My first day in my new field placement classroom was stupendous! The school appears as though its brand new and is very open. Almost loft-like. Plus, its only 5 minutes from my apartment! I meant to take a camera today so I could take a picture of the outside but I forgot. I will have to do that tomorrow and upload them on here.
I couldn't have asked for a better teacher. Mrs. Cade is so lively, animated, and overall...fun! She is orginally from Texas, but married a man who is in the Air Force so she just moved back here in the last couple years from Nebraska. She just lets me ask her a million questions and replies so sweetly back. She even told her students that I was a teacher in the classroom. Not many of my past mentors actually acknowledged me as their equal.
What I noticed most about the class were the student's manners. All of them were expected to say "yas mam", "no mam", "excuse me", and "thank you." - Which I loved! ....They all thought it was freezing today. It wasnt, there was just a cool breeze, but quite a few came with jackets and sweatshirts on. It was pretty funny. Mrs. Cade told them they dont know cold!
As soon as class started she let me introduce myself. Being as sweet as she is, she decided we should all play a game so that I could start to get to know the kiddos. We all sat in a large oval on the floor. Then Mrs. Cade secretly went behind the teachers cabinet and grabbed a "special ball." Without showing the students what it looked like, she started to shake it. When she did her eyes grew larger and larger and so did the students. It sounded like one of those dog toys...like a baby crying, but somehow more pleasant and kinda fun. Each student got a turn at rolling this talking ball. When it came to the student - they looked at me, told me their name, and something they like to do or positive about themselves. For once I actually got excited about talking in front of a teacher and entire classroom. I just talked and talked about myself :) They all freaked when I told them that I was getting my aggie ring Friday and got even more excited when I told them I liked snakes. It was pretty amusing!
So the set up at this school is pretty neat. They call them "pods." Basically is a block of rooms (4) and in the center they share a small room and closet. In this center room are the teachers supplied, closets, blablabla. Each grade level has its own little environment. The outside of these pods looks like a house. It has windows and you can look in on the classrooms. I got to know the other 2 teachers (fourth grade only has 3 teachers, one room is empty) very quickly. I also asked Mrs. Cade this morning what she thought about me coming back in the spring to do student teaching with her, but shes going to have to check on some things. There of course are district rules. We know that a teacher must have taught itleast 3 years before they can have a student teacher in the classroom. We just arent sure if they have to have taught 3 yrs at a particular school or state. My teacher hasnt since she just moved from Nebraska. BUT one of the other 4th grade teachers said she would love to have me as a student teacher if Mrs. Cade cant. Theres another girl in my methods class actually with one of the 4th grade teachers (the one that said shed like to have me) and shes really sweet. Her name is Lauren. Shes moving to Dallas in the spring to do student teaching there and to be with her family.
Anyways....like I said already making friends. They are just a fun group of ladies. ....Today was a little different from what I will normally see. Students were taking a practice TAKS reading test. So Lauren, and I took some students who are dsylexic to the vacant fourth grade room. In all today we probably spent a good 3 hours in there. For the TAKS reading test the students are required to read a passage and then answer some questions. Well, since the students have a learning disability they have trouble reading and comprehending at the same time. The students would read a passage and then Lauren and I would trade off reading the questions aloud. We had to repeat the questions over and over....poor things. I felt so bad. Im so blessed to have had everything come so easily. Although, there were a couple that really ticked me off. They didnt even try....not that I should be surprised...you always have a few of those in the bunch. My poor teachers though, they were already stressing out over their students and the PRACTICE test because so many either didnt try or failed.
Oh! There was the CUTEST round black boy in the testing room with us today. Oh he is just so cute. I wanted to draw him, but thought it might seem a bit inappropriate. I have a feeling he could be one of my favorites :)
My actual methods teacher, the one that has to come watch me, the one that I said I really didnt want, came today. She scared the crap out of me too. She just walked in while the kids were testing in dead silence. Surprisingly tho, she was very nice and enthusiastic. Shes growing on me.....slowly.
What I was most excited about is .... Workout Wednesdays. Every Wednesday the faculty and students dress up in workout clothes and tennis shoes, reasonable ones that is. During recess the teachers run a lap with the students. I would say around the playground, but its not. There is actually a park behind the school....kinda odd. Especially when random people, families and their babies are out there. I guess its nice for the kids though, very open with lots of space for them to run around and use up some of that energy. All of them came in dripping in sweat. So we will run, and I hope by run they mean walk, around a small trail at the back of the school.
Anyways....as you can tell I am rather enthusiastic about this teacher and this semester. Im in a grade I love, school thats very nice, and with a teacher who is so much fun. I know I will learn a lot. AND I only have to dress up in awful heels once a week :) Of course, I already made a trip to get some workout pants!!!
