The Playground is a Vicious Place

I am now halfway through week 2 at W Elementary, and I have been in an insane crash course of how to work with children in schools. None of my volunteer hours or my education classes could have prepared me for this, so I encourage everyone to try and get into the field as an assistant teacher or teaching aide. It's a rough start but once you have the routine down it gets pretty easy; or maybe this is just my calm before the storm.

A little about my new schedule and what I've been doing:

- I get up at 5am. Every. Day.
          It was not easy in the least the first week, but as long as I am in bed between 9pm and 11pm, I can usually manage. I also have to set 3 different alarms to make sure I get up. Whatever works!

- Morning Recess Monitor Duty is pretty easy.
          Once I've showered, taken care of the animals, prepped everything for the day, and finally made it to school, it is around 7am. I go and stand out in front of the school around 7:10, and then kids start to show up around 7:15. I just stand there, keep them off the flagpole, nothing big. They have to wait in front of the school until 7:30 when they are allowed on campus and the playground. I supervise the intermediate (4th - 6th) playground until it is time for class.

- Lunch Recess Duty is not so easy.
          This is when I am on primary playground (K - 3rd), and sometimes these kids get vicious, like wild animals. I have to put my game face on especially when 2nd grade comes out. The playground is literally split into two factions, and it's like trying to break up baby gang fights everyday. Today I was told I am the meanest teacher ever. I loved it because it meant I was doing my job.

During class time I am in the kinder room working with an amazing teacher who is mentoring me, and I love every second of it. Even when I have to get after my problem kids, or put chairs in time out. I am learning so much every day, and am even given the opportunity to teach lessons.

Since the principal went out on a wild lark to hire me, I often worry if I am doing my job well enough. I want her to be glad that she hired me, so I don't want to do a sub par job; but in this field there really aren't any markers for me to go off of like in previous retail jobs I've had. I just have to figure out how to gauge it on my own, and know/hope I am doing it right when my kids who couldn't remember which way the number 3 faced yesterday, wrote it perfectly today.

Reading Commentary Six

After reading two poetry books and the common core standards for poetry, this assignment was meant to briefly analyze one of two chosen texts.

An excerpt from “Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can’t Avoid”, written by Lemony Snicket.

If an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator,

He might say, in a pleasant and hopeful voice,

“Well, this isn’t too bad. I don’t have my left arm anymore,

But at least nobody will ever ask me if I am right handed or left handed.”

But most of us would say something more along the lines of

“Aaaaah! My arm! My arm!”

I have chosen to be clever, and combine my explanation for the book into my own poem based upon the style of the one I chose.

Considering this book poetry is dependent upon the reader; 

It is sometimes referred to as poetry 

And sometimes referred to as an anecdotal wit and wisdom publication. 

However, if one were to consider this a book of poems, 

It would be closest to free-verse poetry, 

It is nothing like most poems and has its own rhythm

I chose this poem because fate intervened when I could not choose a favorite: 

I threw the book up in the air 

And chose whatever was written on the page that the book landed on.

I would use this book to show children how the voice of the writer can really come through in their style of writing, changing a poem from something that could have come from anyone’s mouth into something that could come from only within them.

Reading Commentary Five

This assignment was meant to analyze Newberry Award books that featured people from varying backgrounds and how prevalent their personal backgrounds (racial, cultural, financial, etc.) were to the overall story line. Responses were based on the following 4 categories:

—  Literature Consciously Interracial Books: A Focus on people of different backgrounds or people groups interacting with each other. Ex: Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Martin shows children of many colors in school

—  "People are People" Books: No attempts are made to reflect a distinct culture; characters could be members of any cultural group like a book about a child going to school or a family going on a trip. Ex: Ten, Nine, Eight by Bang shows a black child and her father t bedtime but does not focus on the culture; any child who's dad puts them to bed could relate.

—  Books on the Distinctive Experience of Being Within a Particular Cultural Group: Books that deal with and or share the experiences of a particular cultural group with no focus on characters of a different culture. Often times, these books help us understand that cultural group and their traditions. Ex: M.C. Higgins, the Great by Hamilton - a book about a "black experience". However, be sure to remind students that one experience of a culture group is not monolithic.

—  Books on Coping with Racism and Discrimination: These books deal directly with discrimination and racism based on cultural groups. Through My Eyes by Bridges or Less Than Half, More Than Whole by Lacapa depict two different experiences children dealt with dealing with racism.



















Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse
This book is definitely a book on the distinctive experience of being within a particular cultural group. The story told through free verse poetry about a young girl named Billie Jo Kelby and her experience during the Dust Bowl. Told from a very particular group viewpoint, Billie tells the tale of living during the great depression, on a farm, during the dust bowl - a time of widespread drought and terrible dust storms throughout much of 1930's Americas farming communities. Although a fictionalized character and her farming family is the focus of the book, many of the experiences reference things that very well may have happened during the time.

Holes, by Louis Sachar
This one was a bit more difficult to peg, but I decided to go with people are people, as there is some description in the book, but nothing to create a concrete background for race, culture, etc. It is about a boy (Stanley Yelnats) from a poor family who is wrongly convicted of a crime and sent to a juvenile detention work camp. The relationships built between characters are more important than cultural background, though the sweet revenge/justice at the end certainly makes up for the depressing bits in between.

Almost There

Tomorrow is my first day at School W! My fingerprints finally cleared (again), and I start at 7am. Looks like no more late Sunday nights for me.

Since I'll no longer have all this excess time for studying and homework I am making the great attempt not only to get all 21 assignments that are due today turned in on time (oh, hello again procrastination), but also to get ahead on all my classes. It shall be my own personal Sherman's March, in which I shall hopefully play the part of Major General Sherman and not of the cities he razed.

I want to be the guy on the horse.
(Image used courtesy of Wikipedia)

Good-Bye Perfect Score

I was so distraught when I saw my grade for my most recent math test that I actually moaned in despair.

A 65%! Why, and more importantly, HOW could this happen? I studied hard and thought I knew the material, but apparently I shall never master graphs. The difference between this test and the previous one is that I didn't use my blog as a study resource, and I think that is where the disconnect occurred. If you can explain or teach something to someone else, then you understand the material. So going forward I'm going to try and utilize this resource as much as I can.

The silver lining on this is that I did receive full points for my presentation, and I am super proud of it - I can't wait to use it in a classroom of my own. :)

Procrastination

I have always had a really bad habit of procrastinating.

I start the semester out strong, getting far ahead of everyone else; but eventually I reach the point where I've done all the available assignments, and have nothing to do. That's when the procrastination bug begins creeping in... 

This has historically resulted in falling behind and struggling to catch back up. I'm not at the "struggle" part of the cycle yet, but it's getting pretty close. I'm turning in 5 assignments from different classes late this week. I am confident that they are done well enough that I will receive full points for them, so the late percentage reduction doesn't bother me. Yet. I know if I keep this up then it will start affecting my grades, and I'll end up on a spiral of disaster and stress from which I will never recover.

Well, maybe not so dramatic as that, but it will put me in a bad mood for the next 9 weeks.

Job Hunt Drama (?)

So today was an exciting and interesting day: I had an interview at another school (school P) this morning to be a teaching assistant in an MOID classroom, and I felt that the interview went really well. I really liked the principal and staff, and the principals office was full of awesome comic book paraphernalia, so I was immediately at ease and thought to myself, "Yes, this school."

However, I had no sooner left the interview when the school who had rejected me earlier in the week  (school W) called. Instead of a secretary as I was expecting, it was the principal; she wanted me to come and see her within the next 20 minutes. Another position was opening and she wanted to talk to me again about working there. When I arrived, she essentially said I had been one of the worst applicants she had ever interviewed, which was a downer. After going over my interview guffaws with me, she went on to say that she wanted to take a chance on hiring me, and offered me a position as a teaching assistant in one of their kindergarten classrooms.

Here's where the drama begins. As I was on my way to get my transcripts and head over to HR to be processed into the school district, the OTHER school called me back and said they were eager to hire me. I had missed the call, so I had the opportunity to mull over the two and make my decision. First I called my mom who was at work and couldn't really give an opinion; then I called my boyfriend to ask what he thought and got the time/distance/pay spiel I knew I was getting. All of my teacher friends were (duh) teaching, so I couldn't ask them. I called my department advisor and asked for her opinion; she helped me weigh the pro's and con's, and told me that she thought I would do best in the kindergarten classroom. So I called back to tell school P that I had already accepted a position at another school just before they called. They said they were sad the had missed the chance, and wished me good luck. Then called back twice just to make sure.