The World Has Suffered a Great Loss

I would first like to ask you to excuse my absence from blogging over the past month. I wrote my last blog just a few days before my Grandmother, Nancy, passed away suddenly. Three days ago, my Grandfather, Jerry, went to Heaven to be with her. Grandma passed away on Sunday, March 7th. She had struggled for many years with Emphysema and over the past year, she needed oxygen. Despite her ailment, Grandma continued to go on about her business, playing cards with her friends, attending church meetings, and going shopping. She was such a strong woman. That Sunday, she was having difficulty breathing. God decided that she didn't need to struggle with her breathing any long, so He called her home to be with Him. Her funeral was a beautiful celebration of her life and everything that she had done and believed in. The Monday after her funeral, my Grandfather fell ill. He remained in the hospital until he passed on Saturday, April 3rd. They were the true definition of soul mates. They did everything together. When people talked about them, it was never just Jerry or just Nancy. It was always, "Jerry and Nancy" or "Nancy and Jerry." Where you saw one, you could be sure the other was not far behind. "Til Death Do Us Part" was just not good enough for them. I know they are happy where they are now and they are together. I'm sure that none of us will soon forget them or how they effected our lives. I began this blog for Grandma because I knew that she always enjoyed hearing about what my cousins and I were doing at school. I felt this would be a great way to put my feelings into words and she could read it to keep up with everything that I was doing because I knew there would be too much to share and I would forget a lot of it.





Since then, I have begun my second placement in 2nd Grade. I think that Grandma was right there watching me the first day. She was guiding me through it and encouraging me the whole time. Yesterday, I went to school, despite the sadness I was feeling from the loss of Grandpa over the weekend. I think that day that they were both guiding me and telling me what to say. They will always be in my heart and I will carry them with me everywhere I go.





Thank you for taking the time to read my sad little blog today. I want to leave you with this message: Cherish what you have. Cherish every moment of it. You never know when you will get that phone call in the early hours of the morning. Know that God is with you and that He is the way through those tough times. Hold on to Him and His love.

On my wedding day.

Nancy 3/7/2010 Jerry 4/3/2010

First Placement is Almost Over

Only one week is left in my first internship placement. That means only one more week with my 6th graders. ): The end of this placement is bitter-sweet. I am happy to move on to the second chapter as a student teacher, but I will miss these kids so much. I have enjoyed every day that I have spent at this school. My 6th graders (whom I lovingly refer to as "my kids") have been so much fun and have brought so much joy into my life. They have taught me so much and I will never forget them for that.

Throughout this placement, I found my self getting so excited as I planned my lessons because I knew that my kids would enjoy whatever I had planned. There are always good days and bad days in school, but in my case, with these kids, the good days profoundly outweigh the bad. So much good in fact, I feel the need to share some of my favorite moments with you.

I have one student who loves to use the carpet sweeper and he is always the first one to ask if he can sweep the room. One day, after he had swept the classroom once in the morning and again in the afternoon, he asked if he could offer to sweep the other 6th grade intern's classroom. She later told me that he was silent the entire time he cleaned except for when he said, "Oooops..." She asked what was wrong and he replied, "Uhhh, I think I just sucked up a bracelet." It was absolutely one of those you-had-to-be-there moments, but we thought it was hilarious.

When teaching adjectives, I had my kids cut out adjectives they felt described them from magazines and glue them to construction paper. They were to write in other words to make a poem. My favorite line from one of the poems was from a girl who wrote, "Also, I'm the bomb. Ask anyone. I rock more than those icky Jonas Brothers!"

On the day of my first observation by my supervisor, a few of my kids were acting out a short skit during English because we were talking about how to write scripts. Before the class, one of the girls came up to me and said, "Mrs. Wilson, we are going to read with lots of expression because we want her to know that you are a good teacher!" I wanted to cry because it was so sweet.

Of all of the wonderful moments, my favorites were always those moments when I'm teaching and my kids have that "AH HA!" moment. The moment they finally understand what I am teaching them.

Everyone is having babies!

I have been finding it very difficult to keep up with my blog now that my work load has been greatly increased. That's right, I began my solo teaching today!!! (APPLAUSE!!!) It went pretty well, if I do say so. I have truly been blessed by a wonderful, WONDERFUL cooperating teacher. Mrs. Carter is an absolute jewel and I could not have asked for a better mentor.

Last week, leading up to the start of solo teaching, I felt like it would not been that different because I was already teaching every subject, with a few interjections from Mrs. Carter. She also stepped in to handle any discipline problems. Well I ended up being wrong. Don't get me wrong, my lessons went wonderful, it just seemed so strange to be teaching and moving about the classroom without Mrs. Carter. For the first time, I WAS the teacher. I found the feeling very eerie, but in a good way. What can I say, I love teaching and my kids are awesome.

Now on to the part about babies... my very best friend in the world, Jenny, is expecting baby #2 on March 4th. His name is Johnathon Michael. Her first born, Corilee Nicole, is an absolute doll! I can't believe she had grown up so fast. It seems like just yesterday that I was on my way to the hospital to visit Jenny. It has been so cool to watch her grow up and learn new things over the past two years. Jenny's baby shower was this weekend and I have posted several pictures. Corilee seems very unaware that she is soon to take on the roll of Big Sister. However, I think it is a roll that she will be great at. I am so very proud of Jenny and her husband and I can't wait to meet Johnathon.

Jenny is not the only one having a new baby. Another friend from our childhood, Amy, is pregnant with her first baby, daughter London Journey. My college friend Whitney, also pregnant with baby numero uno, invited me to her shower next weekend. Her son is Greyson Holden.

Pregnancy must be in the water these days. I think Dustin and I have some catching up to do. Soon enough (;

This is Corilee, AKA Booger She doesn't often pose, but I managed to get a posed shot.




Jenny, my very best friend for over 20 years.


Amy and Jenny (London and Johnathon)


Jenny and her mom, Debbie (my second mother)





The little ball of cuteness


Military themed baby shower

Valentine's Day Parties, OH MY!

Today, I experienced my very first classroom party today! As soon as I walked into the building, a student ran up to present me with his homemade card. He was so proud of it! I received several Valentines from my class, which tickled me to no end. The student spent the day eating and Mrs. Carter and I spent the day cleaning up after them. It was so much fun, though.

I also had another very interesting experience this week. I was sitting at Mrs. Carter's desk, grading papers, minding my own business, when all of a sudden the door opened and a group of fifth graders began rolling tennis balls into the room. Once they finished, along came another group of fifth graders, then another, and another! I was shocked, sitting there with my mouth hanging open. Mrs. Carter said she and the fifth grade teachers like to play practical jokes on one another. Today, the same class toilet papered another teacher's room. It was a nice reminder that school doesn't always have to be serious.

I have added a picture of my Valentines because I am so excited about them!

Adventures on the Assembly Line

Oh sixth graders.... I love them despite their constant need to talk and ability to bicker over the simplest things. Social Studies, while one of my favorite subject, is not always that interesting; Especially for sixth graders coming down off the high of another snow day. So I tried to spice things up by having the students work in teams on a makeshift assembly line to create as many items as possible. We had been talking about Henry Ford and the development of the assembly line. To help them get a better idea how the assembly line worked, I broke them into two groups of girls and two groups of boys. Each group had a couple of minutes to decide on a product to produce and who would do each part. Then, I gave each group a stack of scrap paper and a pair of scissors. The idea was for each member of the team to draw a portion of the product, then pass it down to the next member. The last member had to cut out the product. Two minutes on the timer.....and...... GO! I watched closely as the two groups of girls zipped through each product. The boys however, argued and bickered over which member was doing what part of the product, and who was doing what wrong. Once the timer went off, one team of girls had three products, one team had one product, and the boys had none. I think we will have to try this project again tomorrow. It was so interesting to see them working together to create one project, even if some of them didn't agree with what the group wanted to do.

I suppose I have rambled enough. I just felt that this experience was worth sharing. (:

Stay Blessed!
K

Snow Day.... again?

I am so tired of this cold, yucky weather! Every day that our schools close, is another day of student teaching I will have to make up at the end of my second placement. Oh well, at least it is a good chance to get some much needed work done.

I am so excited to share with you what my week was like last week! For my English lessons, I planned a writing mini unit where the students worked in groups of five to write a script for a play. On Monday, I put the students in groups and gave them the task of coming up with a plot, setting, title, and list of characters. On Tuesday, we talked about dialogue and how to organize their script. On Wednesday I introduced stage directions and the students had to add them to their script. Thursday, the students completed their final draft, and on Friday, they acted them out for the class.

The students had a GREAT time, as did my cooperating teacher and I. I was very impressed with their plays and the amount of work they put into them. Our principal even came in to watch a few of them. At the end of the third group's play, they each help up a sign with their name and character written on it. Then they flipped them over to reveal the message "We love you Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Carter!" It was so sweet. I never saw myself teaching sixth grade, but I have grown so attached to these kids that I will miss them so much when I leave.

6th Grade is SO Much Fun!

I have been at it for over two weeks now and I LOVE IT! Sixth grade is so much fun. I am sure that my second graders will be a lot of fun as well, but I have really grown attached to these 6th graders.

As of right now, I am teaching Reading and English, soon to pick up Social Studies. I have always been very good at English, but I have found that it is a difficult subject to teach in some ways. I think this is because, for example: pronouns... I just "GET" pronouns. I understand how, when, and why to use them. However, I struggled to find the right way to get the concept across to my kids. In the end, I feel like they caught on because they all scored very well on the test I gave them!!! It took a lot of reflection and evaluation on my part. In college, they really stress the act of self-reflection. After pronouns, I completely understand the real importance of reflecting on your teaching. I found myself, more often than not, saying, "What can I do better next time??"

I can't tell you much I feel that I have grown, just in the past couple of weeks. My first week, I questioned every move I made, everything I learned in college suddenly because a big mystery and I found myself struggling to find my place. However, this week, I could tell that my lessons were stronger and my confidence level has doubled.

My kids are all so great! I was TERRIFIED at the thought of standing up in front of a group of sixth graders, but I love teaching them now. I can already tell that I am going to have a hard time leaving when the time comes!