Being Observed...

I was observed by my university supervisor today!

It was difficult to adjust being observed. I was nervous, and was feeling pressured.  Overall it was not that bad. Afterwards we talked for about an hour! Lots of good feedback, and it was helpful to hear his perspective and observations. He made a great diagram of students I spoke to and checked in with and students who were on task and off task...  Tomorrow is another day to practice being a better teacher. :)

I am wiped out today. Last night I slept late, and it was killing me today. Tonight I will go to bed earlier... around 10:30? I am at school right now. I tutored at Waldo after leaving North today.  I was there until about 5:15, and left to go home and try to eat before leaving with Saud to go to Willamette. He has school at 6 so we rode together so I don't have to walk to be here at 7.  I am sooooooo tired!!! Today was a pretty good day. Not bad at all. I just want to sleeeep...

Side Story: Yesterday I walked around the school during lunch after I taught.  I saw two students who were absent from my class. I went up to them and said, "I missed you both today!" They're eyes were BIG, and I just kept walking. I told my cooperating teacher today, and she said write them up. She told me to write them a referral! My first two referrals that I have ever written. The life of a teacher, huh?

High ENERGy!!!

Okay... so I have taught for 4 days now. Crazy, huh? Last Friday I was feeling terrible and questioning if I should do this teaching gig, but then I taught yesterday and today and it is getting better. Tomorrow I am being observed by my University Advisor!! I'm not that nervous now, but I probably will be the whole period tomorrow!!!

I wish I had more time to blog about my experience. Life is super busy! Why did I decide to take a job? oh yeah! Money & to get to work with more students!!

This is my life right now...

6:00am: Get ready, pack my stuff, & Eat Breakfast
7:00am: Out the door to North Salem High School
*In between help my supervising teacher if needed, and work on my lessons and schoolwork.
11:04am: Teach 5th Per. Geometry!! :)
11:58am: LUNCH
*Lately I eat my lunch and then go walk around the school and observe students. It is interesting to see who hangs out with whom...
*Keep working on lesson plans and what not... now there is grading I need to do.
2:45 or 3:00pm: Leave to tutor at Waldo Middle School or Stephens Middle School
5:30pm: Finish tutoring & GO HOME. Eat dinner, rest?, homework, lesson plans, grading, Facebook, sleep...

I try to be in bed by 10:30/11:00... but my oh my it's hard! Did I mention I have class every other week during the night? Tomorrow I have class from 7-9pm. Next week I have class Thursday night 7-9pm. Oh, and actually this week I have class on Thursday evening 5-7 (which I will be late because of work). AND even though the Salem-Keizer District has no school on Friday for Veteran's Day... good ol' Willamette University GSE has school that day!!! yay...?

Yay, for life.

First Day of Teaching!!

I'm exhausted!!

Not just because I taught today, but because I am doing everything I can possibly imagine right now! Hence, the lack of posts... I have been in the school about two days a week in October, but things got out of control.

This whole week I have been at North, and today was my first day leading the class. It was not as bad as I thought it would be.  The moment before I was going to teach I wrote in my notebook, "I don't want to be a teacher anymore!" And I didn't even teach yet. I was just nervous... very nervous. I think the students responded to me fairly well. Some students are very unique in that class. Some things that I think I need to work on are being stricter, and checking for understand at each table, and making sure I have checked in with each student multiple times.  I think tomorrow will go a bit better.  It will be four minutes shorter because there is an assembly at the end of the day.

Tomorrow my supervisor from Willamette will meet to talk with me about my lessons next week.  He will be observing me teach next Wednesday! It shall be fun. I think that whenever someone observes something has to go wrong...

Anyhoo, I better get back to work on my planning & online classes.  Speaking about work... I started my tutoring job that I mentioned previously.  This week I tutored at two different middle schools from Tuesday to today. It is fun to be with the students. I think I do prefer Middle School students over High School students. Good thing I will be at a middle school next semester!!  :)

peace....

My 4 Days @ North

Today was my 4th day at North.  Throughout my four days I have:

• Observed 19 various classes (Stats, Robotics, Alg. I, Alg. Lab, Alg. II, H. Alg. II, Pre-Cal, Geometry, ELD, ELL, Art, PE, Theater, Social Studies)
• Observed 12 different teachers, +plus my cooperating teacher (13)
• Sat in an All Staff Meeting
• Participated in a Personal Development Training w/ North's math teachers
• Helped some students on warm-ups & class activities
• Remembered some students and said, "Hi!" in the halls
• Ate lunch in Room 123
• Locked myself out of the school
• Was told by two girls "You're pretty"
• Was asked, "Are you a new student?"

It has been quite the experience! I am feeling confident about teaching a lesson in Geometry because my cooperating teacher is very supportive and we get along well.  She also is a good communicator about what she needs and open to sharing her ideas.  The next time I am at North will be next Thursday & Friday.  Thursday is a grading day so I will go in around 8ish to help her grade papers. Friday is a State-wide inservice day, and I am expected to participate in a workshop as part of my practicum experience.  I have a workshop in mind... Ideally I would love to go to a math workshop, but time & money says otherwise. Check out some photos I took from today...

Theatre class in the Auditorium

ELL class

Buses arriving to North at the end of the day

mondays...

spheres!

Today was quite the day.  I was running a tad bit late because I stopped to get coffee and I went on the main street where students get dropped off. BAD IDEA. It took longer than I anticipated... Today I observed H Algebra II, Algebra I, Algebra II, & Drawing.  I also somehow wandered outside and got locked outside, but I was able to get in from the intercom button. phew!!!


I stayed until 4pm for the Staff Meeting.  They talked about "engaging all  students through literacy," which is interesting because I never thought of how much it is being emphasized in education!!! I think I have heard and seen it just about everywhere now, and sadly we did not touch upon how important or widespread it is in the Salem-Keizer School District.  Anyhoo... After the larger staff meeting, where I got introduced, we broke up into content areas.  


It is interesting to see how the teachers' roles when reversed to a students' role how they act.  There is a saying that, "Teachers make the worst students."

UP^date

ORELA = ORegon Educator Licensure Assessments


Basically the organization that can charge a lot of money to make me take tests to say that "I'm qualified to be a teacher!"  I've spent 605$ on tests. I still have 2 that I haven't paid for yet for my ESOL endorsement to teach English to Speakers of Other Languages.  That is another 180$. 


Why do I mention all this?? This morning I went up to University of Portland with a classmate/friend to take the ORELA Multiple Subjects exam so that we will be highly qualified to teach Middle School students.  It was nice to be in Portland even though I was passing by... We stopped at New Seasons to get some food before driving back down to Salem. I miss NEW SEASONS!!!

The friendliest store in town...

Volley.Ball

Waldo Middle School on the Left

Waldo vs. Parrish

On Thursday, I stopped by at Waldo to support the girls volleyball team! They were amazing!!!  It was fun to be back at the school and support the various sports teams.  There was a lot going on that day. There was JV Volleyball in the other gym, and JV football on the field.  There were students and parents all over the school. It was a different environment compared to the usual grind of the school day.  It was nice to interact and see students outside of the classroom.