Book Addict's Blog

What are the books in libraries and bookstores doing when you turn out the lights? Why, this, of course!



In other book-related news, I started my first class for my Masters of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University! I'll actually be taking three this semester, but the first is just a one credit course called Online Social Networking that you can start before the official start of the semester. I've actually started another blog as part of that class, Adventures in Library Science, in which I hope to record different thoughts related to my coursework and libraries as a whole. Of course, given my track record with blogs, we'll see if this one actually lasts!

So, things are finally starting to settle down in my second year of teaching. This is going to be a crazy week, as one of the sixth grade teachers is going to be moving down to fifth grade, but at least that means we'll have smaller classes (Currently I have two classes of around 30. With the third teacher, it will be three classes of around 20).

Anyway, on the day of our first social studies lesson, I asked my students, "What is history? Why is it important?"  I laughed at almost all of the answers I got. Here are some of the highlights:

• "It is in the 1800's"
• "History is important because of learning the past it like when you were a baby that the past. History is the past and not the future it like George Washington and Abram Linelinon just like you are going to be in the past."
• "History is important because History tells us of the past if it wasent for aberham linken we would not have a Presidant if it wasent for world war 1, 2, and 3 we would not have freedom and the Smithsonian."
• "History is a story of what hapend in the past tense. without history there probly be no us"
• "history is what happend in the past. Because, it help's you learn better. The Cristiffer found Oklahoma."
• "History is like people who lived in the past. it is important because we can figure out how they did stuff like how they washed close."

I survived my first year of teaching!!!

It's been a crazy and challenging year.  Frankly, I'm not a very good teacher yet, especially in the area of classroom management.  And that led to lots of stress, tears, exhaustion, and even burnout at times.  The year was not without its high points, of course.  Teaching can be fun, and rewarding...even if you're a first year teacher who feels like she has no clue what she's doing and not enough support.  I had a not insignificant number of those happy moments.  And I certainly loved each of my kids individually. 

But I'm incredibly glad it's summer.  This summer, even with my trip to China, will be the most relaxing one I've had in probably 10 years.  I'm looking forward to the chance to relax, rejuvenate, and ready myself for next year.  Because next year will be crazy again, especially since my school is moving buildings and adding a sixth grade.  But by August, I will be rested, and will hopefully have things planned and prepared so that next year goes much more smoothly than this year did.

So, you know how I asked for travel ideas? Well, I posted something up on Facebook asking for travel buddies and ideas.  My mom saw it, and asked if I wanted to go to China with her.  As if she had to ask!  I've wanted to go to China forever (I've been to the airport in Hong Kong, and that's it), especially since my mom's side of the family is Chinese.  Anyway, it was really just an idea that we started looking into, and nothing definite, until we found really cheap plane tickets to Beijing.  And now, less than a week after we first started talking about it, my mom, my two sisters, and I are all set to spend three weeks in China!  I'm very excited, not only about my destination, but also about my travel companions.  I've traveled quite a bit, but the last time I went overseas with one sister was over ten years ago, and I've never been overseas with the other sister.  I'm sad my dad and brother can't go, but it will be a fun girls-only adventure! 

Anyone been to China before and have tips/advice/suggestions?  My mom and one of my sisters have been, but it was for a humanitarian trip, and they didn't do much sightseeing and had most of the trip planned for them. This trip is very open, except for the fact that we're flying in and out of Beijing.

Also, who has a Kindle or other e-reader? I used to be set against them, but the last two times I've spent a semester abroad, I saw how useful they could have been for travel.  Considering I like to travel quite a bit, I've been thinking of getting one, though I can also read e-books on my laptop, iPod Touch, and phone.  I put off buying it, because I wasn't sure when I was going to travel next, but now that I'm definitely spending three weeks in China, I'm thinking about making the investment.  So, thoughts about whether it's worth it, and which e-reader I should get?  I'm thinking about the Kindle, as it seems to be the best reader for the price, and I'm thinking e-ink is the best way to go.  But I'm up for any and all suggestions!

In less than exciting news, my Spring Break is almost over, and I've gotten nothing productive done school-wise.  We're starting new units in both math and reading Monday, and testing is coming up, so I've got a LOT to do. Oops.

 Overall, I've had a great weekend so far!  Saturday, my school's Lego League team had their robotics competition. I've been assisting some with the preparation for the competition, so volunteered to help chaperone.  Unfortunately, I overslept by about two hours (at least it wasn't a school day!), but I still made it, and we had a good deal of fun.  Granted, our team came in last for the actual robotics demonstration, but they didn't do too poorly on their demonstration or their teambuilding exercise.  To top it all off, we actually won a trophy! It was the Judge's Choice trophy, so we're not quite sure what that means, but winning something was definitely pretty exciting for the kids. We'll find out Monday if we are one of the teams going on to the next stage in the competition. 20 out of 25 teams move on, so we actually have a chance, despite our poor performance on the demonstration.

Then, Saturday night, I agreed last minute to host a couple of Irish CouchSurfers.  They finally found my place around 2am (my phone's not working, so that didn't help), so we only got to talk briefly before heading to bed.  However, we had brunch this morning, which was awesome.  CouchSurfers, we decided, are (usually) some of the most open, friendly people out there.  So we had some great discussions before they had to head off again.  (The Irish accents were an added bonus, in my opinion! ;)  )   Not many CSers decide to visit Tulsa, so I'm glad I got this opportunity to host!

This afternoon, a friend who I haven't talked to in forever caught me on Skype.  While we were talking, we discovered that the newest version of Skype comes with a free trial of video conferencing!  So we downloaded everything we needed, rounded up a couple more of our friends, and had a video conference call. I still can't get over how cool technology can be.  We had three people in Madrid, one person in California, and myself in Oklahoma, all looking at and talking to each other at once.  And, since the friends I was talking to are some of the most amazing people in the world, we just had an all around good time.

Of course, all this means that I haven't even started grading and lesson planning yet. Oops. At least we only have two days of school next week! And then I get to go back to California for Thanksgiving!!!

Well, I started teaching math today. Let’s just say, my improving skills at reading comprehension didn’t transfer over well. I failed pretty miserably today at teaching my kids to identify subtraction questions in word problems. It was a difficult objective (particularly for students who have trouble reading), my students were behind where I thought they’d be skill-wise, I was disorganized, and I really had no clue how to teach a math lesson. I was all over the place, which meant my kids were all over the place, both academically and behaviorally (though at least “bad” behavior for them isn’t really that bad). To make matters worse, I was incredibly nervous during the lesson because I was being observed by both my CMA and by another CM who wanted to learn something from the way I taught. I think the only thing the other CM learned was how not to teach math.

Still, despite the fact that I was pretty upset after the lesson, I’m a lot more optimistic than I was after my first real day of teaching. My first reading comprehension was a disaster (though not quite this bad, I think!), but I learned from it, and was doing much better by the second week. I’m hopeful that my math lessons will similarly improve, so that I don’t fail so much in front of my students this fall!

(Cross-posted from my TFA blog)

Yep, there was some doubt as to whether I’d be able to say that by this point in time. But my first week of teaching at Institute, while rough, was something I survived!

With all the lesson planning and such, I’ve been getting no more than 5 hours of sleep a night, which is the main reason why the week has been hard. For the first couple of days, the teaching itself wasn’t bad. That was mostly because I was only in charge of explaining our rules, rewards, consequences, and some procedures the first day, and get to know you activities the second. But it also helps that my 2nd graders are pretty awesome (most of the time), and there are only 12 of them. Still, I was pretty exhausted, since beyond my time teaching and lesson planning (using TFA’s very lengthy and particular template), I still had lots of sessions and workshops.

Yesterday was about my breaking point. Tuesday I had trouble waking up and staying awake during sessions, and yesterday was about the same. Beyond that, though, my first academic lesson plan didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. My read aloud was fun, but I just didn’t do a good job explaining setting and its importance to the plot, because my kids didn’t get it at all. I also ran out of time (which was a problem today as well). I was fairly upset by the end of the period, and almost started crying when talking about my lesson to other CMs and my CMA. It wasn’t even that big of a deal, in retrospect (after all, it was my first real lesson!), but when we’re running on so little sleep, everyone’s emotions are heightened. I walk by the halls, and every day I see at least one person crying. And talking to people, I don’t think there’s even one girl who hasn’t cried over something this week, and often that something was really actually pretty minor.

Today was better though! My kids seemed to get what I was teaching them (though I may have helped them too much on their independent work), and I was operating on slightly more sleep (it’s sad when two nights in a row of 5 hours of sleep makes me feel this much better, since I’d been getting less before that.) My CMA observed the last part of my lesson today, and my FA said as the kids were leaving for lunch that both she and my CMA gave me two thumbs up for the lesson today! Most excitingly, I have nothing to do before tomorrow! I get to go to bed before midnight! I still have to wake up early, because we still have sessions tomorrow, but at least we get up early.

Anyway, that has been my roller coaster week. Hopefully things will just get better from here on out, as I get more experienced (and have somewhat less to do!).

Oh! One more BIG thing! I have a placement!!! Well, mostly. I found out that I am almost certainly teaching 5th grade next year, though I don’t know the school. Hooray! Not only am I staying in elementary, but I get to teach upper elementary, which is what I wanted. My 2nd graders are awesome, and there are definitely some great things about teaching younger kids, but I’m excited for the things I can do with older kids that I can’t do with younger kids.

Time again for one of my round-ups! This is a pretty full one. I had more time to read last semester than I've had in a LONG time. And of course, I did lots of other cool things as well!

Books I've read:

• The Rope Trick by Lloyd Alexander (reread)
• Fire by Kristin Cashore
• Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox
• Young Miles by Lois McMaster Bujold (reread)
• Dresden Files Books 1-12 by Jim Butcher
• Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
• Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• The History of Rasselas by Samuel Johnson
• Lady Susan by Jane Austen
• Coraline by Neil Gaiman
• Queen of Attolia, King of Attolia, and Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner (re-read on the first two; also, got halfway through The Thief)
• The Sally Lockhart Mysteries (Books 1-4) by Phillip Pullman

Places Visited:

• Colorado, USA
• Maastricht and Amsterdam, Netherlands
• London, UK
• Brussels, Brugge, and Ghent, Belgium
• Monschau, Berlin, and Munich, Germany
• Athens, Thessaloniki, and Poros, Greece
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Bern and Interlaken, Switzerland
• Salzburg and Vienna, Austria
• Venice, Milan, Siena, Lake Como, and Florence, Italy
• Madrid and Sevilla, Spain
• Paris and the Loire Valley (inc. Bloise and Tours), France
• Dublin, Ireland
• Edinburgh, London, and Stratford-upon-Avon, U.K.

Productions Seen:

• Les Miserables (two different productions, in London and Edinburgh)
• Don Giovanni at the Estates Theatre in Prague
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (the ballet) at the State Opera House in Vienna
• Oliver! in London
• Legally Blonde the Musical in London
• Macbeth at the Globe in London
• King Lear (Royal Shakespeare Company Public Understudy Performance) in Stratford-on-Avon

Other random things I've done:

• Volunteered at Junior Winter Camp at Forest Home
• Taken and passed the PRAXIS II
• Got my B.A. from Baylor University!

It was quite a semester!

What follows is a "quick" recap of the lase few weeks of my study abroad trip. I wrote it Saturday, but as I've been pretty internet-less, I'm only getting to posting it now! Here it is:

( Lots of text and pics under the cut... )