Still alive....

Okay, so I know its not like me to not have posted in almost 3 weeks, but things have been unusually busy around here. So many things have been going on. One major change is that I have now successfully completed my time as a student (sitting in a class) at Brock. Since my last teaching placement for 7 weeks is going to be pretty intense, we had March Break off to get some planning done...and this was my intent for the entire week. However, plans changed a little and well, the pictures below will likely provide some explaination.....





So, as you might of guessed, Brad and I decided to take a spontaneous trip down to Florida where my parents had been for the past couple weeks. We found a great deal on a flight down on Wednesday night so we enjoyed 2 1/2 days of glorious Florida sunshine, before driving back with my parents. We made sure to maximize our days by hanging out by the pool, walking around the resort, playing a little beach volleyball, checking out Disney Boardwalk and some of their AMAZING resorts, and of course, playing a little mini golf. We actually took tons of video clips on our trip, and I was all pumped to show some, but I can't get DropShots to upload them. Hopefully I can figure it out soon, so stayed tuned. But anyways, it was such a great time to just relax before the intense 7 weeks of teaching.
And speaking of which, I have also now successfully made it through 2 weeks of teaching. My students are awesome and they seem to enjoy my teaching which definetly is a boost in confidence. This past week we covered dividing decimals, started into our unit on electricity and worked on our badminton skills. I also introduced a unit on poetry, which the kids are actually loving. I am requiring them to each read a poem of their choice outloud infront of the class and they are eagerly coming to be days before they need to with the poem they picked and even asking to read more and write more than they need to. It's great to see. I think the powerpoint presentations are probably influencing the excitement in the lessons a little bit...something they wouldn't normally be exposed to in class. It's crazy...as if I am teching poetry!! What do i know about poetry or electricity for that matter! But there I am, talking to a bunch of kids like I know what I'm talking about. The concepts are pretty easy to understand at this level, but its weird to now be in this position... where I am responsible for the knowledge that these kids will be exposed to. Its a huge responsibility, but I am up for it. I am also excited about helping out with the girls basketball team. I kind of got thrown into it since I happend to mention that I played in highschool and all of the sudden, they wanted me to take over. But sometimes its good to be thrown into stuff, becuase that's when you learn the best...and the fastest! We actually won our first game the day I was in charge and the other coaches couldn't be there!

One thing I have realized this week is that I need to learn to be more stern with the kids. For the past few years, my interaction with kids has mostly been in a relational role....focusing on building friendship and mentoring them. This has mostly been through my involvement with the youth centre. Although those experiences have been so great for me, I have to take my focus on buidling relationships with my students to a whole different level where I need to have authority and leadership and responsibility over them. I can feel myself wanting to 'just become friends' with the kids, especially now that I have older students than my last placement, but I know that this can be dangerous as a teacher and classroom management could become disasterous. But, its all part of the learning process and I am looking forward to strengthening my skills as a teacher and role model. I feel so blessed to be at my home school teaching. I told the kids just yesterday actually that I was a student at Vineland school and they thought it was pretty cool. In fact, I think I was in the same classroom for grade 5.

So lots of exciting stuff ahead in the next 5 weeks. Its going by so fast already. The days are just packed full and my mind just overwhelmed, but at the end of each day, I come home feeling so pumped about the next! It must be a good sign!