Reigniting the Flame

This blogpost is WAY over due, sorry for keepin you guys hangin! Wednesday and Thursday were SUCH better days!!

Wednesday I met with the tech guy and learned lots of new, fun ways to use technology in the classroom. He gave me 2 books to look at on innovative ways to teach English or reading. (More to come on those soon!) I had a lot of fun talking to him and am so appreciative for the part he played in pulling me out of my "I'm failing funk". Wednesday's lesson was one of my very own creation...and I'm very proud of it, because it went over SUPER well with the kiddos! The short story we had been reading was "A Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. (He's super creepy and the kids eat it up...weirdos! hehe) Anyways, I suggested to my mentor teacher that we have the kids write an alternate ending to the short story. Did the old man get killed? Did he live? Did the narrator die? It was up to them! Boy did they come up with some goofball and gruesome endings! They were asked to write ONE PAGE, that's all. Now, keep in mind getting these guys to write HALF A PAGE is like pulling teeth. Surprisingly, within 20 minutes kids were flipping their notebook paper over because they were running out of room! Some wrote 2 full pages, by choice! I was completely thrilled! I walked around and asked a few students if I could read a bit of their work and they obliged. After commenting that they were "crazy" "gross" and "totally gonna give me nightmares", other kids started raising their hands so I could be grossed out by their stories. They were totally eating it up! Next, the kids illustrated their endings. WOW did these get nasty, blood and guts like crazy. (oops, is that against school rules?!) The final step was to have the kids present their endings and drawings. In summary, this lesson was a complete and total hit! The kids totally lived up to and exceeded all of my expectations!! :] YAY!! WINNING! hehe

Thursday was really cool, because I got to observe other teachers in their classrooms. The principal suggested that I get with the technology guy to work out a schedule for observing other teachers so I can get exposed to several different teaching styles. The tech guy arranged for me to spend the afternoon (2nd period) walking around with him checking out the "master teacher's" and "guru's" classrooms. On our way to the first class, we started talking about one of the books he gave me to read, "The Book Whisperer". I told him I completely fell in love with the way the teacher in the book (Donalyn Miller) teaches. He agreed and told me she's coming on Monday for an inservice/workshop for teachers in the district. We talked some more about it and he offered to ask our prinicpal if I could attend the inservice Monday. The principal thought it was a valid suggestion and allowed me to attend on Monday!! In the next classroom, he told the teacher that I was attending the inservice. She is getting a sub so she can attend, and told me to sit with her! (YAY! Made a friend!) She also invited me to eat dinner with her, the tech guy, other teachers, and the author/speaker, Donalyn Miller, Sunday (tomorrow)!! I was completely shocked that these amazing teachers were "letting me in their group". I am SO looking forward to dinner with them tomorrow! What a neat experience it should be!! I observed 4 teachers and let me tell you, they were all remarkable! I was so impressed with their theories on learning, discipline methods, and overall teaching styles! They reminded me of why I want to do this and what kind of teacher I want to be!

Amazing what a difference a day or two can make, isn't it!? Everyone was so nice to me and so willing to give me any tips/advice they had! Overall, great great GREAT rest of the week!!

I look forward to telling ya'll all about the inservice and my FINAL WEEK in my internship! It went by SO fast, but it has been an amazing experience and I'm going to be very sad to see it end.

Countdowns for ya'll:
4 Days left of internship
5 days until Eric gets here