Reading Workshop week two: controlled chaos..or something like that..

Where do I even start? haha..oh what an experience Ami and I had this week!

Things I learned on Tuesday:
1. 8th graders are not like what I remember from my own middle school years.

2. I do not have a problem disciplining students from my cooperating Teacher's classroom. Especially when the teacher doesn't look up from her computer while guests (us) are present.

3. something Ami and I are rusty on, two words: classroom management

4. two college white girls do not pick out the "right" books for colored children (according to a student)

5. be prepared for random questions at any time...(such as.. "do you like Chipotle?" when asking the student if they have a question about the reading)

Things did not go as smoothly as I would have liked to hope, but it was not a disaster! Looking back at it, it was quite humorous. I'm sure we looked like we didn't know what we were doing. And I got laughed at for butchering names..(how do i know what they are?? Parents seem to use their imaginations for names anymore...)

This classroom is one which is noisy and contains very busy kids. While a few kicked back with their book, others, as my mother would say, "shoo-ed and blowed" the whole time he was supposed to be reading...

Upon walking out of the classroom; I followed Ami out, closed the door behind me, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, while Ami collapsed against the lockers behind her in a fit of laughter. I'm sure we looked crazy to anybody watching. Our laughter and talking continued the whole way back to Wright State, and I even (subconsciously) took the longer scenic route back to school to de-stress some. (driving helps calm my mind)

This is certainly going to be a long ride! I think it will get better as the weeks move on, and hey, at least my purse didn't drop in the trash can this week! ;)

Reading Workshop, Week One: Introductions

[so to say the least, I've been away from Blogging for a while..its been way busy to say the least. But with everyone around me doing some sort of series, why not join in? not that I'm succumbing to peer pressure mind you... ;) So here starts my (hopefully) weekly blog on my 'adventures' working with 8th graders and their reading at Dayton View Academy here in Dayton, Ohio.]

To say that things went entirely how imagined would be a bold face lie haha. Starting off, all the kids in grades 6-8 came from an assembly, so they were wound up! Number two; alllllll the 8th graders were together in a classroom on this particular day. (our plan is two of us WSU students working with a classroom, and the other three students working with the other). I am in the group of two, with a fellow Senior named Ami. So here comes 5 students from Wright State University who have no idea what exactly to expect. For all we know, these kids are man-eating tigers! haha We finally got things worked out, and started to make our introductions to the entire 8th grade class. Somehow I managed to get myself first in the line-up and had to make my intro first..

"hey guys, I'm Andrea! I'm a Senior at Wright State, and eventually I want to teach High school kids! Something interesting about me is..."

at that moment, my purse, which I had set on the table beside me, decided to jump in the trashcan. (Ok ok, it didn't jump, it just fell.) And of course laughter came from all over the room. Ami jumped in at that time with a "welllll that was pretty interesting.." So I continue on with my 'interesting' fact..and stupid me, says...

"I've never worked with 8th graders before, so don't intimidate me too much!"

wow..way to tell them about your insecurity Andrea! what a winner! Ami and I had a laugh about this on the drive back to WSU. After we got the class split up into their regular classes, Ami and I did our 'trust building activity'. This involved a neon colored note card and a marker. Name, Age, Favorite movie/TV show, What do you like to read, Something interesting about yourself. after everyone got this finished, we all shared.

It was a fun experience really. It was just a 'wow' day. Not a lot to say about it, and a lot to soak in. In the first 10 minutes of being with the kids face to face, Ami and I got two hugs, an invitation to a track meet, and an invitation to their 8th grade graduation "since cause like, you're kinda like our Mentors now, ya know." (according to a 14 yr old Maddie). It's definitely going to be a crazy ride! But I am certainly looking forward to every Tuesday! :]

...back into the swing of things...

I've been MIA for the past two weeks i believe..how sad! its been rather crazy around here! With spring quarter starting this past monday, I have been swamped with all sorts of stuff to do! I've decided that this quarter will be a suicide mission for myself, and ask for my sanity to be kept in everyones prayers :) Im taking on 20 credit hours again, and it all evens out that I will be reading about 2 or more books per week..why did i want to teach English again? ;)

I am pretty excited about everything going on this quarter though. For one of my classes we will be setting up reading workshops for a local charter school in Dayton. After getting seated on Tuesday my teacher put 5 stats on the board..and we had to write down our biggest fear about these stats, then we talked about them...
-Urban School
-Charter school
-98% African American
-60% below poverty level
-1/3 have one parent incarcerated
and this is where we are going to work 4-8th graders..I'm a little nervous about it, but definitely excited too! I'll be working with an 8th grade classroom( since 8th grade is closer to what I want to eventually teach), and I'll be working with one other person every week. Tomorrow we are taking a field trip to the Dayton Public Library with a piece of roller lugggage to fill up for our 'class library'! how exciting! Maybe I can do my own mini series on my experiences with these kids :)

now I'm off to catch up with all my online shenanigans, finish some more homework, and read Shakespeare! be jealous! ;) (haha..riiiiight..)

think spring.. think spring.. think spring :)

what a week its been! and thus starts another! whew..i sure am glad this is finals week, and next is Spring break! Being an english major does have its perks when it comes to finals...usually a paper is only due, and no final exam! yay! so i only have two exams this week..philosophy and biology..which shouldnt be that hard!

lets talk about this photo... so last thursday, i was having the most terrible day. From my waking moment, it started going downhill. Once i got home, i pulled the trashcan in from the curb, because i was the first one home that day (which usually neverrr happens) and with our garage door up, our backdoor will slam shut and lock if there is any wind at all..and there was a slight breeze. So it decided to slam shut in my face right as i was getting ready to walk back through. Now, it wouldnt have been so bad if i hadnt left my cellphone sitting on the woodstove in the garage.. sigh..so i stand there for a few moments, trying to decide what to do as the sky opens and starts to drizzle on me..i pull over a chair to the trashcan i had just put in the corner by the fence ( a six foot wooden privacy fence, by the way) and hop up on the trashcan, then proceed to climb over. I jumped over in the neighbors yard, because that was the best option, where i had about an inch ledge to balance myself on. Catch one: i had my sonoma slip-on shoes on, which would never have helped my balance..so i took them off (note one: it was rainy and muddy). so now I am doing this in socks..as I land on the other side of the fence, I land in a mud puddle..well, not actually a puddle, just a big pile of mud, period. so now, I take off my socks, and trek around the neighbors yard (they werent home fyi) because i did not want to jump yet another fence to take the shortcut..now to catch number two: there was a key to our gate hidden in our back yard..i totally forgot about it in my frustration..(and hey, my urgent need to pee overshadowed clear thinking) But hey, at least i had an adventure..although ive been laughed at by my family nonstop for doing this.. :)

I'm currently in the process of packing up my room! over my break I'm going to redecorate and paint. Mama wants it to match the rest of the house (its a light blue/white swirl type of thing now) and I want to make it look a little more "grown-up". I think i'll be adding some photos and such, and I'll post some pictures of the finished room when i get done! :)

Other news...missions conference is in a week! yay ..although I got some slightly disappointing news regarding an issue i had been praying about, and with some bad timing of other events, I've been dealing with a disappointed heart. But i'm keeping my head up, and remembering that God's timing is best in every situation..although its so hard to accept sometimes..

With next week being spring break, I'm definitely planning an photography outing! I've already decided on the first warm clear day, I'm heading out and about! gonna fill up my car and head out probably towards Germantown/Farmersville and who knows where else! I'll probably tuck in the GPS, just in case..but I'm excited for an adventure..haha..adventures are my favorite!

medicine for the soul

I think this photo really just describes this week. crazy! One more day to go, then its the weekend. finally!! just tonight, my dad and I were goofing around, and I got to laughing, and could not stop. It was one of those, breath taking, stomach hurting, tears rolling, laughing spells. Mama could only look at me, laugh, and say that she thinks I'm overly tired. haha But i think we all need some of those moments to remind us of little things, and to just get out the daily grime, because laughing is better than crying! :) and laughter is definitely medicine for the soul...

its been a long week, but short at the same time, how does that happen? I've so much to do, with school wrapping up for this quarter, and I just found out that I'll have about 15 books for next quarter that I'll need. that is a ton of books! Another example of the long week is the episode i had about the lost pen! I don't know how its possible to lose an ink pen in your hair, but i definitely did it the other day. feeling for it on the opposite side, searching the pile of books and papers, physically getting up and looking around, going and getting another pen, sitting back down, 10 minutes later getting an itch and finding the pen then. hahaha I probably looked so silly! definitely glad no one was watching ;)

well, now that I've done a little something here, and played around on flikr, I can go enjoy a piece of checkerboard cake (ohh its my all time favorite!!!) and CSI which comes on in 25 minutes! yay :)

adjustments

so its been a while since I've popped in here. its just been so hectic of late! :)

like the photo, minor adjustments make a big impact on a piano and how it sounds, just a little too much of one turn can dramatically change how it sounds. Life is like this too, the slightest adjustment of something going on can dramatically change how things fall into place. God helps us to make those adjustments in our lives, no matter how 'small' they may seem, but I wouldn't want anyone else in charge of the tuning tools of my life. I am looking forward to what adjustments He may have in store for me, even though they may seem hard ones to make, I know my God always knows what is best for me and my life...

I cant believe its already March! that's so crazy! I only have three full weeks left of school before spring break. ahh! that means crunch time..(or really, "catch up on procrastination" time) but I can honestly say I didn't do much procrastinating this quarter. yay me! ;) I only have to write an 8 pages paper, do a 5 minute ASL presentation and take three exams. which definitely isn't a whole lot, though it may seem it. And this quarter I've only had to write maybe 25 pages worth of papers and do around 600 pages worth of reading, where last quarter it was 150 pages worth of papers and 3000 pages worth of reading (granted, i estimated up for the reading lol)

I got the email I've been waiting on today for permissions to take the beginning series of my 'teacher' classes. I was so excited! ha, i think I almost "woohoo-ed and yay-ed" at the beginning of bio class when i got it! haha I really thought I had been denied permission, and couldnt figure out why, but thankfully it came through. I can honestly say I am excited about these classes and prepping for my future classroom. I am mentally done with college, and only have 22 more classes left; and am probably taking a few summer classes. I am praying steadily for the classes I need, to be offered during the right quarters during summer and that I will be able to handle what I want/need to take. My mom is not happy about summer classes, but it is something that I must do in order to graduate on time, and I'm hoping she will better understand as time goes on. I think it may be difficult for her, as well as my dad, to understand all this college "stuff" because they did not go to college, and its also hard to see their only child growing up, and ready to grow up.

Our Missions Conference at church is March 24th-28th. I'm excited for it to come. Our missionary speaker will be Jim White, missionary to Togo, West Africa. Theres a few things in this area that I don't really want to extrapolate (what a big word, right? haha) on just yet, but in the coming weeks, I'm praying that God will have His way in things...
Also that week there are four of us planning on singing..O how I love singing! :) The plan as of now is to sing "I'm a Solder" by the Rochester's (who, if you don't know them, are an ahhhh-mazing bluegrass gospel group). Its a song set to the verses of "Come Thou Fount" and I'll be playing it on the piano. Its a song I've just recently heard and have come to absolutely LOVE. I catch myself singing it all day long, and am greatly looking forward to singing it with the others.

well, now that I've semi-caught up with most things, its time for dinner prep I believe. I've been trying to improve at my cooking skills, and dinner preparations. Most think since my mama is such an amazing lady in the kitchen, I should be too, but oh how wrong they are! ;) but I'm slowly getting better, and willing to learn! 'cause hey, one day I'll be the wife and mama, and I need all the help and preparing I can get! :)

...Lost in the lyrics..

so I've been neglecting flikr and Blogger this week. Too much stuff going on i suppose! where to catch up...
with the past multiple uploads to Flikr, I've been on some Music kick. I have no clue why. Its been carrying over into life too, I've been lost in the lyrics and flow, My music is going nonstop, Ive got bluegrass (or some country too) playing somewhere around me most of the day. I havent been able to get myself away from the piano. I'm not sure why either. And everything I've been playing has been the slow classical things, or slowed down hymns. Why? I've no clue. Even my bluegrass playlist has been filled with the more slow, usually sadder songs. I think this over abundance of snow is getting to me. Now I know, it seems like everything I've had to say here is always sad and depressing, ha. I'm not like this at allll through the day...i promise! :) I guess this is the only place that truly listens to my inner being.

onto bigger things....lets chat 'bout school! woo! ...not. snowdays are always good! haha last week, I skipped my Philosophy class due to the weather, (thank you WSU for NOT closing until after my classes took place) sometimes I Think I would be SO much better at running a campus... ;) Then Wednesday, campus ended up closing, Praise the Lord. :) Today produced a closure at 2pm...which only canceled one of my three classes today, and I journeyed my way home, only to do a 180 coming off the highway at 725 in Miamisburg. oh what fun that was. If i hadnt had control of my car, i would have probably kept turning and hit a few cars, (and this was only going less than 10 mph) thanks to my dads driving lessons in the snow, I am quite proud of myself for keeping things under control and not freaking out, although I had to take a few deep breaths after getting straightened out. ;)
Tomorrow morning I register for spring classes. What a stress reliever that will be after 7am! Class scheduling is one of the many things that keep me awake at night, and stressed out during this time of year! i only have 22 more classes until i can graduate, and I worry so much about messing things up.
what else, what else...oh, saturday evening, we finally got to celebrate mine and my dads birthday with the whole family! my cousins got me two beta fish (haha) two males, red and blue. Their names are: Everett Cash, and Delmar Jennings. (if you caught on, theyre from "O Brother Where Art Thou" and the last names of two of my favorite country singers hehe)
though probably my favorite gift I knew about, I just didnt know WHEN i was getting it...a 357 magnum revolver. yes, a gun. My dad promised when I turned 21 he would buy me a handgun. yay! A revolver is a good starter for any person, and I cant wait for it to warm up so we can go to the range, or out to the farm and shoot. I've become pretty good with my .22 rifle, and now I plan on sharpening my skills with my 357. who said guns were for boys? ;)

well, I reckon this is where I should stop, and continue my studying...and prayers of a closing tomorrow...right, like that will happen :)