Graduates

Congrats, everyone!  I hope you'll continue to blog about your teaching adventures.  :)

Miss you all already,

Miss Neal

Reflections on Student Teaching

                Writing a one page reflection of a semester’s worth of work guarantees that things will be neglected and details lost.  How do I convey the elation I felt when J’s elusive smile showed itself or the adrenaline pumping through my system while being chased by a pack of third graders in a game of tag on the play ground?  What do I say about what I learned about preparation from the worst day ever in kindergarten, which was followed by the best day because I changed my game plan? 

Sure, I could tell you ambiguously about how my interdisciplinary pedagogy improved when I implemented differentiation based on Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences.  I could reflect on the degree of success I observed in literacy programs in their attainment of Vygotsky’s ideal instruction in the zone of proximal development.  You’d have perfectly logical unintelligible edu-speak.  Somehow that doesn’t get across the sinking feeling I got when I. shut down without her meds or the heartbreaking resignation in D’s eyes when he said, “I’m dumb!” so angrily. 

           Textbooks will drone on about Piaget for fifty pages and show detailed diagrams of effective assessments, but never have I read a chapter about The Magic.  Don’t miss my point.  I am pro-Piaget and pro-assessment, but why, in the name of every educational theorist who has ever breathed, do they neglect The Magic?!  For something so sparkling and magnificent, I would have thought someone would have at least given me a handout.  I believe we have a strong education program, but in this area, I was wholly unprepared.  I was unprepared for The Magic of good morning hugs every day.  I was unprepared for The Magic of the almost breathtaking ferocity they cling to you with when you tell them you’re leaving soon.  No one told me when they clamor for you to swing on the swings at recess or give you their most highly prized zebra pen that your heart swells to bursting.  I had plenty of practice writing lesson plans and reflections, I just wish someone had prepared me for The Magic of teaching.  

Miss Neal

The beginning of the end!

Thursday

I want you to stand in the back and put your nose to the wall.  That's what she told him after asking him if he'd had his medication and then laying into him because she didn't think he was trying.  That sure sounds like some redemptive, child-centered discipline to me!  When I overhear conversations like that, I want to just say, "See here, teacher of the year from 1978, you need a vacation, a permanent one."  Kids wear on you, sure, and if they ever manage to wear away your patience, get out of the classroom.  I've done a lot of observation today.  I've seen lots of good things being done, literacy strategies, organization and parental involvement.  This incident was not one of those things.  I know this kid.  He's a mover, a fidgeter.  You have to keep those kids moving or fidgeting or else.  Or else they'll drive you crazy and disrupt your whole classroom.  Today we had a staff workshop about word walls.  It was really fun!

Friday

Today was my last day!  The kids and Mrs. T gave me a basket full of teacher tools and a book that they made.  The prompt was “My favorite moment with you was…”  It was fun to see what they said.  I have so many markers and index cards and pens now!  We even got an extra recess and popsicles!  I played four square with them.  The teacher across the hall even gave me a stack of Flat Stanley books!  Hurrah! 

Last Day!!

Folks,

We're (almost) done! I hope you all have an AMAZING last day!

-Miss I/Inkner/Easter/Nectar/Itcher/Itched-Er (the list gets longer and longer every day)

Last week!

Tuesday

Tuesdays are usually long and wretched, but today has been reasonably quick.  We are studying cause and effect in reading.  Cause: Miss Neal did not drink her usual cup of strong coffee this morning.  Effect: Miss Neal was fighting back the Sandman all morning.  Note to self - it's worth the time to make a cup of coffee!  I'm going to be doing some observations this week, which should be fun. 

Wednesday

Mrs. T was gone today, so we had a sub.  I didn’t stay in class much, as I observed in Mrs. H, Mrs. B and helped with writing conferences in Mrs. S’s class.  I loved doing writing conferencing.  It's cool to see kids express their ideas and help them sharpen their imagery and word choices.  It was neat to see the different ways teachers can be effective based on the natural ways they manage.  Also, I have yet to meet a sub that is both effective and nice.  One of my kids brought me a bag of teacher loot today.  I got a teacher bag that’s YELLOW!  I also got some fun sticky notes and pens!  

Ups and downs of teaching

Oh today.  Wow.  Well, I had the kids for the morning because Mrs. T was at staff development for some computer program.  My voice was sore from raising it by the end of the morning.  They were loud, they were harassing each other.  We had two emotional blow-ups.  I sent a girl to the office and had another one sobbing on my chest.  It was a little intense.  I was emotionally exhausted by the end of the day.  I hate it when kids make decisions that require discipline.  It’s just not fun.  Sure, it’s for their good, but it’s hard.  My two great moments though were when one of the girls came up to me later and said, “Miss Neal, thank you for calming me down earlier”.  The other moment was when I read through a story one of my lower kids had written when we were talking about plot, and he GOT IT!  Mechanics were awful, but the content was there!!!  Hurrah!   

Well, this is my 2nd post

I am the worst blogger of all time. Just now, I updated my personal blog for the first time since August 23rd. Hopefully I'll get better at it.

I have officially reached burnout point. And it's not because of the kids- I just LOVE working with the Elementary kids (and I am still so surprised that I like it so much). It's the people that I work with. I am constantly around negative people, and it's gotten to the point to where I'll just eat my lunch alone in my classroom so I don't have to listen to it. I remember Dr. Bass always talking about the whiny teachers, and I figured that there would be a few of those at any school. But for whatever reason, all but 2 people that I work with are so negative.

Being around them has made me so aware of the fact that although we are called to teach in a classroom, we are also called to minister to our co-workers and be as Christ-like as possible. I think that God is trying to challenge me during these last few weeks. I have no desire to be around any of those people, but I realized that I might be the only person who will "show them Jesus" every day. So I'm going to do my best to just listen to the complaining, give an encouraging response, while keeping a smile on my face the entire time.

In other news, I have a job interview on Friday! Yay!

I'm looking forward to seeing all of you in a little over 2 weeks!!! We're SOOOO close, folks!

-Miss I/Ichter/Inkner/Nectar/Easter/Itcher/Eyekter (and the list goes on and on)