A Summation: A Celebration

Student teaching is over. Let me repeat that. Student teaching is over. Wow. I made it! And I did well! I can't believe how quickly the semester flew by… And that I only have one left. Life, you little sneak. There you go again blowing my mind and making me grow up...

Anyway, the last day of school went well. Like I said before, I was seriously tired (too much late night celebrating on Tuesday) all day, but the kids were great. They are sweethearts who showered me with a celebration of cookies and juice boxes. They also gave me well wishes and cute cards and gifts. They enjoyed their book marks which were coupled with sour gummy worms (book worm, gummy worms… catch my drift?). By far, the best gift of all was from my rockstar teacher. She assembled (with the help of the kids) a photo album complete with class pictures, action shots of me teaching, notes and illustrations from each student. It was so sweet. I think we are all going to miss each other very much…. even though I plan on going in sometime this week. Why, you may ask? To (finally) receive, read, and return letters to our elusive Nevada pen pals. Cripes. I'm glad we are getting all the writing and USPS (and secretary) details worked out before trying to be real pen pals next year! (That means YOU Miss v!)

Now that student teaching is over, I am taking some time to relax. I thoroughly enjoyed the company of each of my (crazy) extended family members over Thanksgiving break :). I LOVE having everyone together… even if we take up a row and a half at the movies or basketball games or wherever we decide to go. I also got to spend time with Boyfriend's family. It was nice to see them all… they even joked that I was "grandfathered in" and thus they were not trying to impress me anymore. I think that's a good thing!

Now it's on to relaxing via hanging out on campus for the next 2 weeks. The only obligation I have is daily track practice. In theory, it sounds amazing… I will let you know how long it takes before I get BORED. Hopefully I can find somewhere to work (and get paid… darn student teaching!).

Speaking of "letting you know"… The time has come to decided what to do with All Things That Glitter. I created this blog for the sole purposes of entertaining and keeping family and friends up to date on the daily life of my student teacher self. However, since I'm no longer a student teacher, I'm a little torn on what to do! I'm not going to have things to write about every day. Let's face it, I'm back to being a boring college student. I can't just pull in adorable 7 year old writing if I'm out of things to say anymore! But I do think that I'm going to keep the blog. I will update it occasionally. So hopefully ya'll will stay tuned for more updates.

Until then… here's some photos of real life: Jayna Lu edition.

 Da boys.

 I meant what I said about taking up entire rows!

 The two newest (and cutest!) little sweethearts. 

 Getting him to hold still for this one was a challenge :) 

 Frozen! Maybe not outside, but definitely in theaters!

Always remember to take silly pictures too. This one is definitely accurate :)

Thanks again (and as always) for reading.

Peace, love, and a questionable blogging future, 

Jayna

Heard and Seen

Today was kind of madness for things heard and seen around school today. Here’s a glimpse.

In journaling…

“If I were a pilgrim I would watch the gras. And I would have a hat. I would have a cote. I would have a bered. I ould have a fire. I would have a fire for food.”

“If I were a pilgrim I would feed the sheep. I would ride on a ship. I would take care of the other pilgrim’s. I would hut for turkey’s. I would go to bed. I would build a house. I would go to school too.”

From the mouth of my rockstar teacher…

“The natives are getting restless.” (about the kids)

“Looks like we have another casualty.” (she’s so sarcastic and witty!)

From a book one of my students made for me…

We Love God

(pg 1) We love God because God loves us and we love him very much. We love him because he is our gather we can’t see him but he can see us doing whats right or wrong.

(pg2) God is up high and were down below. Some people do bad deeds. Some people do good deeds. Some people do both deeds. Everyday people can be mean or nice or both some times.

(pg 3) God is our father because he created us. We are God’s childern. God sends angles to watch over us every day and night. God made us with love in us.

The End Love

From the back of the classroom…

I also think that some of my kids ate jumping beans for breakfast! They are skip-hopping all over the place this morning… although I asked and they said that they had rice crispies. Same thing?

At recess…

“You’re pretty!”

“Twenty-one! You’re twenty-one!”

“Miss Specht, I love you.” (Followed by a hug and a wink. Those darn kindergarteners will be the death of me I swear!)

Holy wow. Speaking of the death of me, I’m feeling a little like death on my last day. I even had this blog written and just hadn’t posted it (as of last night). Oops! Operation stay awake is a goooo!

Until tomorrow (or today?)

Peace, love and a tired last day,

Jayna

It’s Like Christmas!

… But really it’s not. It’s just the end of the semester! I have been planning and plotting and attempting (unsuccessfully) to make gifts for the kids, teachers, and staff at my school. Here’s what I’ve done so far…

For teachers and staff I conjured up this little note and left donuts and keurig coffee packets in the lounge!

Pretty crafty (and YES I actually wrote it! No internet help needed!)

And here was the (2 hour long) process of making bookmarks for my kids. I will be laminating them tomorrow!

The final products! Each one includes a personal note on the back :) (Student teacher of the year? Maybe.)

Still to go is the gift for my cooperating teacher… There will definitely be a heartfelt thank you included. Maybe a flower arrangement? I don’t know!!

Finally, I had my last student teacher meeting today with my rockstar teacher and my professor. After lots of discussion of strengths, weaknesses, and areas of growth, in was unanimously decided that I had earned an A for the semester! Yippee!!! The hard work has paid off! Two more days and then I will have about a month to celebrate and one more semester of real classes. Holy wow.

Time flies when you’re having fun. Speaking of, it’s late o’clock! Goodnight blog world!

Until tomorrow…

Peace, love, and late night crafting,

Jayna

"You're one of us now."

Today while I was observing another 4th grade classroom, the teacher said to me, "you're one of us now." And it made my whole day. It has finally sunk in. I'm almost done student teaching. I did it! I am am one semester (of non-education classes) away from being a certified teacher. This is real. I am a real teacher lady. That's pretty neat.

Sorry that the blog today is so short and sweet (the shortest and sweetest ever?), but I'm at home for the weekend so I've got lots of things to do! Hopefully I will even be able to visit a few of my oh-so-loyal readers… I think you know who you are. :)

Until Monday…
Peace, love, and only 3 more days,
Jayna

A Celebration!

Tonight was our Student Teaching Celebration! Held at BCU, all of the student teachers and our cooperating teachers enjoyed a baked potato bar and each other's company as we reminisced on the past semester's experiences. It was really a fun time (surprisingly). I got to show off my electronic portfolio to my cooperating teacher (She was impressed!). You can check it out here http://jaynaspecht.wordpress.com . I feel like I've been cheating on this blog (obviously my favorite and more fun, with this blog… so confusing). Anyway, this blog proves I can be an actual teacher lady and can be used someday (soon) in a job interview (maybe)!

I really only have one funny story from today before I head off for a little downtown birthday celebrating with Monica (on a school night!!). Today, I was sitting in the back of my classroom just working on random odds and ends things that need to be done before I leave next week…. at one point I walked out of the room to do something and this is what happened in the middle of a math lesson…

The students look around and one slowly raises their hand…
Student, "Uhmmmm, did Miss Specht leave?"
Another student, "Yeah where did she go!?"
My teacher, "You know, I'm not sure where she went. I don't have a tracker on her or anything but she will be back. Don't worry. She won't leave without saying goodbye!"

They are worried. How cute is that :)

Too bad I actually have to leave them soon.

Until then,
Peace, love, and end of the semester gift planning,
Jayna

Wed-nes-day

“Hey Miss Specht, Wednesday sounds like W-e-n-s-d-a-y but it’s really W-e-d-n-e-s-d-a-y.” Sometimes all you can do is smile at those little stinkers.

This Wednesday though, I have some terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad news (Alexander anyone?). And that news is that I am no longer in charge of journaling. Which means no more hilarious student journal entries. (Insert wails of mourning and sorrow here. Those journal entries were pure gold.) It also means that I have a lot of free time, which is awesome because I have spent it observing at other levels. Today I went over to the other site and observed a 4^th grade during their literacy block. It was actually kind of cool. The kids are a lot more independent and are able to get a lot done. As a result, they got to work independently on some pretty cool and creative projects. (I am NOT a turkey project, worth googling!)

I’m not decided yet what I think about upper elementary or the potential of teaching them. Most of my experience is in 2^nd grade and I really do like it, but I think that I would also like older kids. They are much more “with it”. They understand sarcarsm (not that sarcasm is important to me or anything… ). It seems like lower elementary is physically exhausting, while upper elementary (I’m thinking mostly 5^th grade) would be more emotionally exhausted. Those kids have a lot going on that they don’t even understand. I’m not sure how committed I am to getting into all of that. Luckily, I’ve got plenty of (kinda) time to think about it before I start applying for jobs. GAH. Time will tell :)

Speaking of time, it’s time for me to go spend some with Boyfriend (who came down to visit tonight. He is encouraging me to ignore him for a while to write the blog. What a sweetie!).

Until tomorrow…

Peace, love, and week night dates,

Jayna

Eric Carmen

Today’s journal prompt… Write about what you would do if you were the teacher for the day. The aftermath…

“If I were a teacher for the day I would have a party. With ice cream milk and cookies and games. After lunch I would let every one go home. Then I would go to sleep then go home. Then I would puke from the ice cram and milk and cookies. I would let them go out side. I would let them do whatever they want to do. For hot lunch they get to pick out whatever they want. I would let them bring there pets. I dont care if it’s a snake a bear a lion a tiger or whatever. I would let them watch tv but only sports center. If someone changes the chanel they dont get to be in the party. For luch you cant have more then seven things. The can talk when ever execept for lunch. In the winter I wouldnt let them go outside tell spring.” (That’s 15 sentences. I know he’s the Ranter, but even I was impressed by this entry.)

“I would do Journal. I would be lazy. It would be hard. I would be named Mr Fracinstin. I would make the sentns on the bord.” (typical Breakfast Boy.)

“If I was the teacher for the day I would teach them math. I would teach them science. I would teach them religion. I would teach them spelling. I would teach them reading. I would teach them don’t put hand’s on kids too.” (This one has some actual potential!)

Maybe some of my kids will turn out to be teachers someday. Time will tell :)

Well friends, I’m not sure how entertaining my blog will be from here on out. It’s been a pretty slow day and it might be a slow week. This morning I taught reading groups and……. That’s all. Pretty cool actually. This afternoon I went to the other school (split sites) and observed in 3^rd grade. The curriculum is definitely different and the expectations more advanced, but I was not a huge fan of the classroom management style. It’s good to see different things and teaching styles though (so you know what you like and what you don’t).  Tomorrow I will teach reading in the morning again and head over to observe 4^th grade in the afternoon.

The most difficult part of this week was finishing my portfolio (which really wasn’t actually that difficult). It was crazy to think about how much went into that portfolio. Literally years of classes and work. And now it’s all done (along with my education classes) and next semester I will be only taking gen ed classes. Weeeeiiirrrddd.

If I had to say the actual most difficult part of my week so far, it has definitely been track. GAH. This week of teaching and classes has got me all jacked up on scheduling. So that means I can’t make it to any practices. Which means that I have to (get to?) do it all by myself. That’s right friends, 45 mins of pure enjoyment (aka running) yesterday, and 30 mins today, plus two separate lifts. Heavy lifts. Like I’m ready to break squat records again lifts. (Pretty exciting!) And tomorrow I get to go run a killer track workout (the rest of the team ran it today) allllllll by myself. I will let ya know!

Until tomorrow…

Peace, love, and “all by myself,”

Jayna

Ps- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o9gf_soFBM