Hello everyone!
I also grew up in northwest PA. With divorced parents, my childhood consisted of a rotation between parents who lived in Millcreek and Edinboro. I began my schooling at EUP when I was 18 but ended up getting married the following year and my education went on hold. I decided to re-enroll at age 38 and of course, like all of you, will finally be graduating in May. Yay! I'm thinking about adding on an ESL/ELL certificate after graduation (if my family will allow me - they can't wait until I graduate and will be around home more).
My husband Bruce travels to third world countries frequently to investigate human trafficking and to rescue children in those situations. He follows up by placing them in orphanages/schools which he establishes with the help of the indigenous people. My daughter Elle attends IUP. My daughter Rachel is trying to figure out what she should do post high school. And my son Christian is in 9th grade. His running career drew me back into running a few years ago and now I'm coaching cross country and track (not this semester though - student teaching will be way too demanding).
My first day at my placement went very well. I was also somewhat nervous, but once I got there it quickly felt like home. It sounds like it will be about 2 weeks before I'll be teaching full lessons in language arts or reading, and maybe 3 weeks before teaching PA history. But that is okay with me. I entered into Junior Field so ready to teach that I didn't appreciate the laid back observation time. Once full on teaching began, it got kind of hectic - at least for me. I think it felt extra demanding because I put too much detail into both my lesson plans and my teacher made worksheets, etc. I need to learn how to work more efficiently.
My co-op is super nice and very flexible. I am confident that my working relationship with both him and my PA History mentor/teacher will be quite positive. I stayed after today to observe a re-teaching session. It was informative and interesting. I don't know if I will be allowed to take anyone through re-training myself, but I hope I will. I absolutely love teaching a classroom full of students, but I also really enjoy one-on-one interactions. I learned so much more about the students in our retraining group than I ever would have in a classroom. In retraining, you identify the infraction that placed the student there, but then you dig deeper to find a solution to change the student's behavior.
I hope everyone has a fantastic growing experience at your placements and walks away even more excited about being teaching!
Hello Arika!
ReplyDeleteYou sound extremely busy! I'm interested to learn more about the reteaching session you observed after school today. My first placement school has after school tutoring I asked to join. Any extra training and observations we can pull in will only benefit us more in the future!
I'm also fascinated with your husband's job. The horrid scenes and conditions that he must work in breaks my heart.
I too have a daughter in college and I'm just your age so, it's good to know that there are more adult students out there heading in the same direction!
Good luck to you!
Denise
Hi Denise,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. Retraining is a fascinating concept. The school has done away with detention completely and has replaced it with retraining. Rather than having students sit for an hour after school and do homework, a few teachers stay after school and walk the kids around the building, having them physically practice walking on the correct side of the hallway, rearranging their lockers, filling our their agenda books, discussing how to treat janitors and lunch ladies with respect, and many other concepts. It's a great idea and a shame that we couldn't have grown up with that sort of care and investment.
To learn more about what my husband does, you can visit his website at www.thechildrensrescue.org It's a dangerous and heartbreaking job, but I'm glad he's doing it.
As for our age similarity, I think we really benefit from our "maturity." haha! Just think of all the life experience we have to bring to the tasks of teaching and relating. It is certainly hectic and overwhelming at times, but I just keep telling myself to take it one day at a time. And...I can sleep on the weekends! (sort of...after writing lesson plans and doing homework for my Monday class, teaching Sunday school at church, doing laundry for 5 people, grocery shopping, etc. lol! YOu know exactly how it is, i'm sure!). Good luck!