Wait....Wait....and Catch Up

Some of you have been waiting for this one, as well as I have been waiting to find time to update it. So now since the last 2 weeks were spent on me catching up, you now get to catch up on part of my life out here.
Valentine’s Day Party…not so much. I was so excited to have this party, I envisioned different crafts set up on the clusters of tables, children eating pizza, passing out their valentine’s, and talking and laughing amongst each other. I brought my camera thinking this would be a good time to document some of the children in my class. Well, while they were at one of their specials the teacher decided they needed to have more practice on adjectives, and needed to something extra to grade in the area. So the children arrive back with the smell of pizza in the air and the mentality for an afternoon off. NOT so fast! First they had to sit down, look over their homework, go over adjectives again, and then take a test (which she had to read to them so nobody would go to fast). During this time I was placed back in the corner with a young girl who had arrived shortly before lunch. They claimed since she had been sick the last couple days she didn’t deserve to participate in the party she had work to do. I was the one who had to sit there and guide her through everything, luckily one little boy brought me a cupcake to eat while I was there, also not enjoying the party. The party which included sitting at their tables eating their pizza and then table by table passing out their valentines, and if they wanted, decorating their paper bag. Felt so bad for this little girl who after each worksheet looked up at me and asked if she was done yet, who had to listen to the teacher announce to the class that the scented valentine’s where from her. I did not leave school very happy that day, minus the fact that I had a 5 day weekend to look forward to!
On Thursday, I enjoyed a nice day off and ran some errands; yes, it seemed weird thinking, “I am just running some errands here in Chicago.” Haha That night was the first night of our fine arts events…they were one acts. They were not too exciting at all and I don’t think I would have missed out on much had I not gone! On Friday, I then headed up to Kalamazoo, MI to spend some time with my sister. It was a nice relaxing weekend for me. I headed back on Monday and did a little lesson planning that I had hoped to get done before, but hey, procrastination is in my blood.
Well I had my lesson plans for that week done…but I did not make very good use of the weekdays to get my work done. I have classes on Tuesday nights and Thursdays are our fine arts events (that week it was the modern wing at the Art Institute). So I then went into the weekend with a lot of work to do, Friday night I was so tired I crashed during a movie at about 10 (yes…I fell asleep during another movie for those of you keeping count) Saturday we cleaned, I did some homework, and then we decided to make a trip to Target. We arrived back at 4:00 and realized we had an hour to prepare appetizers and finish touching the place up before the Chicago Semester progressive dinner. We did it and then enjoyed WAY too much food throughout the evening. Church on Sunday took probably close to 4 hours of the day, travel/ wait time took about half of it! I then spend the rest of the day preparing for the week…not enough time! I fell behind and made my week incredibly busy and stressful. Writting lesson plans, doing self evaluations, and correcting a zillion papers has taken over my life. So that was my last week, staying up later that I prefer (one night may have been midnight! Haha) to make sure I was ready for the next day.
This week I will start my full time teaching, I feel as if I have already been more productive! I need to be ahead of the game these next 2 weeks. Luckily Monday is Pulaski Day (Polish man known for be a Revolutionary War hero…fighting for freedom!) so I have an extra day to get work done.
A few quick pieces of randomness…
* Little boy at school was wearing an Iowa Hawkeye’s t-shirt…I obviously complimented him on it and now I am pretty sure he thinks it is the coolest shirt he owns! :) He is also convinced that his sister who got it for him is friends with my brother Mike; you know there can’t be very many of them in the whole state!
* I highly dislike waiting for buses or transportation as a whole. Sitting outside in the cold for 20 minutes is just not very fun, especially when you see how many people drive by and could very easily bring me closer to the train on the way to their destination. Or there was the time I tried leaving 20 minutes early to get to school early only to arrive at the same time. I believe that day I waited over an hour…just waiting!
* I have the same bus driver every morning…he is starting to creep me out. The one morning he sucked my pass through the machine and asked if it was me or my sister. The next day I received a wink. The next he took the pass again and told me he thought it was a very nice picture. Why did he even have to look at it in the first place?! No one else ever does!! We will see how this week goes.

Were You Born on a Beach?!

So I can officially say I am doing good being here in Chicago. After this weekend and the rest of the week, I am feeling good. A little change in attitude at school and getting to know the kids better is making that go much better. I just really need to focus on the students and the type of difference I can make for them, maybe motivate them a bit more to do their work or inspire them to really want to do their best. At first I was thinking so much more on the level of how much I disagreed with the teaching style of my cooperating teacher or the waste in time management. Towards the end of this week I was able to connect with some of them better instead of becoming so frustrated with their lack of work ethic. Finding the little ways to get them to do their work and make them proud of completing my challenge brings me a nice little smile.

A few random stories from school…just because kids are so dang cute. I was working on math computer games with 2 of the special ed. students. I told the girl she was thinking of the right answer, but just clicked in the wrong spot. She looked at me and asked, “Were you born on a beach?” All I could do was laugh and ask her where she came up with that. I am assuming she has heard that line used before similar to “Were you born in a barn?” But once I asked her, she became completely serious and wanted to know if I was born on a beach. I told her I was not and was actually born in Iowa. She then asked me if that was a beach!! NOPE…not close…it is filled with cornfields. She gave me quite the chuckle!

Friday was the school spelling bee. We had 4 students participate. One of the little boys apparently decided that for big occasions of the type cologne was necessary. It wasn’t way over done as one would assume a second grader would do, but he did ask if it was okay that he was wearing it for the day! Once in the auditorium, I saw 2 little kindergarten boys with dress suits on…too sticking precious! They were adorable!

Friday afternoon felt so amazing as well… a weekend! That evening we went out, after looking for places to go for a couple hours. Haha We rode the “L” up to Wrigleyville and decided we would just find a place on our walk. It was a fun night meeting some new girls from the Chicago Semester. Saturday I ran a few errands…went to Target and saw tons of cute things!! Like normal, but I only bought the non-fun, non-cute things that I needed. That evening I also went and experienced the environment and taste of the Chicago style pizza. It was pretty tasty and filled me up fast.

So yes, things are feeling good right now...especially knowing I have a 3 day week which includes Tuesday morning for a movie reward and Wednesday afternoon for the Valentine's party. I am looking forward to it! I also will be attending my first fine arts event this Thursday and then spending the long weekend with my sister.

Glimpse at the Weekend

Well to start off with some rather exciting news relating to that which really put me in the dumps last week…My U-Pass was turned in for the lost and found!! I left school a little early on Friday to go fill out paper work and pay to have a new one made, but despite being told not to bother calling, I had to! As I waited to get on my bus, I went through all the transfers and on hold to hear that they did have my pass, which made me ecstatic! I went and got it yesterday, a nice little trip by myself after school (I literally asked every bus driver or security guard/police officer on the corner where it was exactly that I was going). But I now have it back and will hopefully never lose it again!!
On Friday night I ate at a little diner in Wrigleyville and then with the group we went to an improve Shakespeare comedy show. I was a little skeptical about how it would be, but I laughed plenty and enjoyed the show.
Saturday morning I packed up my belongings and made the official move to my apartment. My parents arrived that afternoon with the rest of belongings and then I headed off with them to Kalamazoo, MI to spend a bit of time with my sister. I will admit that I had some nerves traveling back on Sunday. I think anytime I travel some where new, especially on my own, I will be nervous. I guess I worry about things a bit more than I realized!
So yeah, nothing too exciting for a weekend, but I enjoyed myself. Teaching hasn’t been real exciting yet either. Friday was a day of teacher meetings, which I actually enjoyed. The K-2 teachers met to discus the expectations for writing and the one kindergarten teacher seemed to be doing some great stuff in her class! I really enjoyed hearing what she had to say and think I would possibly like her class a bit more. Haha My teacher was out the last 2 days, so we have a sub that has to be pretty new to the teaching world. It is interesting to have her be the one in charge before I actually have observed the total function of the classroom. I am really finding out how far behind these kids are in reading and how much that affects all they do. I think some of them also have learned helplessness or are simply lazy. It seems like most the class needs help/ walked through each problem. I found today, many just raised their hand and said they needed help without even trying to read the problem…kind of frustrating!
Tonight was also my first night of my student teaching seminar class. OVERWHELMING! It seems like there is so much to get done and extra stuff to student teaching here. Not going to lie…I did leave a bit wondering why I was here. I feel like I could have gotten away with the semester being so much easier and more comfortable. But there is a reason I am here and I will grow and learn many new things. I just need to remember to look at the positive and not to have doubts so early on.