It's All About Stamina

Today, my students are working very hard on building stamina. I realized that we are building stamina in more than just reading (as I typically think of building stamina for.) So naturally, I googled the definition of stamina…

stamina |ˈstamənə|

noun

the ability to sustain prolonged physical or mental effort.

Huh. I guess that I never thought about it before, but my students are constantly building stamina… stamina in reading, in listening, in participating, in following directions. (Especially in listening and following directions- a few of my students are real space cadets.) As 7 and 8 year olds, learning to do all of these things must require a TON of physical AND mental effort. My students, although they are sometimes fidgety and disruptive and stubborn and silly in class are working very hard. Cuties.

As a student teacher, I am also building stamina. Stamina in patience, in planning, in teaching :) I feel like I can relate to my students on giving a ton of physical and mental effort… lately I have been exhausted! The trouble is finding a balance of life at elementary school and life at college. Being gone from campus all the time makes me feel like I never see anyone! I have been making an effort to visit friends and attend campus events (Shoutout to my undefeated BCU volleyball team!!! I’m glad ya’ll have been playing so well in the hot, hot heat of the NFC!) while I still have time! Soon I might be too busy for much besides planning and teaching… I guess time will tell!

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… Questions, comments, and concerns from the desk in the back corner of the class. (That’s ME!)

Question: What’s with all the flies?

There is a fly problem in my school. Not from the kitchen. Not from open windows. From open barn doors. That’s right, my second grade boys have a serious need for the acronym XYZ (eXamine Your Zipper). There are multiple offenders who waltz out of the bathroom everyday still tucking in their uniform shirts (seriously, adorable) with their flies wideeee open. I’m talking all the way down. No need to worry folks, I’ve taken to sending them right back in and/or quietly (you know that can be hard for me) telling them to check their zippers. Hopefully the boys will be able to figure this one out soon.

Comment: The cutest journal sentence that I read today…

I like to sing and date.

My students have been instructed to underline words when they are unsure of spelling.  When I asked my student to read the sentence, she clearly said, “I like to sing and dance.” Oh, so close. Perhaps I should start saying the same about myself… “hello, my name is Jayna and I like to sing and date.” I’ll keep you all updated on how well that one goes.

Concern: Tomorrow my rockstar teacher is abandoning me! Okay, not really, but she is going to be gone. Which means we have a substitute teacher. Which means I will be expected to maintain order, routine, and general sanity in the classroom. For an entire day. (Oops, half day- early out!) Time to act like a real teacher lady! Wish me luck!

Peace, love, and 85-degree school hallways,

Jayna

Ps- I hope that you all enjoy reading this blog as much as I enjoy writing it. It’s like twitter, but with endless characters. So much better :)

Pps- Special shout out to all the lovely ladies who have let me raid their closets in search of teacher outfits. Regan, Monica, and Brooke- yous da best.

The Mysterious Case of the Sliding Desks

Okay, maybe it’s not mysterious or even really a case, but I just cannot understand how my second graders slide their desks so much. Our desks are arranged in three rows, and these rows (depending on the time of day) can be anywhere within a foot radius of where they are supposed to be. The kids just scoot, scoot, scoot, push and pull and slide their desks until they are on top of one another… almost literally. My teacher and I are constantly moving desks back into rows. Perhaps this is a conundrum that faces all classrooms with fidgety students. But sheesh! I have never encountered it in such a way before.

As for actual important things that are going on in school.... We’ve had an adjusted schedule so far this week because of early outs. (Due to the HOT HOT HEAT!) I have been teaching some lessons, more unofficially than anything. It’s pretty nice because I don’t have to write those pesky lesson plans, but the classroom also feels a little unorganized. Teaching me flexibility I suppose!

One thing that my cooperating teacher has asked me to do is work more with the students and the classroom iPad. Like I said before, my rockstar teacher has been teaching 2^nd grade for the past 25 years. Hence, she’s not quite as hip on the iPad as I am. I spent some time today googling (one of my favorite things to do- I’m such a dork!) free educational apps for second graders. Because ain’t nobody got time to pay for apps. No, no, no. Hopefully I will find some great apps for my students to practice spelling, phonics, basic math facts and concepts on. If you have any suggestions, please leave me a comment and I will check it out!

Until next time…

Peace, love, and ants in the pants,

Jayna

Hello friends, family, and blog creepers of all ages!

Welcome to my blog where I will be discussing, reminiscing, and reporting about life and (mostly) student teaching! I will try to post every few days, but since I’m starting a little late, this is going to be a long post to sum up the past two weeks!

Summer this year seemed shorter than ever! I lived on campus and spent my time at 6 am workouts, working for the YMCA summer camp, planning and working freshman orientations, playing co-ed slowpitch softball, and bonding with my roommates- three very fun girls! As of August 12^th, my summer ended and I started student teaching! I am placed in a 2^nd grade room at a Catholic school, and so far things are going very well. Today was the start of my third week (out of fifteen.) Here are some things that happened in the first two weeks!

The first week of school included 3 days (M, T, W) of inservice. During these days, we met as a district and also as a school. My school is technically split into two sites. My building holds grades preK-2 and the other building holds 3-8. Anyway, the first few days of school were very informative and interesting. I met all of schoolteachers and faculty and helped to set up our classroom for the year… not that there was a lot to set up! My cooperating teacher has been teaching 2^nd grade at my school for the past 25 years, so she was already set up and fairly prepared for the year. (Yep, she’s a rockstar.)

Tuesday night (8/14) was my first chance to meet the students at the school open house. They all seemed a little nervous and excited to be in a new classroom and to see who would be their classmates for the year. They were also surprised to meet me! It was a cool experience to be able to meet the students and their families before school actually began. My favorite part of meeting the students was seeing what they wore to open house. I felt that their outfits showed some of each student’s personality (they wear uniforms- so stinking cute.)

Thursday and Friday were long first days of school as we spent a lot of time going through rules and handbooks. Observing for those two days was not very much fun, but hopefully such experience will be helpful for when I start my own classroom next year!

Last week (8/19- 8/23) was the first full week of school! Monday flew by as the class got accustomed to their new routine. It was much more fun for me because I got to be a little more hands on with taking attendance (baby steps, but still fun!) I also participated in our early dismissal and professional development, which felt a lot like a college class with all of the other teachers. On Tuesday, we had an early dismissal because of heat. Our building has window air conditioners in the classrooms, but the hallways and café-gym-atorium (the gym where they hold lunch, PE, and school assemblies) are not air-conditioned and they are HOT and HUMID. On Wednesday, I jumped right into faculty participation by serving as cantor at school mass. Thursday was my first experience with afternoon recess duty. I also experienced a bit of young blossoming love as I watched one of my girls attempt to pass her phone number written on a small piece of paper to one of the boys. So cute, but not quite appropriate for school. On Friday, I taught my first official lesson… in Spanish. My teacher had an open time slot on Friday afternoons, and I have been approved to teach Spanish lessons during that time. I’m calling it Fiesta Fridays. The first lesson was a review of numbers 1-10 (singing Uno, Dos, y Tres Amigos) and a new lesson about colors. The kids all really seem to enjoy Spanish. They get a chance to babble their new Spanish words, talk to each other, and learn something completely new J I’m ecstatic about Fiesta Fridays!

Although I didn’t teach much over the week, I was pretty exhausted. However, I made time sure to attend the first volleyball games on Friday night. The team played very well and won in 3 games! It was bittersweet for me to be there watching and not playing, but I’m very proud of my girls. They will always be teammates and good friends to me.

Saturday and Sunday were all about sparkle! The incoming freshmen moved in on Friday, so on Saturday my group of fearless PALs (orientation leaders) and our faculty advisors bussed all the freshmen to Charger Camp. Charger Camp is a time for all of the freshmen to get to know each other and their PALs through team building activities and fellowship held at a YMCA camp along Lake Okoboji. As an PAL coordinator, Charger Camp was a little more stressful than it has been in the past, but I definitely enjoyed my time spent there. I think it was the best Charger Camp yet and I met some great incoming students. I’m super excited to get the new school year started at BCU!

Now (finally) we are all caught up to today! Yippee! Today is one of the hottest days of the summer (97 and huuuuumid), and so we will be letting school out early again. This is good and bad news… bad because I miss out on teaching Religion (my first subject J) but great news since I caught a cold this weekend- I’m taking advantage of this extra time off to get some sleep!

Until next time…

Peace, love, and sharpened pencils,

Jayna