Week Six

We are moving fast. Its almost the end of the first block for all schools, which consequently, means that the second block will be starting. A no brainer you say? Yes. But, it means for many of us that we have to say goodbye to our familiar routines, comfort ability in the classroom and with students and say hello to a new building, new teacher, and new kids...in the middle of their semester. Luckily I don't think I am one of these. Although, given the disorganization of my University, I can see a surprise like this coming.

Over the last two weeks I've been developing that comfort level with my history classes. I know all their names now and can pass out papers to their desks, even while they are not sitting in them! I've also seen my discomfort grow with teaching Lib & Law's subject matter, which I am grossly unprepared in. Each night before I teach that class I will do an average of 2-3 hours of reading, re-reading, outlining and other preps. Usually, I forget most of the stuff the next day as I begin lecturing. It sucks. We do not have enough time to do a lot of different stuff as the class is only a quarter long, and we are teaching required material. There is some definite stress that comes from that and I am not experienced enough, nor innovative enough, to make it fun...yet.

The days go by unbelievably fast though, especially once I leave the building, which is around 4:30 or so. I find that I work much better when I'm at the school. What has been interesting, and something I have not thought about until now, is how many kids will miss test days. Tests are a bitch and a half for students to make up. Not only do they statistically do poorer when they take the test apart from their class, but it also difficult to schedule around. They WILL NOT get to school early, and most of the kids in my honors classes do after school activities, so its almost impossible to get them to make it up. Even so, I still have an average of three students a week staying after to make up tests.

Tomorrow, the kids get their first day off from school in a month, give or take. The teachers however have In Service Day! Yay! I will actually be spending the morning at a different high school, thankfully closer to my apartment, analyzing new text-books for the school's curriculum, next year. I am somewhat excited about this because 1) I don't have to wear a suit and 2)the pyschology of text books interests me somewhat. We'll see how it goes. Until then...

Its time to pass some papers out. I need to jam. Today I'm teaching a lesson on pop-culture of the 1920s. We're even going to talk about Objectivist philosophy and show pictures of art! In all seriousness, I'm exposing the students to a lot of different stuff. Its fun.

Week Five

How about that? Another week down. This week went by unbelievably fast. I guess that's a good thing right? And its the weekend right?? Well kinda. I have an 11 hour day at work tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to waking up at the same time I get up for school to go in early just to go to a meeting where ABSOLUTELY nothing gets accomplished except people complaining about policies that haven't changed in 5 years. Quite honestly its not worth my hourly wage while I'm there. I digress...

This week went pretty well actually. I was crazy busy, hence the no updates since last Friday. The major development in my week was that I took over the Liberty and Law class for a unit on the Legislative Branch. If you haven't read yet, Lib and Law is my DEFINITE weak point. I haven't had a class involving that in four years. Yeah I know that's a long time, you don't have to tell me. I have basically had to fake like I know what I'm doing for the last three days. I've been spending a couple hours each night trying to miraculously understand the material in the text book (my apartment living room looks like I'm in the middle of a research assignment). Maybe 30% of the time, I've been comfortable talking in front of the kids about the material. Luckily most of them know the drill and they do well by me. Again, even with this class of juniors they are more interested in where I get my suits, or if I look like "this" all the time. Its strange really. 

My honors history classes have gone alright as well. We spent a day in the library, letting them have a preview of some online research tactics (which I'm awful at). It was weird working with the librarians. They were nice enough, but Jesus how they wasted time! They would think that it grew on the bloody trees! Basically while they spent an 15 extra minutes showing the kids the reference section they will NEVER USE, the kids started worrying about completing the assignment I gave them. Then while the librarians explained how to use the databases they would use, the kids didn't pay attention because they were trying to research their topic to make up lost time. They panicked and then asked me questions NON-STOP.  It was unreal and it made my head hurt. Seriously. They should serve beer in the teacher's lounges...

I also finished up the week with our chapter test. It's unbelievable how poorly the honors students are doing considering I now hold TWO review sessions where I go over the test word for word. They still complain that they didn't have enough time to study. I mean a lot of the kids did just fine, but some...good lord. Its like they just completely guessed. It was pretty neat though: a lot of the kids did really well on the fear of Communism in America essay question I gave them. Even though I gave the answers right before the test, its still a fairly tough idea to get straight. Go them. 

I'm starting to actually feel like a teacher though. Its been an interesting development. My class of miscreant hellions are starting to settle down a little bit and understand what its like to be real students. They still have their moments though. They ask questions like you wouldn't believe. I stand up in front of the class and give directions and two minutes later I have 10 kids ask me the same questions. Their listening abilities are next to nothing. Each time they ask me a question I just want to slap them silly, but instead I smile kindly, pat them on the head, grit my teeth and tell them what they want to know. I guess my instruction techniques still need some work. Once again, thanks to the university for not covering this point AT ALL during my time there. 

OK. I've got the perfect example for how things are going in the student teaching world. Its 9:06 on a Friday night. I'm a 23 year old male who doesn't mind socializing and I only have one thing to plan for Monday. Granted, I have been out a little bit already for some dinner. Afterwards I ran into my CT and hung out. But still, right now, the only thing I can really think about is going to bed. Night night. 

Currently Listening-Wide Eyed by the Junior Varsity

Week 4: complete

Indeed, week four is complete. It was a pretty good week I suppose, at least it had pretty low stress. I saw my first faculty meeting, soup observation, open house, and then my first exit exam for the university. The faculty meeting was conveniently placed the day before my observation. They are pretty boring and could honestly be reduced to an email or two, but what the state wants, the state gets. It was an OK and all. I got to find out about the faculty meetings that take place every so often at night that involve the sharing of methods. The asst. principal sprinkled some nice rhetoric in: "If you have a good idea, its your obligation to share it with people." I almost stood up and screamed "Communist Pig!", but I figured that wouldn't go too well. I really don't care for that rhetoric. Yeah good ideas need to be spread, but an obligation? Nah, I don't care for that. I think the obligation lies with those who are looking for good ideas. 

My observation went alright. I got picked on for some things that are due to inexperience, like lack of "specific instruction", rough transitions, etc. Its cool, I can change it. I also got picked on for not having the standards on my lesson plan exactly right. Don't even get me started on the standards. I'll have to explain more when I am not so tired. Basically we have to show that we are meeting state standards, which is honestly a pretty good thing, but we have to follow guidelines to create a cover sheet for everything that we do that shows we have met the standards. So if I write a lesson plan, then I have to write a cover sheet that explains how I met the standards. Its a lot of dumb work. I don't like it one bit... 

Open House was OK. I got to meet some parents and things, give a little speech, that sort of thing. I did meet my first "pushy mom". She had a thick southern accent, most likely from Texas, boobs up to her chin, and very little understanding. It was pretty awesome listening to her ask me questions on how her daughter can do better, then interrupt me while I was giving suggestions. I think that I will get tired of that very quickly. This lady seriously made my brain hurt. If we ever meet again, things will go differently. I'll have to treat her just like a little kid and ask her to kindly let me talk. Quite honestly some of the parents looked terrible. Not like hold you up and steal your beer terrible, but more like get drunk and yell at my son because he didn't make the football team terrible. Quick judgement you say? Yep. Some faces don't lie though. 

Exit exams...forget about it. They are not graded so I did not give it "my best". There were only 36 questions...how in the world do you track 130 hours of college with 36 questions?? They were mainly reading comprehension about scientific situations and then math questions. I hate those.

I'm sleepy and need a nap. Oh yeah! I almost forgot, I've been turned on to a fantastic graphic novel that depicts the trials of the Holocaust by my awesome art-inclined lady. Its called Maus by Art Spiegelman. Evidently it won a Pulitzer. It deserves it though, its absolutely awesome. 

Currently Listening-Even if it Kills Me by Motion City Soundtrack

Currently Reading-Maus II: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman

Week Four

I had my first fun assignment for the kids today. After some discussion on propaganda, and also throughout the unit, I had the kids get down and dirty and create their own propaganda poster. Quite honestly it was a fun time. Some of them came up with some pretty decent slogans, even if they weren't executed as well as they could have been. After all, I only gave them an hour. But it was really nice to be able to step back in the room and see the kids actually working on something...together. I haven't graded them yet. I had them also write how their posters were historically and artistically significant. Let's hope they say something clever. 

I have my first observed lesson this week too. The material I am covering is the Treaty of Versailles and Wilson's 14 points. Not exactly awesome school material where I can be my "best". Oh yeah, this is interesting. My soup tells me to be ready because he wants to see me at "my best". Sounds like a good idea on the surface, but really, its a bad idea. Why would someone try to judge me one time at my very best? Does a sport team go out and spend a million dollars on some one who has one awesome game? Not usually. This creates a false impression. My best can be fabricated. I can buy off my students with something to make them stay quiet, to ask questions, blah blah. If anything, I should be seen at my worse. That seems to be more real. I'm wondering, why say anything like that? Just say I'm going to be here then. Deal with it. 

Friday I have another meeting thingy at the University. I'm not sure what I'll be doing there. "Student Forum" doesn't mean much to me. It can mean a lot of things. After that I'll be taking my university exit exams. It will be an exciting week. 

Currently Listening-I Am the Movie by Motion City Soundtrack

Ohhhh man-help me Jeebus!

I don't even know where to start. Chronologically is always best I suppose. Actually, I can't even remember the last thing I blogged about. Hang on. Ok Tuesday. Its Thursday now. Lets see-

Wednesday I got a break from the kids while the counselors borrowed them for their block and told them about databases or something. I'm not sure what really, I just graded essays the whole time. I was a little disappointed because some kids misunderstood some of the language that was used in the film. Some were pretty good though. The highlight of the day came during fourth block. The counselors got a hold of my hellion class and didn't know what to do. Mr. H. had a blast walking back and forth across the library listening to counselors vainly reason, "You are an honors class", "Be quiet!", "I can't hear!", and so on and so forth. You should have seen his smile. It was a knowing smile: now they know. Maybe now we can lose some of those kids. Honestly, its now or later, because they will fail out.

Thursday. I'm sick. All day I battled not only the cold-sickness business, but an amazing stomach problem. Go me. I probably shouldn't eat half a pizza, then chase it with Theraflu, Mucinex, Cough Drops, and Tums. Im a panicy sick though. If I'm not immediately better, I want to try something else. I had my lesson plan ready to go but it soon became derailed. Mr. H. got an email warning that Student Council speeches were Friday during first block. This means that I'd have to shave off 30 minutes somewhere. No prob. Once the kids got into the room they informed us different. Turns out they were today. The email was wrong. Good job school. So now I had to worry about what I would cut right now. Just after we finished attendance and a little reminiscing over the 11th, the fire alarm went off. "Damn it!" I barely kept it under my breath. Outside we go. We were out there for a good 20 minutes, during which I entertained a discussion where a girl was trying to decide about living in the dorms in college. I think I might have persuaded her to do it. Seriously. I had some really good times and wouldn't trade them for the world. Anyway, once we got inside it was StuCo time. I had about 20 minutes left in the class when they got back. We ended up talking about politics, then the Iraq war. I'm not good at avoiding taboo topics. I think I'm better for it. 

The problem for me now is with 1st block a day behind I have to keep 4th block in line. So we just killed some time with them with discussion, review, and a poor video. I barely got through with my sanity. Its a long story, but I have to keep the classes together so I have an easier time with my soup. 

I also learned one of the funniest things I've ever heard today. One of the teachers is a bit of an introvert. That's cool and all, but he has some weird quirks. His name is D. It used to be C. Why did he change it? No joke, he became obsessed with a certain 90s teen drama show on Fox and changed his name after one of the characters. Its not as funny without the particulars, but I need to keep this somewhat anonymous. But think about that. Who the hell does that?? I'm still laughing about it. I wish Seinfeld was still on, they would totally do a show about that.

Last but not least, let's talk about computer problems. In the middle of my lesson planning today I got the spinning beach ball (I use mac). My comp. froze like crazy and I shut 'er down. When I turned it back on I got nothing but gray screen. I didn't know what to do. My good friend B. came over and patiently got through some diagnostics with me. The problem? 80% sure its a hard drive crash. So I had to plop a not so bad $70 for a new one. Unfortunately, he couldn't retrieve any information off of it. That means I have to take it to a professional professional. That will probably cost me $100 I'm guessing, maybe more, I dunno. I probably can't pay them in fried rice and nice beer like I can B. If that doesn't work...I lose all my information on my computer, which I am currently without. All my lesson plans, my supplementary information, my music, my pictures, everything. I guess I should do back ups more often huh. FORTUNATELY for me, I printed off 90% of my lesson plans for my soup's meeting. Otherwise...forgeddaboutit. Right now I'm running my comp. off of my external hard drive with B.'s help. Its an amazing rig. It is exactly like an old man on an oxygen tank. It has to go everywhere. So whenever I take my comp to school I'll have to take my bulky HD and plug it in as well as my comp. 2x the chords 2x the space. Thank someone its Friday tomorrow. 

Currently listening-The Escape Frame by The Escape Frame-trying to get cheered up.  The lady is making banana chocolate chip muffins. That might make me happy...

Banshees controlled

Ok. So the menace that is my fourth block class has been controlled. Mr. H and I talked the business over. We decided another "talkin' to" was in order. I left early to go "make copies" so the chat could go down with me not there. When I got back, they kids seemed like whipped puppies. One even attempted a fake apology to me. How nice huh? Well, I don't know exactly what did it, but it worked. The last two days the kids have been halfway decent. We even got into a discussion today debating fate and chance in the film All Quiet on the Western Front. That definitely would not have happened last week. 

In other news, there was a pep-rally, or "assembly". It was something else and immediately made me remember the strange, embarrassed feeling I used to get in high school when we had pep rallies. I'm glad to see that nothing has changed. This one lasted quite a while, as the school has a lot of different sports, and are evidently pretty good. Unfortunately, the cheerleading squad is very weak, as well as the dance team. Maybe my judgement has changed, but these girls need a lot of work. That stuff is so hard to watch. They also played an interesting game of fun-noodle hockey, where fun-noodles are used to hit a beach ball through a goal. Sounds like fun right? I was thinking it would be more interesting if they used the noodle as a distractor and kind of badger the opponent. Mr. W. told me that they censor the events pretty heavily for violence, which that, evidently, was. I thought this was ridiculous. Then I thought it was more ridiculous as I was forced to watch underage girls, in burlesque-style makeup, with short spandex shorts and fishnet stocking dance provocatively to bad rap/dance mixes. Fun noodle fight vs. underage burlesque show. You decide.

Currently Listening-Narrow Stairs by Death Cab for Cutie

Week 3

Its official: the kids have gotten me sick. I'm battling with a sore throat and some related fatigue. I'd say that is definitely one of the unforeseen consequences of the public teaching thing. I heard sniffles all week and warned them that there better be NO transfer of germs. Too bad for me. I'm right at that point where it could be all better, or waaaay worse tomorrow when I wake up. Lucky for me I have a fairly easy week of planning. The next two days I've scheduled a movie study for AQOTWF. Wednesday the kids have some sort of grade wide counseling meeting, thus resulting in no class. So I really just have to plan for an active Thursday and Friday. What is funny is that without the immediate pressure I don't have the push to keep all my lessons up to date. But...come on! I've got my planning periods! Right? Right...As a result I've spent the day relaxing, watching the Chiefs get beat while I peck at my lesson plans for Mon and Tues. (By the way, did you know Tom Brady got hurt?? I think they might have underreported that story) And a special no thanks goes out to Laurence Maroney for sucking it up on my Fantasy Football team-another inroad to easing relationships between teachers. Also-Screw you NBC for showing what happens at the end of Season 4 of the Office, before Season 5 has started! You know DVD sales are skyrocketing...MAYBE some people have been waiting to watch it! Damn it! I'm going to bed...

Day I of actual teaching-50/50

I made it through my first day of actual teaching. Although, I wouldn't be lying if I said I enjoyed a happy hour get together where I drank my troubles away afterword. The first block of students I have are great. They are quiet, they are respectful, they let each other talk, they laugh at my jokes (as opposed to laughing at me), they don't complain, they ask good, sincere questions. My fourth block however...Jesus Christ. They are the same US Honors history, just a different consistency. These kids do the opposite of all the good qualities I just mentioned above. They have the attention span of hyper-active ADD monkeys. I'm not sure if it is the time of day, being so close to the end of the hour, my inability to hold some sort of innate authority, or if they are just an anomaly of a class. I'm leaning towards the latter actually. Several times I had to raise my voice, or stop talking to get them to shut the hell up. It was a battle for the whole period. And the questions?! My word! In the middle of the spiel on WWI alliance system I was asked, "Where are you teaching after this?". I whispered, "Don't you worry about it." During a bit on trench warfare I was asked where I got my shoes. "Dear god" I thought...its starting. All those horror stories I've heard-they are true. It happens. At moments like these you have no idea how much I want to swear at these kids. Not necessarily AT them, just sort of...towards them, you know, just to keep them in line and let them know I'm pissed off. Somehow the hour ended with me holding onto a bit of my sanity, but not by much though. Its so weird going from 5 years of university classes and behavior to a place where such an instant collapse of reason can occur. 

So today I have to adjust my strategies. All night was a constant psychological chess game where I make moves, but never take my hand of the piece and I lost some sleep because of it. I mainly fantasized wildly about having a yelling fit in front of them. I began to think-Can I hurt them somehow? Physically dominate them maybe? No...the administration frowns upon that and I probably couldn't finish my degree. Can I yell with all my lungs until they are nothing but a puddle of fear and hormones-telling them how miserable they are doing and that their current actions, if continued will cause them to be a failure at school, then ultimately life? No. Also frowned up. Can I do nothing and just ignore it? No. I'm sure that won't work. Do you send them to the office for misbehavior? Hell no. You instantly lose their and the administration's respect. Do you give them busy work? Sometimes. They work very quietly when they have worksheets in front of them. Unfortunately they don't understand how impersonal and sterile that makes things. Today, I will try to keep them more on task throughout lecture. Painstakingly pestering them to look up information for me, which will come at the sacrifice of quantity of information. 

So, after Mr. H's concurring that they are "loopy", we've settled on a heart to heart sort of thing that outlines how they will suffer if nobody can learn. I'm asking for their cooperation in a sense. I want to give them an ultimatum so badly...do this or so help me god I will make your life terrible. Ah! So badly! But I must be congenial and sincere. I will do this alone as Mr. H is taking care of some *cough cough "personal business" in St. Louis. I'm not too worried as I'll have to deal with it someday and there aren't any books that tell you what to do in this situation. Also, the school was kind enough to provide a sub for him. He came in on the 90-minute planning period, which is right after lunch, then gets to observe the classroom while I teach. Meanwhile he gets paid, I get NOTHING...except experience. This "experience" will not pay my sure to be increasing bar tab. Thanks Schools. 

Currently listening-teachers talk down the hall.

Currently reading-my lecture outline. Oh how the arts are neglected now...

First Lesson and First Soup Meeting

My first lesson over WWI is tomorrow. I'm essentially following my CT's regiment. Here is how it will go:
Vocab review: cover the "isms" of the time, militarism, nationalism, etc.
Guided reading worksheet: the kids read the book and answer questions on a worksheet...exciting.
Supplemental discussion/lecture: I cover some of the topics more fully than the text does. My topics for today-trench warfare and the alliance system. Its supposed to set up for the next activity.
Movie time!: All Quiet on the Western Front-the kids will also do a study sheet for the film. I hope they like it half as much as I did the book. This will take us up to the end of the hour. Funny/true story. My actual lesson plan that is graded will take 4 pages of writing...yay bureaucracy!

Currently Listening-Commit This to Memory by Motion City Soundtrack, also the rain from hurricane Gustav.
Currently Reading-my lesson plan outline.

Oh yeah, I'll add some pics I'll be using tomorrow...cool stuff!

Also, my initial meeting between me, my soup, and my CT is tomorrow. This is the "introductory meeting". Not quite sure what it will consist of. I think we basically just go over stuff that's in our handbook from the university, our "bible" so to speak. Let's hope I pay more attention to it...

Week Two

My second week of action has brought me to the one thing I can bet that is common across the nation in schools...routine. Call it consistency, call it predictability, call it boring, call it comfortable, call it what you will. Thus far, its a tad bit boring, but let's remember that I've spent the first week in school just observing. Let me give you a quick outline of my schedule during this last (and next week):

Each morning begins with a confused awakening as my customized alarm belts out Smokey Robinson's "Ooh, Baby, Baby" (surprisingly soothing to wake up to). I still haven't gotten used to the early mornings and I have struggled to remember why I'm waking up this early, and also exactly what time "this early" is. I choose between Pop-tarts, toast, and cereal every morning, but usually settle on Pop-tarts because I don't have to spread butter or jam on them and they are more filling than cereal. I pack a lunch that usually consists of leftovers (once again because it involves less energy than making a special lunch), sweet onion kettle chips my girlfriend "acquires" from work, and something sweet-lately its been a cream-cheese flan. 

I make the 5 mile drive fairly quickly as the streets are usually empty. I do however sit at this certain stop light right outside the high school for a good 3-4 minutes simply watching a never-ending stream of cars go by. I usually get into the school by pushing the yellow light to the max and forcing the oncoming cars to yield to my impatient vehicle. Upon coming to a stop in the parking lot, I have to search for my ID badge and throw it around my neck, no matter how bad it stands out against my suit of the day. 

The kids arrive in the classroom just after I drop my lunch into Mr. H's mini-fridge that sits under his computer desk. There isn't a lot of talking for the first block class of freshman honors US history, and I'm OK with that. Actually, it seems the other teachers are more talkative than most of the students in the morning. I grab the wooden chair and take my seat at the front of the class, but just off to the side of the podium that sits in the front. Throughout the day I busy myself with changing from that chair and Mr. H's while I grade the worksheets from the previous day. 

After two straight blocks (3 total hours of class time) of this sort of action, it is lunch time. But before we get lunch, we have SWOOP duty. I'm not sure if its an acronym, or simply the title of something. All I know is that all teachers have a SWOOP duty. Mr. H's is on the third floor, in the boy's bathroom. We basically have to look out for kids trying to skip/be late to class. We haven't caught anyone yet, but its still early. I'm not sure of the penalty of being caught out in SWOOP. I should probably read up on that...As we get out our lunches, my leftovers and Mr. H's block of colby-jack cheese, an apple, and a diet Lipton Ice Tea, W. comes in. He's been teaching there for three years now. He's a nice young man and seems to have a pretty good head about himself. Him and Mr. H usually talk about the Cardinals baseball. Sometimes I join in and am thankful that it doesn't really take much to sound like you know what you're talking about with baseball. It seems that if you get into it for a year and listen to some announcers, you'll have many of the secrets of the game revealed. This seems to be an inside route amongst the teachers. Usually within 10 minutes, Mr. O comes in from down the hall to let us know his opinions on things. He's an old bastard with a bald-U pattern and a white moustache. He likes to hike up his jeans as he talks. He is also right about everything. Also, he will talk your damn ear off. One of the first days there he decided to talk to me about my History teachers at the university that he knew, and of course all of them had flaws. I got him to shut up by simply saying "well, we all have some faults I think...except for you of course". He took it in good humor, but got the point. I try not to talk to him that much, just like the other teachers. 

We have a planning period attached to lunch that goes into the third block. For me, that means I have an hour and a half to vainly prepare my lessons and fill out the lesson plan guides that will be scrutinized by my soup and by our education advisor. For Mr. H it means time to check out the news online. He's got his routine locked down. He's tired of surprises. I am too, but I'm not quite in the position to deal with it like he can. 

The last block of kids are easily more excitable/annoying/talkative than the other groups. They've had lunch, and they've lost the lull that follows lunch, and they are ready to go home. I continue my grading while simultaneously keeping an eye on the kids to see which ones might give me trouble when I get up in front of them. There are a few, but they don't notice me watching them. Right now I am nothing to them except some kid in a suit that looks like he might have to do something in front of them sometime. They don't realize I will be running their class for the next three months. 

Finally its time to go. Mr. H and I bolt with the students and try to make it out before the buses jam everything up. That's basically it in a nutshell. I think that is pretty much how my semester will be. I will of course be adjusting for the use of my free time. Right now, its OK. I've got my first day of teaching written up and am just waiting for the chapter to be finished by Mr. H, then I'm on. Consequently this blog will probably updated less frequently after that. I'll do my best though. More later-

Currently Listening-Chase This Light by Jimmy Eat World

Currently Reading-All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque-This is responsible for my awesome-present tense narrative. If you haven't read this book, drop what you have planned and do it. It is elegantly simple and strangely profound. Guess its a classic for a reason. 

First Week

Oh man...how I love this University! I had one hell of a day during our orientation and workshop meetings. First of all, I had to go renew my membership to NEA, the National Educators Association, for my liability insurance. I was in their office at 7:55 am. At 8:20 pm, I was still there waiting to get the "online situation" straightened out when I impulsively checked my email, double checking the location of my orientation. I noticed this particular email mentioned the meeting started at 8:30...not 9:30 like I read previously. I immediately hauled ass through town, found a parking spot, and hiked it through campus and sat down right before the talk began, just like in the movies. After 35 minutes we were dismissed and then immediately confused. We had schedules prompting us to meet our advisors at 12 noon. It was 9:00 and we had nothing to do till noon, or so we thought. Right before I left to deal with the fingerprint situation-which has now been resolved by the city giving us an extra week to get them turned in, and also adding more dates in town so kids like me don't have to drive to one-horse towns to get fingerprinted by the Sheriff-I was approached by an acquaintance telling us our meetings had been bumped up to RIGHT NOW. Love the university. I got the fingerprint deal straightened out by rescheduling in town and then canceling my old appointment, which I made by the deadline by 20 minutes-after I spent 25 minutes on hold. Anyways, it turns out the scheduling people had three different schedules floating around for the day's events...THREE! It pushed the whole day towards the far side of crazy and we ended up getting out an hour late. Awesome.

In different news, today I got into the classroom for my first stimulating day of observation. Let me be the first to say that my body is NOT used to getting up before 7 am, and after 8 hours in a really uncomfortable chair, sitting very still because the chair makes a lot of noise when moved my body hurts. I rarely sleep past 9:30 on "me days", but the two hours early has put me all out of whack. Eventually I woke up after dawning my suit, wing tips, and some bright lights in my face. 

I basically just sat around all day. For some reason my Cooperating Teacher (CT from here on out) did not prompt me to introduce myself to the students, unlike at the faculty meeting last week. Instead, I got the "he's the guy I told you about yesterday" line. Believe it or not, it puts me at a bit of a disadvantage from the start because it keeps me more removed from the students than letting me talk. Anyways, I got plenty of stares all day from the ladies, as well as the gentlemen, which made me a tad uncomfortable. It kind of makes you want to say something... anything really.I couldn't figure out if it was my appearance, or just merely because I was something different in the room. More on that later I suppose. 

The kids seem to be pretty good thus far. I have two classes of freshman honors Modern US History, and one class of juniors in Liberty & Law. The first two classes were very quiet and well behaved as they diligently worked through their "activity sheets", which is what the "culturally/psychologically in-tuned" professors call "worksheets". They do this because they are language Nazis and they love the psych research that tells them kids associate badness with "work" and then "work" with "worksheets" and then "badworksheets" with "school". Sometimes stuff makes sense, sometimes it doesn't... but in order to not get busted down, I don't say anything. Oh yeah... that reminds me. During our workshop I got busted down for using the term "minority". Evidently that is a pejorative term now and I could have offended a bunch of people. I guess I missed the memo. I didn't try to argue that the term can be explanatorily significant. Next time maybe...where was I? Activity sheets. My CT lives by them. 3-4 every day for each class. That's intense I think. My first unit teaching I will follow his worksheet lead, then ease the students into my ways, which are yet to be determined, but undoubtedly include lots of primary stuff. I started writing out my formal lesson plans (which won't be needed for a week, but I need to get ahead!) today and came to a realization. If I tried to pull out a lesson that had 3-4 activity sheets, my soups would have slapped me... hard. We'll see what they say. Fortunately for me, the student teacher thing is all about dancing around causing trouble and I can knock out an easy unit plan that centers around worksheets and videos, and be fine by claiming that I am not rocking the boat too much too quickly. 

I spent some time getting organized tonight. Which basically included me tediously labeling those little sheets that go into 3-ring binder organizers. Its crazy how bad my handwriting still is. What is also crazy is that the organization thing is all I can handle tonight. Its 9:30 pm, and I need bed, NOW. 

Currently Listening-The Essential REO Speedwagon by REO Speedwagon

 (Shut up. You know those songs are good.)

Depressionista

The last day of freedom before classes is always so strange. Luckily mine ended quickly when I found a 50 page story in my email this morning to be finished for our meeting tomorrow. Hoorah. 

In other news...GO TEAM VENTURE! Season 3 ended tonight. It makes me happy. Goodnight. 

Operation Freak-out is a go!

Awesome news to report today. Let's start backwards. Turns out I scheduled my fingerprinting appointment using the WRONG directions that were sent to me in an email. I downloaded the wrong sheet, which for some reason was sent in the same email with the correct sheet. Bottom line, I got it wrong. Anyways, my appointment still went through the website and I was authorized for the processing...at a restaurant in a sleepy town about 50 miles from here. $20 in gas, 5 hours, and an OK meal of fried clams and shrimp I'm back home, without me being processed. I was told at the restaurant that there was a mistake and I could only be processed after all the drivers of the Oats Transportation Co. were taken care of, despite my appointment being for the first time slot available. After a couple hours of driving around a couple of crappy towns and looking for flea markets I returned to the restaurant. I approached the technician and was informed that I could not be helped because she was finished processing. I got pissed and started stating my case. She then told me that had I come back in time I couldn't be helped anyways because her boss had told her that she was not allowed to process me since I was not part of the Oats Co. 

Fortunately for me, I have to have my fingerprints on record by Tuesday. Unfortunately, all appointments in town are booked for Monday. My only option, without appealing to the bureaucracy directly (which I will try to do Monday morning before my meeting), is to miss my first day of classroom observations and drive another hour and a half out of my way to another sleepy town where the appointments are not full. Yee-haw! 

Oh yeah. Another interesting fiasco story. I went to our ed. offices to turn in my TB test results and establish my proof of professional liability insurance, which is obtained through a national teaching organization. I thought I was good to go since its a year long thing and I signed up in January. I should have until this January, right? That would cover me for this semester and I would renew in January. WRONG. The year long coverage is only for the school year. Despite me not even being covered for an entire school year by signing up in January, I still have to renew by August 31. BUT I have to have it by Tuesday for the university. I searched all over the NEA's website for my renewal link, but they don't provide one. They do however provide one on your specific state's site. It didn't work, so I called the office to try to renew in person since it was 3:30pm on Friday. I still had time! I was informed by the nice lady that the renewal couldn't be done until the renewal lady got back from vacation...which is Monday. WTF?! Seriously? I asked-no way could this be true. Surely there isn't some magical procedure that only one lady, who is on vacation, can handle?? Oh but wait! There was the state specific online site that can handle my renewal! Guess what...the website is down. 

Am I crazy? Perhaps I should have taken care of this at the beginning of the month, but should it really be this difficult? Would it have turned out the same? Probably...I dunno. My brain hurts and I'm very anxious. 

Bureaucracy-300

Me-0

I'm getting a drink...

Currently Listening-Voices by Matchbook Romance

P.S. Oh yeah, I found a gas mask from WWII that is still sealed in the can. Pretty boss.  

Meetings, appointments, oh my!

The next five days will be filled with all sorts of appointments and meetings. I don't actually get into a classroom with students until Tuesday. I finally made contact with my cooperating teacher (CT). Mr. H suggested that I get to some meetings at the high school with the total staff. He seems like a neat guy thus far. Evidently he is a musician, so we will have some common ground. Another interesting thing is that he mentioned he taught with my university observer, Mr. S. That means that I might be able to get a leg up for dealing with his requirements. 

Here is a look at some of the pre-teaching activities that all of us have to do before we can start:

• Wednesday-Staff meeting. Not sure what will go on here, but I'm sure I'll be conspicuously out of place, more hopefully, completely ignored. 
• Thursday & Friday-Room prep with Mr. H. He mentioned we have "a lot of work to do", not sure what that means either. Most likely we will begin devising our plan of attack for the year. I will also have to go to the university to purchase our fabulous "student teacher handbook" that will give me all I need to know for this semester, and possibly the rest of my life...I need to confirm my TB test results, as well as establish my proof of professional liability insurance-$20 a year for insurance by joining a teacher's org. which gives me all the teaching magazines and junk mail I can handle!
• Saturday-This is my fingerprintin' day. My district requires an FBI background check now, which includes fingerprinting. The funny thing about this is that these fingerprint sessions are held for two hours, seemingly randomly throughout the state. The only places that have any appointments available are an hour away or so. My place? Grant's Restaurant in the chicken production capital of the state. Hot damn! Also, it costs $52.20, plus $15 in gas, plus $10 for lunch-I love the pop-up expenses of the education department. 
• Sunday-Nothing! This is a "me day". Perhaps I'll update on the last few days. 
• Monday-Six hours of tell all meetings at the university. Love the university meetings...not really. They are terrible. 
• Tuesday-First day of yours truly in the live classrooms... 

Currently Watching-Mens Olympic Volleyball

Currently Listening-The Escape Frame by the Escape Frame

Some background info-student teaching prep week

Throughout the next seventeen weeks, this blog will be devoted to documenting the perils of the student teacher. Undoubtedly, there will be many highs, and lows, and inevitable freak-outs covered during this period. There seems to be a lot of interesting and/or important things about getting down the details of this sort of program, which will come out in the rest of this evening's blog and in the coming weeks. 

Previous to starting this semester, I have only a slight clue as to what is going on. Here is what I know:

I will spend a semester, or sixteen weeks, teaching some form of social studies at a local high school. This semester will be split into two eight week blocks . I don't know if I will change after the eighth week or not. I assume so in order to experience more classes, but then again...I also know that I will be observed on four lessons. What the observer wants...I'm not sure, although I have heard from some teachers that I need to document each lesson I teach in a three-ring binder. Super math time out! Let's say I have five classes a day. With five days a week that's twenty-five classes a week, times sixteen weeks=400 lessons or so-give or take with the holidays and tests and whatnot. Anyways, here is an interesting confession. I will be teaching "social studies", which include the histories, philosophy (sometimes), sociology, political science, economics, psychology, and geography. During my five years of college, I've had ONE soc. class, TWO political science classes, ONE economics class, TWO psychology classes, and ONE geography class. Let me also say that I did not get "top marks" in those classes. I guess Gen. Eds can be important in college...go figure.  

Now for a bit of background concerning the education program I am involved in. The student teaching program is the last hurdle in the education program at my university. Thus far, concerning the education department, I have completed two thirty-hour practicums, one three hour observation, and forty plus hours of volunteer work. These coincided with about five total courses. The most outstanding result of following the minimum requirements of this program is that I have spent only TWO hours in front of students, teaching two lessons plans. TWO. Starting next week I will be attempting to work through those 400 or so lessons I mentioned. But, thanks to the lovely, unstandardized world of student teaching, I really don't have any idea exactly what I will be taking on. Needless to say, I am a bit anxious about taking on this kind of teaching load. For some strange reason, I don't exactly feel prepared with my three methods courses (one methods course was devoted to righting the wrongs of the previous course) and two hours of teaching. One thing I have figured out thus far: teaching is quite difficult...if you do it well. 

Considering some of the questions I have received by everyone around me, I should set straight the situation of the student teacher for my final remarks here. I will not get paid. In fact, I had to pay for fifteen hours of credit in order to student teach, which as I have hinted at thus far, is like actual teaching. Some people have compared this to some sort of warped communism, or even slavery. I agree wholeheartedly. Its a warped system, where students have to pay and are not compensated. At the very least, I should get paid minimum wage, like an internship. The really funny thing about this is that our administrator of the program demands that any student taking place in the student teaching refrain from working as it will take away from concentrating on teaching. So. In accordance with her desires, I will be living without a job and working on teaching for 12-14 hours a day, and in two or three months, this blog will be brought to you from wi-fi hot zones, trying to charge my computer for free while I make due on a diet of scraps left over from people who don't throw their trash away in restaurants. 

Currently Reading-Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts by Sam Wineburg

Currently Listening-Plans by Death Cab for Cutie