buggy business.

Today I've been trying to come up with an over-arching theme for my summer school kids, since as far as I know it's all up to me, and I do believe I've arrived at one: BUGS! I have six weeks of classes to plan for, and I'm hoping to spend one week each on a different bug/insect...bee, caterpillar/butterfly, ladybug, spider, ant, and firefly. I feel like it's something the kids will enjoy, and since it's summer we should be able to go out and do some "field research". I just really don't want these kiddos to be stuck inside everyday and I've come up with some really cool things for them so far. Now I just have to rifle through the school's library to find some books in French on these bugs, and spend hours preparing everything that I want to do.

I did however just realize the toll that this summer is going to take on my brain and my sanity. I'm going to be hanging out with 15-18 soon-to-be first graders every day, 8 hours a day, for six weeks...and speaking with them entirely in French. During student teaching I only spoke French 4.5 hours everyday, and it was still hard for me to turn it off when I came home. I'm excited to be able to work alongside native French speakers while staying in the Midwest, but I know it's going to mess with my mind even more and probably wreak havoc on my English.

In other news, today I got a call from a tiny school in West Virginia that sounds like they really want to hire me as their French teacher. I don't want the job unless it gets to be August and I still have nothing, but I probably should find a more tactful way of relaying that message to them.

life as i know it...

Well I've been home for a week, and I'm proud to say that I have not been significantly bored out of my mind or lazy since I've been here. I am NOT proud to say that I still have not unpacked anything, which is not totally my fault due to the unconstructed version of a bedroom I'm currently occupying, but it still makes me cringe.

I've spent the past week trying to tie up all sorts of loose ends, job searching, job interviewing, working for my parents, painting like a madwoman, and making regular trips to home improvement stores. Here is the result of all that work:

-JOB! I get to teach 21 first graders at the French immersion school in Kansas City for six weeks this summer. Kinda crazy how I rememeber telling people in the past few years that my dream job would be teaching at a French immersion elementary school...and less than a week after graduation, it's mine. It is only a summer position, but it's definitely the best summer job I could have ever requested, and it pays well, which is a HUGE change from the past two summers.
-I've made it through all the hoops with the Southern Teachers Agency, which places teachers in private schools in the South, and everyone I've interviewed with seems incredibly optimistic about my job possibilities. The neat thing about this program is that once you meet all their requirements, they go out and market you to schools and once they find a school that meets your criteria, it's pretty much a done deal.
-I got to teach a bunch of junior high kids how to rekey locks. About 80% of them failed, but it was fun to watch, and it felt nice being back in a classroom again.
-The new room is close to being done! Probably the biggest painting challenge I've faced yet...but after three coats of paint it's looking pretty spiffy.

summer :)

So summer is almost here, and I feel the need to declare my summer plans for the blogosphere...at least the plans I have in this moment so that no one can say, "i didn't know you were...." And if they do say that I will yell BLOG! and run away. Not really, but that would be quite humorous.

May 7-14--the beautiful Cedar Valley, popping into a few French classrooms, and hashing out the rest of my summer plans. oh, and chilling with colbs and whoever else i can get to commit to having fun.
May 15-20--Norfolk, Virginia area, for Stephanie's wedding! because i keep promises, unlike some people....ok, sorry, no bitterness allowed.
May 20-23--Cedar Falls for Shannon's graduation
May 24-28--Disney World and Universal Studios with Mike and Katrina, sweet action fo sho
May 30--Chicago for a Cubs game, sitting in the 2nd row bleacher seats in right field...watch for me on la télé :)

From then on, my plans depend on what my summer job is going to be. I may be going to Wyoming and Denver, CO, the Rio Grande Valley de Texas, and also a trip out to wherever I get a job for this fall (California?!? that would complete my tour of the U.S. quite nicely I think).

the job search uppity-date

You know what my fatal flaw is in this whole job search process?

I'm afraid that I will get a job, and then I won't know what to do. Pretty much, I have a fear of commitment.

Wow does that explain a lot.

teacher placement day reflection.

Well, I really enjoyed teacher placement day. At first it was rather frightening, walking in and not knowing where to go, who to talk to...but then I started off by talking to the Cedar Rapids Schools people and that helped make me more comfortable. I talked to probably about 10 different districts, and most of them were pretty nice and helpful. The only people that were somewhat rude were Shawnee Mission, Park Hill, and, ironically enough, Warrensburg. My favorite people I talked to were probably the guys from Liberty and Blue Springs, just because they actually asked me real interview questions and seemed genuinely interested and impressed with what I had to say. But who knows, I've applied to Lee's Summit and Liberty now, so we'll see what comes of that. This experience definitely helped me increase my confidence though, one of the Career Services guys even came up and told me that he overheard people talking about me (saying good things of course) so that MUST be a good sign.

Oh, and on a really weird side note, I had one superintendent approach me and seem really interested in hiring me for about 10 seconds, then he said, "I'm sorry, our district doesn't even teach French, but I don't pass up chances to talk to attractive women." WHOA. Pretty sure they don't prepare you for comments like that in the mock interviews. Oh, and I also got interviewed by KMOS for their University Magazine, so I'll be making another television appearance...we'll see if I managed to sound intelligent on this one :).

i love the freshies.

Today was my first day teaching without my district supervisor around...which I was honestly looking forward to because it meant it would actually feel like my own classroom...but I found out how much kids will try to take advantage of someone who appears to be kind and understanding. I had everyone from the shyest freshmen to the big burly football player seniors lying to me today, and I seriously wondered if I looked that dumb, seriously, like I'm going to say, "Sure, you can use your notes and your books during your test....you can leave class ten minutes early to go smoke pot in the parking lot...of course you can sit by the kid that you've been separated from all year long because all you do is talk about getting drunk on the weekends..." PLEASE!

But really, it was a pretty good day, I had lots of students come up to me at the end of my classes and tell me how much they're enjoying my lessons...even when I give them bad grades they like me, so I must be doing something right. Tomorrow is my first visit from my university supervisor, and I'm so ready for it. He decided to come for my best class, where all the kids actually pay attention and participate, so I'm hoping for a great class period!

hmm.

I've officially taken over all the French classes at WHS for the next two months! It's kind of crazy, the kids seem genuinely happy (so far, haha) and I actually had the surprise of my life today when I announced in one of my French one classes that I was going to be speaking uniquely in French (crap, that's French syntax right there...but I'm not changing it) and I had one girl say, "Yes! This will be great! I'm going to learn so much!" and a boy say, "Sweet! It will be fun to see if you can do it." Oh boy oh boy, can I do it :). It was nice to get a class that didn't meet that announcement with looks of sheer horrors and sighs of disgust...which I'm sure is what I'll get tomorrow when I announce to all those French II slackers what I expect of them.

But so far the teaching has gone well, I spend hours every night brainstorming ways to make things interesting for these kids, and they seem to appreciate the effort...mostly because that extra effort usually results in me thinking up elaborate games for them to play...EDUCATIONAL games, but they forget about that part of it.

But this brings me to sort of a crossroads...I love teaching, I really really do...so maybe I should just jump into the real world and get a job? I definitely could do it, and do it well, I've had lots of diverse teaching experiences to learn from, and the teacher whose classes I'm taking over has even mentioned that if I want to stay in the area she would help me put together an argument for why the district should hire a second French teacher...I could start a French program at the middle school and teach a section of French I and French II, which are the levels I enjoy the most anyway because they're so high-energy. Bah, who knows, I'm just rambling now...but it is something to think about. I started an application with the Clark County SD in Las Vegas since I saw on the USREAP.NET site that they are looking for a French teacher. So now I guess it's just time for me to be patient and see where God leads me.

i need to not be such a nerd.

So browsing through MSN's Slate magazine online, an article about the disintegration of the imperative mood caught my eye...that alone shows me that studying grammar has completely taken over my life. But it was interesting, it talks about how instead of using such strong imperative commands, we have become a society that focuses on "I messages" as suggested by child psychologists. So instead of telling a child to "Do your homework!" we say, "I need you to do your homework", implying that there is some sort of mystical inner desire that must be fulfilled.

Ok, so I'm probably the only one who thought that was interesting...but if you are maybe slightly intrigued by it, here's the link, and I won't tell anyone if you read the whole article and think to yourself, "Man, I wish I could read more stuff like this."

http://www.slate.com/id/2145734/

i feel the need to make a flow chart.

So...three days until I find out about whether I've made it into Teach for America or not...and I'm sitting here trying to figure out what I'm going to do when it turns out they don't want me. I guess I just want to be able to have another plan in mind so that I don't sound too heart-broken if I get rejected. And yesterday my supervisor at the high school told me she thought I should really look into teaching English in France next year if TfA doesn't pan out, since the French government has this huge budget for bringing in American college grads to teach French all over the country, and even in their overseas departments in Martinique and Reunion. And then there's the whole possibility of being a nanny for a French family...could I really be going back to France? I mean, I guess it's not a crazy idea, I don't really have a lot keeping me here, my family obviously, but my friends are going to be scattered around the country, and let's face it, once you get further than a few hours drive away, you might as well be in another country because you'll be seeing them just as frequently. But then thinking about that brings up a whole other issue...if I keep taking every opportunity to do these big things while I'm not "tied down", will I be avoiding my chances to become "tied down" to an area, because I'll have the mindset that I'll just be leaving again soon anyway?

But really...France...AGAIN? Wasn't I just there?

allez, allez, allez...

So today was my first real teaching experience of student teaching. In French III I got to sit with some kids and talk them through the corrections they needed to make on their introductions...I think that is seriously one of my favorite things to do, because it's easy for me. For some reason I can read a paragraph in horrible French but find a way to change a few little things and make it perfect...thereby not totally making an idiot out of the student by changing their entire work. Then in French IV I got to do the oral part of their exam, meaning I had them each read a couple sentences from Le Petit Prince, then I asked them questions about the meaning and symbolism in the book. Two of my students did really well, but the other two were super nervous for some reason and it showed. Then French I, White 4, my favorites....I got to do an activity that had been brewing in my mind for the past week, and my supervising teacher loved it and wants me to do it with her other classes tomorrow. I have a feeling these weeks are going to fly by, at least I hope they do, I love these kids but I'm just really anxious to have a real job, my own students, and hopefully be doing it with Teach for America (one week til the news comes!)

mardi gras!

Last year on Mardi Gras...I was in beautiful Nice, on the French Riviera, buying sunglasses, taking a day trip to Monaco, and celebrating the end of Carnaval by spraying strangers in the face with silly string and watching fireworks over the Mediterranean Sea, going to some Nordic pub, running into Dan the Australian with the dirty mouth, meeting aerospace engineers from Rochester, NY (translation:GEEKS), and consuming the best kebabs known to mankind.

This year...I will be in surprisingly warm Warrensburg, MO, teaching high schoolers, writing lesson plans, eating dinner by myself, and going to bed before midnight.

Ok, I will admit it, there ARE times when I miss France.

some blagues for this blog

Ice Ice Baby. Do do do do do do do.

the interview reflection...because teachers love to reflect

Well it happened, and it's finally out of my hands and in those of the big wigs at Teach for America. I know, the logical question is..."HOW DID IT GO?!?" And here is where you will hopefully find your answer, in the most boring chronological recap of the day's events.

8:20-Sandra and I go to the caf for breakfast, and WOW does Grinnell College have an awesome new dining hall. It's swank, and I got in for free. Talk about starting the day off well!

9:00-I enter a room with 12 other applicants, and two guys who are Houston Corps alumni. Time for some descriptive language, so you can skip this part if you really don't care what everyone looked like and my first impressions of them all. The first person to introduce themselves, Willa, a FRENCH major from Grinnell. Holy crap, fear shot through my body, she would KNOW if I was making things up and by the looks of her, she would probably correct me during my lesson to embarass the crap out of me. Joy. Then we have Luis, a short math major from Grinnell; Shannon, a red-headed Spanish Ed. major from Knox College; Erin, an English ed. major from ISU and probably the most down-to-earth one (she cracked jokes with me to help ease the tension in the room); Michael, poli sci, student body president at Grinnell; Bethany, Spanish or English or something education from...I don't remember where, probably Grinnell; Terrina, English ed from Grinnell; Dave, another redhead, tall skinny history dude from Creighton; Elyssa, from UNL, she was public relations or something, Kathleen, Grinnell girl; Kate, ANOTHER redhead...from Grinnell, and Jenny, a peppy girl from Drake. Is that 13? YES. Anyway, they were all dressed in black suits, and we seriously looked like a group of lawyers or something. The two TFA interviewers were honestly, kind of awkward. The one guy, my interviewer, there was something a little off about him, he was kind of creeping me out because he stared at me a lot when he was talking, and didn't show much emotion. The other guy was, umm, how do I say this in a PC way...flamboyant? Yeah, you can figure out what that entails.

9:10-10:30ish- Sample teaching lessons. This was the scary part...first when we signed up for the order, it was like a stampede of wild cattle descending on an open plain...ridiculous. And me being me, I'm not incredibly pushy, so although I wanted to go first, I ended up going last. Oh well, it just gave me an hour and a half to freak myself out and think about how great everyone else was doing. HAHAHA, JUST KIDDING! The lessons for the most part were pretty....rough. I guess I have learned something about teaching in the past four years, because I kept thinking about all the things they were doing wrong...especially when it came time for the Willa's French lesson. First of all, I was distracted and annoyed by all of her mistakes in French, and the fact that she spoke it at the pace of a soft-shelled tortoise (I'm assuming they're as slow as turtles), plus her pronunciation...and the fact that she took five minutes to teach us the numbers 1-5...and people still couldn't get it. She went 2nd, probably hoping to set the bar high for me, but I definitely cleared it. I was able to get the entire class to understand how to ask and answer questions related to people's names and how they're doing...haha...small talk, oddly enough. I was the only one who didn't stay planted in front of the dry erase board for the whole five minutes, which in retrospect, I think is really important although I didn't move around the room consciously...I think it does a better job of engaging the "students".

10:30-11:00-Group activity. Joy. Trying to make my voice be heard in a group with 6 other pushy candidates. The first few minutes I was silent, then I gave myself a little pep talk, and jumped in, interrupting people just to show some engagement. Luckily for me, Luis was my buddy and would ask the others to pause so that he could know more about my thoughts...and I was able to through out two major strategies for improving teacher morale and collaboration in under-performing schools.

11:00-11:30 Learn all about Teach for America...hear inspirational stories....etc.

11:30-12:00-Individual problem solving activity. We were given a scenario where there was a mayor who was hoping to improve achievement in her urban school district, a sheet of data presenting different factors affecting achievement in a wide range of schools...and then we had to analyze the data, and create a proposal as to what the mayor should do to address the education issues in the district. I love charts, numbers, percentages, so this was a breeze...but I assume it would be for anyone in the room, so probably not much ground gained in that one.

LUNCH

1:30- Personal Interview. This is the part everyone wants to know the most about, but I remember the least about. They asked me questions about the biggest challenges I've faced, my leadership experience, how I deal with conflicts, how I organize myself, whether I have ever resigned from a commitment, what factors I would consider in setting goals for my students, what I anticipate being a TfA corps member would be like, whether I am physically and emotionally strong enough to endure the two year commitment, how I know that I am an effective leader, and finally I had to participate in a short role-playing activity where I was a third grade teacher wanting to teach a unit on weather while my principal wanted me to start test-prep activities with my students. And I think I won the principal over :). There were a couple of questions that stumped me, mostly because all I could think about were all the variables involved...such as in setting goals for my students, it's going to depend on so many things, what grade, subject, location, level of parental support...so much to consider. Anyway, that was the end of the day...I drove back to Missouri, caught the prayer at the end of life group...and went back to lovely room 107.

la fin. merci. :)

small talk.

Lately I've been contemplating the phenomenon of small talk. It's one of those things that I think about a lot for some reason, and I'm always astounded by how often it occurs and how utterly useless it is if all you get is the "small talk". I mean, if you don't care to really hear how a person's day is going or what they're up to, why do you ask "how are you?" or "what's up?" Why can't we just be satisfied with a simple greeting of hey, hello, hi, whatever you want and move on instead of asking questions for which we don't really want truthful answers? Personally, when I ask someone how they are, I want more than just "I'm fine, how are you?" WHY are you fine? What makes this a fine day? Something must be happening for it to not be a horrible day, or maybe it is, and they just don't want to admit to it because horrible has THREE TIMES as many syllables as fine.

I guess it's just one of those little things that will always kind of irk me, not that I'm going to refuse to engage myself in small talk because of it, but I definitely always try to make my small talk as big as possible...which usually means talking really fast before the other person realizes I'm breaking the small talk code.

judgment day looms ahead...

I will be leaving the burg in about an hour to head to Grinnell, Iowa for my final interview with the Teach for America folks. Some moments I feel so prepared and ready for this challenge, while others I wonder how I'm going to make it through the day. I just spent an hour re-reading all the pre-reading materials, and finding some more articles on the Internet to heighten my understanding of the achievement gap and standards-based testing, so hopefully I will have enough fodder to spout out during the group discussion. I haven't practiced my five minute lesson, but maybe I can do that on the drive up.

On a different note, check out my first week of student teaching:
2/12 Regular day, meeting everyone around the school
2/13 Snow day
2/14 Snow day
2/15 Day off to attend interview
2/16 Teacher Inservice Day
2/19 President's Day--No school

So I'm gonna have to say that week 1 went pretty well :). I'm about halfway through planning my unit for French I, for some reason it takes me forever...probably because I'm over-planning...but hey, that's what I do. Anyway, I'll talk to you all on the other side...Teach for America here I come!

Day one...check.

Well, I am still alive. My first day was pretty uneventful, it was the first time I'd seen the French III and IV kids for a long time, and it was kind of fun to see the looks on their faces when Mme. Wilson told them I would be teaching them for the rest of the semester :). I think French III will end up being one of my favorite classes because the kids are actually excited about the language, and they're pretty smart as well. There are a couple of aspiring French teachers in the bunch, so they are definitely hoping to learn a little from me, which is a sweet thought!

I also got to interview a bunch of random people around the school, which was a good way to meet some people that I'm sure I will be asking for help from in the near future. The day ended with my favorite class, White 4 French I, and I got to spend half an hour just running around the room fielding questions from the kiddos. I love that the slackers who really don't even want to be in the class are comfortable asking me for help and laugh at my jokes...pretty much I just enjoy seeing all those kids' smiling faces every other day. I love teaching.

Now it's time to refuel for another day...Red Day, with two French I classes and one doozy of a French II class...all in a row. I love having a routine again, even though it doesn't include working out with Megan everyday :(.

The pre-first day post.

The day has finally [almost] arrived...February 12, the first day of student teaching. I wish that my methods class had required more of me, but once again, I prove to be the exception to the rule. As a French Education major, I have made it through my entire college career without ever being explicitly taught how to teach a single French lesson or unit. I have no fellow classmates to steal ideas from, because all my classmates are Spanish teachers who honestly seem pretty incompetent and rely on Selena and Dora the Explorer for cultural lessons.

But I start tomorrow teaching one of the most important verbs to a French I class of 25 students. I have some tricks up my sleeve, some ideas brewing, but it's all a matter of seeing how much my supervisor will let me break away from what she normally does. So these first few weeks will probably be rather interesting, as I hope to get clearance for not using the textbook exams or worksheets in order to make my instruction more contextualized and have my assessments reflect what the students are actually learning. I anticipate lots of grumpy students at the beginning, but hopefully my never-ending positivity can aid them in getting past the "this isn't how Mme. Wilson does it" phase. Details to come, stay tuned.

yaaaaaaay flashcards.

Because I'm insane, I just spent oh...3 hours making 30 beautiful flashcards for foods for my French I class. I hopped on the Google image search, found pictures that I could draw myself, and drew them in black Sharpie, then colored them with my crayons. Then when that was all done, I put magnets on the back of them so when it comes time for me to teach all I have to do is slam them up on the board and hear the French resounding from my students :). Ok, I know this is weird, but they are really cool. I might use them to decorate my apartment when I'm done with them...who doesn't like a nice Crayola-fied picture of sausages? Huh? Huh? That's right.

And if those kids even try to pretend that they can't tell the difference between my green beans and peas...they are going down.

i like that google is taking over the world.

I think it's pretty cool that my blogger and gmail accounts have merged into one easy to use interface...it really makes this blogging thing a lot easier, and now that I've given in and started using the widgets on Google's homepage, well, I'm hooked.

wooty woot woot.

woot.

a standards-lovin' sorta day

So as much as I have complained in the past about standards, GLE's, performance indicators, blah blah blah, but really....today while I was working on my unit plan, being able to list all the standards and GLE's that I knew my unit was going to cover gave me a strange sense of satisfaction. I like being held accountable, even if it requires more work, because...well...I don't really know why. It's like my own little validation that I'm doing things right if I can abide by these guidelines, which obviously means nothing if I can't actually put them into practice, but it's nice to have that little thumbs-up from DESE staring at me from the top of my lesson plans.

Hmm, let's see...what else can I reveal...oh...even though I put Washington, DC as my #1 regional preference on Teach for America, I think I really do want to go to New Orleans. I honestly can't think of any GOOD reason why I shouldn't be placed there. My only reasons for wanting to go somewhere else are purely selfish, as in...I want to be close to people I know, I want to live on an island, I want to live in a city that's alive with activity and excitement and prosperity, I want to be in Las Vegas and make it as a showgirl (still reading? did i get ya with that one?)...whereas the reasons for me going to New Orleans seem far less superficial. Did you know that there are close to 200 teaching vacancies in NO, which means over 5,000 children are without a teacher...and this was this past fall, meaning that more and more families are becoming equipped to move back to New Orleans, which translates into more students to teach, without a proportionate number of teachers arriving with them. And when you look at the history of New Orleans, the French traditions that run so deep...I feel like it's pretty much screaming out my name. Which is fine with me, as long as they can pronounce it correctly :).