Awww!

Chi-Hi Thank You Frame
Originally uploaded by ColeyAnn

The placement I just finished was at Chippewa Falls High School. One of the classes I assisted in was a vocation ed. class that ran a business called "Cardinal Creations". As a good-bye gift, they gave me this 5x7 picture frame. It has the word "friends" all around it in different fonts and also says, "Thank you for all your help. Good luck, Mike, Amanda & Chi-Hi students." (Amanda was the teacher I worked with and Mike is a shop teacher that co-taught the Cardinal Creations class) I think this frame will be perfect to sit on my desk someday when I get a teaching job, don't you?

And I'm done!

As of about 6:30 yesterday evening, the Spring semester of 2009 is over. All that is left to do is wait for the grades to be posted, which should be by next Tuesday. My SPED 401 final should be the last final I will ever take in my undergraduate career (I'm assuming that a four day summer class will not involve a final, but I can't be sure until I start the class). All that is left is the four day summer class, student teaching, and the student teaching seminar. The seminar should only meet about 7 times during the semester, so that shouldn't be too terrible.

I'm trying to work out a time to meet with my cooperating teacher for next semester. I'd like to get a chance to see the school and have some idea of what I'm getting into. One of my placements is an early learning center, with about 400 students all aged 7 or under. That could be a bit of a test for me, but I'm looking forward to it anyways.

I've got some plans for the next couple of weeks before I leave for Seattle. I'd like to get the house a little more organized than it is, give it a good, although belated spring cleaning. I would also like to get some knitting done. I have been neglecting my hobbies in the craziness of this semester, only finishing a couple pairs of socks since finishing my Christmas knitting. I have the current cardigan and a pair of socks on the needles. I think I'm also going to cast on for Sheldon the Turtle today. I would like to have one finished to take out to Sophie when I go.

I've also decided, instead of creating a second blog to write about my student teaching experiences, I'm going to combine it with this blog. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to write one blog about, well, about nothing in particular, and write another about something.

Changes and Student Teacher Placement

As this long semester, which followed a first long semester draws to a close, I finally feel like there may just be an end in site to my seemingly endless pursuit of education. This is my last semester spent filled with classes. I finally will be student teaching next semester (and to prove just how good my education actually has been, I edited out student teachering, knowing that teachering is not a real word). I'm soon to be done with driving to Eau Claire an average of four days a week. That added up to 12 hours in the car a week, which means I spent the equvilant of two full days out of every month in my car. That's a depressing thought if I ever had one. But those days are done.

I will go from spending 12 hours a week in a car to spending 5 hours a week in a car. That's a big improvement in my book. A huge improvement, a monumental improvement. I'm gaining 7 hours a week. That's seven hours a week that I can spend knitting (or more likely writing lesson plans).

In the course of getting things done, I'm haven't been putting the time and energy into knitting that I should be. I've been focused much more on school (understandable, but depressing). However in another week and a day, I'll be able to devote much more time to my creative endeavors, and much less time to academic persuits. Well, until that stupid summer class, that'll take up a good portion of a week.

I've managed to create some more squares for my sock yarn blanket, that is about all that fits into the windows of spare time I can create right now. I've knit only about two rows on my black socks and done next to nothing on my cardigan.

Even though I have yet to contact my cooperating teachers, I've already started making plans for my student teaching next fall. Not so much the lessons I want to teach, but more of planning for time managment. My goal is to spend the summer organizing my class materials so that I have resources available to me when I start. I also want to chronical my experiences, so I'm

going to be adding those posts to the infrequent posts I make on here.

Starting now...

So, Monday I recieved my placement information, and it would be difficult to make me too much happier (well, thus far, I've yet to actually talk to my cooperating teachers). I'm only thirty minutues from home. Instead of the usually student teaching placement, split into quaters, I will be dividing my time three ways, between three teachers. I'm left with the freedom to work out how my time will be divided with my teachers.

Two of my placements are with students with cognitive disabilities. One at the early elementry level, grades 1 and 2, and the other at the middle school. The third placement is also at the middle school level, working with students with learning disabilities. I'm reluctant to add any more identifiers to the description, out of respect for the privacy of the students and teachers (yeah, yeah, I'm such a professional).

I'll be contacting my cooperating teachers on Monday. I'm nervous and excited.