Another exciting day in the world of teaching!!

Today was a good and interesting day. The day started off on the right foot with my Algebra II class understanding their material for the day and even got the "Oooohhh" factor as well. That's always a good feeling to have and experience. Next came Math Modeling where we did a scavenger hunt for a review of their upcoming test. What is an unfortunate thing about this class is that majority of the students it seems like that their math background is very, very poor and just about every day it seems like I'm pulling teeth when teaching the class. For example, the day before last we had to spend around 45 minutes of the class on how to read a ruler in inches. Keep in mind that these students are all Juniors in high school. I would have thought that if they weren't quite able to work some of the problems in class, at least I would have thought that they would be able to read a ruler in inches. The ruler was divided into eighths, and so when they understood on how to read 7/8 inches they then told me that the value was 0.7 inches. For those that don't see the problem at first is that 7/8 is actually 0.875. Their minds were thinking in tenths of an inch instead of 8ths and it took a while for them to finally understand it. So my hope is that these students would actually do their homework and study for their test.

Now comes the most exciting part of the day. As my mentor teacher and myself were heading towards our post for lunch duty (second floor where students tend to hang out between lunches) we were encouraging students head off to class so that they won't be tardy. After I dispersed a small group hanging out around some lockers, I looked to my left down the hall towards the bathroom I saw a good size group hanging around. Then what really caught my eye was that two female students break out into a fight by pulling their hair and throwing each other around. So my first reaction was run towards the area where the students were and yelling at them to break up the fight. Eventually I was able to seperate the female students with the aid of a couple other students on pulling them apart. As I was standing infront of one of the two girls to stop her advancing towards the other student, another teacher came running down the hall to stop the other student. My mentor teacher was also able to get the campus police officer's attention to escort the students towards their offices. I then had to fill out a report on what I witnessed as well.

With all that excitement of breaking up a fight, the rest of the day was a breeze and went by in a blur. However, one thing that did brightent the day after the fight was seeing one of my students working at the local Taco Bell. Kind of a surprise but pretty cool feeling as well. I'm not quite sure how to further explain of than pride to see a student that is in one of my classes working a part-time job. Turned out I surpised him just about as much as he surprised me.

With all that has happened to me within the now almost 4 weeks of student teaching, I don't want to ask what else will I or might experience while I complete my student teaching.

I sure am getting alot of experience under my belt...

as a student teacher. Within the time that I have been a student teacher at my school now for three and a half weeks I probably have experienced more than a normal student might. First of all, normal student teachers rarely get a chance to see how final exams are administered, recorded, and processed. So that experience started my "adventures" by coming to know that a group of at least 8-10 students being caught trying to cheat their finals with their cell phones on about 5 different classes. My first thought on this is what and why would students be pushed to make such a terrible decision that could very well get them suspended from school. Another situation I found kind of humorous what that a student that was signing a statement in the principals office was being texted by a student that was taking a final asking the one in the office where she was. The funny part was that the cell phone was in the hands of the Principal. I can't believe the dependence that students now a days have such a dependence on technology, specifically the cell phone. Oh and I forgot to mention that this occurred on the first day of finals and that this was number two unscheduled fire alarm within two weeks.

The next exciting event was that on third day of finals (first of two half days) was that right after the dismissal bell from the first exam, the fire alarm went off. To me, that was too coincidental for the fire alarm to go off right after the dismissal bell. Because of this unscheduled fire alarm, the students then lost 15-20 minutes on their second final of the day. We couldn't give the students more time because we couldn't hold the buses back since they had to pick up the middle school students as well. So in the end we had to adjust the points for the time that they did have to work on the exam.

Then this past week during the last period of the day, the faculty were given letters to send home with students saying that earlier that morning a 16 year old freshman was arrested for possessing a 9 mm gun on the school bus before the student could do anything with it. I look back now, and a few thoughts come to mind. First is that I thank God for the person that told the right people on seeing the student with a gun. Second, was that I'm wondering why this student brought a gun to school. And third is that the school that I am at could have some students killed at school if no one stepped up and notified the right people about the gun. Very scary to hear about this occurring at any school period.

Now with all this excitement, some good has come out it as well. I had my first real observation this past Wednesday by my University Mentor Teacher and it went very well. The lesson that I taught was a review on Geometry topics to help the students remember what they had learned in Geometry to aid them in the upcoming TAKS test. The lesson went well, the students were well behaved on their own accord, and in the end the university mentor teacher gave me good comments and great marks. So far my mentor teacher at the high school and the university mentor teacher has told me that I will be a great teacher. Now I got to make sure that I don't let this go to my head, and continue to work hard to focus on helping the students. I now have one observation down, and three to go as part of my student teaching.

So as I close for this entry, seeing that at least something "exciting" has occurred within each week of student teaching, I'm wondering as what I might experience the future weeks ahead of me...

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted...

I didn't realize till just now that it hasn't been since November that I made my last post. Well, a far amount of items has occured since then. First I moved back home from Nacogdoches for my student teaching here in Sugar Land. Then I had a very enjoyable Christmas and time with extended family over the break. We got to catch up on what everyone has been doing and just enjoy each other's company. Next came New Years and set off fireworks with the parents, oldest brother, sis-in-law, and nephew. This was the nephew's first New Years and pretty sure it was his introduction to fireworks close up. We learned that he likes some of the sparkling fireworks close to the ground and didn't care for the artillary shell fireworks. Then three weeks ago I started my student teaching, which has been an adventure and will write another post to describe some of my experiences. Lastly, I helped (turned out very little) with my oldest brother, sis-in-law, and nephew move into their new house.

Well that is a quick sum up as to what has been happening over the past 2-3 months.