Wow....my life has changed

It has been quite awhile since I last posted, which is when I have an internship at the state's science museum. It was tons of fun and enjoyment, however, good things sometimes have to come to an end. Back in April, 2009, my internship ended after 6 months. I was particularly upset about what happened but my supervisor decided that it would be best that I stay on as a volunteer since I knew my way around the lab. He considered me as an asset. At this point in time, I was still unemployed. I tried to find a job but nothing has come up that I qualify for. Now, I am still looking for a job and if it means that I have to look outside of Oregon then I will do so.

graduation

Last Saturday, I graduated with my Master's in Education instead of my original plan, which is a MAT (Master's of Arts in Teaching) degree. So, hooray that I am finished but still a tad upset of entirely reaching my initial goals but sometimes things happen for a reason and they occur when we least suspect it. Now it is time to job hunt but who knows what I get.

change in careers

Well...some things have happened since my last posting. In March, I thought that I passed my half-day student teaching. So, I went off for Spring Break in order to celebrate and recharge my batteries for the Full-day student teaching rotation. I also went up to Portland for an educator's job fair and I actually got a job offer in Arizona. When I came back to my home, I had an important meeting to attend to in hope that I got my full-day student teaching placement. However, that is not the case. I found out that I truly did not pass my half-day student teaching. The faculty of the university's teacher preparation program recommended that I try something else because they felt that I am better suited for something else than being a school teacher. They felt that I am best suited to deal with curriculum design or educational technology. This means that I need to acquire another Master's degree at a university that has this sort of thing. However, I need to figure this out and determine on where can I get such a degree. Stay tuned. Peace and love.

wow...where has the time gone??

Since my last posting, lots of things have changed. This past fall, I waited patiently for a new student teaching placement because I was not able to finish mine. When almost all of my patience ran out the door, I finally got a placement right before Thanksgiving. I am still scratching my head on why it took so long to find me a local high or middle school placement. I am placed at a high school that is relatively small when comparing it to other high schools in the region. This one has a good portion of students that are learning English as a 2nd language, which prove to be a challenge for me. In the past few months, I learned some things about myself that were probably never realized during my student teaching placements last year. The one that sticks out in my mind is that I am comfortable with working with small groups rather than the entire class. I am sure that with tons of practice, I will get better. But for right now, I need to get comfortable with quickly or not display my nervousness in front of the class, my supervisor or CT. Last year, no one noticed this notion with me but I wish that they did so that I could have been more successful last year.

Outdoor teaching

Since I am not teaching in a classroom setting, I have been volunteering to teach science outdoors or away from the classroom. I have learned several things that I could take with me when I start my student teaching again. For instance, a few weeks ago, I taught geology out in the woods to 4th graders. I learned that it is important that I keep my talking to a small amount and allow the students to be actively engaged with the activity. During a 20-minute session, I probably only talked for a total of 7 minutes. I quickly introduced the topic and lesson along with some boundaries because we were out in the field and I did not want to lose the students. At the end of the lesson, I wanted the students to discuss on what they saw while they handed back my equipment. Students would rather enjoy the activity than hear a teacher talk all of the time. In terms of rules, it is important to have relatively few than many. A good number of classroom rules is 3 to 5. If there is too few than the classroom can be chaotic or the students do not know what the expectations are. Whereas, if there is too many, then the students would not have fun or feel safe in the classroom.

National Science conference

The national science conference ran for 3 and half days. Even though that I have been to several other conferences, I was practically overwhelmed with this one. During each session hour, there were so many interesting topics that it was difficult to decide which ones would be beneficial for me to attend. Each day other than the last day ran from 7:30 until 6 PM which is a recipe for potential exhaustion. I came home with lots of neat ideas that I could incorporate into a middle or high school science classroom. My newly acquired materials ultimately weigh slightly over 100 pounds. However, I still have the dreading task of sorting through all of my materials when I get back for my spring quarter. As of right now, I am still trying to recooperate from the conference so that I can do well during my spring quarter. In all, the national conference was good for me and my potential education career.

New life for me

Well, I am back to my joyful self. I had a week to calm myself down. I felt down and out-of-luck but remember what I said what happened to me several years prior to the program. People sometimes make life-changing decisions when they are feeling down. This time around, I will stay in the program and will not change careers.

I love teaching. This coming path of my journey to become a secondary science teacher, I picked up two courses that I felt were beneficial for a general education teacher to know about. One of them is the Exceptional Child, which is traditionally a special education course. However, with students with special needs being in general classrooms, I felt that I need to learn how to meet their needs with my curriculum and lesson plans. I am willing to help them succeed. The other course that I picked up is about victims and bullies. This course would be helpful for me because I was victim throughout my school years. I feel that I can contribute to the discussions.

Sometime this summer, I am hoping that I can pick up coursework that is geared to literacy or the reading endorsement in Oregon. Even though I would be endorsed in Science, reading and literacy do not end when a student leaves their Language Arts/English Literature class. Some of my potential curriculum revolves around literacy and comprehension.

Future posts coming soon.