It’s Over!!!

How completely and utterly depressed I am now that my time in my precious kindergarten class is over.  Last Wednesday was such a special day.  None of my students know that it was my last day so they just went about as normal. 

I had one of my most favorite moments at recess that day.  I was just standing on the edge of the playground watching the kids when little Justin decided to jump up on me.  He had his arms wrapped around my neck and he just sat there and giggled.  Pretty soon, the other students saw what was going on and thought that it looked like fun.  Before I knew it, I have ten to fifteen kindergarteners pushing, pulling, climbing, and hanging all over me in their new favorite game: Get Mr. Jacobsen onto the Playground.  I could tell they were having so much fun but I think I was having the most fun.  It was just like in the movies.  I felt so special that my kids wanted to play with me like that.  It will forever be one of my most cherished memories.  I even had one student who started crying because “he didn’t get a turn to jump on Mr. Jacobsen.”  Doesn’t get any better than that. 

After centers that day, my mentor teacher announced to the class that I would not be returning.  There was a little bit of disappointment from the kids but I don’t think that it really even registered.  I brought them each a fun little candy cane as a thank you present for such an incredible semester.  I told the teacher that I’d be happy to come in and help whenever she needed me up until the time I leave for Disney World.  I hope she takes me up on my offer.  I’d love to help out.  I also plan on being a pen pal for the class while I’m in Florida.  I think they’d really enjoy that!

Now the semester is over.  Finals are here. Once they’re through I am done with school until next August!  I can’t wait to get going in practicum again. Next time is the upper grades.  I don’t know if they can beat kindergarten but we’ll just have to see.

This Month's Update

So there really isn't a whole lot to report on since my last post. Things are continuing to chug along.

School is keeping me as busy as ever. We are getting down to the wire with only about three weeks left before finals. I'm honestly not that stressed out though. Every week, it seems that we have some sort of project or assignment due but it's all coming easier and easier as I gain more teaching experience and pedagogical knowledge. My classes are informative and really revving me up to become a teacher.

Practicum has been an absolute pleasure! Honestly, it is the day of the week that I look forward to most. Ms. Godfrey is an excellent mentor. I have learned so much from her and a lot of my teaching methods have been learned from her. She is way supportive of me and that means a lot. It'll be nice to have a good reference. Because of her and her class, I now have a stronger desire to teach the younger grades and that includes kindergarten.

On week in practicum, I was to give assessments. Now if those aren't the most draining and exhausting things in the world I don't know what it! It surprised me too because all I did was sit there and administer a simple literacy test to the students over and over and over....and over again. I would rather have had to teach in front of a restless classroom than those tests. It was, however, a great experience to see the assessment aspect of the teaching field. I'm glad I did it and it gave me some good one-on-one time with the kids.

This last week, little Aimy was being quite disruptive. Ms. Godfrey said, "Aimy, do you need to go down to Mr. Phillips' classroom again?" Of course Aimy responded "No!" To which Ms. Godfrey warned, "Then you need to obey the rules." Aimy boldly stood up and said, "No I don't! I'm different!" It took everything in me to keep it cool and collected and not bust out laughing. Dear little Aimy then instigated a classroom discussion on how everyone was different but everyone needed to follow classroom rules. One of the more entertaining afternoons of practicum.

The week before that, I had the opportunity to teach a lesson to the class that I created all by myself. The lesson's objective was to have the students be able to create and read cvc words (consonant-vowel-consonant). I not only taught my own original lesson, but Dr. Jaret was there to observe it. No pressure! Haha! I ended up adjusting the objective to just having the students differentiate between consonants and vowels. This because it seemed that they just weren't quite ready to form real words. Ms. Godfrey seemed to really like the lesson. Dr. Jaret not so much. She gave me some constructive feedback and now I get to go back and revise my lesson. I really enjoy teaching those kids.

I recently realized that I only have two more weeks with them! It almost brings me to tears thinking about it. I have grown so attached to them. I hope that I can stay in contact with them as I go to Disney World. I want to send them pictures and postcards so hopefully they remember me. Who knows?! I could end up being their 5th grade teacher! That would truly be a wish come true.

So Far…not so good!!

Ok so remember that one time when I was going to try and do better at this? No working out so well no is it? Oh well, I guess all I can do is keep trying. I think maybe a good thing that I could maybe do is talk about experiences from my practicum.  Also there have been a few other big events since the last post so here goes nothing.

This last week in practicum, I did the Opening for both AM and PM classes.  LOVED IT!!!!  I had so much fun with those kids.  I feel like they are getting to the point that they are respecting me as a teacher and not just some random guy that comes to the classroom once a week. My dyad partner taught a lesson from Treasures. For his first time teaching he did a really good job.  Treasures is a tricky program to follow. Dr. Jaret came and observed him teach the afternoon class and I felt so bad for Danny. The class ate him alive!!! They were extremely misbehaved but I think a lot of it had to do with the Treasures lesson plan.  It had about five objectives and lasted over 40 minutes. Kindergarteners definitely don’t have that long of an attention span. Danny bounced back really well and learned a lot from the experience I’m sure.

I had the opportunity to go up to Weber State University on Saturday to attend the ITESOL conference with Dr. Jaret.  What an awesome experience that was. I attended several classes that gave me a lot of  good ideas on how to become a better ESL teacher. I am very excited to begin practicing those ideas and presenting them to my cohort.

Also, I have been selected to be a Cast Member in the Disney College Program in Florida this coming semester.  I am so excited. Everything seems to be falling right into place for it too. I was able to get a deferment of my admission in the ELED program. My boss also said he would try his best to give me my job back when I returned to St. George. I am way excited to have this experience and get to participate in such an awesome program.

Blog Revival

So this blog has sadly been sitting dormant for the past six months. Basically, it was no longer required of me to keep a blog so I figured why have another thing to stay on top off if I don't have to. I mean honestly, between school, work, student government, and a fairly healthy social life, I don't know how I do it! Haha. Oh well. Such is the life of a junior in college. So I decided that I need to get in the habit of updating my blog regularly because I think that a blog will be one of the most effective communication tools I can have for my future classroom. A blog is a simple way to communicate what is going on in my classroom with my students' parents. So until I actually have my own classroom, this blog will just be a report of my experiences in school, at work, and at play.

This coming week is something I am very excited about. It is homecoming week here at Dixie State College. It is going to be a constant party all week. Monday morning is Monday Morning Madness. This is where all of student government gets together and totally decks out the campus for homecoming. This year is especially awesome because it is DSC's 100th birthday. On Tuesday is what I'm really looking forward to: the Miss Dixie Pageant. Ever since I helped DEl Beatty with the Miss Nevada Pageant, I have been totally captivated by the whole pageant industry. Not for any perverted way or anything like that, but it's kind of like a sport. There is exciting competition and some really talented people. I actually told DEl that I wanted to be his protege. I want to learn as much as I can about pageants. I think it would be a fun thing to do on the side. So anyway, the Miss Dixie Pageant is on Tuesday and I am excited to sing the national anthem at that. There are other events throughout the week but it all comes down to Saturday.

Saturday is homecoming day. It is a big one! The parade is first thing in the morning. Last I heard, I am singing on the Raging Red float. We are performing our Beatles Medley. I am also in charge of the Car Decorating contest for student government. I am a little worried because no one has signed up yet and the deadline is on Wednesday. Please pray that we have some sign-ups. If not, all the prizes go to myself and my co-chair, Jill. ;) Saturday evening is the Homecoming Dance. As of right now I am completely torn as to who I should ask. I am really torn between two or three girls. Bah!! I don't know what to do! Also, after the dance is True Rebel night where you're supposed to kiss your date in the fountain. That could play a key role in helping me decide! Haha.

Technology!!

Wow!! I didn't realize how much I use technology in my everyday life. I use my laptop on a regular basis just so I can do things like check my email and do homework. I mostly use Microsoft Word for my homework but there is occasionally an opportunity to use other programs. Just a few weeks ago I created a concept map on Inspiration. That was pretty neat.

I also just got a new digital camera. I think this is a good investment for my future classroom. I actually bought the camera for my upcoming trip to China. A camera is such a valuable thing for anyone because it can capture special moments. In an elementary classroom, you can bet that there is going to be some memorable happenings.

Google Docs

Over the past month I have been introduced to a wonderful thing called Google Docs. This is similar to a Wiki I think. Through my Gmail account, I can type up a document on a word processor and then share it with people that I affiliate with. If they want to, or if I ask them to, they can alter or edit the document.

Most recently, I did this to get a peer to edit my Philosophy of Education paper. It help a lot because she could make adjustments in a different color so I could see what corrections needed to be made. This helped me to fix this most important paper.

I also am using Google Docs for my Raging Red performance schedule. Whenever another performance comes up, my director will add it to the Google Doc and notify us through email of the change. Google Docs is definitely an excellent resource for teachers. It can help them in their collaborative efforts and also in their professional development.

My Map

I have posted a link down in "My Links" which will take you to a map of St. George, Utah. The pin-pointed locations are the places I visit quite often. It was really simple to add and it is something that I can continually add to.