Saturday, October 9, 2010

Just Call Me Miss Swaggoner

As of right now, I am officially on fall break and I am sitting in the Denver airport waiting for my flight to Iowa. I thought fall break would never get here and this past week seemed to last forever. However, the past week was pretty good, I had some really good days with my students.

On Wednesday, there must have been some sort of miracle or something because my students were wonderful in the morning. Perhaps it was because they were pretty drained and still half asleep or maybe it was because we were having parent teacher conferences that night and the next night. Whatever happened, it was great. We worked on our descriptive paragraphs and I showed them the one I wrote about Cornell. They were really interested in my college and what I had to say about it. I even showed them a few pictures, which was pretty funny. Many of them thought my college seemed HUGE, even though Cornell is so tiny. Their concept of college and Iowa is really skewed, but I find it rather charming. At any rate, after I modeled some writing for them, they started work on their own paragraphs. This the remarkable part: they were actually quiet and I saw nearly every student at least begin writing.

On Wednesday and Thursday the students had half days and then we had parent/teacher conferences after that. I was a little nervous for this because I had never done anything like this before, but they went really well. Of course, it was mostly parents that I had zero complaints about. However, there were a few parents I really wanted to talk to that did come; I am hoping it will make a difference after fall break. Overall, the conferences were really successful, but they made for a really long day.

On Thursday morning, we pretty much finished up everything we need to do before break. Thursday afternoon, I did the fun writing activity they loved where I give them a beginning sentence and they continue the story. Then, they trade papers and continue on another person's story. Again, there were a lot of stories including Justin Beiber, either positively or negatively. I believe every single story included him somehow. In one story, I beat up Oprah, glued her to the road, and then went to the moon on the cow. Where they come up with these things, I do not know, but I love reading these stories. They are so funny and really allows them to show their creativity.

Friday, we already planned on pretty much having a free day. Jodi brought her dog, Diggory, to school and we played with him all morning. In the afternoon, we started watching the Princess Bride and had an assembly. At the end of the day, I was in the Social Studies room where they were playing Oregon Trail as a class. Unfortunately, I got shot, had my leg amputated, and died. Also during this time, my students decided my new name is Miss Swaggoner. Overall, it was a really fun day and it allowed me to really enjoy my students. It are times like this and stories like I talk about above that make me love my students.

I am now making my way to Iowa and cannot wait to get there! I really need a break and cannot wait to feel like a normal college student again. After fall break, I only five and a half weeks left. It has gone by so quickly already. Even with all the difficulties, this is something I would not trade for the world. I am learning so much and I know this experience is setting me up to be a great teacher in the future. Hopefully, this break will give me the motivation and energy I need to get through the remaining weeks.

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