It's Been a While

There is really no excuse better then having a full time job, a class to attend and a eating club to manage and being exhausted ALL the time for not updating one's blog.

So far, I really like my students, but find the subject matter (7th grade science) a little dull. Of course I am trying my best to make it interesting for the students, but I get the feeling that my science background really would be better utilized at the high school level.

Anyway, I have a few interesting students that make my day rather interesting.

1.The girl who at 12 years old thinks that she is going to be the next big thing on SNL. She is quite loud and can recite any SNL script from memory at any time of the day whether you ask her to or not.

2. The boy in my third period class who will not shut up. He is constanly talking as in ALL the time, will not stop no matter what. So far I've been attempting to ignore him, but I think I'll have to switch to a new method soon.

3. The really smart, Mr. Personality kid in my 7th period class who keeps me on my toes with his questions. He is seriously reading books that I wouldn't expect a 10th grader to be able to read, let alone a 7th grader.

4. The really sweet boy who always greets me by name each morning and asks how my day has been going.

Those are the four that come to mind right now, unfortunately, I have a major paper that needs to be finished. Also, I'll try to be better about posting, but I can't make any promises. :-)

7 Things - Borrowed from When Pigs Sing

7 things I plan to do before I die:
1) Spend a few years living in Japan
2) Find the love of my life and have their children.
3) Visit the great pyramids in Egypt
4) Learn to play the violin (started)
5) Read as much as possible
6) Go to everyone single Princeton reunion
7) See an opera on opening night at the Met.

7 things I can do:
1) Play the carillon
2) Calculus - in my head
3) Run 12 miles
4) Multitask
5) Make someone feel better
6) Make a great cup of tea
7) Listen

7 things I cannot do:
1) Touch my toes
2) Forget
3) Put down a good book
4) Get my brain to shut up
5) Sew
6) Put my contacts in without a mirror
7) Put my hair up other than in a pony tail - it's long enough I just don't know how to do anything else.

7 things that attract me to the opposite sex/another person:
1) Intelligence
2) Curiosity
3) A good sense of humor that is just a little bit silly
4) Nice, straight, clean teeth
5) A tenor voice
6) Piercing eyes
7) A good spirit

7 things that I say most often:
1) Way cool!
2) Sketchy
3) That is absurd!
4) Why?
5) I'm ready!
6) Who's a pretty turtle? (only to my pet turtle)
7) Bah!

7 celebrity crushes:
1) Topher Grace
2) Orlando Bloom
3) Ryan Adams
4) Jesse Malin
5) Sam Roberts
6) YOUNG John Travolta
7) YOUNG Gregory Peck

My Day at a Glance

Today went pretty well. We did a lab involving observation and identification of apples. Nothing too extraordinary.

I'm glad my mentor is knowledgable and friendly. Phew.

The First Days

Overall, I'd say the first two days of school went well. There was some confusion the first day due to some scheduling issues, but that was taken care of by the end of the day.

I will be teaching two special education inclusion classes, two "normal" classes and one "smart" class. There are some interesting little darling in each of these classes that may provide some challenges for my student teaching.

Most notably the student who claims to be in 9th grade, but is really in 7th. We'll call him Eddie. I can't imagine the guts it would take for a 7th grader to wander into a high school class and then to argue with people. Eddie didn't show up for the second day of school. I hope he stayed home and didn't go to the high school. Maybe the long weekend will allow him time to simmer down and realize that he really does want to be in 7th grade.

Someone remind me to kick myself for turning down the job at George School when I'm attempting to get hired in January.....or for that matter the job at the Philadelphia Charter School for architecture and Design.....(haha).

(Exhausted but not overwhelmed.)

Phew

Just finished my first 4 days of preservice work. Since we moved to a new (to us) facility this year there has been a lot of unpacking and scrounging of materials.

I am exhausted, but not overwhelmed. This is a good thing.

I will write a more detailed report sometime this weekend.

Hope everyone is have a successful back to school.