My Student Teaching Experience

I have been a student for a long time, as long as I can remember. My whole life has been getting ready for the big test, reading my assignments at the breakfast table, or working on some big project. But until my semester as a student teacher I don’t think I was ever really a student. I knew that being a teacher was work, and that it’s definitely not for everyone, but I didn’t know how much time and effort was put in just for me; until I became a teacher myself.
I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard or enjoyed myself more than in this past semester of my student teaching. Every day I came home from my high school classroom with a bag full of folders and books just to sit down at my computer to make more lesson plans. One thing that I learned my first week, when I was still observing my students, was that I needed to be prepared. These students ALWAYS questioned the information they were given. They wanted to know HOW WHAT WHY WHERE and WHEN of everything! If I wanted to succeed in the classroom, they were not going to make it easy. I had to know what I was teaching, and try to be prepared for whatever questions my students were going to ask. Fortunately the classes I took during my college days came in handy. I remembered cool ways I was able to learn in the college classroom, and tried to incorporate them into my new high school setting.
Being a teacher has brought out a love of learning that I didn’t know I had. I have always liked school, and I like to experiment, question and search for answers. However; teaching has taking that love of learning to a new level. I was excited to come up with new lesson plans and show my students what new sweet activity I had planned for the day. I was excited to see them come in with a look on their faces that plainly said “Mrs. Carpenter has seriously lost her mind, what is she going to have us do today?” and the smiles when they left the class, talking about the new material we had learned.
I especially loved it when one of my students would come in early just to say hello; when they would come to me after class and want to ask more questions about the topic we covered that day; and ask if we were doing the same thing tomorrow. I enjoyed walking around my classroom and seeing their different projects, and the creative ideas that they came up with. There is a saying that two heads are better than one, and I think the saying holds true that 25 heads are better than one. My students would ask better questions than I could. They were better at checking for understanding, or making sure their neighbor understood the directions. I learned that my students never ceased to amaze me.
This past three months has gone by so fast and has been more exhausting and rewarding than I would have guessed. There are several things that I would definitely do different. And there were times when I just wanted to call in sick… but then I was afraid I would see my University Supervisor, my Cooperating teacher, or worse one of my students in a store and have to explain why I didn’t show that day. I would definitely choose teaching again if I was given the chance to do everything over.

i REALLY am a cool teacher

Here's the proof! and i can look at it every time I get some COOL treats from the freezer:)

Optimism... i think it's working!

today was a great day! one of my favorite students even drew me a little picture, i'll post it tomorrow. jayners was being so cute, i have a ll my lesson plans done for the week.... and i had cereal for dinner. it was just a great day, i hope yours was just as good!

I'm no Superman

But I did memorize all my students names today... how great is my life? Almost to good to be true...

National Optimism Month

A couple of my old roomies from college are posting about optimism on their blogs.. i guess march is national optimism month... so I'm gonna do the same. i won't promise that I'll post everyday, because lets face it- it won't happen (oops am i not being very optimistic? or am i being honest?). so here are couple things that are looking up in my life
1. the preview of X-Men origins:Wolverine looks awesome, and i can't wait to see it. i think movies this year are gonna be great, there's probably at least 10 different ones I'm pretty excited to see
2. i start my new classes this week, new students (and some returning), new classroom decorations, new month, new trimester...
3. We're having spaghetti and salad tomorrow... and i make some seriously good spaghetti

4-Look at this little girl, need i say more?

I want to post more, perhaps tomorrow when i put up this weeks doodle!

This week with the Carpenters

Well we've had some good times and some bad times this week...
Jayners had a double ear infection, i called the doctor, they were full and her ear drum ruptured! i wasn't very happy, but jayne is so good even when she's sick. she just becomes A TON more cuddly, eventually she got in and has finished her round of antibiotics. jayne has also been getting some more teeth, she started chewing on her hand all the time, until she found an old Binky... bad news bear- it's her new love, she always wants it! I'm so bummed (well... its debatable) because she hasn't had a Binky since she was like 6 months old. Now it's her new best friend. oh well, i can honestly say i really don't mind that much, it just makes her my baby again instead of my growing WAY too fast little girl.

Now jayners is feeling WAY better, she even wanted to play with the camera (well, she wanted to do that when she was sick too...) She's so cute, we love having her in our lives, for better or worse!and in my child development class my students are working on final projects (basically blankets, but some of my kids are a little more adventurous.... so i made samples of other things they can make, cute huh? (some baby shoes, and a burp rag)

drop all your love on me

I was teaching in my 4Th period class on Friday when I got a singing valentine. It was one of the cutest things ever. These boys and girls sell them in the high school, and the boys sing to the girls, and girls sing to the boys- and they go to a ton of businesses around town. I was a little embarrassed, but they came into the class- and I was wondering which student they were going to sing to, and then they asked for a "Mrs. Carpenter" and I sat there and they sang and danced for me. one of my students recorded it on my camera phone, but we didn't set it for "long video", so it has some parts that were skipped. but I think you get the idea. thanks Mrs. Thompson!

Jayners made us some cute valentines yesterday when she was at our Friends house- thanks Alyssa! Darick and I went and saw the Bar J Wranglers last Saturday for our V-day fun. Tonight we had fry bread for dinner, and we're watching a movie (probably an action flick) ... we're such romantics! I hope you all feel loved, because you mean a ton to me!