So. There's really no composed, academic, or poetic way to say this... nor can I accurately convey my excitement .............................
I AM AN OFFICIAL TEACH FOR AMERICA CORPS MEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!! (ENTER SPUR OF THE MOMENT REACTIONARY CUSS WORD HERE)
(Teresa that MadLib format is for you.)
Anyway, total cheeseball alert: my dreams are literally coming true. In high school I heard about TFA (that's what us folk on the inside call it) and it always sounded like a lovely idea. I'd occasionally name drop the program to make it sound like I had a plan for my life, but I never really knew much about it. Come college, and I figured TFA was just for those student-body-president-I-do-everything-and-am-one-step-away-from-solving-world-hunger types. Thus, in traditional me fashion, I assumed I wasn't quite qualified for the program.
THEN, one random fall day, I was contacted by the GU recruitment director who was inquiring about my interest in the program. While I thought it was a mass email and assumed, in traditional me fashion, that everyone and their dog received this email, I read on and realized that this guy knew quite a bit about what I've been involved in and mentioned that my name was recommended to him by a professor (e-shout out to that professor, whoever you are). From that, I met with Mr. Recruitment Director, bit the bullet and decided to start stage 1 of 3: my online application, resume and letter of intent.
Continuing in traditional me fashion... I told myself that I was just doing it to see what happens... that I didn't care either way... but now that we're at this point, let's cast pride aside and be real: I've wanted this since I first heard about the program in high school.
Few weeks pass: phone interview. Few more pass: acceptance to final interview. Even more pass: Straight up STRESSING at 7 am (mind you I'd been up since 5 practicing my lesson and preparing), I trek through the snow to get to my in-person interview.... And just so happened to get there a good 3 hours early.... multiple hours and lots of adrenaline highs and lows later, I was trekking back home in the snow and completely blacking out from the amount of awesomeness I had to channel and try to convey for 6 hours.
Finally, here I am, a month and a half later (ok I found out yesterday, sorry), my heart beating faster and my stomach rising higher with every second it takes my computer to log in to my email, and I see two new messages in my inbox: one from Teach For America Admissions with no subject line, and above it one from some lady -I figured junk mail- until I saw the status line reading: "Welcome to Teach for America- Colorado!"
I re-read both emails about 10 times to make sure this wasn't some kind of trick where they say "Congratulations! Due to your blah blah blah blah....... we are NOT going to accept you!" Turns out, that didn't happen, so I felt justified to go on ahead and FREAK OUT, running through my house only to find that no one was home.... calling my family.... and fighting back tears. Yes. I cried. Happiness tears are real.
Anyway, I will officially be teaching Secondary English in the Denver or Colorado Springs area... I will be moving to Denver mid-summer.... and my life is about to begin. So there's my extremely self-involved entry because for right now, student teaching stories have taken a temporary hiatus- but that's just representative of my state of mind at the moment.
The best part of it all? I think I've stopped the ol' "traditional me fashion" of doubting myself. I truly believe that this is what I was meant to do. And g-dang it I deserve it.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Italics.
As I approach my first "hump day" of my teaching career, I am loving the fact that I have 2 more days until the weekend. By no means am I washed up already, but good god I'm tired- and I haven't even taken over the classroom yet.
Here's a synopsis of the past three days:
Day 1: Car windshield is frosted on the INSIDE. Attempts to scrape said interior ice were futile as my much needed defroster blew the ice back into my face. I waited a bit for the windshield to have a little circle of ice-free vision and I was on my way. Being my first day I got to meet some of my surrounding teachers who are all off-puttingly hilarious (I say off-putting because part of me still expects teachers to be a bunch of tight-wads. Hypocritical, I know). During classes my role consisted mostly of standing up to introduce myself.... explaining that, much to my chagrin, I am not related to Steve Nash and walking around to the occasional student who had a question I could answer.
Day 2: Car windshield again frosted on the inside. I was prepared for it this time and gave myself ample time to defrost that baby. I had a solid oval of seeing space today. However, to counter my small defeat over the cold this morning... I show up to school and the boiler is broken (sidenote: I'm teaching in an annex building with about 5 classrooms.... the main building, of course, was just fine). Since today Teacher Monica has a prep period first, we moseyed over to the library and kicked it. And by kicked it, I mean we graded papers. On Tuesdays the school has advisory and as part of their spirit week stuff (cue high school flashbacks and excessive school pride) student council put on a "Lip Dub." Don't be alarmed if you don't know what this is.... I didn't either. But upon further research, The Office did a little rendition of a lip dub for the Season 7 opener. In summation it's people walking through a setting, lip synching to a song while a bunch of neat stuff happens around them. So the kids did that throughout the school and ended with an aerial shot of the gym with students spelling out NC. I was the top part of the C. With a row of fellow teachers. We also were responsible for pumping students up to jump up and down when the camera rounded the corner. Comments such as: "You're going to be immortalized! This is going to be on YouTube!" may or may not have come out of my mouth. I'm happy to say I rounded up a group of timid freshmen to finish off the curve of the C. I'll be sure to post the video once it's leaked.
Also- in probably more important news- I got to teach 2 mini lessons today. After watching Teacher Monica do one class, she asked if I wanted to take it away for the last two. I threw caution to the wind and did the damn thing. I introduced satire as a writing style and had myself a grand ol' time. A couple kids laughed.... they al remained semi-focused... and overall I'd call my "lessons" a success.
Day 3: Today I woke up just as the radio station told me I would- to a winter weather advisory. Apparently it began snowing around 11pm (I wouldn't know, I passed out at 10) and continued throughout the early afternoon. I gave myself even more time to defrost/desnow/skid to school in my car. As I was struggling to drive up a hill, I remembered that schools have snow days... and I got real excited. Except I guess I was spoiled by my Portland snow days (aka the whole town shuts down for an inch of snow fall) and found out that cars stuck in ditches, cars spinning out and the accumulation of 5 inches in less than 24 hours is not enough to cancel school. I'm not sure I want to know what is. Anyway, school went on as per usual, and I'm proud to say I left my house looking like a real teacher, carrying my bag of student teaching materials, my lunch, my purse, my bag of gym clothes, a thermos of coffee and an apple (breakfast slipped my mind). As far as classes go, Teacher Monica was prepping the kids for their final next week and I spent most of my time grading a stack of papers and was left less than thrilled by what I saw.
My depressing educational reality check/blow to the soul comes from a sentence in a student paper about the cultural conflict in the movie, Bend it Like Beckham: "Within the movie italics, a Indian girl wants to play soccer even though her family wont let her"
No, my qualm is not with using "a" instead of "an."
I had an idea of what was going on, so I flipped to the student's rough draft where they wrote the title of the movie but had it underlined. The students' peer editor circled the movie title and wrote "italics," correctly telling the writer to place the title in italics. Where things went wrong was when the student decided to utilize zero critical thinking skills or thought whatsoever and replaced the entire movie title with the word, "italics"
After giving out a wealth of not-so-swell grades, I asked Teacher Monica if I could take a group of students (I recorded names while grading) during class on Friday and do a little writing workshop to address the recurring errors and hopefully give them some useful tips. Thankfully she was all for the idea, and I'm really hoping I SOMEWHAT get through to them. In my idealistic world, I picture the students kissing my feet and thanking me for reaching out to them because they always wanted to write well but no one ever took the time to go over it with them. Realistically, however, I'm sure I'll get lots of responses more along the lines of: "writing is (insert negative adjective here)." Anyway, I can't stand the thought of these students continuing on to higher education (not even college, I'm talking junior/senior year) unable to write a competent paper. It cheats them of any chance for success in just about any subject, ever.
So there's my educational diatribe and my lengthy recap of the past three days. I'll try to do better about updating daily so you don't have to read this much and more importantly, so I don't have to write this much. The end.
Here's a synopsis of the past three days:
Day 1: Car windshield is frosted on the INSIDE. Attempts to scrape said interior ice were futile as my much needed defroster blew the ice back into my face. I waited a bit for the windshield to have a little circle of ice-free vision and I was on my way. Being my first day I got to meet some of my surrounding teachers who are all off-puttingly hilarious (I say off-putting because part of me still expects teachers to be a bunch of tight-wads. Hypocritical, I know). During classes my role consisted mostly of standing up to introduce myself.... explaining that, much to my chagrin, I am not related to Steve Nash and walking around to the occasional student who had a question I could answer.
Day 2: Car windshield again frosted on the inside. I was prepared for it this time and gave myself ample time to defrost that baby. I had a solid oval of seeing space today. However, to counter my small defeat over the cold this morning... I show up to school and the boiler is broken (sidenote: I'm teaching in an annex building with about 5 classrooms.... the main building, of course, was just fine). Since today Teacher Monica has a prep period first, we moseyed over to the library and kicked it. And by kicked it, I mean we graded papers. On Tuesdays the school has advisory and as part of their spirit week stuff (cue high school flashbacks and excessive school pride) student council put on a "Lip Dub." Don't be alarmed if you don't know what this is.... I didn't either. But upon further research, The Office did a little rendition of a lip dub for the Season 7 opener. In summation it's people walking through a setting, lip synching to a song while a bunch of neat stuff happens around them. So the kids did that throughout the school and ended with an aerial shot of the gym with students spelling out NC. I was the top part of the C. With a row of fellow teachers. We also were responsible for pumping students up to jump up and down when the camera rounded the corner. Comments such as: "You're going to be immortalized! This is going to be on YouTube!" may or may not have come out of my mouth. I'm happy to say I rounded up a group of timid freshmen to finish off the curve of the C. I'll be sure to post the video once it's leaked.
Also- in probably more important news- I got to teach 2 mini lessons today. After watching Teacher Monica do one class, she asked if I wanted to take it away for the last two. I threw caution to the wind and did the damn thing. I introduced satire as a writing style and had myself a grand ol' time. A couple kids laughed.... they al remained semi-focused... and overall I'd call my "lessons" a success.
Day 3: Today I woke up just as the radio station told me I would- to a winter weather advisory. Apparently it began snowing around 11pm (I wouldn't know, I passed out at 10) and continued throughout the early afternoon. I gave myself even more time to defrost/desnow/skid to school in my car. As I was struggling to drive up a hill, I remembered that schools have snow days... and I got real excited. Except I guess I was spoiled by my Portland snow days (aka the whole town shuts down for an inch of snow fall) and found out that cars stuck in ditches, cars spinning out and the accumulation of 5 inches in less than 24 hours is not enough to cancel school. I'm not sure I want to know what is. Anyway, school went on as per usual, and I'm proud to say I left my house looking like a real teacher, carrying my bag of student teaching materials, my lunch, my purse, my bag of gym clothes, a thermos of coffee and an apple (breakfast slipped my mind). As far as classes go, Teacher Monica was prepping the kids for their final next week and I spent most of my time grading a stack of papers and was left less than thrilled by what I saw.
My depressing educational reality check/blow to the soul comes from a sentence in a student paper about the cultural conflict in the movie, Bend it Like Beckham: "Within the movie italics, a Indian girl wants to play soccer even though her family wont let her"
No, my qualm is not with using "a" instead of "an."
I had an idea of what was going on, so I flipped to the student's rough draft where they wrote the title of the movie but had it underlined. The students' peer editor circled the movie title and wrote "italics," correctly telling the writer to place the title in italics. Where things went wrong was when the student decided to utilize zero critical thinking skills or thought whatsoever and replaced the entire movie title with the word, "italics"
After giving out a wealth of not-so-swell grades, I asked Teacher Monica if I could take a group of students (I recorded names while grading) during class on Friday and do a little writing workshop to address the recurring errors and hopefully give them some useful tips. Thankfully she was all for the idea, and I'm really hoping I SOMEWHAT get through to them. In my idealistic world, I picture the students kissing my feet and thanking me for reaching out to them because they always wanted to write well but no one ever took the time to go over it with them. Realistically, however, I'm sure I'll get lots of responses more along the lines of: "writing is (insert negative adjective here)." Anyway, I can't stand the thought of these students continuing on to higher education (not even college, I'm talking junior/senior year) unable to write a competent paper. It cheats them of any chance for success in just about any subject, ever.
So there's my educational diatribe and my lengthy recap of the past three days. I'll try to do better about updating daily so you don't have to read this much and more importantly, so I don't have to write this much. The end.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Morning Reminders
Shower takes a lot longer to heat up first thing in the morning
Turn on straightener whether or not you think you're going to use it. You're fooling yourself to think your hair isn't a big frizzball after blow drying. It always is.
Sonicare toothbrush: Great for cleaning. Even better for potential toothpaste drooling on clothing.
Dripping toothpaste appears to go away from clothing after wiping. It doesn't. It dries. And it's white. And everyone knows you dripped toothpaste.
Buy ziplock bags
Find tupperware and matching lid the night before. Or maybe just organize tupperware cupboard.
Make sure your car can get out of the driveway.
.......Off I go!
Turn on straightener whether or not you think you're going to use it. You're fooling yourself to think your hair isn't a big frizzball after blow drying. It always is.
Sonicare toothbrush: Great for cleaning. Even better for potential toothpaste drooling on clothing.
Dripping toothpaste appears to go away from clothing after wiping. It doesn't. It dries. And it's white. And everyone knows you dripped toothpaste.
Buy ziplock bags
Find tupperware and matching lid the night before. Or maybe just organize tupperware cupboard.
Make sure your car can get out of the driveway.
.......Off I go!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Countdowns
Student Teaching: Two Days
I figure I might want to shoot off an e-mail to Teacher Monica and remind her that the rest of my life is about to begin in her classroom in less than 48 hours. You know, just to make sure she's ready. Because I am definitely ready. One hundred percent..........
Except for:
Getting on a sleeping schedule conducive to waking up at 5am
Remembering how to pack a lunch for myself
Picking out a first day of school outfit
Actually being in Spokane (I'll check that one off the list tomorrow)
Making sure my car isn't buried in snow
Making sure my car hasn't been stolen
Looking over my MASSIVE binder of Student Teaching Requirements to see, you know, what it is I'm supposed to do
Admitting to myself that I'm actually in my final semester of college and I will be student teaching in less than 48 hours
So... yeah...Other than that.... I'm set.
Another countdown that has proven itself to be rather intrusive on my day-to-day quality of life: Teach for America decision- 10 days.
I told myself after my 6 hour final interview that "It's out of my hands now!" and "Just getting to the final stage is an accomplishment in itself!" and "If I showed them who I really am, they have to pick me!" Why are all of these sentiments in quotations? Because it's what everyone else has told me and sound really great and therapeutic during this waiting game. What's really going on in my head is something a little more like this: Shit I should have checked over my answers one more time on that problem solving activity I totally forgot to label my notes for the group discussion speaking of that group discussion I should have talked more maybe I should have been more flexible on my placement region only 3 people from Gonzaga have been selected so far this year........ And so on and so forth. My stream of consciousness clearly does not allow for much punctuation/logical structuring of thought, but luckily I have my friends and family to provide the logical and optimistic mindset that I am currently lacking.
I hestitated to even mention this whole Teach for America thing on here because I have a complex about not getting things. I would much rather have not told a single person that I was applying for this program so that I could just surprise everyone with the grand news of my acceptance... or continue to pretend nothing had happened if I end up not getting in. I mean, as if it doesn't already suck enough to tell myself that I didn't make it, having to tell everyone else reaches, if not surpasses, an equal level of suckage. But, in reality, finding ways to cover up my 90 minute phone interview and the 6 hours taken out of my day for the final interview as well as the mock lesson I practiced aloud in my room beforehand just wasn't happening. So be it. Everyone who matters knows that I applied and reached the third and final stage. And now you all can know that the month and a half I've had to wait is now down to 10 days. And I have come to accept that 10 days from now, I will either be in..... or out. In the case of the latter, do me a favor- keep spouting out those logical optimistic phrases onto which I can desperately cling... thanks :)
I figure I might want to shoot off an e-mail to Teacher Monica and remind her that the rest of my life is about to begin in her classroom in less than 48 hours. You know, just to make sure she's ready. Because I am definitely ready. One hundred percent..........
Except for:
Getting on a sleeping schedule conducive to waking up at 5am
Remembering how to pack a lunch for myself
Picking out a first day of school outfit
Actually being in Spokane (I'll check that one off the list tomorrow)
Making sure my car isn't buried in snow
Making sure my car hasn't been stolen
Looking over my MASSIVE binder of Student Teaching Requirements to see, you know, what it is I'm supposed to do
Admitting to myself that I'm actually in my final semester of college and I will be student teaching in less than 48 hours
So... yeah...Other than that.... I'm set.
Another countdown that has proven itself to be rather intrusive on my day-to-day quality of life: Teach for America decision- 10 days.
I told myself after my 6 hour final interview that "It's out of my hands now!" and "Just getting to the final stage is an accomplishment in itself!" and "If I showed them who I really am, they have to pick me!" Why are all of these sentiments in quotations? Because it's what everyone else has told me and sound really great and therapeutic during this waiting game. What's really going on in my head is something a little more like this: Shit I should have checked over my answers one more time on that problem solving activity I totally forgot to label my notes for the group discussion speaking of that group discussion I should have talked more maybe I should have been more flexible on my placement region only 3 people from Gonzaga have been selected so far this year........ And so on and so forth. My stream of consciousness clearly does not allow for much punctuation/logical structuring of thought, but luckily I have my friends and family to provide the logical and optimistic mindset that I am currently lacking.
I hestitated to even mention this whole Teach for America thing on here because I have a complex about not getting things. I would much rather have not told a single person that I was applying for this program so that I could just surprise everyone with the grand news of my acceptance... or continue to pretend nothing had happened if I end up not getting in. I mean, as if it doesn't already suck enough to tell myself that I didn't make it, having to tell everyone else reaches, if not surpasses, an equal level of suckage. But, in reality, finding ways to cover up my 90 minute phone interview and the 6 hours taken out of my day for the final interview as well as the mock lesson I practiced aloud in my room beforehand just wasn't happening. So be it. Everyone who matters knows that I applied and reached the third and final stage. And now you all can know that the month and a half I've had to wait is now down to 10 days. And I have come to accept that 10 days from now, I will either be in..... or out. In the case of the latter, do me a favor- keep spouting out those logical optimistic phrases onto which I can desperately cling... thanks :)
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Monica Squared
Since I jumped the gun on this blog a little bit and technically wont be starting my student teaching for another week or so, I figured I might as well do what every good teacher does: provide some background knowledge. As the legend of the GU Ed program Foster Walsh would say, some "behind the eyes information." Clever, no?
As alluded to in my last post, I will be working with about 6 sophomore English classes. I'm at a local high school which is a whopping 5 minute drive from my humble abode and stomping grounds, which is great in regards to convenience, not so great in regards to running into students outside of school potential. I may just avoid all likely hang out spots for 15/16 year olds with their newly obtained licenses- the mall, the movies, restaurants, Starbucks- which leaves me with just about one safe extracurricular option: The bars.
Now for the best part of this whole gig: my cooperating teacher. First off, it's such a strange title because it sounds like this poor innocent high school teacher is being tortured into hosting a student teacher in their classroom, and for succumbing to this horrible burden they are "cooperating." I guess in some cases this holds true, but certainly not in mine. I worked with this same teacher for a field experience last year, and she kicks a whole lot of ass, and you're about to find out why:
First name of cooperating teacher- MONICA.
First day meeting her for my field experience:
Student: Hey Ms. L, how was the concert?
L: Oh it was awesome
Me: What concert did you go to?
L: Snoop Dogg in Seattle
Little did I know, my teacher was not only cooperative, she was my soul mate.
So now hopefully you're excited not only for the personal rants and raves of Me Monica, but now you get to look forward to the general kickassishness of Teacher Monica. There's your Behind the Eyes information, do with it what you will, but I'd say this whole student teaching business is off to a rip-roaringly good start.
As alluded to in my last post, I will be working with about 6 sophomore English classes. I'm at a local high school which is a whopping 5 minute drive from my humble abode and stomping grounds, which is great in regards to convenience, not so great in regards to running into students outside of school potential. I may just avoid all likely hang out spots for 15/16 year olds with their newly obtained licenses- the mall, the movies, restaurants, Starbucks- which leaves me with just about one safe extracurricular option: The bars.
Now for the best part of this whole gig: my cooperating teacher. First off, it's such a strange title because it sounds like this poor innocent high school teacher is being tortured into hosting a student teacher in their classroom, and for succumbing to this horrible burden they are "cooperating." I guess in some cases this holds true, but certainly not in mine. I worked with this same teacher for a field experience last year, and she kicks a whole lot of ass, and you're about to find out why:
First name of cooperating teacher- MONICA.
First day meeting her for my field experience:
Student: Hey Ms. L, how was the concert?
L: Oh it was awesome
Me: What concert did you go to?
L: Snoop Dogg in Seattle
Little did I know, my teacher was not only cooperative, she was my soul mate.
So now hopefully you're excited not only for the personal rants and raves of Me Monica, but now you get to look forward to the general kickassishness of Teacher Monica. There's your Behind the Eyes information, do with it what you will, but I'd say this whole student teaching business is off to a rip-roaringly good start.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Preliminary Nonsense
Why did I decide to start a blog about my student teaching? Is it because I think I'm going to get a mass following of people who worship my eloquence in the written word? Is it because I think I've got some groundbreaking strategies in the field of teaching that I ought to share with the world? Not really, I made it with a more pretentious motive in mind: I sometimes think my life is entertaining and I figured I might as well share it. At first I thought this whole blogging sphere was an excellent practice in narcissism... but when I look back on the journals I've kept since 5th grade, it's almost even more selfish to write all these thoughts for my eyes only (a warning made clear on the cover of the diary chronicling my middle school years). Which brings me to another random self-conscious justification I feel that need to make: the URL of this blog is the failed attempt at me being clever. After several rejected URL names (because apparently I'm not the only mnash in the world) I thought Chronicles of Monica was painfully clever since it almost, sort of, kind of sounds like a certain series which I once loved (wont watch the new movies because it's just not the same, didn't read the books because the revelation of Lewis' blatant religious agenda steered me away). Anyway, that URL was also taken and I was starting to get irritated, so I settled with Chronicle of Monica. I know it's singular. I know it's not the same. I got over it. I hope you can too.
SO, the sole purpose of this blog is to give me a place to share the amusing (and not-so-amusing) tales of my semester as a student teacher, hence the title. Hopefully you understand the whole oxymoron of being both a student and a teacher at the same time. If you didn't, you should now. If I'm not entertaining enough, I can say with unwavering assurance that the English classes of high school sophomores I will be teaching should definitely provide me with some fodder for this blog and for your reading pleasure.
So, there's that.
SO, the sole purpose of this blog is to give me a place to share the amusing (and not-so-amusing) tales of my semester as a student teacher, hence the title. Hopefully you understand the whole oxymoron of being both a student and a teacher at the same time. If you didn't, you should now. If I'm not entertaining enough, I can say with unwavering assurance that the English classes of high school sophomores I will be teaching should definitely provide me with some fodder for this blog and for your reading pleasure.
So, there's that.
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