Oh yeah, there is still the word STUDENT in Student Teacher...

Hello World!

Okay so I wanted to let you know I have not forgotten about you!  I have been very busy with the end of the semester craziness, leaving me with no time to update ya'll about my little kiddos!  Do not fear though! I have been keeping track of things I want to tell you wonderful people.  Once this student part of my student teaching calms down I will be updating you on the goings on of my crazy classroom!  

For now I will leave you with this scene.  All 28 of my students are lined up in the hallway waiting to head back into the classroom after our bathroom break.  We are still waiting on a few more students when we all hear... "I believe I can fly... I believe I can touch the sky..."  One of the boys was singing to himself as he was washing his hands.  Just preforming for himself I guess, or maybe it was a kind of pep talk.  Who knows!  

"Hey, cause I believe in me, oh
If I can see it, then I can be it
If I just believe it, there's nothing to it
Hey, if I just spread my wings
I can fly"

In the words of Walt Disney, "If you can dream it, you can do it!"

Dream on dreamers!

Be the Change!

Sarah

He Speaks!!!!

There is a student in my class who my mentor teacher and I think was a select mute.  Now if you are not sure what a select mute is, as I was not before meeting this student, here is an always trusted article from none other than wiki!     Wikipedia

This student, David, would not communicate (verbal and non-verbal communication) with any person in our classroom; not his peers, not my mentor teacher, and especially not me.  For a while my mentor teacher and I were really concerned as to how to deal with a challenging situation like this, but ultimately decided that we would continue to try to engage David in activities, and let him decide if he would like to communicate or not.

I am here to tell you that David spoke today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not once, not twice, not even three times, but multiple times.... AND HE RAISED HIS HAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm convinced this is just shy of a miracle!!!!  The actual reason I think he decided to speak was because my mentor teacher built an awesome, non verbal, non threatening, relationship with David by playing tic tac toe with him during dismissal every day.  It's incredible to see a student respond to someone's simple gesture of playing a game with them with such a huge sign of respect as breaking your silent streak.  I think this also speaks volumes to my mentor teacher's ability to reach the "unreachable"students.  Kudos Jen!  I have to admit I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard David's little voice offer an answer to the math problem on the board.  Already seeing the importance of this job... changing lives!!!!

Be the Change!
Sarah

Third graders on making decisions

I asked the students at the end of my lesson to write what they learned about making decisions, here is what a few of my wise students had to offer...

"The thing I leaned about decisions is it is sometimes hard to make.  I learned that decisions are opinioins.  I learned sometimes you have to fight to make a decision.  I learned it can be hard, fusstrating and furios.  I learned you cant get what you want."

"When somewon agrees with something but you don't so you go with the other one."

"You can make a decision by using your brain."

"Some people might have different opinons and uich ever one you think is the best you chose."

"That you can be fair and do rock paper siscter shoot."

"I know that making decisions is a hard thing to do because like this you want to give a toy to your brother but you really want it."

"Pick the better thing or better choice that you want."

Ahh the wise words of an 8 year-old!

Be the Change!
Sarah

"Women are stupid."

When asked to write a sentence using the plural noun "Women" one of my charming 3rd graders wrote the sentence, "Women are stupid."  Ahhh the joys of teaching 3rd grade!

All jokes aside though, what I love so much about 3rd graders is that they start to form their own opinions, some opinions better than others, but opinions none the less!  I hear little voices talking about what they like and don't like, asking big questions, offering advice, forming unique identities, the list could go on and on.  I feel so privileged to even be a small part of these students' lives!

Be the change!
Sarah

So about this blogging thing...

So about this blogging every week thing... yeah...  I do have to apologize for the never ending cliff hanger of the first day of school!  I did get to school and the first day came and went.  It was a bit of a shock, to be honest.  I think I what I learned the most on the first day of school is that every teacher teaches differently.  I was able to think of things I want to do in my own classroom on the first day of school.

I think that is what is really nice about this internship, I am seeing the ins and outs of a classroom that isn't perfect, because no classroom is!  Now that may sound like something bad, but I really think it actually is best for my learning.  I am able to see problems being addressed that can be avoided, if certain things are done differently before hand.  This brings a lot of things to my attention that I didn't think were important.  Now let me assure you, my classroomis great, not even close to as bad as some classroom across our school system, and especially across out education system.  But as they say in my favorite movie of all time Meet the Robinsons (no, but really this is actually my favorite movie ever made) "From failure you learn, from success not so much!" This is so true!  Seeing things that work and don't work in an actual classroom gives me even more ideas of what might work in my classroom.

Well that's about it for now!  I will update more often I promise!
Be sure to check back for little gems in the Quote O' Day page, those seem to be updated more regularly!

Be the Change!
Sarah

BACK TO SCHOOL, BACK TO SCHOOL!

Tomorrow is the first day of school!  I will finally meet my 28 students (35 by the end of the day)!  I am so excited to meet all of these little friends, but I don't think I can tell you how nervous I am.  I think it is setting in how incredibly difficult it is to actually be a teacher.  The hypothetical thought of teaching is great, but the actual nuts and bolts of being a good teacher are so overwhelming!  I can't wait to dive into teaching and let God do the rest!

Prayers please!!!!!

Be the Change!
Sarah

IRENE!!!!

Come on Irene is right!  Come on Irene, stop ruining the first day of school!  This is the second time the first day of school has been postponed!  I already have my outfit picked out and everything!  Stupid Irene!  Check back in, hopefully Tuesday night, for another update!

Be the Change!
Sarah

Welcome to Ms.Dennstaedt's classroom!

In about 3 hours our classroom will be buzzing with a whole lot of little people! It's meet your teacher day!!!! I'm so excited to finally meet all of the little friends attached to the names I have been writing and rewriting and typing and retyping for the past week! I think it has finally set in that this is real, yesterday my name made it on the welcome sign! Pictures coming soon!

Classroom, classroom, classroom

Day two was fairly uneventful (except for the fact that a 5.8 earthquake shook our school for roughly 30 seconds). We spent the day in the classroom, making bulletin boards, writing and rewriting and rewriting one more time all 28 names on various objects. This really felt like being a real teacher! Stay tuned for more from day 3!

Hey there's free breakfast... yeah but it's quiche!

First day of student teaching was AMAZING!  I absolutely love my mentor teacher!  We immediately bonded over the fact that quiche (weird spelling right?!?!) is awful, no matter how much bacon you put in it.  She is a no nonsense kind of person with a really funny dry sense of humor.  I can tell we're going to get along just fine.  From 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM we sat in a school wide welcome back meeting in the non air conditioned cafeteria.  It was quite long, but Jen, another teacher Cathy, and I played with the games and puzzles the administration left on tables for everyone. So thanks to Spiderman, the Disney Princesses, and Mickey Mouse we made it through the long meeting unscathed.  Later Jen and I set up her classroom.  We hung posters, arranged the desks, made name tags for said desks (28 students and counting... seriously pray for us!), and much much more!

I've never felt so alive and yet my roommates can attest to the fact that I was worn out when I got home tonight.  I can't wait to go back tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day!  Praise God!

Be the change!
Sarah

Explanation and such!

Hello World!

I've decided that it is time to join the rest of my generation and create a blog.  No, I am not travel to a far off and exotic land, in fact I'm not even leaving Baltimore.  On Monday (tomorrow) I will start student teaching in a 3rd grade classroom in Baltimore County!  (Lets be real, it just might be like an exotic land, you never know with kids!)  That is the exact reason I've decided to create this blog!  I figured why keep all of the gems my students will say to myself, why not share it with the world and all of cyber-land!

I will be student teaching in the fall semester all day once a week (every Wednesday).  In the spring I will begin full-time student teaching, all day everyday (YIKES! Pray for me!).  I am hoping to update this blog after each week of student teaching during the fall and whenever I am not absolutely overloaded with lesson plans, portfolio creating, and general senior year of college events, etc in the spring!

To explain the name of the blog for all of you non El Ed minds, it's based on the children's book series about Amber Brown.  I'm sure you've heard of a few of the books, Amber Brown is not a Crayon, Amber Brown Goes Fourth, etc.

Disclaimer: For the sake of anonymity I will not say what school I was placed at, nor will I use actual names of students, teachers, or faculty I interact with.

I hope ya'll enjoy this year in blogs!  Please pray for me and my future students... we'll need it!

Be the Change!
Sarah