I came to work today expecting a new paraprofessional since Mrs. Jessica decided to go back to school. Unfortunately, I learned that I have no new para and they will not be conducting interviews for at least 3 weeks. To make matters worse, I doubt I will have a temporary para due to the fact that no one wants to work for nothing that they make.... Please pray.
Here we are in the middle of our school year and at the beginning of a new year? What will the new year bring? What will will be left behind? It seems like my students are half benchmark 25% strategic and 25% intensive.... I will be working HARD to atleast bring 80% of my class to the benchmark status especially if I want to meet my SLT's for the year.
So we went on our annual Santa and restaurant field trip today. It was great AND I am soooo glad it is over. Things I loved about this trip: there was not a big crowd or long lines to see Santa, the visit to McDonalds was pulled off without any complications, and most importantly Its over!!! The students enjoyed themselves and it was virtually painless.
Funny story: I had a child who began to cry as soon as we got off the bus, He was scared of the Bass Pro Shop building, the reindeer statues, Santa, and even walking through the store.... Everything scared him but I was successful in getting him to see Santa... Score for Kim!
Today was Ms. Crawford's day at Sunset Acres. I am truley sad that our 'Workship' has ended however I have no doubt that our friendship will continue. Our classroom motto was to Ride or Die because we were always there to back each other up. Although this chapter of my S. A. career has ended a new one begins.
Today was the last day of my class to be certified to host a student teacher. I have three questions and one statement:
Question 1: Why did I take, and pay for, this class when I found out that there are teachers who have student teachers and they have NEVER had a class to certify them?
Question 2: Will I ever have a student teacher while at Sunset Acres?
Question 3: In the state of Texas, where I am originally certified, we have to teach for a set amount of years as well as receive above average evaluations... Why is it in the state of Louisiana, do you only have to take a class... (To find the answer I'm sure all you would have to do is compare state scores and school ranks between the two states..... Not trying to be biases but I think TEXAS would win hands down.) But back to my question, who would you rather student teach under, a vetern teacher or a teacher who just took a class?
Statement: The class that I took had a wonderful teacher, he is really decorated and I think he will graduate in December with his Doctorate from a highly accredidated school. He really emphasised how important it is to teach teachers preparing to enter the profession how important they are.... However, although I have not taught that long, I think that I need to teach my student teacher how to adapt and survive in this world this EVER
So my child has been suffering from one horrible ear infection after another and I took her to the doctor for the fifth time in a three week time frame. I took her favorite book to entertain her so I could work on my presentation that is due for my class tonight. Well in my haste to leave I put both books on top of my car as I strapped her in and forgot about them. Needless to say, I drove without taking the books off the hood. As soon as I realized what I did I drove back only to find that both books were gone... Now I can understand why at a peditricians office, if you find a child's book that is also accompanied by music but why in the world would you take my BORING school book? It has no pictures and is filled with boring case studies. And besides that, I needed it complete my papers for my presentaions tonight... What has happened to mankind?
So I was talking to an aide that works at another school and it really made me feel better to know that I was making progress with my students. To me, it doesn't seem like I make a difference but some of the things I learned from the awesome Dana Culberson that works at Washington Early Childhood Center in Marshall, Texas stuck and I pulled them out this year to increase my students cognition and it has been noticed..... I'm loving it! Like all black people, I must thank God and my mother for always being there to keep me on the right path.... Lol..
On October 25 we went on another great field trip to the Jubilee Zoo, honestly, I do love, love, love, this place but it scares the HELL out of me. In previous years the camel has always attacked, this year, I guess the goat took the lead because it jumped on the flat bed and the operator had to stop the ride and bate it off with food.... Simply hilarious!..... Strictly after the fact though.
Who knew that this class would actually be hard? I think that the Master Teacher mid-term is the hardest test that I have taken since I had World Literature at Wiley. It was open book and I'm still not sure that I made a good grade. Who knew that it would be this hard to get a student teacher?... I want to build my resume' but I'm starting to question if all of this is worth it. With all the other things going on in my life, do I really have time to spend stressing over this? On the bright side, it's almost over because I rarely give up. I always fight out until the end because God will never place anything on me that I cannot handle, although it sometimes I feel my arms buckling from the heavy load.
Life has been moving so fast I have not been able to show my blog the much needed love that it needed. However, i will provide a brief update. My class is going well but everything else is CRAZY! We have a new evaluation plan and I am dazed and confused. There are a lot of changes and not many explanations. The PGP that I have done for so many years.... gone and my professional goals are unknown to even me. My evaluation is contengent upon my students improvment as well as teacher evaluations. I hope that I can get everything done in the time alotted. I just stopped by to vent and ask for prayers.