The new kid on the block

Wow! It has been such a long time since I have updated. In fact, this is my first post of 2011. So exciting! I have been super busy in the 3 weeks that 2011 has blessed me with so far. I have been attending block classes, training for my 2nd half-marathon, and STUDENT TEACHING!
Yes, the time has come! Last summer, my cooperating teacher retired from teaching. I was a very sad camper. I mean think about it. Imagine if a person who showed you the ropes from the very beginning retires. What do you do?! Will the new cooperating teacher be just as amazing as the last one?! Will she take you under her wing and share her world with you?! Well, I can honestly say that I found the perfect person to replace my old cooperating teacher!

My new cooperating teacher is like my old cooperating teacher's twin! She is just as wonderful and caring as my last one. She is the perfect 21st century teacher role model and friend. I mean this lady uses so much technology in her classroom and DOES IT WELL! The kids love her, her co-workers love her, and I love her! Seriously if you ever get the chance to work with her, DO IT. She's like every student teacher's dream.

One thing that I can tell you is that the first few weeks of student teaching has been busy. I'm student teaching at Centennial Campus Magnet Middle School. It is the perfect fit for me. It is nicely tucked inside of a suburban neighborhood and very close to major highways. This school was created to fulfill the university connections and leadership magnet of WCPSS. The school works very closely with the faculty and students at NCSU to create a once-in-a-lifetime middle school education for a very diverse population of students. The student demographic profile of CCMMS is : 51% White, 34% Black, 12% Hispanic, 2% Asian/Pacific Islander, and less than 1% American Indian/Alaskan native (stats provided by greatschools.org). CCMMS also offers a wide variety of unique classes for the students to take as well. The possibilities are ENDLESS! CCMMS has dance, video/film production, family and consumer sciences, music, theater/drama, art, and a variety of other electives. They also have great extra-curricular activities like ELL Book Club (sponsored by my awesome cooperating teacher!), community service clubs, student council, intermural sports, and other activities.

Like I said before, it's like a perfect fit! The students are great, the faculty are awesome, and the staff members are pretty wonderful too! The past few weeks my students have been working on science projects. Each class has designed their own class project and I helped them perform their experiments! One class put multiple household products in a soda bottle to see which combination would create carbon dioxide. Another class mixed household items with oil to see if they would mix together. The students were all so excited to be creating science experiments in ESL class for the science fair.

We have also skyped with a former student in China! We told her about the science experiments for the science fair and she also told us about the writing contest that is going on at her school in China. The students also shared their ideas about their Spring Festival project. Spring Festival is one of China's most important holidays. It's very similar to the U.S. celebration of Christmas and New Year's Day. The former student also shared her ideas of what she thought that the class should do for their project. It was so great to see the students interacting with the former student on Skype. It is one of the student's favorite activities and it's a great technology integration into the curriculum.

Another favorite activity that the students love to do is to make video's to post on the class website. One of the recent videos that the students have made was a "Stay in School" video for the CCMMS Service Learning Club. The students love making the videos and I would love to incorporate that in my lesson plans. Only problem that I have is...I do not know how to make them myself! I know it seems so small, but I am really confused on how to upload it to the website. If there was one thing that I should look into more closely, it would be how to incorporate more technology into the lessons that I will be teaching. Since my cooperating teacher is a 21st century teacher role model, it would be a great idea to get a tutorial from her!

My experiences with student teaching so far have been nothing short of wonderful! I am truly blessed to be placed in a wonderful school that is overflowing with wonderful people! Maybe being the new kid on the block isn't so bad after all. In fact, it's probably one of the best things to happen to a student teacher. I've truly received the needle in the haystack!