Lab Safety

I absolutely love this activity for the first week or so of school!

First I showed the students this video that I found on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJG0ir9nDtc
which I uploaded into a powerpoint by using keepvid.com which is amazing! It makes showing clips so simple and quick!
 Then I had the students choose one rule and illustrate a do and a don't for each... Here are a few samples! They also make for a really great bulletin board to take away some of the blankness from the beginning of the year!

Classroom Jobs!

All I can say about this is I wish I had done it sooner... Such a time saver and really gives the students a sense of responsibility. I had then fill out applications, make silent appointments to interview one another, and even vote for who would get the job after they explained their qualifications. The eighth graders were not all about the whole activity but they are more than willing to help out with the jobs.

Haha who was I kidding???

I can't believe that it has almost been two whole months of teaching! What a wild wild roller coaster! I can't say that I have loved every minute but at this moment looking back I am really happy (good thing you didn't ask me a few days ago). Definitely no time to keep up a blog, which I really shouldn't even be on right now!
But no matter how difficult it is and how thin I feel that I am being stretched, I know that all of my kids deserve even more than my best so I have to keep trying the best I can. 
Plus, somehow they always bring a smile to my face. 
Teaching three grades, going to school full time, being in charge of student council, helping out with this that and everything in between, while still trying to be myself somewhere in there is A LOT! But hopefully I will make it through and only cause minimal damage.

     

Between some energy boosters, vitamin c, snacks, and my students silliness everyday... I think I just might be able to make it through the year! We might even have a little fun and learn something along the way!

Even though I did not have time to actually post... I took tons of pictures along the way. So now I  will backtrack a bit and overload the blog with my first couple months of teaching!

Hip! Hip! Horay!

Yay! Finally, a job! I've been placed at an awesome school in Westchester, Los Angeles called CLAS (cultural and linguistic academy of success)! I will be teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade science! Yikes... Nothing like diving right in. But the staff seems incredibly supportive and I got a really good vibe while I was there. So excited to embark on this wild year ahead of me! Wish me luck!

Click here to see where I am working at!

Reflecting...

Taking time to look back on all that you have learned and how you have changed is such an important part of life. With today being our last real day of class we participated in a reflective activity and I a so thankful for the experience I have been through over the summer. Time flew by incredibly fast but I have learned an enormous amount and grown in both professional ad personal ways. I am thankful or the great administrative staff that I have to lead me and mostly the diverse teachers who are going through this experience with me. Although we all have such different opinions, personalities, perspectives, and pasts... We all have the same heart for teaching and passion to help our future students achieve greatness...

Tonight I am just thankful.

The Job Search Continues

Ughhhh!

Let's just say I am a bit discouraged... I have honestly turned in about 25 applications and have yet to receive even a bite. Honestly, I think it might be more exhausting than going on interviews and being denied... It makes me feel like maybe it just won't happen. It is really tough to WOW someone and prove to them what a great teach I would be just by squeezing it into a single piece of paper...

Hopefully there will be a post later (soon) that is completely different and excited about my new position...

But if not I just have to stay positive and realize that, NO, the world actually will not fall apart. This might not be my ideal plan... But I know everything will be okay.

Everything else...

So I am at a point right now where I feel like I don't even have time to have any sort of personal life. It has been a little difficult for me because I feel a bit like I am drowning and losing of sight of who I really am.
I completely understand that doing this takes a lot of effort and that for the time being, my passion for teaching needs to take priority over the rest of my life. However, I absolutely do NOT want to become some sort of teaching robot, which is the way I feel lately. I feel like being an effective teacher takes a lot of skill with balancing because while I feel that I want to plan everything out completely and think of every single possibility so that I make no mistakes in this crucial first year, I also want to be a happy well rounded example of a person for my students. (oh and for myself)
So no, don't give up on trying to create structure and planning as much as possible. Just make sure that you don't burn yourself out... Take a deep breath, ENJOY the people in your life, and take some time for those important things that just make you happy to do sometimes.

A wonderful new perspective...

I honestly had a really great day today! It was my first day at the Lab School that we are doing at Gage Middle School and I absolutely LOVE being back in the classroom. I must admit I have been a bit overwhelmed by the information flowing into my mind lately and the process of trying to figure out exactly how I want to run my class. But being with the kids and experimenting with them and seeing them learn really lets me know why I am working so incredibly hard.
I also had a really great class session. Our instructor really put things into perspective for me. There have been a few issues and people have been getting upset about them. But he pretty much told us that one way to deal with situations such as the one we currently have is to give them time. During that time you will more than likely realize it is pretty insignificant. I have a major problem with that and tend to become overly emotional and act on impulse. People tell me similar things but for some reason the message really stuck with me this time.
I have yet to even step into the classroom, but yet I feel like I am already growing and learning so much. It goes much deeper than content knowledge and pedagogy. The lessons I am learning truly apply to my whole life and I am so happy to be entering this journey with the support staff of my program as well as my whole cohort of wacky, stubborn, creative, incredible future teachers.

Just try your best and be willing to acknowledge everyone's opinions as valid. Because no ONE of us is better than ALL of us.