Whew! I can't believe that I am already half way through my first week of student teaching!  The three days in the classroom have FLOWN by. I am surrounded by so many encouraging people at my placement. It amazing to see how God provides!

My favorite (and most different) thing about the classroom is the view.  When I look out my window at school I see mountains and palm trees! My cooperating teacher has been doing a wonderful job at getting me involved from the start.  We are in the planning stages of what I will be teaching and when but we have decided on the unit that I will be writing and teaching--Solids, Liquids and Gases! I am eager to begin planning and excited that my unit will be taught to real students.  It's no longer a paper to turn into a professor for a grade--I will be planning this for 18 students that I see on a daily basis!

I am excited to see what the next few days hold.  I will be observing in other classrooms to get a bigger picture of where the students have been and where they will be going to frame my thinking as I teach.

I will keep you posted as I begin to plan and teach more!

All About Miss Gould Big Book

 

 

One thing that has been on my student teaching to-do list for quite a while was to make a big book.  I found the idea on Pinterest and thought it would be a fun way to introduce myself to my students.  The book includes pictures of me growing up, some fun facts and lots of glitter paper!  I am looking forward to packing this away in the bottom of my suitcase when I go student teach!

 

 

 

 

 

This semester I had the wonderful opportunity to work with two 2nd grade teachers at a local school.  I spent an afternoon a week in each of their classrooms and they were gracious enough to let me teach this art lesson in preparation for student teaching.  The area that I go to school has a very dense Dutch population.  Lots of Vander, De, -sma, and Vans around town:)  So I decided to embrace the heritage that many of the student share and teach them about tinting and shading using Delft.  As I began introducing the lesson, lots of hands shot in the air, "My grandma has that!" was a consensus around the class:) We discussed the history a bit and what the scenery is like in the Netherlands (lots of rivers, windmills and flowers).  Then we began the project.  Art is one subject that requires LOTS of management and planning.  How will the student receive the material? How will they wash their brushes? Where will they dry? And so on.  Lots to think about. One thing that slipped my mind--where to put their names.  The students are busily painting when I remember that they haven't put their name anywhere on it, and now its full of wet paint. Woops!  A little improvision with my cooperating teacher and the problem was solved. Lesson learned:)

 

The student enjoyed experimenting with color mixing.  We discussed how powerful the color black is when mixing and what to do if your color didn't come out how you expected (adding more white, blue or black). 

 

I instructed the students to paint the scene in the middle first, then move to the decorative border around the edge.  Students learned about different types of lines and patterns earlier in the year so we used that prior knowledge to create the beautiful border around their plates.

 

Overall, it was a great project to incorporate art and Dutch culture.  The student were excited to bring it home to show their parents & grandparents and compare it to the Delft they have around their house. I learned alot classroom management during this lesson and the importance of giving simple step-by-step instructions throughout the entire lesson.

 

Below are some of the masterpieces!

 

 

It is hard to believe that in less than a month the moment I have been anticipating ever since I stepped foot on my college's campus is almost here-- STUDENT TEACHING!  I begin my first session on Monday, January 7.  The purpose of creating this blog at this stage in my education is to connect with fellow educators while I embark on this crazy adventure called student teaching.  Yes, I have great advisors and cooperating teachers to help guide me through this learning process but I would love to receive input from other experienced educators along the way.

I am making a list of goals of student teaching and maintaining a blog is towards the top of that list! I would like to use this as a platform to share my experiences and document my growth over the next semester and beyond.

I am beyond excited to finally begin teaching. My professors, classmates and local teachers have prepared me the past 3 years and I am ready to go and put it all to the test! I have so many ideas (thank you pinterest) and I can't wait to use some of them to help reach my students!

Please keep me in your prayers as I teach!

I will keep you posted as I continue to prepare for my biggest adventure yet!