Teacher's Lounge Revelations

Usually I eat lunch in my teacher's classroom because she does, too.  Today, I took my lunch to the teacher's lounge to see if I was missing anything (and because my teacher usually makes me do work during my lunch break).  There were three other teachers there and while I ate with them, I realized that being a student teacher can be lonely.

Some teachers smile and say hi, but there are some that ignore my existence even when I greet them.  I'm no stranger to the staff, either- I was introduced to them several times and I have been present at all school meetings/training.  I can't really blame the others for not starting up conversations, what would they have to say to me?  I can admit that although I'm lonely, it's nice to not answer the same questions each time I meet a new person (where are you from, which school do you go to, wow they let you student teach out of state?, etc.).

I'm the only student teacher at my school so when I received the staff list during training, I was excited to see that another teacher had a student intern.  Unfortunately, that other intern is non-existent at this point because I have never seen anyone with the teacher the student was listed with.  I thought we'd be able to bond over the complications our programs presented, or, laugh about our experiences fumbling through lessons... If only, if only. 

When I go home I complain or celebrate about my daily experience in the classroom, but since there is no one to trade stories with it's not as satisfying because I want reassurance that someone else is going what I'm going through!  Especially because I've started disliking my placement because I know I'm not a good fit with my current teacher... Oh well, I'll go cry a river later, I guess!

Educating Esme

Yesterday I read Educating Esme and I wasn't impressed, which is really too bad because I've been pining over the book for so long!  I mean, yes I enjoyed reading her "diary" and reading about her students, but nothing was deep- there wasn't a lot of content and I didn't really walk away from it thinking about anything.  I bought a version with 25 tips for new teachers, but nothing was surprising, especially since I paid attention in class for the last four years.


If you're wondering what Educating Esme is about, it's a journal-style narrative that guides you through the author's first year as a teacher.  She talks about her students, the staff, and her frustrations.  It is a really quick read and I don't know what else to say about it...  If you want to read it, you can have my copy (assuming that I know you!).

I wouldn't say it really gave me any true advice or even showed me the ropes of becoming a teacher, with is really too bad.  I guess I chose to read it because I was expecting a "survival guide" type of book.  Her diary entries were about a page at best, which was why there was little depth.  Yes, she struggled with her principal and vice principal, but it was a superficial problem.  I admired her strength (or stubbornness, ha) and creativity, but I wish I could have learned more from her experience.  

I've never been very good at reviews, so I realize that I have no examples to support my claims of "lack of depth".  Sorry, but the book is upstairs and I'm downstairs enjoying a Sunday afternoon!  Find a cheap copy on Amazon if you don't want to take my word for it or borrow/take my copy.

Link to Amazon Review of "Educating Esme"

One Week Down...

I just registered for Praxis II: Special Education Core Knowledge and Application on September 12th.  My heart is racing, my blood is pumping, and my stomach is in knots!  I have no idea why I'm so nervous.  It might not have been such a great idea to register for a test that takes place at 5pm, but I really had no choice because I have plans for the two Saturday dates that were available for computer testing.

Today was our second day with a substitute and I taught even more today than yesterday (and I am exhausted!), which was awesome.  I am sad to see the sub go, but SUPER RELIEVED to have my lead teacher back tomorrow.  She is just so much better with student management than me at this point!


To celebrate my first completed week of student teaching, I sent an email to my supervisor with concerns about being percieved as an aide, rather than an intern.  At the staff meeting, an item was discussed that brought on suggestions for me to give people bathroom breaks during yard duty (or if that was inconvienient, class time).  I'm not against helping a sister out, but when I begin my full control take-over, bathroom breaking will cut into my personal prep time/lessons (they were not asking the other teachers to use their prep time to bathroom break, so why would they ask me?) annnnnd I will only be in my current classroom for ten weeks.  

The larger issue, though, is that they are placing me on yard duty in order to cover them, which is illegal according to my interning agreement.  What if they head to the bathroom and get locked in and while they're locked in the bathroom, something terrible like millions of injuries occur????  Also, I shouldn't be pulled from observations in the first week (or ever!) in order to run errands such as photo-copying, laminating, etc. or to give people a classroom break.  I know their trip to the restroom would be short, but if I cannot substitute for other teachers, why would I be permitted to supervise their class alone for even a few minutes?

I tried explaining this to the staff at the meeting yesterday, so we'll see.  I also asked for help from my advisor- hopefully she can write a good email that I can forward to the principal.... OR people could just read the manual I forwarded to them...  

FYI (if you have no idea what I'm talking about):  basically I'm saying that I can't really be anywhere my teacher isn't because of liability issues.  

Miss Alley + a Substitute

Today we had a sub- to find out more, watch my video!

FYI: It took multiple 'takes' to complete one video, so enjoy this blooper below!

Morning People Still Need Coffee

I always vowed to stay away from coffee.  When my parents would brew it each morning, I would plug my nose in disgust and ask, "how do you drink that stuff?"  When my friends bought their fancy Starbucks drinks, I would order a frappacino because if they had any form of coffee in them, I couldn't tell.  Then, one day someone ordered me an innocent carmel macchiato.  It wasn't bad and I actually started craving them every so often.  Then, finals started getting serious (at some point in my college career) so I would have a super-cremed coffee every now and then...and another... My roommates last year would always offer me a morning cup of Joe and managed to get me to try McDonald's iced coffee, but I was still living in coffee denial.  I, Jessica Alley, just purchased a GIANT bottle of creamer (Almond Joy- I have an extremely refined palette- HA!) to help me bear a daily dose of coffee in order to get through the next 10 weeks of early mornings.  I'll be texting my parents tomorrow when I wake them up to let them know that (ehem) they were right and I was wrong about "someday you will grow to love it, too!"

(To make a decision about how much/what type of creamer to buy, I called my friend Liz in the middle of a Walmart this afternoon- thanks again!)

Anyway, my point is that although I'm starting to get the hang of seizing the day at 5 a.m., waking up to student teach every day is kinda rough.  It sounds lazy, but honestly observing and worrying every day about what you should do or say (or if you're doing enough) is tiring.  Plus, without stimulation, it's hard to stay focused and refrain from yawning!  It's not terrible, and really I shouldn't be whining, but maybe whoever is reading this right now can identify with what I'm saying.

To save myself precious moments of sleep in the morning, I have started following the following routine the night before each day begins: pack my lunch, lay out my clothes, take a shower, set out all necessary tools for morning prep (hair tools, makeup, tooth brush/paste, ect.), and get my bag together.  After working on my routine, I actually got to enjoy 20 minutes of sitting and watching the news this morning while eating breakfast (YAY! I love watching the news in the morning).

Laughable Moments

My teacher was trying to get everyone lined up (there are 30 kids in our class and it's the second day, so it's rough) and was becoming frustrated with the kids because they were chatting and not following the line-up "rules."  She was saying something along the lines of, "I will take the quiet students to [wherever we were going]" and had tried making several similar statements.  One student walked up to her and said, "Mrs. ____, tomorrow I'm going to play soccer."

During a task titled "self-portraits," my teacher was modeling how to draw and what features are important for a self-portrait.  She had drawn an oval to represent her face (connected to a neck/shoulders) and asked, "what else do you think is important for a self-portrait?"  I'm sure she was looking for answers like, "eyes!" "lips!" "nose!" or whatever, but instead, the students were shouting things like, "pupils!" "a collar for your shirt!" and "a hair clip!"

Moments like these make it hard for me to keep my giggling to a minimum.

First Impressions

I survived!  

Today was the first day and I decided to make a video about it. 

A couple of disclaimers:
1)  I may have made my lead teacher seem unappreciative or rude, but I really REALLY like her and she is a very nice woman who has already helped me a lot!
2) I mention the name "Jeffery" as an imaginary student- it is a fabricated name, there are no actual Jefferys in our class (not even middle names!).  It would be a serious FERPA violation to post something that discloses student info!
3) When talking about my 2nd placement, I wasn't using People First Language.  What I should have said was, "a classroom with students that have emotional behavioral disorders" instead of "emotionally disturbed" classroom.  Apologies!

One of my dogs was enthusiastically barking in the background AND there is a lot of traffic on the street behind me!  Overall, I feel that it was a great first day- it is not as overwhelming as you would think!  After the students left, we had a short staff meeting, and afterwards my lead teacher and I skyped with my supervisor (a part of the orientation process).

Before the First Day:

Over the summer, both my lead teacher and I were out of town.  We had previously discussed having me visit and help prepare the classroom once we came back, so imagine my surprise when my teacher told me I had to come in on a Monday morning at 7:30 a.m. for training!  The certified staff came in on Monday and Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. to plan lesson/unit outlines for the rest of the year.  It was cool to see what the students would be doing, but ultimately I sat idly because I had nothing to add/no say in planning.

On Tuesday (and especially Wednesday), we did actual classroom prep.  In order to butter up my lead teacher, I actually came in for two hours on Sunday (yeah…) to help out a little bit and ended up organizing a cabinet full of construction paper and another cabinet full of dining utensils/plates/cups, etc.  Most of my tasks in prepping the classroom included sharpening #2 pencils, sharpening colored pencils, creating labels, constructing book boxes (like the cardboard ones that are about ninety-nine cents at IKEA), writing names on nametags, and other odd jobs.  I feel like my teacher is nervous to ask me to do anything, simply because she knows how she wants things done and you know what they always say- if you want something done right, do it yourself.

I can’t blame her.  In fact, today while writing student names on their take-home folders/student handbooks, I was writing in all-caps.  [Fun-fact:  the handwriting that teachers use has a name (ex: times new roman, papyrus, arial, etc.) and my lead teacher told me that they (the teachers) try to use that style of writing to model and make the students’ future transition to cursive easier.]  Basically, I failed at writing- I was pretty embarrassed.  I actually wrote all of the name tags, too.  When I offered to complete that task, I could sense her reluctance as she handed them over to me in order to complete other important prep-stuff.  My teacher is really nice to me, but I’m really starting to wonder if she’s slowly dying inside because I haven’t adjusted to how she operates yet….

Hello, Miss Alley!

From August 16th until January 16th, I will be completing my final semester in college as a student teacher.  Student teaching is a non-paid internship, a.k.a. free labor for any teacher that is willing to take you on for a few weeks (or more!).  I am entering a true test of if I can run with the big dogs in the classroom and prior to enrolling in the internship, I had no idea what to expect (I still don't!).  This blog is basically a taste of what I'm going through as an undergraduate student teacher so others can gain some insight instead of suffering from blind anticipation.

In my internship, I will have a lead teacher (the actual teacher who is mentoring me) and a supervisor (an assigned person that makes sure I'm keeping up with assignments/evaluates my progress).  I am directed to act as a communication bridge between the two and work with them to complete the requirements to my internship (there is a ninety-something page document chock-full of requirements....) and become a bonified teacher.  Because I'm trying to become certified to teach Special Education (K-12) and General Education (K-6), I'm required to complete 10 weeks in a general education setting and another 10 weeks in a special education setting.  Here's to hoping I survive!