FLOOD DAY!

Not a snow day, but a flood day!

KATU News - Salem Flooding

hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, oh my!!!

Actually... there are no hurricanes or earthquakes... just flooding!!  Check out the photo above.  It has been week filled with peculiar weather.  Snow Monday night, leaving us with a 2 hour delay for school on Tuesday.  Pouring down rain yesterday and today... leaving us with insurmountable amount of water on the roads and grounds.  What a week!  The Salem-Keizer School District declared that :

It has been quite the week to be back at the Middle School! On another note I helped out in the ESL Newcomer class, and supported my ESOL cooperating teaching in the ESL II class.  The ESL class has been discussing natural disasters, and it was quite fitting for this weeks turn of events.  Most students wrote about flooding today! haha. 

 I also led the warm-ups for the last two periods of the day (The classes I will be taking over in two weeks!).  The first class had more students and were more willing to volunteer.  They stayed focused and quiet even when my cooperating teacher stepped out for a moment.  The other class had less students because most were picked up by their parents.  Even though it was smaller I had to pick on students to participate for the warm-up, and when my cooperating teacher stepped out they were more talkative.  I will get more classroom management practice with the three classes I will be teaching.  :) I feel that I am ready to start teaching, and I am looking forward to it.  Time to start planning lessons and getting organized with information, grading, papers, lessons, activities, etc.

Back @ Waldo!!!

Ahhhhh!!! I am back at Waldo!!! Now I will be here full-time until JUNE!! It was quite the day to be back at the middle school. We had a 2 hour delay because of the snow.  I was hoping that it would be a snow day, but it was still nice to get a few hours more to stay in because I had trouble sleeping the night before.  I do not think tomorrow will be a 2 hour delay because it is not cold enough for the snow to stick and it is more like slush than snow.  It is still very cold though!!

It was an interesting day because not many students showed up! We started school with 3rd period, and I was in the ESL II class that I will take over next semester.  There were only 3 students in the class.  Even though it is a small class... students slowly trickled in throughout the morning.  I like being at Waldo, and I like the students there.  I received the textbooks that I will need to start some of my planning for next semester.  I will start taking over some smaller roles to ease into transitioning my role as the teacher by 2nd semester.  I will let you know how it goes!! :)

Today there was a shortened staff meeting because of the weather.  Teachers shared their work with each other through a gallery display, and there were a few updates.  I think staff meetings reveal a lot about the teacher/admin relationship and culture.  I do enjoy observing how they all interact with each other. 

Hope for a 2 hour delay tomorrow. :)

The Week Before Winter Break

I meant to post about my time at Waldo the week before Winter Break, but I was so excited to be on Break that I just did not do it!  Here are a few photos that I want to share from my time at the middle school before they went on two weeks of Winter Break.

Winter Assembly in the Gym

Flock of Geese Being Chased by Students

Snowflakes

I was hoping to get more out of my time at the middle school during the week before break, but I was already in the mindset of having my 3 weeks off from school, Salem, responsibilities, etc. Overall, I got the vibe that everyone was ready for break!  It was still good to be back in the school and see all the students.  I wonder how the students will see me when I start teaching? I usually just sit in the back of the classroom observing, sometimes I will help a student if they ask, sometimes I walk around the room, but I do not want to butt in on the teacher teaching...  I thought it was nice to attend the assembly on Friday and see all the students who are involved in band, jazz band, choir, and orchestra.  When I am in the classroom I just see the student in class, and not get the opportunity to see what they do outside of the class... it was a nice reminder to see the students in a different role. :)

Work Sample...

Argh
Sigh
Sad
Blah
Roar
Errrr

:T

My Last Day...

30 days... 234 hours... 4 staff meetings... 2 days of parent conferences... classroom observations... 1 assembly... 1 district math personal development day... 6 coffee runs...

Infinite thanks to my mentor teacher. It was quite the experience working at North, and I went through the practicum experiencing a glimpse of the life of a high school math teacher. It is not an easy job, and I am still drawn to teaching... along with its challenges!!!

The crown I made for the teacher who is leaving North and will start working for the teacher union in Oregon.

Lunch is always a time to indulge in sweets! and chocolate!!!

Vertex Day!

Today is vertex day! Why? Because it is the middle of the week. Yes, it's a math joke. :)

There was some yummy treats today for lunch because today is one of the math teacher's birthday and possibly another teacher's last day. My cooperating teacher is amazing!!!

I am trying to work on this Work Sample that is due next Friday! I stayed up until 1 am.... No good! My eyes are in pain! I slept for 5 hours... I can't stay up that late anymore and function the next day. I have workedhghhhgg [that was done by my cooperating teacher, haha] so as i was saying, i have work today. Once I get home I am crashing, but I have to finish at least one paper and my homework that is due tomorrow.

Two more days until I finish my practicum!