Today

Today was not so hot in the realm of student teaching. I can see that classroom management is always going to be a problem for me. It's been really dificult to walk in to the middle of class and manage the class. At least with the middle school I started the school year with them. They knew from day one that I was teacher.2. These high school students don't. They are starting to recognize me as "instructor" but not all of them. Some of them are really good kids and I like them; others I could kick.

I keep thinking, this will be so much easier when I have my own classroom. But will it? How do I create a classroom that a) functions b)is open and supportive while c)maintaining control? I don't know and if someone does know, can you please tell me? I would really like to know!

Also, if you hear of any job openings, let me know: middle/high school social studies!!!

Worst student teacher ever!

Today in 7th period (luckily one of my better classes) I was instructing them on how to complete their homework. I wanted them to finish filling out the worksheet. So I said "And please finish filling out your sheet." Only I didn't say "sheet." Another word, very similar, popped (or pooped) out of my mouth. The class burst into laughter and I know that I turned bright red. I apologized for my language and predicted that I would fail student teaching. The students continued to laugh at me for about the next 5 minutes. Travis ( my cooperating teacher) wasn't in the room at the time but I told him after school JUST IN CASE someone commented on my language. These things happen but I wish they wouldn't happen to ME!

I'm still here!

Sorry for the lack of blogging. Life has just been kinda crazy. Good, but crazy. I've been student teaching since August and then I'll be done before Christmas. Whereas my Wisconsin fellow students will be done mid-January! Ha! I'm not gloating, well, maybe a little.

Matt is now the ancient age of 31. Of course, in a few months, I'll be the same age but for right now, I'm still the youthful age of 30. I don't know what 30 is supposed to feel like but I certainly don't feel 30. Maybe like 24-25. I might feel that way because I'm in college but even when I wasn't I didn't feel my age. I suppose that's a good thing but I have to remind myself of my actual age sometimes. However, when dealing with teenagers, I often think, "They're 16 -18 and I'm 30. That means I'm almost twice their age and heck if I'm going to let them beat me!" It's my little peptalk and it does a pretty good job.

Ok, back to Matt's birthday. Here is his cake that I made. It's a red velvet cake with orange frosting and Scooby Doo decorations. Yes, he turned 31 but he is definitely a kid at heart and I love that about him.

Here he is with his cake.

Interior shot of the cake. I must admit, one of the most unusually colored cakes I've ever made, seen, or eaten.

A day in the life of a student teacher

7:30 Arrive at school
7:31 First sip of coffee
7:32 Finish grading/post grades/prepare for days lessons
8:00 Students arrive
8:01-3:19 Blur of activity, talking, collecting/passing out papers, talking, answering random questions, talking, reminding students of homework to be turned in, talking, more questions "Yes, you may go to the bathroom, No, you may not go to your homeroom, Yes, that is the right answer, No look at it again, Stop (Pick one) talking, cheating, talking, hitting your neighbor, talking, poking the balloon (long story), talking, grossing out your neighbor, talking, eating paste, etc."
3:20 Sit down and try to remember what happened but mind is oozing out of ears

I really enjoy student teaching but it is exhausting! Occasionally I have moments where I think, "Yep, this is right for me." Yesterday we were discussing Native Americans in Illinois history and one of my students came up to be later and pointed out in a book that she was reading that the book talked about Native Americans too. Now this might not sound like a huge connection to make but she's 10. To be able to connect something that she is reading for fun with something we are studying is great! It made me smile.

Monday I start teaching math. Luckily for me, we're doing rounding decimals. I think that I can handle that!!!

As for my window project, I have: (drum roll) 2 left!!!!! Yep, 2!!!!!!!!! Out of 24! I've done 22 windows so far!!!!!!!

Student teaching

This week is week 3 of my student teaching and so far, so good. The students (fifth graders) are pretty good and I know all 60 of their names! Yay!! I've only had two snarky comment to me, which must be some sort of record. So far I'm kinda working into the classroom and taking more responsiblity. I like it. Hopefully it continues to go well.

Last weekend, Matt and I went to the Madison Zoo and had so much fun!!!! We forgot our camera so we don't have any pictures but it was fun. We got so close to a tiger I could have touched it (but I didn't). And the Madison Zoo was free, even better!!! We needed a fun day out and we got it!!

A good weekend!

I hope that everyone had a great weekend. Matt and I did. Part of my window project this summer has been to replace broken glass. Now, I can do this in theory but then, I can also do a back handspring in theory too, (meaning I know what I need to do but the true question is: Can I do it?) I had been putting it of and putting it off until I just had to do it. So I went to our local lumber yard and told them the size of glass I needed, they cut it, I came home, removed the broken glass, glazing and old points from the window, and replaced the glass with new, uncracked glass. I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of myself. I replaced three windows and Matt and I worked on replacing the fourth. That one was a bit of a struggle but we got it replaced. The new windows look pretty good and you can't tell the difference! The only problem is that I can't wear gloves and handle glass, even broken glass. For the first three windows I didn't have a problem but with the last window, I sliced my middle finger which began to bleed profusely. Now parts of our new glazing have little bits of red in them from my blood. Blood, sweat and tears. (I haven't actually cried over this project yet but I have definitely sweated and now bled.)

Saturday evening Matt and I went to go see "The Proposal." It's a very funny movie with a happy ending. I like that. Do all movies have to be thought-provoking or awe-inspiring? Sometimes, I just like a few laughs. Anyhow, this one is good. A little risque in parts, but still funny. Both Matt and I are Sandra Bullock fans which made us like it even more.

Before the movie, we had about 45 minutes to kill so after we purchased our tickets, we headed over to the mall from the movie theater (about 100 feet). Now, the best part of this mall is the humane society adoption center. They always have cute cats and dogs in there. As always, we headed for the shop to say hello to the animals. In the front window they had two kittens who were just going nuts with playing. They were very cute and one of them looked like Gus when he was a kitten, about 35 pounds ago (ok, not that many, more like 12) They had supercute dogs, rats, and even more cats. For each animal, they have a card next to it with the reason the previous owners brought it in and generally it's something like: couldn't care for, moving, too many pets, new baby, etc. One of the cats, a longhair domino cat, according to it's card, was brought in because of "unrealistic expectations." Now, this made Matt and I wonder what sort of unrealistic expectations might an owner have for a cat? Did they expect the cat to feed itself? Scoop it's own litter box? Maybe balance the owner's checkbook? "I thought this cat would know nuclear physics but I don't think it knows where it's tail is!" "You told me that this cat would change my life but I still have trouble with the can opener!!! Take it back!!" And so on. I had to leave the shop because I was giggling so much at the idea of "unrealistic expectations" and how Matt and I perceived it. It probably means that the owner thought the cat would get along with other animals and didn't or something like that. But the phrase "unrealistic expectations" could mean so much more....

I have unrealistic expectations for our cats: that Mac won't jump on the bed when I'm trying to make it and that Gus will realize that there are more comfortable places to sleep besides purring loudly between our heads while we're trying to sleep. Or there is his litter box issue, namely his misuse of the box. Yes, very unrealistic....

More Random!!!

Apparently, my life is random. I'm certain that others reading this would agree that their lives are also random but since this is my blog, I'll discuss my randomness. Feel free to post your random in the comments (must contain PG-13-rated randomness because occasionally my grandmother reads this blog (when I remember to print it off and send it to her:))

Random update: Fairs: We didn't go to the Great Jones County Fair because it was a great 75 miles away. I mean, I like elephant ears but I'm far too practical/cheap to justify that much gas/time/energy just to reward myself with yummy gooey dough coated in cinnamon sugar, all dripping and warm..... Oh sorry, where was I? Right, the fair. So instead Matt and I went to the Dubuque County Fair which does not have a descriptive adjective in front of it so we didn't know what to expect. It was ok. I did have some complaints thought. First off, not enough cows and mostly Holsteins, no goats, and only a few rabbits. Come on people, where are the farm animals??!? Second, NO ELEPHANT EARS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was dismayed, to say the least but I managed to keep my despair to a quiet howl on the midway, "Where are the ELEPHANT EARS!!!?!? I WANT AN EAR!!!!!!" while Matt quickly steered away from his deranged, somewhat psychotic, fair-food demanding wife. (This incident may or may not have happened. I leave you to judge) However, I have found that funnel cakes make an acceptable though not equal substitution. We did enjoy the pig racing and the BMX trick bikes doing flips in the air. Only at a Midwest fair would you have pig, actually piglet racing, and bike tricks about 20 feet away. FYI: the pigs were not greased. I checked.

Kitty randomness: Some of you might be tired of reading about our cats but they are funny and keep Matt and I giggling. Pets of all kinds bring so much joy to a house that I like to share it. Our cats bring a particular type of joy, namely, weird because that's how our cats act. The other night we had cantaloupe. It was delicious. Matt cut it up and we partook. About a hour later, I noticed Gus (you knew Gus was coming into this story, didn't you?) acting oddly, even for him. He was shaking and pawing at his head. I tried to grab him but he ran away from me. Eventually I tracked him to his kitty hide-out (a cat cube) and grabbed him out of it. He still wouldn't let me look at his head so I had to forcibly turn his face towards me. According to the sticker stuck on the corner of his mouth and whiskers, he is a delicious home-grown cantaloupe. While his belly is the size and color of a cantaloupe, I can't tell if he's ripe or not. And apparently when Matt threw the rind in the trash, he missed one part. Ahh, Gus, our special kitty....