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

Downhill Slide.

Well folks, it’s that time already. I’m literally in countdown mode (7 more days) until I’m done with student teaching. Tonight I will be printing, hole punching, labeling, and organizing all of the work I’ve done for the hard copy of my student teaching portfolio. It’s crazy to think that years (literally YEARS) of work have gone into this project. (and it’s so close to being over!) Yippee! One more night of dedication and then my education classes will be over. (“Until you start your masters” in the words of my advisor… gahh.)

So it’s smooth sailing just teaching reading block until Friday. Plus I get to go to the other location (our school is split sites) and observe in 3^rd and 4^th grade. It should be pretty cool to work with some more of the upper elementary kids.

Other than school, today is a very special day for my roommate Monica. (The one that I failed miserably at keeping names off the blog with.) It’s her birthday! So in her honor, here’s a special thank you and birthday shout out! Thank you for being such a great friend to me for the past 4 years. You’ve always been there to snuggle (sometimes forcibly so), to talk to, to borrow clothes from, to support me, and (most importantly) to laugh with. You've been a huge influence on my college years. Even though I know you’re so excited for graduation and where life will take you afterward, I’m really looking forward to enjoying these last 6 months of college together. LOVE YOU!

Obviously, not much has changed. 

That’s all for today. Until tomorrow…

Peace, love, and giggles,

Jayna

Pessimistic

 Have you ever woken up one day and thought to yourself, “Self, today is not such a good day”? Today was one of those days. For those of you who know me, this is definitely not my style. I’m more of the eternal annoying optimist…. But that was just not the case today. Wrong side of the bed? Maybe. But I was determined to go to school and shake it off. However, one of my kids today was simply obnoxious. There is no other word for it. The secretary and another teacher reprimanded him before he even got in the room at 8 am. He just bothered me. He didn’t want to work. He talked back. I gave him 5 minutes and tried to ignore him. But this nonsense went on almost all day. Even when he wasn’t talking, he was doing something annoying like pulling up his pant leg to check out his knee. (Like, WHAT are you doing?!) I’m not saying that I let an 8 year old ruin my day, but he definitely didn’t make it any better. Gah. TGIF.

On that note, it’s time to go shake off the day with a long run and a (hopefully fun, relaxing) weekend.

I’ll leave you with some adorable things found in my kids’ journals today…

 “I like my family because they care about me. I love my family when they love me not hayte me. But every budy knows there just doing there jobe as a parint. I love my family because they chere me up wine ever i’m sad.” (Someone definitely got a talking to at home. Kids don’t just come up with this stuff on their own!)

“icksdid” (Excited. Enough said.)

Until Monday…

Peace, love, and feeling blahhhh,

Jayna