Teaching is exhausted. It is Friday night and I have been forcing my eye lids open, just to realize that it is only 11:30pm. I am not really a night owl by any means, but this is too early to feel this exhausted. This week, as a teacher, has been very rewarding for me. God has given me a true passion and gift in teaching and I have received some very uplifting observation assessments from my cooperating teacher and my supervisor! This news has really encouraged me and even if I am completely drained by Friday night, I know that I am doing something right throughout the rest of the week. Room 7 is the best class is the whole school and I don't think that anybody could convince me otherwise. On Thursday, I lead the class in a song during our devotions time. I should point out that while I am rather confident in my singing, I have little confidence in my ukulele skills (I started playing a little over a week ago). My kids were so forgiving of my strumming mistakes and awkward pauses throughout the song and they just gleefully sang out the lyrics. I really enjoyed our time in song and hope to continue to incorporate more and more music throughout the day. I can hardly believe that I start my solo teaching/full control this coming week! I really look forward to learning right alongside my students.
Wednesday after school there was a staff meeting all about Autism and Aspergers. Being a double major in early childhood and special education I was quite excited to learn more about their views on the autism spectrum and learn more about how they treat disabilities in the schools. I can't really say that I learned any new information during the presentation (which is probably a shout out to MVNU's wonderful Intervention Specialist program), but I did love the analogies and simulations that were used to present the material in slightly different ways than what I was used to. The school that I teach at does have IEPs, but they write them for both students with disabilities and gifted students. The IEPs don't look anything like our twenty page forms, but I really like how they write out individual plans for gifted students. I myself am guilty on putting a majority of my attention in the classroom on the students who are struggling because that is my passion, but this experience has been a nice reminder that I have to push my students who are advanced with the same urgency.
Another highlight of my week was Valentine's Day. Vincent had an awards ceremony that he had to attend for work Thursday night so Sarah decided to take all of us kids to the beach. Levi drove us over to Muriwai on the west coast (the west coast has beautiful black sand beaches, I have never seen anything like it before). We bought some fish and chips when we arrived at the beach and had a lovely dinner by the ocean. I tried also tried Kiwi food that I didn't like for the first time...muscle fitters. The texture was just a little too much for me. As the sun was setting we took the quick five minute hike up the coast for an amazing view of the gannet colony. Gannets are seabirds and at this colony there are approximately 1,200 pairs of gannets that nest here on two islands from August to March. The smell wasn't too enjoyable, but the view of the Tasman Sea was wonderful. We finished our hike right as the sun slipped under the horizon and then decided to we should probably head home, it was a school night and none of us had done any work yet.
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| Gannet Colony in the background |
I really look forward to starting my full control on Monday, prayers are appreciated, I know it will be more tasking than I realize. Must go write lesson plans and submit job applications. Be prepared for ridiculous stories about students in upcoming posts.
Teaching is exhausted. It is Friday night and I have been forcing my eye lids open, just to realize that it is only 11:30pm. I am not really a night owl by any means, but this is too early to feel this exhausted. This week, as a teacher, has been very rewarding for me. God has given me a true passion and gift in teaching and I have received some very uplifting observation assessments from my cooperating teacher and my supervisor! This news has really encouraged me and even if I am completely drained by Friday night, I know that I am doing something right throughout the rest of the week. Room 7 is the best class is the whole school and I don't think that anybody could convince me otherwise. On Thursday, I lead the class in a song during our devotions time. I should point out that while I am rather confident in my singing, I have little confidence in my ukulele skills (I started playing a little over a week ago). My kids were so forgiving of my strumming mistakes and awkward pauses throughout the song and they just gleefully sang out the lyrics. I really enjoyed our time in song and hope to continue to incorporate more and more music throughout the day. I can hardly believe that I start my solo teaching/full control this coming week! I really look forward to learning right alongside my students. 
Wednesday after school there was a staff meeting all about Autism and Aspergers. Being a double major in early childhood and special education I was quite excited to learn more about their views on the autism spectrum and learn more about how they treat disabilities in the schools. I can't really say that I learned any new information during the presentation (which is probably a shout out to MVNU's wonderful Intervention Specialist program), but I did love the analogies and simulations that were used to present the material in slightly different ways than what I was used to. The school that I teach at does have IEPs, but they write them for both students with disabilities and gifted students. The IEPs don't look anything like our twenty page forms, but I really like how they write out individual plans for gifted students. I myself am guilty on putting a majority of my attention in the classroom on the students who are struggling because that is my passion, but this experience has been a nice reminder that I have to push my students who are advanced with the same urgency. 
Another highlight of my week was Valentine's Day. Vincent had an awards ceremony that he had to attend for work Thursday night so Sarah decided to take all of us kids to the beach. Levi drove us over to Muriwai on the west coast (the west coast has beautiful black sand beaches, I have never seen anything like it before). We bought some fish and chips when we arrived at the beach and had a lovely dinner by the ocean. I tried also tried Kiwi food that I didn't like for the first time...muscle fitters. The texture was just a little too much for me. As the sun was setting we took the quick five minute hike up the coast for an amazing view of the gannet colony. Gannets are seabirds and at this colony there are approximately 1,200 pairs of gannets that nest here on two islands from August to March. The smell wasn't too enjoyable, but the view of the Tasman Sea was wonderful. We finished our hike right as the sun slipped under the horizon and then decided to we should probably head home, it was a school night and none of us had done any work yet. 
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