Yeah, I can do that

I came away from today's class with two clear thoughts in mind:  First, teaching the Micro-lesson for first graders left me feeling that although the K-1st sector wasn't really high on my radar, I think I could see myself teaching at those grade levels.  I had a lot of fun with the lesson.

Secondly, and counter to the first idea, I have no idea if I could handle that young of a group of kids every day.  It was all fine and good until you all started asking age appropriate questions for first graders that I had not anticipated (expecting, of course, adult appropriate questions).  I know kids say the darndest things and all, I just didn't expect my students to do so.  Lesson learned.

I will be doing my dyad with younger kids and cannot wait.  I think it will really give me an idea if the early age groups are something that I may want to look at.  There is a certain element of fun involved with the younger kids that gets lost as they age and everything seems to get so serious.  I've never pictured myself as a Kindergarten teacher, but then again, I've never NOT pictured myself as one either.

Hopefully getting some more practice with lesson plans across all the ages will help me find where my true strengths are.

Fear the halo of evil

I guess I haven't done the shopping very much in the past few years.  Or, actually, it is probably more of a case that my family doesn't really eat cereal.  After spending an awkward 20 minutes in that aisle researching, I was blown away to find out just how much sugar was in everything.  Discussing it all in class today, and having one of our Micro-Teaching lessons being all about sugar really brought it to the forefront of my mind.

I suppose that I just assumed the sugary cereals were all geared towards the kids, but I found it was actually much more common for the adults to be targeted.  For every Special K or Corn Chex, there was an encircling "halo of evil" of sweetened and modified versions of those same cereals.  "If you like this, then you'll looooooooove these!"  *Ugh*.  Then to actually see how much sugar 17 grams (the standard for sugary cereals as per my research) is, via the presentation from our classmates, provided stunning evidence that we are not being encouraged to make healthy choices by our nation's food providers.

I have been struggling recently to cut down on my sugar intake to provide a better example for my two year old.  Coming from a man with a sweet tooth, it has been a tough battle.  Delving into this topic a bit further is helping me to find some tools that I can use on myself, and potentially with my future students.  The knowledge of what sugars do to the body and where they come from is great information for teaching .

Objectives and GLEs and EALRs, oh my!

Day two of Health and Fitness helped to clear away some of the mist enshrouding state standards.  It also taught me how complicated it can be to create a legitimate lesson plan.  You'd think it would be more simple, but when it comes down to it there are many required steps and procedures.  It all seems a bit daunting.

At the same time, we finally are getting some hands-on practice with these before mysterious tasks.  Practice, practice, practice.  We'll get there, just keep at it.

I will say that my first experience with the EALRs, components and GLEs has me wondering if they weren't designed by the same government group that writes the federal tax code.  It seems like some sort of cruel game designed to even further complicate the lives of educators.  We'll end up spending so much time trying to decipher the standards that we won't have any left to write good lesson plans to cover those standards. 

Maybe that's just the Bill Ayers in me talking (actually, he's screaming and stamping his feet).  To be fair, it is only day one of working with the standards.  In time I am sure we will have a wonderful working relationship; talk about our families, eat lunch together, maybe even get together outside of the job.  Heck, in time we might even become friends, those standards and me.

We're going to hang out a bit this weekend, wish me luck!

Those brave young souls

I now have a new-found respect for all of those elementary school kids out there. 

Today I sat in one classroom for almost eight straight hours, attempting to stay focused and learn something.  I don't know how they manage.  By two o'clock I was spent.  It's not that I was bored, in fact the subject matter and discussions were most engaging, but even for a full grown adult like me it is really hard to sit still for that long.

This is what we expect our kids to do each day.  Admittedly, I am out of practice being in class for an entire day, but it reminded me just how imperative it is for us to truly engage our students.  As hard as it was for me to do when I was into the subject matter, imagine what it would have been like if I was not. 

We must get our students engaged in learning.  We must energize and vitalize them.  Enliven their souls and propel them to strive for greatness.  If we fail to do so and they must sit there, day in and day out, for eight hours at a time, counting the seconds and wishing, longing, to finally be free - I think we have not done our proper duty as educators.