Daleville Sneak Peak

Check out where I'll be student teaching in the spring:  Daleville Jr/Sr High School

This time last week I was sitting in faculty meetings in preparation for the Daleville Community Schools' 2010-2011 school year (I would have blogged about it earlier except for the internet issues at our house).  I was there on Wednesday from 8-3 and sat through a meeting with the elementary and secondary teachers put on by the superintendent (trying to pump us up for the school year) as well as the school nurse (safety first) and a representative from the Credit Union (deposit your teaching checks with us, please!).  At first I was excited about this meeting, seeing as how I've never sat through a faculty meeting before, but after about the first hour, it became pretty boooooorrrrriiiiinnnggg.

Then, because Indiana has done away with half-days, we had to squeeze in all our staff development in the rest of the day.  We went over the handbook and changes to the pickup system, the dress code, the tardy system, and how to teach children according to their different strengths.  By the end of this meeting I was staaaaaaaaaarrrrrvvvinggggggg.

Then we got Subway :)  One of the better points throughout the day.  After that, more meetings with the principal, then we had these group sessions for Writing Across the Curriculum and my cooperating teacher and I had to teach math and PE teachers how to use writing in their classes somehow as well as how to grade the assignments.  Interesting.  

After that, another meeting (I don't even remember what it was about because there were so many meetings) and then I got my textbooks that I'll be using to teach from my cooperating teachers and got to go home!  Yay! 

On Friday, I went in for the first student day, which was also pretty boring since all the teachers did was introduce me and go over the rules (so I basically sat at a desk and watched the whole time), but it was interesting to see the students and really observe the differences between 7th and 9th graders.  As of right now, I'm pretty certain I'm going to like teaching 7th grade better, which is completely different than who I thought I'd like teaching best.  I've always planned on teaching high school, but I'll be able to decide officially after I get experience with both of them.

One of the better parts of visiting?  I know what I'll be teaching!  In 7th grade we'll be working on basic mythology and myths, writing their very first essay, the screenplay Brian's Song, as well as some minor grammar and literature terms (like cause and effect and summarizing).  In 9th grade, I'll be covering To Kill a Mockingbird, a nonfiction unit on the assassination of JFK, The Odyssey, a tad of grammar (verb tense and modifiers), as well as helping the 9th graders learn how to write an intense research paper.  Exciting!  And the books are AMAZING.  Last semester we learned how to construct a unit on our own, but with these books?  I don't even HAVE to create a unit!  I can just pick and choose from ideas that I like best and add what I want!  The hard part is mostly finished for me, and creating units was the biggest stressor of teaching.

Aaaaah....I feel much better about student teaching.  

PS--don't ask me to do anything, because after the homework's done and projects are finished throughout the semester, I'm going to be using all my spare minutes working on my student teaching units :)

Back from vacation!

Okay, okay.  So I haven't been on here for several weeks.  Before we left for vacation, there was nothing to really blog about.  And when there was, I wanted to put up pictures, but I didn't feel like uploading.  Lazy, I know.  And then when we got BACK from vacation, our internet wasn't working, and I wasn't about to walk all the way to the library just to blog.  But, happily, we have our internet back, and I've got pictures uploaded, and I'm ready to blog again!

So Kyle and I had the whole week off from work (unpaid, unfortunately).  But we did some pretty neat things with our week.  First we went camping up near the Indiana Dunes.  

This is a picture of our campsite.  It was my first time camping since I was in elementary school, and it was pretty fun despite the thunderstorms that hovered the entire time we were there.  And I've never really been so bitten up by mosquitoes in my entire life.  It was also really hot in the tent all night and Kyle had to sleep semi-diagonally so he could fit properly in the tent, and that of course limited my sleeping space.  Maybe next time we'll go when it's cooler.

We also went to the beach while we were there!  The beach was great even if it was overcrowded.  We both burnt like lobsters, though, so next time we might not stay out so long.  This also made sleeping in the tent painful because neither of us could get comfortable :(

We also made it to the Outlet Mall in Michigan City but didn't buy very much...just some student-teaching pants, really.  On the way home, we planned on going to Indiana Beach, but we got rained out.  So, instead, we went to the Indianapolis Zoo on Friday and then out to Yats afterward (for more vacation pics, check out my facebook page).

We also went to the movies during the week to see Inception...it's great!  I recommend it to anyone!

We also spent some time working on our bedroom furniture and got the headboard, footboard, and my dresser stained.  Now only one more coat of stain and a coat of gloss for them, and they're finished!  We still need to find some sort of frame for the bed, though, as well as some drawer handles before we can move them in.  I'm really excited.  We'll probably keep working on them tomorrow!

So it's back-to-work time, but at least it's not back-to-school yet!  Still have two more weeks before the ball and chain are back on :)