...that I've been at this job for a bit more than four months and I'm still alive!  Quite the achievement, I must say.

So I gave my first final exam this week and had two days off (since I have only one class, and "finals week" spans across three days).  It was a nice break from everything and I wish I had random middle-of-the-week breaks more often, but they are also good for throwing me off schedule.  But hey, the week is over :)

Friday was a minimum day, where the day begins at 8:30am and ends at 12:30pm.  Classes were 30 minutes long and my cooperating teacher had to leave town, so I got to watch a substitute at work.  And wow, poor guy got eaten alive!  He did fine with 1st period (they're quiet, and there's nothing you can do to make them loud), but when 2nd period came around... wow, just wow.  It took him a long time to take roll, and when he finally finished and put on the Bill Nye video, he couldn't get them to quiet down and watch the video.  I asked him if he needed help, but he told me "I think I can handle it". 

I jumped in anyways.  I felt bad for the guy, but I couldn't help but think that he was running the class like I was about 3-4 months ago - except for the fact that he has even less power over a class than a student teacher does (poor subs).  I was in-class for 1-3 periods, so I wonder how he fared during 4-6...

Anyways, I also gave anonymous teacher evaluations to my students as part of their final exam.  I told them to evaluate how I did, tell me what they liked, what they didn't like, and what I need to work on.  It was interesting to read what they thought about my first semester of student teaching.  In general, they really like food and snacks that I occasionally bring in.  They hate lectures, but loved the few inquiry activities that I had them do.  My class is somewhere in the middle in terms of interesting-ness.  They think I'm too nice and should kick kids out of my class - but some appreciated that I gave them chances to correct their behavior and make up work. 

I think that with time, my class is getting there... I'm still testing the balance of classroom management and casual talk with my students, but looking back, I've definitely improved on a lot of things.  I know I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but no one gets it right the first time around. :)

Now if only I could figure out how get my kids to learn the Wedding Dress dance... my year would be complete!

Whoa.  It's been almost a whole month since I've almost posted ANYTHING, and that shall come to an end tonight.  :)

JB2: how are your kids?
Way: Good, although not nearly as good as my Unikids.

I can't believe it's been almost three months since I've begun student teaching.  Looking back - although I still need to work on a TON of things, I'm definitely less bad at teaching.  My first try in front of the class (after about three weeks of observation) was a quick review before a quiz.  I remember it being an uncomfortable and awkward feeling as well, I had no idea what I was supposed to do.  But over the last few months, I think I've gotten the hang of it.  With an idea of what I need to do that day, I can (almost) wing a lesson if needed.  If you asked me to do that on day 1, well... I'm sure it could have been done, but it wouldn't have been pretty.