Anyway, the school is amazing. All of the faculty I have met have been very nice and helpful. The whole environment of the school is so cooperative, everyone seems to have each other's back. I am still super uncomfortable calling all of them by their first names, especially the principal. I'm just not ready for that.
They also have this cool program called "eTime" (E for Eagles, the school mascot). Tuesday-Friday there is a short 25 minute period where students with a "D" or "F" in any subject go to their teacher to make up work and everyone else basically gets fun time. They can play basketball in our gym, go watch movies in the auditorium, read in the library (this is actually one of the most popular places to be, isn't that great?), do art projects, all kinds of fun stuff. The principal says they've decreased "F" students down to 1% by using this program. Sounds good to me.
There are 4 periods of 75 minutes each day, 25 minute eTime, and a 30 minute lunch. Except we have 1st period prep every other day, which is nice. and on Monday there is no eTime, classes are a little bit shorter, and the kids get out an hour early. That's when we'll have our department meetings.
Despite the fact that I have done zero teaching and I have basically just stood or walked around the gym, I am absolutely exhausted! I really miss my daily 3 PM nap. I get up at 5:30AM and leave school around 3PM and I could seriously just crash for the night right then. I'm pathetic. I am worried about having to teach physical activity all day, I may pass out. We will team-teach volleyball to the girls, which I can fake my way through but then I have to teach basketball all by myself and plan the unit out…dun dun dun…I am HORRIBLE at basketball. My professors told me I should take a basketball class to build my confidence, which I did. Then this week I've been watching the girls play during eTime and holy moly, they are GOOD! So, yikes-a-bee. Then after basketball I might have to do Ultimate Frisbee. And as someone who is proud of the fact that she had never played "Ultimate" until forced to in class, this is not a good sport either. Also while playing frisbee at BYU, my professor asked, "you haven't done this much before, have you?" When I replied, "no," she said, "I could tell."(Ouch).
So I have my work cut out for me but I am very excited! I think I got the perfect school placement and I'm looking forward to a fun semester!
(Sorry there are no fun pictures to look at and it's mostly just reading. I know it's boring but I thought I would just give you an update.)
Man...as I read this all the feelings of student teaching came flooding back to me. I know exactly how you feel! I was dreading it until I got in the classroom and had to observe for 3 weeks! The whole time I was wishing I could teach! However, I must say that I NEVER want to go back to student teaching, it didn't seem too bad at the time so don't worry, it's just that being a teacher is 100 times better. I'm glad you like the school, I know you're gonna do great! I don't remember any of my PE teachers actually PLAYING the sports, just teaching the rules. Can you get away with that or do you actually have to show your skills? Either way you will rock it!
ReplyDeleteMan, I wish I had etime! That sounds sweet! And really? Four 75 minute periods? That sounds really long to me. That's 25 minutes more than any class I have taken. But i guess depending on the class that wouldn't be so bad. And it's probably good for PE since they have to dress out, take attendance, do stretces and stuff before they actually get to play, then "shower" and get dressed again, huh? Well I'm glad you are itching to teach, and not just nervous. You will do awesome! And if you need to come Wii it up to practice your Frisbee... hehe... come on over!
ReplyDeleteKare--I could probably get away with having the students demonstrate all of the skills, I don's have to play. I just need someone to show the correct way to perform the skill cues or run a drill. Plus, I would feel less of a hypocrite by actually being able to practice what I preach.
ReplyDeleteCrissy--I REFUSE to play that Wii frisbee game ever again. But thank you for the offer.
I want eTime, too.
ReplyDeleteI am beginning to re-think this eTime thing. Today was the first eTime of the new semester, there was no make-up work to be done so everybody came to just play basketball. Holy cow…16 hoops, 32 balls, 150 kids, 2 teachers…yikes. Total chaos.
ReplyDeleteHey All,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this. It's nice to see what you're up to.
I bet E-time gets less chaotic as the semester progresses. All in all, it's probably better to be dealing with 150 kids at the beginning of a semester than at the end when you're just as worn out as they are . . .
When exactly do you have to teach the dreaded basketball unit?
--Julianne
Also, as somebody who had to teach from someone else's lesson plan for a semester . . . you probably wouldn't enjoy it as much as you think you would. I felt very ineffective and unprepared because I didn't understand many of the reasons that the previous professor included certain assignments, activities etc., so it wasn't as easy to be flexible with the students as it is when you do your own lesson plan. That said, my lesson plans were never as structured as the ones they make you do in Sec.Ed. Kare and Crissy might be able to verify this, but those seemed like overkill to me. Especially because classes never really go like you anticipate they will anyway, so planning crap out in minute increments just seems silly. So maybe if you decide to teach for real after this, you won't hate the lesson planning as much, because you won't have to stick to that rigid formula. And as useless and hard as it is to hear--it gets easier the more you do it, and funner too, because you gain confidence and are better able to anticipate your students. You'll do fine. If your basketball unit isn't the greatest this time, it will be better the next, and better and better the more you do it. And I'm blabbing. Sorry, I'm kinda feeling sad for myself since I'm not teaching this semester. :)
ReplyDeleteJules- thank you for that! I have been doing lesson plans for the past 2 hours and needed a break and read your comments and now I feel loads better! Thank you! I start basketball all on my own at the end of February, so I have time to get more comfortable with the girls before I totally humiliate myself with my lack of skills.
ReplyDelete