To be continued?

Will I keep posting now that it's not a class requirement?
 I honestly don't think I'll keep posting, but then again in a way it has been sort of fun. I mean I want to write for the fun of it, not to have to meet certain expectations in each post. I don’t find that I’m obligated to include an optional and required link as well as needing a picture in every single post is enjoyable. I just want to enjoy writing. I’m the type of person who has to enjoy doing something in order to be the best I can possibly be. I am not saying that I don’t like being a part of the blogging world, it’s just I would have rather started a blog on my own; instead of being pushed to do it. If I do decide to continue blogging, I definitely won’t have links or pictures in every single post. I most likely won’t be posting on a set schedule, due to not having anything to write about. As of right now, I have been posting what irritates, scares and makes me quite nervous about being a teacher cadet. I really do enjoy being a teacher cadet, I just have to figure out if I could really be a teacher or not.

 

My friends and I having fun.

5 ways to keep my cool

Five ways to keep my cool:

1. Breathing Exercises

Inhale and exhale a random amount of times.

2. Counting or say the Alphabet

Count to a number of my choice increasing or decreasing by either one number at a time or by two, three, four, etc. Say the alphabet forwards and backwards, pick a number between 1-26 and then figure out the letter that corresponds to the number. Come up with different ways to say the alphabet, like every other letter or something along those lines.

3. Don't stress

Don’t worry about it, I won’t let something eat away at myself. Just let it go. No reason to fret over something that I don’t have to stress about.

4. Let Mr. Jager handle it

Instead of handling it myself, talk to Mr. Jager and ask him if he could so I don’t over react. Since he’s been a teacher for a long time and knows more on how to handle certain situations better than I do.

5. Walk away and then come back

If I need to get away from a situation, I’m going to remove myself for a little bit and then come back when I feel like I can possibly figure out what to do.

Snow, as a reminder to keep my cool.

 

The Growth

I have enjoyed watching Dillan grow, he has gotten a lot better since the beginning of the school year. Not only just seeing Dillan’s growth but the entire class. It is such a rewarding feeling knowing that the 15-20 minutes out in the hallway working with some of the students in math makes a difference. Now if only some of them would actually TRY and not just automatically say they don’t understand it, but then again, I like being Captain Obvious. Working with the kids gives me a feeling I haven’t had in a long time, it’s as if reality does not exist, my fifth grade class is an escape from the real world. They aren’t judging you the way adults do, if you make a mistake; they think it’s funny. They don’t have a care in the world, other than recess. As long as they get to have recess, life is awesome. I just like watching them grow in school, getting better and better. It makes me happy, like how can I be in a bad mood and be in that classroom? 

Kids at recess.

 

NERVES!!

Nerves. Nerves. Nerves. This is something that’s really bad for me. I absolutely despise having to stand up in front of people and present something. Public speaking is definitely not one of my strengths, it’s a huge weakness. It’s really quite weird that it is because I’m a pretty outgoing, wanting to be the center of attention kind of person. Why are you talking about nerves and public speaking? I’m talking about them because I’m a teacher cadet as you all know, keyword teacher, meaning I have to at some point actually teach a lesson. I realize it should be easier because they’re only fifth graders, ha, that’s funny, it’s so not any easier for me. I still have to stand up in front of people, it freaks me out, I pretty much have panic attacks. I’m trying to stall as long as I can because I really don’t want to be in front of them, but I also know that I might as well get it done and over with so I don’t have to worry about it haunting me later. It’s some pretty terrifying stuff, really it is. They look up to me, well not very much cause most of them are slightly taller than me, but they still watch me and I know they are judging me. I have to get the balls to do it. 

Clowns = terrifying.

 

Reflection of the First month

The first week in a half was quite rough, because I was new at this and didn’t know what exactly I was supposed to be doing. I just kind of observed the class and how Mr. Jager was teaching the class, as well as how he handled things when kids weren’t paying attention or following the rules. I slowly got the hang of things, thank god, or I’d still be pretty lost on what to do. I was also pretty nervous, I mean I’m a new person in the class, and I also look like I could be a new student because I’m that short. I feel like it’s difficult for them to see me as an authority figure because I am short, but it also doesn’t help that I tried to be more of a friend at first than someone with authority. Hmm. Wonder if there’s a way I could fix that? I feel more comfortable now because I’m not as new as I was at the beginning of the year, though I’m still new at this whole teacher cadet thing. I hope you were able to follow, I kind of jumped around a little bit. Sorry about that.

Reflecting.

 

Pushing Buttons

 There's a little boy, Dillan; he likes to push buttons. He seriously irritates the hell out of me, like no joke. For instance, the other day he kept tilting his chair so that only 2 legs were on the floor. I went over to him and politely told him to put all 4 legs of the chair on the ground. He listened to me but decided to add on some sarcasm; he proceeded to tilt his chair back onto only 2 legs, then put his feet on the ground and say “Look there’s 4 legs on the ground”.  I was in shock that he actually just did that, I couldn’t believe it. I told him “4 legs on the floor now”, again he listened to me but just had to include the sarcasm yet again. With all 4 legs of the chair on the ground and his feet he decides to say “Look! Now there’s 6 legs on the floor." It's so disrespectful and I don't like it. Though I would've done the exact same thing in 5th grade, as well as now.

"Pushing Buttons" www.morethanasundayfaith.com"

This will get easier

     I really like how Erin developed her posts, she had more than one topic in them which I feel if I do, it’ll make it a little easier for me to write my posts. I will definitely include stories from my classroom experience, because well I like talking about what goes on in my classroom. I feel like I could also talk about what Mr. Jager's has me do throughout the week as well as sharing my observations of being the outsider, so to say. Having looked at Erin’s blog I have more ideas of what kinds of things I can post on mine, even right now as I’m typing, the wheels are spinning. I feel like now that I was able to look at her blog, my posts will come a lot easier to me, because it will definitely get me to stay on top of my blog, and continue to post and write. I can tell that as long as I really observe and take notes on what happens in my classroom, posting will be a piece of cake. Doesn’t cake sound really good right now? I know it does to me. Haha, sorry about my randomness.

 

5 things that I enjoy about being a Teacher Cadet

5 things that I enjoy about being a Teacher Cadet:


1. Different environment

      I enjoy switching from the complexity of high school to the simplicity of elementary school, most every day. I feel like it’s overall increasing my happiness because it helps release some stress that I have from the high school.
 
2. More laid back

     Now just because it’s elementary school doesn’t mean that it’s not chaotic at times, but the chaos is practically nothing compared to the high school.
 
3. Helping the students

     I love being able to help my students understand what we’re currently doing in Math class (I get there right before math class starts). I also like knowing that I’m being looked up to, even though most of my 5^th graders are taller than me.
 
4. Being treated as part of the staff

      Being a teacher cadet has its perks, one of them is being treated like part of the staff. I love it, high school I’m just a student, the elementary school I’m on the other side! I know it seems kind of odd to be so excited about that but it really is cool.
 
5. Learning the roles of a teacher

     I’m learning that being a teacher is a lot more time consuming than I had originally thought. You have to be able to multitask easily, jumping from subject to subject fast, staying up all night grading papers, and even though it’s an odd thought to also still have a personal life outside of school.
 
 

 

Reality of being a Teacher

As a student I didn’t realize that being a teacher was a lot more work than just standing up in class and talking about a certain subject. I’m quickly learning that there’s more to being a teacher, how important they are, and the things they do for us students. The students aren’t the only ones who have homework to do, teachers have to create lesson plans and figure out a schedule that works, while staying up to date for the state and also being able to give the students the extra time, if need be. They also have to be able to remain calm during chaotic situations; handling trouble students is just one example. The teachers aren’t the bad guys when you end up with a bad grade, they are merely giving a grade to the quality of work that you handed in. It’s not their fault, you get the grade you deserve for the work you did.  From seeing the other side, I probably should change the way I behave in my classes at the high school, but then again I’m just a difficult person. What would the world be like if there weren’t any teachers?