A blog about the trials and tribulations of a new teacher


Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Field Trips are the Craziest way to Spend a Day!

Getting paid to spend the day at the movies?? What an awesome day! Well, if you don't take into account the 18 crazy kids, the 14 crazy parents, and enough popcorn to feed a small village... then yeah!

Today I took this mob to the movie theater to watch Oceans. It was actually a great day and the kids were very good (for a group of 18 five year olds). Luckily, there were only four other people in the theatre this morning! The kids got into the movie and are now enamored with whales. I think I might have to teach them the different types because during the movie, I heard them calling a Beluga whale an Orca. Lol. They are full of new questions and wonder of the sea. It's so exciting! Despite having a fun time, I am totally exhausted. I think I over thought the whole fieldtrip thing and let myself worry too much. Not too bad for the first time though! Next fieldtrip...ALBERTSONS!

xxOOxx

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Rubrics are for Everyone!

Through my credentialing program I had this one professor... she knows who she is... who used to make us practice writing rubrics. She would make us do it over and over until we got it right, and then we would have to include on in EVERY lesson plan. She kept telling us to use them and claimed that they were the only way to salvation. haha. Okay, so a little dramatic, but she used to say that they were the only fair way to grade everyone. To tell you the truth, I used to think she was overexaggerating a little. Then I realized she wasn't. Go figure.

A while ago I met a teacher who had never made friends with grading rubrics. One day this teacher asked me if a paper looked like a B paper. I don't know WHAT a B paper looks like! According to my standards or yours?? Geeze people. I didn't even know what to say. I was flabberghasted that a teacher would actually grade like that.

All I can say is "Thank you Dr. PB for enlightening us and not letting me be one of those teachers!!"

xxOOxx

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Ouch My TOE!!

Okay, so this story relates to a post from about a week ago that had to do with injuries at work.

This past week, my toes have nearly fallen off due to the large amount of people stepping on them. Albeit, they aren't large people, but after a while it gets old. I swear that when we are five years old, our personal bubbles must only extend one inch from our bodies! Anyway, one boy stepped on my toe bright and early one morning
Me: "Heya! Don't step on me!"
Him: "Sorry Ms. D!"

About twenty minutes later, his feet find mine again
Me: "Peter*, you're on my toe again. Can't you feel my feet?"
Him: [smiling]"Yeah Ms. D., I can feel em."
Me: "Then gerrof!"

After Recess, his feet actually make it under the table i was sitting at!
Me: "Peter, I'm going to charge you a quarter every time you step on me from now on! Okay?"
Him: "Then you won't have to teach anymore."
Me: "What do you mean?"
Him: "I'll give you so many quarters you won't have to be a teacher!"
Me: "HAHAHAHA!"

xxOOxx
*Names have been changed just in case.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Happy Earth Day!

One thing I love Love LOVE about working in Pre-K is that I can do arts and crafts till my fingers stick together! I found this really cute art project online and decided to try it today... I think it came out suuuper cute.

I painted their hands blue with a little green for the land, then pressed them on recycled paper. Then they were able to see that the world is quite literally in their hands :D

xxOOxx

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Hallelujah!!

Thank God. Literally. Thank you, God! I thought I was making no progress. I feel like it finally clicked with her :) I thought I might as well have been talking to a brick wall for the last two weeks but then... oh. You have no clue what I'm talking about!

Ok, So I've been tutoring a kindergartener in English for the past month. When we first started, she could barely say the sounds of the letters let alone read anything. So, we practiced and she slowly picked up all the sounds of the letters. Then, we kind of hit a block wall. She didn't want to try, she started ignoring me, She made ZERO progress. I was discouraged to say the least. Colleagues said to keep at it. That it would click. Eventually. I was starting to doubt it. She understood that letters made sounds, but not that sounds made words. Nothing I did made it any better.

Then, out of the blue, she sounded out /car/!! All by herself. I didn't even have to prompt her :)) I almost jumped for joy in the middle of the library. You don't even understand my joy. I still get a smile when I think about it!

So, this is why I teach. I almost forgot.

xxOOxx

Monday, April 19, 2010

Over it

I'm over
...the search engines.
...the lack of openings.
...the "in-house only" openings.
...the "we regret to inform you..."
...the unanswered e-mails.
...waiting.
...hoping.
...dreaming.
...job hunting.

I am over it and I want no part of it. I guess I'm going to live on the street now. I'll make a sign that says: "Will teach for food" or maybe "I'm here because of budget cuts" I'll probably get more money with that one!

xxOOxx

Friday, April 16, 2010

Teaching is a lot of Calories

No, I didn't mean that teaching burns a lot of calories, I mean that there is a lot of calorie intake! Especially in the lower grades I think. Parents think it is imperative to bring in lots of sweets for birthdays and the like or else the kids will be disappointed. Case in point: yesterday a parent brought in twenty those individual clown ice cream cones from Baskin Robbins. They were delicious. Last week we had these scrumptious cupcakes with LOTS of icing. On top of the birthdays in OUR classroom, whenever a student in the school brings in sweets for their birthday, they bring one for every teacher too! I don't even want to think about it.

Today we're making upsidedown cake for the letter U. It's endless. But hey, I guess I'll take one for the team. ;P

xxOOxx

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Caution: Hard Hat Area

I don't think that non-teachers truly realize the hazards of the teaching profession. No, I'm not talking about crazy parents or insane students bringing guns to school. Yes, these are very real but I was talking more about the daily risks that we take.

You're laughing. I know you're thinking... "What do teachers do that is so hazardous? Get glue in their hair?" Well, YES! and glitter under my nails! Haha. Okay, but seriously, I almost broke my neck today tripping over a five year old! They have this way of getting underfoot and seriously causing accidents. One of my colleagues almost had her nose broken when a little boy bashed his head into it. Another shattered her ankle after falling off a chair while trying to hang up artwork. I've had a couple of serious stapling incidents and a few massive bruises from tricycles. Maybe we should wear shinguards...Okay, so it's not THE MOST dangerous job in the world, but I'm tired of people laughing when I tell them I got injured at work ;P

xxOOxx

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

HaaHa!

“Successful teachers are effective in spite of the psychological theories they suffer under”

Monday, April 12, 2010

U is for Umpire

So, it's baseball season and I am uber excited to see my Dodgers play once again. I think the only reason I like the off season (and I do mean the ONLY) is because I can get excited when the season begins again! The first home game is tomorrow and I think I have baseball on the brain so it's no surprise that this excitement followed me into the classroom.


This week in school we are studying the letter "Uu." Can you imagine how many words start with u? Let me tell you, not many. Can you imagine my excitement when one of the word cards was "umpire"? Let me tell you, it was great. So, that spurred a fifteen minute conversation with four and five year olds about baseball, their favorite teams, the purpose of an umpire, and their experiences with sports. One little one said, "Ms. D., I loobe the Dodgers too! My favorite player is Manny. He's so dreeamy." Ahh... Life is good.

xxOOxx

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Ok, Just Rub it In...

So I was job hunting...again... and I was so lost as to where else I could look for a job. So, as in all situations where I don't know what to do, I googled it. I typed teaching in California (Nice right) into the search engine. Well, I didn't get any new sites for job hunting but I did find this article on the CA Dept. of Education website: http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr10/yr10rel34.asp

It was dated April 7, 2010 and is all about me! Haha. Not really but almost. It's about budget cuts and the impending shortage of teachers. The Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O'Connell basically restates everything that I am living right now. He said that the budget cuts are pushing the dedicated and true teachers away from the profession and are discouraging new, brilliant, and fantastic teachers from even wanting to enroll in a credentialing program.

O'Connell said that we have to come up with a better strategy to deal with our issues:
"To get out of this recession and for California's economy to thrive we must have an education system that helps all students gain the critical skills necessary to compete in the global economy, to reach this goal, we must find a stable, long-term solution that will encourage the best and the brightest to become teachers and to keep them in the classroom."

Although it seems like O'Connell was restating the obvious, maybe someone will listen for a change. Hey! A girl can dream can't she?!

xxOOxx

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

It's an art

Teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theatre.
-Gail Goodwin

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Toothless smiles :)

It seems like everytime I see this one little girl, she's missing another tooth! Now, she has a beautiful smile with three gaps. It's gorgeous! she always gives me the biggest grin when she sees me so that I can see her missing teeth. She thinks it's funny that I make a big fuss over it.

I can remember when I lost my baby teeth. It's such a weird right of passage, isn't it? Pieces of your body falling out. Weird but oddly amazing. Feeling a little wiggle, then it wiggles more, and even more until it feels like it's hanging on by a thread. When that stubborn tooth FINALLY falls out (or is pulled out in many cases) it's such a relief! Then, you get to feel that gap in your mouth where a new tooth is timidly poking out. I had completely forgotten about the mystery of this experience until I started working with the little ones.

xxOOxx