Full Time

Well, I thought it would be a good time to update....before I get too busy and forget about this blog!
;-)

I am about to start my second week of full time student teaching!! Crazy to think in less than 10 weeks I'll be graduating! (Lord willing).

Just some bullets cuz my mind's too jumbled:
-Conferences (yes, for 57 students) are this week, so Wednesday and Thursday will be at least 12 hour days!! :/ I'm looking forward to meeting more of the parents though and seeing what conferences look like.
-Next week,  I will be starting my 3 weeks of FULL full time student teaching! Meaning, I do everything the teacher does and I can make it "my own" (as much as I can with all the stuff I am still obligated to do). Honestly, I am thinking this will probably be the easiest part of the term. It's SO much easier when I am the only one in charge.
-After the three weeks are over, I will have 5 more weeks of 2 1/2 hours of teaching everyday, where I will be doing another unit/work sample with the kids. I'm thinking I will be focusing on animals/science, as they are going to the zoo the last week I'm there. Should be fun!
-There was a professional development day last Friday, all the teachers went to this other school and there were speakers and activities with math problem solving. Some of my fellow student-teachers were there too. And the best part was all the food and beverages of course :):)
-My principal talked to me afterwards on Friday and told me that she would be giving me an interview as I'm the only student teacher in the building; it kinda sounded like it was just to give me practice but there's a chance she might consider me.
-It's SO nice to not have classes anymore! My cohort just meets every other week.
-My supervisor this term will be Terry, (our instructor for student. teaching) and I am so excited for that! I didn't know my supervisor at all last term and I am glad because I know Terry pretty well and feel comfortable around her, and am excited to get to teach in front of her.
-Tryin' to stay on top of everything this term so I don't get majorly stressed out! Speaking of which...I'd better go finish my resume! ;) Update soonnnishhh maybe!
Ms. O

Adiossss, Part Time

.....almost :-)

I didn't think I would actually live to see this day, but the hardest term of my life is (almost) over!! All that stands between freedom and I is a little ESOL work sample revision and a technology petition....and Monday I'll be done!!!

Ahh, I don't know what to say. As I mentioned previously, I can't even imagine what it will feel like to get to sleep (in!), clean, cook, exercise, just not do anything. So ready.

Today was my last day in the class. I left a little early because I had to take my ESOL test (my last test...which I passed!) and I wasn't going to really say goodbye for spring break, because they were in their end-of-the-day chaotic state. However, I waved goodbye, which some saw, and all of a sudden I was caught off guard by a throng of 1st graders, throwing their arms around me like it was the last time they were going to see me, even boys that I thought hated me. "Don't leeeavvve Mrs. Omundson!!" "I'm going to miss you Ms. Omundson!!" As I would try to step away, they were still clinging on, and I almost fell several times. Eventually they scrambled away, except for one little girl who, as she does on a daily basis, squeezes me so hard I can't breathe. Who is always so needy and ornery and has had a really hard upbringing, living with her brother and sister-in-law for most of her life. Monday is her first day back with her biological mom. It's like she drinks it in, like she doesn't know when or where she'll get it next. All this to say, I leave many days thinking I'm just messing kids up or they hate me....and then this happens, or I get a picture, etc. All this to say, I see my role so narrow mindedly sometimes and forget that the small things I say and do count, that I have so much power and influence over the shaping of their lives.

This week we gained a student and lost a student. We lost (to a different school) one of our dear ELL boys who, although I could rarely get him to focus in reading group, I loved nonetheless. We got a sweet, quiet girl from English-only 1st grade room who had a bad experience there, and today she was already giving me a big hug. I hate losing students, they always mention it's their last day on the day they leave, and barely anyone knows, or they leave and just don't come back and don't say goodbye. It's such a transient population here. Anyways, I'm glad we got a new student, I've kinda been hoping for one.

I am excited for next term, as always for a blank slate, but to get to devote all of my time and energy to that. I've already started thinking about my unit for my work sample, which I think I'm gonna do on animals/environments, etc. In June we're going to zoo so it'll be perf.

OHH and have I mentioned how my laptop(s) has oficially crashed not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES this term...twice in this past week...naturally, right before each respective work sample was/is due. I had JUST (like 3 days earlier) had the hard drive replaced for $130 before I found out the motherboard/basically everything was screwed. So I'm not really sure what's going to happen next; I'm borrowing computers from OSU/roomies for now, but I'm dreading it.....not only financial wise, but having all my files (word docs, music, pics) in a million different places. Anyways, let's not talk about that right now.

I will update soon about spring break and preparing for full-time!

Ms. O

4 DAYS LEFT OF PART-TIME?!

You read that right...I only have 4 days left in the classroom, and I will have exceeded my required hours by 80 hours!
As you might have already picked up on, the classroom is the easiest part. This weekend will probably be the craziest one to date, as I need to finish most of my ESOL work sample AND finish/revise my final [part-time] work sample as well as finish about 3 assignments for classes. Ahh!!
Whether I'm ready or not, this term will be over for me in 10 DAYS!! I am SO ready to be done. And can't think of anything but spring break...which MAY include Mexico or California, so of course I can't really focus on anything else.
Which means...full-time student teaching is in 3 WEEKS!
Here are some other bullets of the past week:
-I stayed up all night (slept 45 minutes) last Thursday to work on work sample....that most definitely was a sample of my work! ;)
-If I had a dollar for every time someone tattled this week, I would be a VERY, very rich girl!
-If I had a dollar for every time a kid (usually girls) came up to me and said "I need a Band Aid" and showed me a faint, faint scratch, I would also be a VERY, very rich girl.
-I'm so excited for the "clean slate" of a new term. I definitely know what I need to improve on! (ahemorganizationahem)
-Getting excited thinking about my unit for next term...we might actually start learning some science, which could be a potential unit!
-This next week is also my last week of classes which mainly consists of (potluck) parties...my fave! :) I will definitely miss my Spanish class, I partly wish I could keep teaching at OSU!
-Next term I will only have to go to campus once every other week for the student teaching seminar with my cohort and our awesome teacher
-During "freebie Friday" today where kids that are done do whatever they want and kids that owe work work, I got to have more extended one-on-one/small group time with some of the "struggling" students...so nice because that is rare. I was working with them on learning to tell time. I had two main girls with me who were both very confused. I had out my big clock and was going over it with them...pretty soon, one girl understood it, and she got so excited, she sat around for the next 20 minutes helping teach the other kids who didn't get it! Was so proud of her and all the other ones!
-Thursdays are one of my favorite days as we (teachers) have an hour and 35 minute break, so sometimes we go out to eat (the three of us) and this week we went to Panda, and of course my teacher pays ;) and it was nice to get a break in the sun!
-On Tuesday inbetween our classes we had a presentation about the Edzapp...basically the biggest online website (for Oregon) to apply and look for teaching jobs. I didn't know so much of it was online these days...but it's crazy to think that people are already looking to hire starting about now! I'm curious to see what will happen for next year...
-97 days till graduation! ;)

Ok well better get back to the work sample! I'll touch back in after some craziness has subsided!
S

Where to Start

Where to start...where to start.
This has been an interesting...ok, CRAZY last (how long have I been gone for?) few weeks.
I had heard the big bad student teaching rumors before, but I have never experienced such enormous levels of stress, pressure, complete overwhelming, confusion, anxiety, responsibility, business or exhaustion before.
To top off all the insane amount of work we're expected to do, I had a cold for about a week and a half before I got PNEUMONIA last week. Which, by the way, I got observed when I first got pneumonia and felt like the waking dead, and still managed to get decent scores!
There are good moments too, don't want to be a Debbie Downer ;-). Let me think about them for just a second........ok yah, there are good moments when you see the lighbulb go off in a student's head, or when you feel like the suckiest teacher ever, and a kid still says "Are you going to be my teacher for ELD again? YES!!". Or when a girl that has been testing you all week says "You and Mrs. F are my two favorite teachers." Or when (since you have absolutely NO Type A in you) you think of putting on a brilliant vitual caves tour 5 minutes before class to go with the reading, and it's a big hit.
Not to mention I have the greatest cohort of fellow student teachers, who I see every Tuesday for 6.5 hours. Since there aren't any other student teachers at my school, it feels isolating at times, and it's good to talk/vent with my buds. I could talk about each one of them and how great they are. Everyone is always so chatty during class because we're like a family. Blah blah blah.
Let's just put it at this: Still love teaching, love the kids, HATE...err dislike doing all the work. I'm so excited for part-time to be over, seriously full-time will be (should be) a breeze.
Because I missed some days because of sickness and holidays, my OSU advisor was nice enough to give me an extension...most of my other fellow student teachers are already done or almost done with my unit, but I still have 5 lessons left to give, by next Thursday.
My rough draft of my entire work sample is due NEXT FRIDAY, so it's all coming together wayyy fast.
Tomorrow is my final observation, where both my CT and observer will be observing me and having a three-way evaluation/discussion afterwards. Not feeling nervous, just kind of scatterbrained with the million other things I have to plan for tomorrow too!
Have I mentioned, please pray for me.
I was soo bummed to miss my class' Valentine's party last week ;-( It's all right, after a few years of therapy I might get over it.
Well, this is sounding like a not very good post so I will probably wrap this up :-) PS I HAVE been trying to blog, but the past 3 times this obnoxious ad would block my post, making it impossible! So I will try to update next week after most of the craziness is over and tell you about how I did or didn't survive!
P.S. 114 days 'till graduation! ;-)

Get some sleep tonight for me....maybe some good food, maybe some sanity and/or peace of mind....
S

Phew!

3 weeks are down and I can't believe it!!
The best news is that today we finally got Internet at our house and it makes life so much easier! And more updates for you all :)

It has been, obviously, a crazy last few weeks. The kids have had a bunch of days off for holidays and grading days. Here are some bulletpoints of my last few weeks!

• I gave my pre-assessment for place value, for the main unit I'm teaching. On Wednesday my unit officially starts.
• I talked with my CT today and clarified what parts I would officially be taking over and I wanted to be the head honcho, or if I still wanted to kind of partner teach with her, or have her assist me sometimes. Starting Wednesday (no school Monday, class on Tuesdays) I'll be taking over the morning routine with breakfast, calendar, large reading time, leading my reading small group(s), the intermediate ELD group (about 8 Spanish speakers, a few English speakers), and math time.
• I had to deal with some "mean girl" conflict the other day. One of my ELL girls, she's pretty shy and quiet, always comes up to me telling who picked on her and what they said. It's not really my favorite but I feel confident doing it now. I also had to have a talk with two fourth-ish grade boys in the gym when they were lined up for the buses, when one of them flipped the other off. Geez!
• One day I was helping a kid with math and a ton of them were swarming around me needing help. I made them go sit down, and one girl, who's always clinging on to me, says "I think everyone's going to you because you're the prettiest girl in the room." Ha!
• One time a few days ago it was really difficult trying to get everyone's attention and
• Most every day I ask myself if I can quit......it's so overwhelming at most of the times! I hate waking up early...planning things in advance...writing the dang work sample...talking with so many people every day....but I think it will be worth it when I have my own classroom! :)
• Went to the school today to help with grading. Got to enter a bunch of grades into the system. Was kinda fun! :)
• The other day their Spanish teacher pulled me out of the class to watch her kids (my other half) and so I started talking in Spanish to them. Many of them looked shocked, and were whispering and laughing, it was pretty funny. They were saying "Djou espeak Espanish?" and "I didn't know you could speak Spanish!" Haha.
• Fancy pants are a lot comfier than jeans....just sayin'.
• The other, English-only first grade teacher is really encouraging to me, and I found out yesterday she is a Christian. She pulled me into the hall yesterday after school was out and reminded me not to internalize everything when you're having a bad day, to use the other teachers for sounding boards. And that you'll have bad days, but 80% of them are good. This was right after I had my worst day!
• I can't wait to start getting into the fun part of teaching! Trying to focus on the joy of what I am doing instead of all the tedious work.
• My Spanish convo class continues to be fun, last week when I told them it was time to go they all wanted to stay to play one more round of the game! Haha..
• I am getting my old laptop back tomorrow, so I have a backup if mine collapses again!

Well, I'm going to eat some of my chocolate chip cookies now, and do some more work, so ta ta for now!
S

Week and a half down, still alive.....

Hello all,
I'm sure you've already visited this site a couple hundred times to check out my invigorating teaching tales, so here ya go. ;-)
There's really too much to write it all out, but I"ll cover the basics with some nice bullet points.
What do I do?

• I have started taking over the large group interactive reading/phonics time, I'm still leading my small reading group, and have begun taking over the small (well 13ish kids) ELD (English language development) group. The teaching part, ironically, is the easiest and funnest part of the whole thing. Figuring out my hours with my ESOL internship, figuring out my 10 lesson plans for my unit, planning for observations, constantly assessing and thinking about objectives are NOT my favorite parts :)
• There are now only 56 kids total. Four left recently. 
• Most kids can say Ms. Omundson now...or just Ms. O
• I help with 2nd and 5th graders with my ELD supervisors once to twice a week now....for my ESOL hours. 
• For those that don't know: I have my part time student teaching (160 hours) and my ESOL internship (90 hours). It's tricky because since I have so many ELLs in my classes (29 total), a lot of my ESOL hours/lessons can count for part time...but since my CT (cooperating teacher) isn't ESOL certified, I have the two ELD teachers who I work with to get additional specialized instruction/experience
• I will probably have my first observation next week....none of us have met her yet....oh and my CT and I still haven't talked about WHAT or WHEN I am going to teach! Except I think the easiest thing for me to do will be math, because there isn't much discrepancy between the classes in that area (I would have to teach Giraffes one week, Elephants the next) whereas in reading, the Elephants are much stronger.
• Last Friday I went on a field trip with the kids....it was just Giraffes and Elephants, my two classes...to the Corvallis hospital. It was fun sitting and getting to talk with some of the girls more. I had a conversation with one girl on the way back, when she was telling me about something another student did. I was eventually telling her how everyone makes mistakes, and no one's perfect...and she responds, "Uh huh! YOU'RE perfect!" Needless to say she was shocked when I told her I wasn't perfect. I haven't been inside my 1st grade head for a long time! :)
• Teacher potlucks are the best....just sayin'.
• I had to get out my teacher glare for the first time today. It worked.
• I was explaining to the Giraffes today before reading time how Mrs. F wasn't in the room because I was starting to teach more, because I am learning how to be a teacher, etc. and a bunch of kids are like "yayyy!" haha. But I think a few are still uncertain of what's going on.
• I definitely feel like I have more authority since I've been teaching more....
• I was working on math with one girl who's really girly and cute and another boy comes up, a boy who has diabetes and a little bit of ADHD and is super funny and cute. He has a book (I think it's a Brown Bear, Brown Bear one) and is like "Hey Ms. Omundson guess what did you know this book is also a song? Can I read it to you? Actually can I sing it to you right now?" Haha! (this is the same who who asked me around October if I could come over to his house sometime) I told him I couldn't at the moment but would love to later and the girl is smiling and says, "It's kind of like you were going on a date"....lol!
• Having lots of dreams about the kids, of course! 
• They always weigh heavy on my heart especially after I leave, knowing they're going to the Boys and Girls club or to homes that many of them don't enjoy going to. A lot of crazy stuff they tell me.
• I pretty much know where each of the 56 kids are at in terms of reading, writing and math....and I'm starting to really enjoy walking around seeing what they can do, grading their tests and watching them improve. I was a little afraid when I started in October because so many of them were at super low-levels, but they have all improved, a lot of them with great gains!
• I am hoping I can incorporate more fun activities/art in the classroom....the extent of their art is coloring with crayons and colored pencils! I can easily see how hard it is in the tight schedule and with the many kids....but I think it is possible! I just feel bad with all the worksheets they have to do everyday....I think the curriculum can be a lot more creative. 
• I was walking to pick up the kids from P.E. one day and a 5th grade boy says "Hey Ms. O" to me in the hall. At first I was like, how does he know my name? Then I realized I helped teach ELD in a 5th grade room.
• I still think 2nd grade is ideal, especially after working in there last week.
• I never used to think I had strong opinions about anything (education philosophy wise) but being in my room makes me realize what I believe is important to teaching and the classroom (that's a whole 'nother story!)
• Cheesy but true: Showing students you care about them dramatically affects their behavior and willingness to try in the classroom. 
• The kids made these mice last week (for "If You Take a Mouse to School") and a girl gave me hers at the end of the day. "Don't you want to keep it, or show it to your mom or dad?" "No. And I don't have a dad."  Duhhh. Why did I say that. 
• On another note, I'm also teaching the college Spanish convo class on Wednesday nights. I hate to say this, but I enjoy this as much as (if not more) than elementary! I think it's just because I have my own students and I can do whatever I want. :) There were 6 last week, there were 10 tonight. Time goes really quickly, we've been doing lots of fun things, at least I hope so, but at least they are laughing a lot. And they usually linger after class for about 5 minutes! I'm no expert in Spanish, but I'm relieved that I've been able to answer all their Spanish questions and I enjoy pretending to be a Spanish teacher :)
• My computer screen crashed the night before two big assignments were due. I still have to get it fixed, I am borrowing a library laptop until tomorrow. Luckily they got some docs off my hard drive and sent a little late. 
• We still don't have WiFi at my house which is frustrating and it will be soo nice when we get it! 

Well, sorry to bore you to tears, I had better get going and get some work done, but thanks for checkin' in! Hopefully more exciting news for ya next time! :)
S

Four

Well, people, 4 days left.
Feeling incredibly stressed thinking about all the work that the rest of this year entails,
however also extremely excited! I've missed the kids and I think our connections and everything else will improve now that I will be more of an authority figure to them.
I don't think I've felt more inadequate for anything in my life, and no matter how much encouragement I receive, I know it's going to be probably the most challenging thing I've ever done, and I will make lots of mistakes. But that's part of everything you start out doing, right? Even if it's your passion.
Even though I'm going to be crazy busy, I'm going make a point to blog once a week, probs on the weekends, about the week...stories, things I've learned, etc...for my sake too!
It's just crazy that for 18 years I have been dreaming about this...and now it's actually happening. Feels pretty surreal but also long overdue.
Please be praying for me, and I will update after my first week next week! :)
Ms. O