Whap whap wowowowow.

Dear Journal,

There is definitely not enough time in the day. I can only imagine what it would be like if these kids had homework. I would be up all night.

Things to consider after teaching this week:

• have directions written on the board (verbal directions suck)
• change up activities about every 15 minutes
• make sure everyone can have something to do and can do it without explicit instructions
• downtime=facebook time
• have computer time at the end of class so students won't be tempted to surf the web if we're having a discussion
• don't trust any of the printers in this building
• run through the lesson at home for any technical bugs
• have extensions that can run at least 30 minutes over class time
• bite the bullet
• pre-assessment is overrated
• organization is imperative but also impossible
• these little adults are not adults at all
• it's not my job to cure them of their bad habits
• Mr. Barlow gives bad directions
• none of these teachers are alike
• computers and food are the ways to these students hearts
• if they're not getting in the information one way, try another (obvs.)
• talk to them as soon as it happens (whatever it is)
• don't be afraid to let them get to know you a little
• it's okay to change the grade

Is this a school? Yeah. Is it counseling? Yeah.

Mr. Barlow and Mr. Lajoie think that I'm going to be a natural teacher. That I have some kind of instinct for how to do things the right way. I think that they're full of crap. I'm scared out of my mind to be teaching these kids. They don't seem to know it yet.

More later.

Okay, it's later. This is my first official week in the school. So far, so good. I did a pre-assessment with the kids today and it didn't go as bad as I thought it would. Of course, I haven't done it with my period one kids yet.

I am getting a new student soon. A new old student. Russ says that I'm going to have some serious trouble with him. I'm a little nervous, but Mr. Lajoie is there, so it should be okay.

I have been trying to organize a unit and it's not going so well. I have a lot of tiny little lessons, but not so many cohesive unit-type lessons. I have been trying to plan everything around the short story "Harrison Bergeron". So, now I'm thinking...I don't know. I can't make all of the pieces fit together for a 7 lesson unit. It's a process.

I forgot to wash out the conditioner from my hair the other day. I've never done that before. I feel like I'm walking around in a fog.

Oh, one of my students asked if I was a lesbian. That was pretty awesome. I'm surprised it took 3 days to happen though.

I'm almost done observing the other teachers. I like watching how they do things, but I haven't gotten too many good ideas from it. I honestly don't like the way a few of them do things.

At first I was afraid; I was petrified.

Dear Jennifer,

Today was your second day (ha) of student teaching, and you have certainly survived so far.

Things that are giving me anxiety:

• I start teaching on Wednesday and I don't have any lessons yet.
• Russ says that I can teach anything I want, when all I really want is for him to tell me what to teach.
• There is only one SmartBoard.
  
• Being alone with 15 high school students and having no idea what I'm doing.
• Fully understanding the grading system.

I like watching how the Franklin teachers interact with each other. Their personalities are all REALLY different. There's a certain amount of tension when they're discussing things together.

I'm going to be teaching with Kathy in technology class. I like Kathy, but sometimes it seems like she's blowing me off. Or blowing everyone off. If she's talking to 2 or 3 people. she'll only make eye contact with one person. If I asked a question, she would say the answer to the one person she's talking to. It's odd. One-on-one though, shes very nice, and she doesn't seem to have a problem making eye contact.

Everyone there has a good sense of humor but jokes tend to be hit or miss depending on the situation and time. Sometime you'll get a really good laugh out of them and other times you get the cold shoulder.

I met the downstairs middle grades teachers today. They laugh a lot. They seem different, as a whole, than the high school teachers. Mr. Barlow says that the middle school students are outrageous. He said I could definitely go and observe Melissa's classroom. I met Melissa this morning, she is the only teacher in the building that is certified to teach English. In one respect, it's nice that there can be so many English classes to meet the requirements of the students, but on the other hand, I wonder about the effectiveness of lessons made/taught by non-English teachers.

Russ (Mr. Russel), has some weirdly large amount of confidence in my ability to teach and manage these students. Either there is something inside of me that I'm not aware of or all of these people are going to be hugely disappointed.

One more day of conferences and then your first day of teaching! Woot! Ha...this could be so bad.