Life after Graduation...

Here I am, 4 days after graduating with my undergraduate degree in English and my dual certifications for teaching. I have been really debating on what exactly I should be doing now because I don't have a job lined up and graduate school doesn't start for another month or so. Will substitute teaching be consistent enough to pay the bills? Should I even both applying to every school within the county? How can I work towards turning my initial certificate into a professional certificate? SO MANY QUESTIONS and no one has the answer. No one has the answer because there really is no right way to do it. 

This is what I have decided. This is my plan until I find the right full-time teaching job. I have decided to go to graduate school part time (two classes every semester) for two years. The program that I am enrolled in is a two year minimum program and allows me to have a full-time job during the day. This is good because IF IF IF I was offered some kind of teaching position in the Fall, I would be able to accept without worrying about graduate school interfering. If I don't land that job, then I can substitute as much as I possibly can until some kind of job appears. If no long term job appears within the first six months or so, then I am planning on finding another full-time job still working with children and in an instructional setting. This plan really allows me to still be open and available for whatever job comes my way, while also letting me work towards my professional certificate (masters degree plus three years of teaching within 5 years). I also will have flexibility when substitute teaching and I am planning on really getting my name out there in about a dozen different districts by Fall. I will let you know how it goes!

LUCKILY, I received an uplifting phone call yesterday afternoon from the Principal at Byron Bergen Elementary School. The Principal offered me a long term substitute job as a teacher aide in a first grade classroom. My main role is to look after one student in particular to help monitor his behaviors and transitions during the day. This job will last anywhere from 3-5 weeks. Of course, I accepted the job because it beats waiting for a subbing call every single day and I LOVE FIRST GRADE. Today was my first day and it was wonderful. I will of course update you on that as well! 

One more week until me and my boy move into our NEW and FIRST apartment. We are so incredibly excited and we can't wait to make this place home. It has a huge deck and yard and we have been on the look out for a puppy to add into the mix. Lots of exciting things headed our way!

Thanks for stopping in! Have a fabulous evening!

'

Special Ed Placement Complete!

Here I am, finally getting the chance to update this blog of mine. I have neglected it terribly and I feel pretty bad about it. I have been very busy with finishing up my final student teaching placement, GRADUATING , and other life things that happened to get in the way.

First, I'll start with my special education placement. My last day was on Thursday and I miss it already. During that placement, I had really been focusing on establishing a foundation of trust and communication with the general education teachers. As I pushed into their classrooms, I felt myself being very weary of how to give input to the classroom and have a voice. Some teachers are very open and friendly and asked for my opinion. Other's seemed to want total control over their students, which I understand. The teachers that had been open to my input have really made the experience worthwhile. They allowed me to teach entire lessons to their students as well as take the children as I felt was needed. I even got the chance to co-teach a couple lessons with another student teacher and that was a great experience. My solo week was successful and every lesson that was observed went great. I did an awesome lesson on inferencing and my students turned a short story into a comic strip during my last week.

On Saturday, I graduated from The College at Brockport and it was a beautiful day. We celebrated with champagne in the morning and then sat in the sun for three hours watching our fellow graduates walk across the stage. After the ceremony, I went to my boyfriends families house with my family where we had a catered dinner and a yummy cake. My boyfriend had his family up from New Jersey so that was also a pleasant surprise. It feels very good to be done!

My boy & I on Graduation Day!

Some of my fellow teacher friends !

Consultant Teaching Planning

Student teaching with a consultant teacher has been a very different experience. One of the biggest challenges that I have come across is trying to plan. Instead of planning for one large group and making small modifications, I now plan individually for all 9 of my students and they are on all different levels. I have two main periods with my students, reading and resource room. The rest of my time is spent pushing into classroom. For reading, I plan a lesson for all students but try to have each student work on a certain reading skill that they are weak with. Right now, it has been mostly test prep but I will be able to be a little more creative after state tests are done. For resource room, students come in on their assigned days 2 or 3 times a week so everyday I have 3 or 4 students to really work with. During this time I have a small mini lesson planned for each of them to help them work on areas that they are struggling with. This may include math, reading comprehension, writing, spelling, etc. As you can see, all of this can make planning a little challenging.

This is what I have created for my resource room time. 

This bucket contains colored popsicle sticks designated for each student. Students pick a stick that matches their color. 

Every popsicle stick has a different skill that they need to work on and these can be changed throughout the year. Students pick their color stick and then get an activity to do that matches the skill shown on the stick. There is also one stick that has 'free choice' written on it. This system allows the students to feel as if they are in control of their own learning. They then get a half hour to complete the task and I am there for one on one assistance the entire time. 

Another project I have been working on it "Sight Word Zap It" for some of my students, especially my ELL learners who really struggle with sight word recognition. Students pick a stick out of the jar and have to read it and use it in a sentence. If they do so successfully, they keep the stick and the next player goes. If they choose a stick that says "zap it!" on it, then they have to return their sticks back to the jar. The game continues until the sticks are gone. 

We will see how this goes tomorrow but I think my students will be excited to try it. I will let them add their own words to the jar as well as we continue playing.

On a fun note, for my boyfriend's birthday I got him a helicopter flying lesson!

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend and have a marvelous Monday!