I had so much fun. I made a puzzle which I ended up using for my 311 artistic response project. I also made sand art which is always fun while you’re doing it and then after its like…. um okay what do I do with this plastic moon shaped bottle filled with sand. It was really easy to set up and less messy that I thought. I was trying to think of some creative lesson I could do using sand art.  Maybe something with measuring… fill 1/4 of the bottle with red sand… etc.

I also made a wintery picture frame. Tomorrow I want to make more frames, some christmas ornaments, a frisbee for my brother, and who knows what else. Ahh so much fun.

I had my first plan but I wanted to add in writing workshop and so I extended it to 2 hours instead of 90 minutes. I had problems fitting everything in and having it be organized (ex. starting guided reading about the same time everyday). 3 plans later, I found a way that works. I basically have 20 minute time blocks. 40 minutes every afternoon is writing workshop, because I felt like that was something that could stand completely on its own. I meet 2 or 3 guided reading groups Monday through Thursday. I meet with the low group 4 times a week, the middle group 3 times, and the high group 2 times. The last 20 morning minutes of language arts are spent in word study. Since I’ve never seen this in action I wasnt quite sure how to set it up. But I decided on 3 groups that meet on a rotating schedule (2 groups meet each day). Since groups would only meet 3 or 4 times a week I thought that was kind of fast for a quiz every week so I decided groups could be tested reguarly but as needed. I also have literature circles that meet Tues, Wed, and Thurs for 20 minutes. We do invitations for an hour on Fridays.

What I like most about my plan is what the rest of the class is doing when guided reading or word study groups are meeting. Their first priority is doing Literature Circle reading or assignments. This way this wont take up homework time outside school. Their next priority is centers. I would have 9 centers. Each student gets a grid with the 9 activities and has to do 3 a week (no repeats). Then they have more choice. They can read independently, work on writing from writing workshop, continue with an invitation, or do more centers.  I like this because it has structure, but also allows for students to pursue individual interests.

Today I was listening to a Dar Williams song that I’ve heard hundreds of times and I realized… oh man there are violins in this song. I had never realized it before. And all of a suddent the violin line was powerful and told its own story.

amazing.

I liked alot of the things my teacher did especially:

- Figuring out vocabulary with context clues in pairs

- Putting a powerpoint slide with the morning work up on the television

- Her energy and enthusiasm

Things I did not like:

- having the class work in pairs with someone they havent worked with yet… good in theory by two students were always left out.

- using the textbook so much! espcially for reading. She would complain about a story but still use it.

I’m not sure how I feel about how she did bathroom breaks instead of having students ask individually or having a pass they take. In some ways it worked well, they knew when they could go and didnt interrupt her. Also they had a chance to stretch. But it took alot of time and I think some students went just to fool around and talk to their friends.

It was a good experience overall.

Tonight was a hall council program that me and Brittney basically did all the work for. Which is ridiculous because we aren’t even officially members. One girl was alot of help, but the president, vice president…. nowhere to be seen.

I’m trying to plan my documentation panels for 311 and I love my plan but I dont think its what Dr. Wright wants at all.

Tomorrow I have to call work and hopefully get on the schedule for Christmas and then explain how I need days off for my boyfriend to visit. I feel like they’ll mess it up and schedule me anyway and I’ll need to find covers. ugh. But Better that then not being put on the schedule at all. Since I hostess and work counter I should get on. Otherwise I can just cover for people. I’m sure my brother will give me his shifts. And he seemed to get lots of people asking for covers when I was home over thanksgiving.

 I’ll just be glad when all this stress is done.

But at the speaker, these two girls asked the stupidest questions. Dr. Baugh was this ridiculously intelligent man and they just like rambled on and like on. ugh!

 I decided I want to speak in the national standard English, like television broadcasters do. I think it sounds fabulous.

 Right now I am incredibly stressed and I dont even think Thanksgiving will be a break. I’ll be excited for the nice breather Christmas will be. But I’m not sure how the long distance thing with my boyfriend will go. Or how working with my ex-boyfriend will be(if he still works there).

My to do list is overwhelming. My room is a mess but I can’t sit still long enough to clean it. I just want to put everything off and obviously I can’t. RA stuff is crazy, HR applications are due next week which means asking people for references, updating my resume, and writing a cover letter.  I hate cover letters.

My family is falling apart. I dont know how to deal with it.

I’m on duty at 7am tomorrow morning untill 8am monday.

I can’t deal.

I can’t decide what to do for my lesson. I have 3 concepts, symbols, timelines, or words with multiple meanings. I really want to do words with multiple meanings because I can think of lots of fun activities, but I need to include some Children’s literature and I can’t figure out what I would incorporate. I’m leaning toward timelines right now. I could do a whole class part or have them work in groups to make big timelines by rearranging things on the floor. And then they could make smaller timelines that go with a story. I figure a biography might be good for that. I also thought it might be interesting to have them pick a favorite memory or event and make a class timeline of that. We’ll see.