1. How did today differ from how I expected it to be?
2. What are the high points of the day?
3. What are the low points of the day?
4. What is one experience that caused me to grow today?
5. What am I excited about for tomorrow?
1. As I'm getting more familiar with what we will be doing each day, my expectations are pretty much matching up to what actually happens. I may have to rethink this question to make it more answerable. Today we observed for 3 class periods and then had sessions for 4 hours, so I expected it to be a long but fulfilling day and that's what it was!
2. High points begin before I even left for school. I was reading my email, and we got the list of those who were selected to participate in our Opening Ceremony next week and a lot of our school team was on the list! We are introducing important speakers, singing the National Anthem, and reading our school mission statement. We're totally going to steal the show.
More high points when I interacted with students a little more than I have previously. Middle school is such an interesting time: sixth graders are cheek-pinchingly cute and eight-graders are a little more life-sized. And then there are seventh graders of all shapes and sizes. Youth development is a pretty crazy biz. Today, one student got 100% on his homework and just felt the need to turn around and tell me about that personally. Even though we're not supposed to interact quite yet, I totally obliged him with a smile, nod, and thumbs-up. I'm gonna like this job. :)
Also a high point was getting in a giggle fit with Bridget and Andrew. We're all pretty dead by the time we arrive at Region 20 for our sessions, so we get a little loopy and a little slap-happy. It was cathartic to laugh long and loud over something that was hilarious, but not AS hilarious as you would guess by the volume of our laughter. Also, it was fun to sit by fellow-Traveler Calaia in sessions, because the laughter continued. It was a very laugh-filled afternoon!
3. Today I was much more engaged during the afternoon sessions, so that was not a low! Maybe a low--but not really-- was that we had a social media awareness session, and it became apparent that I needed to go back and edit some of my blog posts. Basically, I'm just going to be vaguer than I have been to protect my students, school, and self from creepy people. Don't worry, I already went through all my previous posts to make them more compliant. Free cookie to who can find the changes! Just kidding, that would be a tremendous waste of time. But yeah, that's as low as it got today!
4. I grew today when we were learning about how to "teach like a champion." We got a lot of tips and techniques that excellent teachers use to engage students and effect real learning. It was a growth point, because I studied education in college. I had 4 years of learning effective teaching methods, and some of those were repeated today. The interesting this is that I could hear those a million times and I would still need reminders every now and then. Effective teaching is one of the hardest arts to master, and anyone who thinks that they're as good as they can possibly be is kidding themselves. I vow to never think that hearing tips from veteran teachers is a waste of time.
5. Tomorrow, a group of us is going to power greet some City Public Services executives in the morning! CPS is having an event to encourage employees to donate to United Way, which is a major contributor to City Year. Therefore, we will go to fill these employees with funds-generating joy in the morning as they head into this event. Also tomorrow I am excited to play some volleyball after work!
2. What are the high points of the day?
3. What are the low points of the day?
4. What is one experience that caused me to grow today?
5. What am I excited about for tomorrow?
1. As I'm getting more familiar with what we will be doing each day, my expectations are pretty much matching up to what actually happens. I may have to rethink this question to make it more answerable. Today we observed for 3 class periods and then had sessions for 4 hours, so I expected it to be a long but fulfilling day and that's what it was!
2. High points begin before I even left for school. I was reading my email, and we got the list of those who were selected to participate in our Opening Ceremony next week and a lot of our school team was on the list! We are introducing important speakers, singing the National Anthem, and reading our school mission statement. We're totally going to steal the show.
More high points when I interacted with students a little more than I have previously. Middle school is such an interesting time: sixth graders are cheek-pinchingly cute and eight-graders are a little more life-sized. And then there are seventh graders of all shapes and sizes. Youth development is a pretty crazy biz. Today, one student got 100% on his homework and just felt the need to turn around and tell me about that personally. Even though we're not supposed to interact quite yet, I totally obliged him with a smile, nod, and thumbs-up. I'm gonna like this job. :)
Also a high point was getting in a giggle fit with Bridget and Andrew. We're all pretty dead by the time we arrive at Region 20 for our sessions, so we get a little loopy and a little slap-happy. It was cathartic to laugh long and loud over something that was hilarious, but not AS hilarious as you would guess by the volume of our laughter. Also, it was fun to sit by fellow-Traveler Calaia in sessions, because the laughter continued. It was a very laugh-filled afternoon!
3. Today I was much more engaged during the afternoon sessions, so that was not a low! Maybe a low--but not really-- was that we had a social media awareness session, and it became apparent that I needed to go back and edit some of my blog posts. Basically, I'm just going to be vaguer than I have been to protect my students, school, and self from creepy people. Don't worry, I already went through all my previous posts to make them more compliant. Free cookie to who can find the changes! Just kidding, that would be a tremendous waste of time. But yeah, that's as low as it got today!
4. I grew today when we were learning about how to "teach like a champion." We got a lot of tips and techniques that excellent teachers use to engage students and effect real learning. It was a growth point, because I studied education in college. I had 4 years of learning effective teaching methods, and some of those were repeated today. The interesting this is that I could hear those a million times and I would still need reminders every now and then. Effective teaching is one of the hardest arts to master, and anyone who thinks that they're as good as they can possibly be is kidding themselves. I vow to never think that hearing tips from veteran teachers is a waste of time.
5. Tomorrow, a group of us is going to power greet some City Public Services executives in the morning! CPS is having an event to encourage employees to donate to United Way, which is a major contributor to City Year. Therefore, we will go to fill these employees with funds-generating joy in the morning as they head into this event. Also tomorrow I am excited to play some volleyball after work!
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