunity to meet all of the parents.  Tuesday was a half-day of school for students because conferences started at 1:00pm.  We had a read-a-thon to celebrate March is Reading Month.  Students brought in their pillows and blankets, their favorite books, and we had snacks for them.  It was a great morning, they really enjoyed the read-a-thon.  We're also in the midst of a school-wide competition for reading month.  Students have little slips of paper they take home and for each 20 minutes they read, their parents fill out one slip.  They bring it back to school, and each slip is worth one pony for our class corral.  The class with the most ponies in their corral at the end of the month wins pony rides =)  The students are very excited!  They announced on Friday that we are in 2nd place with 123 horses, and the 1st place class was only 4 horses ahead of us.

Friday was a crazy morning; we had one incident right at the beginning of the day, and then just before lunch I had a little girl staple her finger.  She screamed at the top of her little lungs when it happened... I ran over, pulled the staple out, covered her finger with a kleenex, and took her down to the clinic.  The poor thing was shaking uncontrollably!  I felt so bad for her.

This week, Mrs. Miller will be gone on Wednesday and I will finally be getting paid to sub for her.  It'll be the first day I have the students all alone; any other days she has been gone, there has been a sub in the room with me.  I'm sure everything will be fine, though! 

Only 4 weeks left, but one of those weeks is Spring Break. I can't believe everything has happened so fast!  It's a strange feeling.

It's Been A While...

I don't have a whole lot to write about today, but it has been quite a while since I've posted so I figured it was time.  Things have been going well, and I don't have any serious complaints!  I've really been thinking about life after student teaching, and trying to find a job, which has been quite stressful.  I can't believe I only have a month left already! Time is flying by. 

I'm definitely feeling ready to start my own classroom!  Some small frustrations are caused by the constraints of this not being my own class, but that is all part of the experience and I'm grateful for it.  Today, my boyfriend Mike came in to bring me lunch and say hi to a few people (he attended the elementary I'm working in) and my students were so excited to meet him.  They were watching for him out the window, so when I saw him walking in, I said "There he is!"  One girl in my class said, "Ooh, he looks kinda cute... I'm excited for him to come inside so I can see him!"  Then, when he got to the classroom, she said "He is cute."  She then proceeded to tell him she thought he was cute. =)  It was adorable.  They were very disappointed when they got back from lunch and he wasn't there.

We have been working hard on many different subjects, but I'm really focusing on math and writing.  These were the areas I thought I could have the biggest impact, so I've been trying many new things with the students.  I feel things are going quite well.  The most frustrating part is something I've been told for years that I wouldn't realize until I was in this position - we're told that students must learn certain things, but if they don't learn them in a certain amount of time we're supposed to just move on.  I've gone against the grain for the good of my students during math, and pushed back their test for a week because I did not feel they were ready.  Due to me postponing that test, almost the entire class earned at least a 90% on the test.  That is what I think it is all about; I'm not going to let my students fail just to meet time constraints!

Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday.  Obviously, he died many years ago (Sept. 24, 1991 to be exact) but it is still a fun day to celebrate with young students.  I read them two of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, Fox in Socks and I Am NOT Going to Get up Today!  They loved listening to me read Fox in Socks, because the entire book is a tongue twister.  We had a special visitor dressed in a Cat in the Hat costume that delivered cookies and lemonade, and then we watched the cartoon version of Cat in the Hat while writing our own rhyming poems or stories.  It was a very fun and relaxing morning for them! 

Next week will be all of our parent-teacher conferences.  I've been told it will seem to be a very long week, but I'm hoping everything runs smoothly!  I'll probably post another update at the end of the week!

Half Way There

I can't believe this is true, but I am officially half way done with my Student Teaching already! Time is truly flying by.  I have had a lot of fun with my students since I last posted.  Last Friday, my Granddaddy came into my class to help with math, and then he participated in Fun Friday.  We're still working on 2-digit addition in math, and we have a few that are really struggling.  It's nice to have someone there to help those who are struggling, so I can check on everyone else to make sure they're not making simple mistakes!  During Fun Friday, the students were able to decorate their bags for the Valentine's Day party, and then we went down to the music room.  Granddaddy taught my 2nd graders how to line dance, and they had an absolute blast!  They didn't want it to end.  I'm still hearing about it!  They keep asking me when he's coming back, and were upset with me for not inviting him to the party on Monday.

Monday was Valentine's Day.  I was told to prepare for a crazy day, but Valentine's is my favorite holiday so I didn't really think anything could ruin it.  Fortunately, I was right! I had a blast all day, and received wonderful valentines.  The parents did a great job with the party.  The students played games, made ice cream sundaes, and created little paper love bugs.  They had a great time! 

Week 6

This week has been going pretty well.  During math, we have been using base ten blocks like we did the Friday my supervisor came to observe and of course they've been behaving wonderfully ever since.  It was just a fluke, as I had suspected.  I sent a note home last week asking students to bring in a picture of themselves for a surprise bulletin board I was going to make them.  Surprisingly, all but maybe 2 students brought in a picture.  So, on Tuesday, I stayed after school and created a really cool bulletin board:



When the students came in this morning and saw the bulletin board, it was like Christmas morning.  They were all over there looking at everyone's pictures and talking about how cool it was.  I even had a student shout, "Miss Trundle, you're the best!".  It definitely put a smile on my face!

I have a student in my class who seems to always be in trouble for something - he's not doing anything, he's out of his seat wandering around the room, he's doing everything he can to avoid doing what he is supposed to be.  I've had quite a roller coaster of a week with him.  On Monday, I noticed that he was sitting at his desk doing nothing.  I told him that he needed to have a book out to read or be working on his mystery picture.  He said, "Can't I just play my mind game?" so I asked him what his mind game was, and he explained "it's like a video game that I made up to play in my head when I get bored".  I told him no, he couldn't just play his mind game.  Later that day, when the rest of the class was a little bit rowdy, I noticed that he was sitting quietly in his seat, waiting for directions.  Or so I thought.  I said "Nathan is setting a good example right now".  His response - "What? I'm just sitting here playing my mind game...".  That compliment backfired on me.  On Tuesday, I met with him for a writer's workshop conference.  His story was goofy; it was about how he wanted to play games on the computer but his brother was on it and wouldn't let him have a turn.  However, he included all of the things I've taught them about and asked them to use in their writing. He had an exciting beginning (more than just Today I...), he used dialogue, he had feeling in his story, he had detail, punctuation, capital letters where necessary... I was floored! I couldn't believe he had actually been listening to me that entire time.  I praised him a lot for his efforts, and he seemed pretty proud of himself.  That day was a good day.  Today, however, was a not-so-good day.  The first thing that happened - I walked by the bathroom we have in our classroom, and he was standing in there with the door wide open going to the bathroom.  He turned and looked at me with this huge smile on his face, and I said "Nathan! Why don't you have the door closed!?"  I couldn't believe it, but other students noticed and he was pretty embarrassed by the incident.  Later on, we were working on dictionary skills.  Mrs. Miller told them if they didn't get at least 4 words done, they had to stay in class to finish instead of going to gym.  Suddenly, Nathan came up to the desk and said he didn't feel good.  He didn't look very good either, but when I went over to his desk I saw that he hadn't completed any of his words.  Mrs. Miller sent him down to the clinic, but as I thought about it and how smart he can be, I realized that the clinic is located right across the hall from the gym.  I said something to Mrs. Miller about how I thought he might've faked it so he could go to gym, and at first she said "Oh, no, he wouldn't do that..." so I thought I would go check on him in the clinic.  He, of course, was not in there.  I found him in gym class, running around having a great time.  Needless to say, he was pulled out of gym and forced to sit with his head down for the rest of the day.  He is in serious trouble.  He is quite a trip; I actually enjoy having him because I know it'll never be a boring day!

I will miss my first day of student teaching tomorrow - this head cold has finally defeated me.  I have had chills all day and my poor nose is so red and raw I can barely touch it.  I'm headed to the doctor tomorrow morning and will take a day to let my medicine kick in and get rid of this stuff!

Frustrations

Well, the frustration everyone said would accompany student teaching has made its first appearance.  I had my second observation on Friday, and it was horrible.  It was a crazy day to begin with; the students had snow days on Wednesday and Thursday, then came back only to prepare for the weekend.  So, needless to say, they were a little hyped up all day long.  I anticipated this behavior, so I planned activities that would be productive yet allow them to chat with the person next to them.  My supervisor decided he was going to come in for an observation during math.  As I said, I planned light activities for the day, especially in math.  I didn't want to start a new topic on a Friday, only for them to forget what they learned over the weekend and have to start over on Monday.  So, we worked with place value.  They were given base ten blocks (wood blocks made for studying place value; there are single blocks to represent "ones" and sticks of what looks like 10 blocks to represent the "tens").  Knowing this was the first time they had ever used these blocks, they had a few minutes to play with them.  This is something I learned you should do, because if you start teaching right away when they're given objects, they won't listen to you.  I also gave them a piece of paper to fold in half, and they wrote tens on the left side and ones on the right side.  To start with, I just gave them simple numbers to model with the blocks, such as "23".  So, they would put 2 sticks on the tens side and 3 single blocks on the ones side.  We practiced with a few numbers, and then I gave them just a couple addition problems to model on the paper.  During all of this, the students became very noisy.  I tried to quiet them down, using my usual tactics, but nothing was working.  Then chaos broke loose; students were out of their seats sharpening pencils that they didn't even need for the lesson, they were building towers with the blocks, and not listening to anything that I was saying.  It was a disaster. 

So, I met with my supervisor after this was over.  He doesn't really try to sugarcoat things, so I wasn't surprised when he basically told me I don't have any control over my class.  He told me things I needed to change, and how I need to establish my "presence" in the classroom, etc.  He wasn't being mean, just doing his job, but I was extremely frustrated because I knew it was one of those days and it was an unusual situation.  So, I listened to everything he had to say, and tried not to show on my face that I was upset.  He did tell me that he thinks I have great potential and that I have excellent organization skills, but I just need to work on my control in the class. I met all of the goals that he set for me from my first observation, which he applauded.  I suppose it wasn't all bad, but when the first thing out of someone's mouth is a negative, you don't realize the positive things that were said until you've had a chance to calm down and think about it.  He met with my mentor teacher afterwards, and she told him that I have much more control than it seemed that day.  I was glad she felt that way and it wasn't just me.  I'm just going to try to put this in the past, move forward, and have a fantastic week!

Month One complete =)

Okay, so everyone said that student teaching would fly by, but I never thought it would go by quite this fast.  I mean, it feels like I just started but I have already completed 4 weeks!  So lets see, the last time I updated was wednesday.  The end of last week was pretty uneventful; Friday was a half day so all we did was read, take spelling tests, and watch a movie.  After the students left, Mrs. Miller and I spent the rest of the day organizing the room and decorating for Valentine's Day.  The room looks really cute, and I'm going to do a few projects with the students this week to make it look even better! 

Today was a great day.  Mrs. Miller wasn't there because she is still sick, and by law there has to be a substitute.  So, even though I am teaching all day and have complete control, she still has to have a sub sit in the room and basically do nothing.  She was good company, a fellow UM-Flint student who was very curious about the student teaching process. 

I had a great conversation with the building principal today about Math.  He is taking a math course at a University right now, and he has a lot of the same views about math as I have.  He encouraged me to implement the techniques I learned in the classroom, and even suggested making math a half hour longer each day to leave time for these activities.  I hope to lengthen the time slot at least 2 or 3 times a week.  I feel very lucky to be working in a school with such a great principal.  He is very involved and cares a lot about the students, and I can tell that he wants me to attempt new ways of doing things instead of just doing exactly what I see the other teacher doing.  He said to me today, "we don't ask for student teachers just so they can learn from the teacher; the teacher can learn a lot from you, too".  It was great to hear!  I'm very comfortable and happy there.

I have a student in my class who is very intelligent.  He is slightly immature as far as behavior; he is out of his seat a lot and talking when he shouldn't, but the things he says are sometimes amazing.  For example, today we were reading a Time for Kids magazine that highlighted major events of 2010.  One of those events was the trapped miners in Chile.  I asked my students if they knew what/where Chile was, and most of them didn't even know it was a country.  Noah raised his hand, and said: "It's in South America.  That's directly below us.  It's by other countries like Brazil".  I was amazed!  He has so much knowledge.  I just know he'll go far in life.

The upcoming "snow storm" is all people are talking about around the school.  I personally wouldn't mind a snowday on Wednesday, it is my birthday afterall.  A day to sleep in would be fabulous! =)