Today was: Quite Good

So, on Monday morning I actually went to school to take part in the teacher meetings - on my day off. Other student teachers in my seminar last week were saying, "No way am I going in for Teacher's In-Service on Monday. I'm not getting paid for this gig, so I'm not going." When one of the other student teachers at my school found out that I was going he said, "You're such a kiss-ass." To me, this whole Student Teaching experience is about so much more than just standing in a classroom with a bunch of students. I want to get the FULL experience out of this, and that includes doing everything [or, just about everything] that a teacher does each day - and, that includes doing professional development hours and days. Actually, I'm glad that I went because I got to go out for lunch with all of the teachers and the principal. We sat there, chowing down, while talking about stuff completely unrelated to school - like how old everyone is. I was WAY surprised to find out that most of the teachers [there are only 14 or so] are around my age. I guess that I just SAW everyone as older because they are "established" teachers. It got me thinking, though, that I could've had as many as 10 years or so under my belt if I had just finished the teaching program at IU. Oh, well, but then I wouldn't be having the rewarding experience that I'm having now, eh?

Miles told the principal that he was going to take next year off. He said that he was also going to mention that he thought that I should take over his class for him for a year, but, I don't know if he did or not. I'm kind of afraid to ask. Plus, I don't want to get overly eager or count on it too much. On Monday, one of the other Kindergarten teachers [hers is a bilingual class] announced to everyone that she is pregnant and due in May. I approached her and offered my congratulations and she said, "You don't speak Spanish do you?" I told her that I knew a bit. She said, "Oh, because I thought that you would be PERFECT for my job." I could always take a refresher course...

The Math stuff right now is all about getting the kids to recognize their right from their left. As I mentioned, there really aren't a whole lot of documented lesson plans to be found for teaching this subject. I did, however, find an idea for a lesson on getting kids to figure out whether they are right or left-handed. Basically, it involves having students cross their arms and note which arm is on top, clasp their hands together and note which thumb is on top, scratch their backs and note which arm/hand they use, etc. In theory, the dominant hand you use in these activities would point to your "handedness". Well, I mentioned to Miles this morning that I was going to try it with the kids at Math time and he seemed REALLY skeptical - like, he gave me one of those "Um... well... you could TRY it..." responses. Well, I'm pleased to say that after school Miles said, "That Math lesson went REALLY well - it was a really good idea." Yeah, it did go well.

The funniest comment that I heard today which I probably shouldn't find funny: Miles was trying to introduce the concept of words in the English language which don't conform to certain linguistic rules - he deemed these "Brat Words". The kids didn't seem to know what a "brat" was, so Miles said, "A brat is someone who doesn't follow the rules and, instead, does whatever they want to do." One of the more vocal [though incredibly sweet] boys in class yelled out, "Like [the girl with autism]!" I immediately felt like I should've gently scolded the kid for his comment, but...