Monday Morning Lingo

PSL. Pumpkin Spice Latte. What a perfect start to my Monday morning. Pumpkin spice is my favorite fall drink! I was feeling just like a trendy teacher lady as I strode into elementary school (at 7:43- 2 minutes early, as always) sporting a new maxi skirt (so comfortable... thanks mom!), a scarf, and a GIANT (venti? I’m no good at this Starbucks thing) cup of PSL. Yum. All I needed was an oversize pair of sunglasses and paparazzi to be considered celebrity status. :) Joking. Mostly.

This weekend was awesome and relaxing. Just what I needed. I spent all of Friday night on my futon (it’s heavenly, I swear). Saturday I got up early (by choice!) and went to a centergy class at the Y. Centergy is a form of group yoga. I’ve been a few times before, and it’s always a great hour to stretch and do something different. After centergy, I had a much needed hair appointment/date with my fellow teacher lady friend Morgan. A couple of hours, a trim, and cheap color (only $18!) later, I headed back to school just in time to catch the BCU volleyball team in action. It was fun to cheer on my friends, even though we cut ourselves a tough loss. I capped off Saturday night with a nap, hour of rollerblading, and some 205 bonding. Sunday morning I was up early again to help cantor at a local parish. It went very well! I will be helping out with cantoring at that parish about once a month from now on (easy enough, and it seemed like a good thing to volunteer for). I felt like the people were very appreciative.

The best part of my weekend was Sunday afternoon. My momma came down to visit! She spent some time bonding in the 205 (it’s a lovely place, seriously) and then took me out shopping. Our main objective (teacher lingo) was to find a homecoming dress (we did!!!), but we also found some new teacher clothes and other school things (college and elementary). Honestly, we could have done anything at all and I would have been ecstatic. I needed some Jayna-Momma-bonding-time. (Love you Ma :))

A close second to the best part of my weekend was the annual education club pizza and bingo night. We had a great turn out! About 30 students came! (Last year I think we had about 10.) I realize that I’m incredibly dorky for being so stinking excited about the turnout to an ed club meeting, but I’m going to embrace that dorkyness. I love when people are involved!!! I think it makes everything better and keeps the students more informed about what they are paying THOUSANDS of dollars to learn about (education). Plus more people= more friends, and who doesn’t like friends?!

Okay, now that you’re all caught up on the weekend, let’s look ahead on this week! It’s conferences week. Which means that I’m spending 8-6 at school today. Tomorrow our class is attending a play (FIELD TRIP!!) and then Wednesday will be our last day with students. Thursday will be a day dedicated to working in our classrooms and conferences. Conferences should be an interesting experience. My rockstar teacher is arguably a pro at dealing with/talking to parents. Her ability to compose perfectly worded emails is admirable and I’m excited to experience some parent interaction firsthand.

Already though, I have to say that my favorite part of conferences (thus far) is that the kids are all on their BEST behavior because they know that we are talking to their parents. It rocks, even though I know it won’t last.

By the way, pep rally tonight!!! GO CHARGERS!!

Peace, love, and Charger Power,

Jayna

Late Night Thoughts. Friday Edition.

This one is for you, Mom! I wasn't going to blog tonight, but I decided that I should take a few minutes to write about my day for all of my oh-so-faithful readers. (love ya'll!)

Today was finally Friday, my favorite day of the week! It went very well. I spent a lot of time planning this morning and sending out emails concerning homecoming festivities and the upcoming Education Club event where we will be discussing the mentoring program that I recently blogged about (see "It's Happening... It's Happening"). So that was pretty productive.

This afternoon I taught religion, took the kids to p.e., taught them new math games as a review (post test) day. They learned "race to 50", an addition game, and "race from 20," a subtraction game. I found one game online and made the other myself. I printed the game boards, made up the rules, found game pieces and dice for the students to use and it worked! They played in groups of three for a half an hour and loved it. Pretty slick. After math we had Fiesta Friday and a Spanish lesson about palabras de conversación. The kids learned how to say hi, how are you, what's your name, my name is... and a few other similar phrases. They are always very involved in Spanish, and while some of it is still over their heads, I LOVE that they enjoy and look forward to lessons each Friday. It's good stuff.

After school today I had track practice and a nice school café dinner with a couple friends that I haven't talked to in a while! It was good to catch up. After dinner I returned to my room and may or may not (you caught me) have been laying on the futon in our living room ever since. Four (isn) hours. Shoot, if this is what Friday night adulthood is like, I'm not sure that I'm prepared. I might just start failing out of classes so that I can stay in college longer.... Oh who am I kidding, I can't afford that :P

Tonight, as a special treat, I will include some photos of what I've been up to! Enjoy!

This is the display of our Social Studies Community Helper Project. Each child wrote about a community helper they would like to be when they grow up. They did a darn great job of writing neatly and had some great illustrations! It's up just in time for conferences next week!

A picture of some of my boys playing Race to 50. They were working so hard on writing correct number sentences on their score cards while having fun playing the game. (See what I did there?! Tricky teacher!)

This is a picture of me helping to cantor at school mass! Thanks to another sneaky teacher for snapping a photo!!

Here is one of the pictures that I submitted for the homecoming royalty slideshow. My personality shines though pretty prominently, I think :) 

Until next week... 

Peace, love, and that one Rebecca Black song, 

Jayna

Late Night Thoughts. Thursday Edition.

"I suck at blogging."
"School was long today."
"Whyyyyyy am I still awake?"
"Mom is gonnna kill me for not blogging this week..."
"I really need to get my hair done."
"I am so excited to be on BCU's homecoming royalty!"
"I am actually really, really excited because I like every single person on court and it's going to be really fun!!!"
"Yeah, my hair definitely needs to be done before next week."
"I can't believe I'm a senior!!!" <-- Happy/excited
"I can't believe I'm a senior!!" <-- Sad/distraught/confused
"My roommates look homeless."
"I love my roommates."
"Where is Monica?" (roomie missing!!)
"What am I going to wear tomorrow?"
"Can I wear colored jeans to school??" (Gonna do it.)
"Gosh my kids were sassy today."
"I really like this eye shadow."
"Why am I still awake."
"I miss Dingus. And La Reg. And SouthDakotaDeb and SouthDakotaDan."
"NO EYE TWITCH TODAY!!!"
"My lessons are going really well!!"
"Where are all these rolly polly bugs coming from?"
"Are they falling from the ceiling?"
"...I should really go to bed."
"I'm actually going to be a real teacher lady. I can totally do this."
"I don't know if I can actually do this."
"HOW/WHY do people do this?!"
"Thank God we have conferences next week and only have 3 days with kids..."
"HOLY CRAP- we have conferences next week."
"My bed looks comfy."
"I'm gonna go to my bed.... Goodnight!!!"

Peace, love, and sleep sweet,
Jayna

It’s happening… it’s happening…

It happened. (I hope you all read that as the Bridesmaid’s movie quote!) It happened. I skipped a day of blogging. LORD HAVE MERCY. Just kidding. I was just so busy being a teacher lady yesterday, then I had class, and then I passed the heck out. Literally, I napped for an hour and a half last night. The tiredness continues, along with nail biting, the added bonus of an eye twitch, dreams about losing my teeth (true life), and an addiction to caffeinated tea and coffee. It’s pretty cool actually. (Another Bridesmaid’s quote :))

FAQ

How’s student teaching going? (I get this question about 6.48 million times a day.)

Student teaching is going well. I really like my rockstar teacher. There is a great atmosphere at my school. All of the teachers are very friendly, helpful, and supportive of me- which rocks. My kids are all pretty good. Yes, they can be HUGE stinkers, but they are 7 and 8, so that is expected. We are dealing with their individual attitudes, strengths, and weaknesses, and getting to know each of them on a more personal level. They are learning. I think they are loving it (and me) as much as I am loving it (and them). I’m becoming more and more comfortable teaching with each lesson… it will only be another two weeks-ish before I teach full time. Crazy.

Where have you been? Why do I never see you?

School. Or track. Or horizontal on my couch, futon, or bed in the 205. Those are pretty much the places that I can be found these days. It’s not that I’m super busy working on lesson plans (usually), or that I don’t want to see people, but I am so. stinking. tired. that even if I’m awake, I’m not down to run all over campus, frolicking as the social butterfly that I typically am. Sorry guys. Feel free to stop on over (205 Bax!) and visit anytime. I would love to see you. For those of you at home, I hope to possibly make an appearance in good ole’ Y-town this weekend. But if not, I might not be home until the first weekend in October. Again, if you make it out my way, please let me know!!!

Can we hang out sometime soon?

Yes. Duh. Hit me up. Preferably on the weekends. Or stop by. Or, come December, I will have about two weeks to kill doing absolutely nothing (when I finish student teaching and before winter break). Deal? Deal. 

How is track going?

It’s fall track. It’s kind of ehh. I worked out allllll summer long, so only having fall practices 3 days a week is not a huge deal. Basically we are just getting ready for season by lifting. Which is funny because I have been lifting all summer, and am consequently much stronger than the rest of the fall track girls. Like, I lift with the boys. I love that. Hopefully all of my off-season work will show and pay off when we are finally in season (January-May). I’d like to run some real fast 400s and 800s, please.

So what’s new? How’s your life?

My life is great. I’ve had a lot of fun with my roommates this year! :) (Although my room is MUCH more quiet since I lived with Kat the past 2 years!!) They are the people that I see the most and a great group of girls!! I am very glad that I live on campus too, because I’m surrounded by good friends. It’s nice that I can wander down the hall and chat with friends or hang out with my neighbs. (College rocks, honestly.) I am currently rocking the single every single day lifestyle. Honestly, I’m not sure that I have time for any committed relationships right meow. Not playing volleyball (as much as I miss it) has been bittersweet, heavy on the sweet side. My life is just a little less complicated, way less of a time commitment, less drama, less emotional and physical exhaustion (at least from sports). Plus a super added bonus is that I have free weekends. People: understand that this hasn’t happened in YEARS. I have free weekends to do whatever I want. And I want to support the BCU Chargers!! I’ve been to games, and matches, and all sorts of events. I’m going to live up my last year as much as possible.

What else is going on?

There is really only one other thing going on that I’m excited about. I usually have about one good idea a year (kidding), and here is my idea. I’m attempting to get some sort of mentoring program set up at BCU within the realm of education. There are general college mentors available through the school, but the people that I would like to target are aspiring teachers who are sophomores and juniors, partnered with seniors as mentors. These professional mentors would be available to answer burning education major questions. Such as, “so, what is this class about?” “how many hours do I need to observe?” “what is PDS like?” “how does student teaching work?” Hopefully, this idea will all pan out and be beneficial to students. Maybe it could even branch out to other majors like nursing and business? The possibilities are endless. I’ll keep ya updated.

Until next time…

Peace, love, and movie quotes,

Jayna 

Just Another Manic Monday

Hello all! Welcome back! I hope ya’ll had a great weekend. I know that I sure did! Including a three and a half hour nap yesterday. It. Was. Awesome.

And I needed that sleep to get ready for this week. First thing this morning we found out that one of our students… who complained of his hand hurting Friday afternoon after falling on the soccer field, had broken his wrist. He is in a soft cast and sling. Oops. The p.e. teacher, the secretary, my rockstar teacher, and I all thought that it was nothing, just an injury that he was milking. That’s the hard thing about kids this age. It’s very hard to tell when they have a serious injury or sickness because to them, EVERY injury or sickness is a serious one. I suppose we just try to cover all of our bases and hope for the best. We also have an enormous respect issue with another of our boys. He is uninterested, disrespectful, and purposely mean to others. It’s a difficult issue to address….

Good thing that I have 9 more weeks to practice.  Can you believe it?! This is my 6^th week of working at St. Michael’s... although it’s technically only my 4^th week of teaching. And I almost have the entire classroom already. Pretty cool. A little stressful, but pretty cool.

A little insight…

For those of you who don’t realize (recently, it’s come to my attention that many people don’t), lesson planning is by far the hardest part of teaching. Teaching itself comes very naturally to me. I instinctively check for student understanding, look for participation, and differentiate for different student needs. It’s one thing to know and actively be able to do these things, but it’s completely another to write down each detail of when, and how, and where, and why you’re going to do everything. GAHH. Honestly, I’ve only written a handful of complete lesson plans (in the official Briar Cliff format… it’s quite thorough), but lesson plans are something that you must have for each lesson you teach. For an elementary teacher, that’s about 5-6 lessons each day. When my lessons come from another source such as the teacher’s manual, they are fairly short and include objectives, intro, lesson, activity, and conclusion. It might fit on a post it note. :) (it’s pretty cool actually!) But when I come up with my own lessons (when those creative juices are flowing), it takes a long time. It might take me an hour to write a lesson that only takes a half hour to teach. The time commitment is real. Teachers are some dedicated individuals! :) Hopefully someday soonish I’ll be experienced enough (and have enough resources) to master the art of winging it. I suppose we’ll see.

At the end of today, another teacher in the building stopped by with copies of an article entitled Needed: A report card on America’s parents. I LOVE IT. If you’ve got some extra time, please check it out!

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/needed-a-report-card-on-parents-b9996036z1-223338961.html

So worth the read. Not everything can be put on the teachers. And before I start preaching or venting, I’ll sign off for the day.

Until tomorrow…

Peace, love, and controversy,

Jayna 

Rebecca Black Style

You know what I mean… “IT’S FRIIIIDAYYYY, FRIIIIDAY. GOTTA GET DOWN ON FRIIIIDAY!!”

School today was overall pretty good, pretty chill. The kids were a lot better behaved than they been so far this week, which was awesome. And today we were just finishing up projects from the week so I didn’t really even teach anything. Sweeeeet.

The only concern that I have for today is the amount of food that I am faced with at school. I have a fear now of birthdays, and that’s because I’m going to get fat because I can’t say no. Like, “It’s your birthday? Yes, I would love to help you celebrate by eating an entire pan of frosted brownies, breakfast pizza, and chocolate pie. Sure. Happs Birth!” It’s an actual problem.

And now… for your entertainment. An excerpt from a 2^nd graders journal.

“I am going to play socker tommor mourne. Tommor we have pichirs. We are going to wine. My sister plays socker to.”

You know what? Sometimes I too say to my self, “Self, tomorrow we are going to wine.” But I actually mean WINE. :) It’s nice finally being 21.

Actually tonight has been more of a chips, salsa, and margarita night. Coupled with deep cleaning with my roommates… we’re just living the dream.

Until next week…

Peace, love, and lesson plans for days,

Jayna

Friday eve- Aka Thursday

Do doo doo. Just being a teacher lady today. I feel like I have done less this week than I have in the past weeks. Does that mean that I’m ready to take over more of the classroom? (GASP!) The only things that I don’t teach are Reading and Math. Those are the two core subjects, and they take up a LOT of our day. During the morning block, we spend three hours in a literacy block. THREE. HOURS. Granted, spelling and phonics (which I already teach) take up some of that time. And the students spend time each day practicing the Daily 5/CAFÉ (teacher reading skill programs for students… don’t worry about the teaching lingo), but that is still a significant amount of time spend with reading instruction. And while I am endorsed with reading, I want to give my teacher a couple more weeks to get our small reading groups finalized.

So that means that I will most likely be taking over math next week. Math is not my favorite thing. Especially not in the private schools. The public schools recently adopted a math program that is a challenging, different way of thinking about numbers and number sense, but it kind of rocks… I worked with that program all year last year and now that’s not an option. I guess it’s time to put on my big girl panties and deal with it. I’ll let ya know how that goes next week, dear faithful readers.

And now, for your entertainment… The difference between boys and girls as told through a journal prompt. Today the prompt was, “If you could invent your dream car, what would it be like?” Drumroll please!

Girl: “My dream car would be like all blue on the outside and all rianbow in the inside with cats on the seats and sporkls. And the car had a tv in it and the car code have a bottin you code push it and it code dive by its silf.”

Boys: “I wod invent rodot car and it wod have big rocit bostrs and it wod be flowting and it wod have a TV. And I can have egg’s and a big seat and a leters and a snake and a hotdog. And it wod be named zoos.”

I don’t know what our cars of the future will look like, but maybe one of my students will design them. They have a lot of creative ideas, that’s for sure!

I’m just glad that it’s Friday eve and that the weekend is coming soon. Because it’s been the longest week ever… and collectively the 2^nd grade, teachers and students, are sick of it. DONE.

Peace, love, and EXIT signs (as in get me outta here),

Jayna