Reading Clinic

Tomorrow I start working at a reading clinic. I have to get 25 hours in to complete the hours I need for the class I took this summer. Should be interesting.

I made this bracelet this weekend, I think I like this even better than drilling the glass because a. I can't break any of them, and b. it keeps the integrity of the pieces themselves.

Men in Education

I was thinking about a discussion I had at school last week. One of my guys in my class was talking about why he wants to be a teacher. He said he would like to be a strong male role model because many kids don't have that in their lives (as he didn't when he was young). But he said when he tells people that the most common reaction is 'oh so you want to hang around with little boys'. What do you guys think about men as teachers, particularly in the younger grades? Weird or not so?

Teaching, especially in elementary school, is dominated by women [I think the first time I had a male teacher was 6th grade history], but I think maybe many kids could benefit from the presence of men in the classroom. Last semester when I did my observations in a 1st grade class there was one little boy who had some behavior problems. He would at times get very combative against the teacher, and wouldn't listen to what she was telling him. You could see he was challenging her authority every time, just seeing how far he could go. One day he was particularly problematic, laying on the floor, throwing items, etc. and the office was called. A pretty large man came and got the boy. I'm not sure who the guy was, I wasn't at the school long enough, but he was obviously some member of the staff. A little while later he brought the boy back, sat him down in the chair, and stood there while he did the work he was supposed to have been doing with no problems. I remember thinking then maybe this is what this boy needed. He didn't respect the teacher, but this big guy he was going to listen to.

Maybe a lot of these boys (and girls too) need a positive male influence in their lives that they sadly aren't getting at home, but they aren't getting them in school either. What are your views on this?

Lesson Planning Problems

Every Saturday night before CCD class I struggle to come up with something good to talk about the next day. Without a book or anything else to follow I'm finding it very difficult. I bought the Big Book of Catholic Customs and Traditions for Children's Faith Formation a few months ago when I started, but honestly I don't find it useful for my purposes. I looked at it this evening and didn't see anything to help me out. I'd love to figure out another nice project for my kids to do like the mini-shrines they made in October, but I'd settle just for knowing what the heck to talk to them about.

Dealing with all of this and not having a lot of success makes me wonder if teaching isn't the right path for me (and that doesn't make me feel good because I just paid about $3200 for my two classes Thursday afternoon).

Taking a Year Off

When I graduated from High School everyone had this fantasy about taking a year off. Certainly not a new thing. Some of the people I know did take the next year off from school - you know to find a job or travel or do something else before returning to their studies. Most of them never did go back to school. I can see why. I graduated with my BA last January, and started classes again in September, and it's just so hard getting back to the routine of classes.

I registered for two classes yesterday, started the first one this evening. Its on the History and Philosophy of American Education. The other one on Tuesday nights is on Integrating Technology in the Classroom. As I take these classes it makes me realize how much I really want a nice 9 - 5 job. As much as I want that, I have to keep reminding myself that these classes are hopefully a good way to get that (or in the case of teaching something like an 8 - 3 job).

Real Life Things

I promised myself that I would sit down and write about this tonight. One of the reasons (although there are several) that I have been so busy lately is that I have been teaching CCD at church on Sundays since the end of September. At first I wasn't sure I really wanted to write about it online or not, but I decided that I would finally, as I'm starting to settle into the job.

The basics: I've been teaching the kindergarten and first grade class. There is a total of 7 students - 5 regular ones (regular in that they come often LOL). Part of the whole thing has been that there is no set curriculum for me to teach from. I have admittedly been bitter about my CCD education - it was more of the 'rainbows and collage' school of thought rather than content - and so I want to be sure that I teach them something.

I may have written about it before on here, but I'm also in the process of taking classes so I can teach. When I started teaching the CCD I hadn't had any time in the classroom as an observer or aide so I had no idea how to approach these young children (they're 5 & 6!). This past week and a half I have been observing in a 1st Grade in a public school and I realize how I have been trying to teach them beyond their years. But I am learning. I actually had a nice art project this past Sunday, except only 3 of the students were there. I packed supplies into little baggies and I will give the other students them next Sunday.

I actually have a picture of the finished product, but I have it on my computer and not the one I'm on right now. I'll follow this post with the picture later this evening. Its a little 'shrine' that they made. I pre-pasted a picture of Mary and Baby Jesus (Our Lady of Pompeii I believe) and I also attached a copy of the Hail Mary on the back. What they had to do then was decorate it. Since its only an hour class I had to make sure to leave plenty of time for them to drive before mass. I had purchased from Hobby Lobby bags of blue and green glass medallians (I don't know what else to call them, you'll know what I'm talking about when you see them), small sea shells, river rocks, and those little twisty roses. When you see the one I did it looks much worse than the ones the kids did. I sort of haphazardly attached the items, and then decided that I should try doing all the different ones to make sure they'd work. So when you see it, it doesn't look like a 23 year old did it, it looks more like a 3 year old did it.

Any way, with having no set curriculm I spend most of my Saturday preparing for Sunday morning. And with my class, doing observations, and the two part-time jobs I haven't had as much time to devote to my blog - something I want to change. Its not so much that I haven't been online, its just that I've been tired and don't feel like writing anything. You can probably tell that I am tired because this post has ended up jumbly, but at this point I'm just feeling good that I've gotten it written down.