Update

Hi All! I know that it has been a long time since I have last posted and I certainly have a lot to update you on. To keep it brief because I should be planning, I did get a teaching position 1 week prior to school starting. After tutoring all summer, I was hired by a private school in Schenectady, N.Y. I am currently teaching Living Environment, Chemistry and College Biology. I must say my first year of teaching has certainly been exhausting and rewarding all at the same time. I feel so fortunate to have gotten a job in the economic market that was awaiting us on graduation. I really like where I am. The teachers, staff, administration and students have been great, its hard to believe I am almost halfway through the school year. Last year has certainly prepared me for this year. I still feel very overwhelmed at times, but that is the nature of being a first year teacher. I have spoken with many of my other classmates and they are all feeling the same way, but we all know we will get to the end of the year with flying colors. On that note I am back to doing some work, I will try to touch base again soon. Good luck to those in the program and for those that are considering UGC make sure to take a close look, it is certainly worth it!

Officially Graduated and Certified

   It has now been official for over a week that I have graduated from the UGC MAT program and I am certified by NYS as a Biology and General Science teacher. I was thinking today how quickly it all went and can still hardly believe that I graduated over a year ago. The program here at UGC was certainly an intense one, but it went by so quickly and was well worth it. This past Thursday was my last day at Troy High School. I cannot belive my time is over there and though so many of my students may not believe me, I will miss them all greatly. I can also say that 100% of my students passed the Living Environment Regents exam, so I was thrilled to see that all of my hard work as well as theirs paid off. I ended my last day my going out to dinner with the entire Biology department and one of the other UGC Biology interns. They were such amazing individuals to work with and I learned so much from all of them whether it be about Biology, teaching or staying sane, they were always there to lend a helping hand or ear.
   Graduation itself was a beautiful ceremony and though the weather did not quite hold, I took in every moment because we had all worked so hard to get there. I am currently in the process of applying for jobs, so keep your fingers crossed for me. I will be working at UGC all summer with the School of Education Office and the President's Office, so if you have questions, concerns or just want to say hi stop over and see me. I think that is it for now.
   Looking forward to dinner tonight with my supervisor, mentor, fellow intern graduate and her mentor. Nice way to celebrate the year. I feel very fortunate to have worked with such a great mentor and supervisor who were there to support and encourage me every step of the way this year and for me to learn from. I truly feel that I have grown so much due to their expertise and guidance.

Only 5 Teaching days left!

I cannot believe I only have 5 days left with my students and that graduation is 8 days away. I truly cannot believe how quickly the end of the year is approaching. It is both exciting and scary all at the same time. Graduating means that I have finished a very long year full of hard work, but it also means that I am back out in the real world in pursuit of a job. Right now there are very few teaching openings to come by so it is a waiting game all around. I am confident it will all eventually work out and I just hope I find a school that is the perfect fit. Once I graduate, I will still have a week left at Troy, where I will help students that need to to finish labs, opportunities for review and then Wednesday, June 16th they will take the Regents. I will help with the proctoring and will be there for the grading process. Once that is complete I will have a weekend before starting my job at UGC. I was given the opportunity to come back to UGC to help out over the summer with the School of Education, School of Management and the President's Office. I am glad that I will be able to work with some of the amazing professors and staff that UGC has to offer a little longer. Hopefully during this time a job will become available and I will be hired, crossing my fingers. I still do not think it has completely set in that I am so close to being done. It has been something we have all been working towards this entire year and it seems surreal that I will finally have reached the end. I completed two of my courses this week and the only course left is seminar which I have this evening and for the last time next Wednesday. It will be such a relief when all of my work is handed in and there is nothing left for me to really do but walk across the stage to graduate.

Please let me know if you have questions!

Super long weekend, Love it!

Today starts the beginning of a four day weekend. We have Monday off for Memorial Day and Friday they gave as a teacher compensation day. After class tonight I am heading to NH to visit family and tomorrow I am going to a Red Sox game. Other big plans for the weekend, so excited for a break and to get away. Alot of school work to do for next week, considering it is the last week for two of my classes. Plant Biology meets for the last time Tuesday and Computer class Wednesday. I have one major project in Plant and 3 in computer. Luckily my plant project is almost done. We had to collect tree, shrub and herb/weed specimens that we had to mount and then idenitify. It was alot of work, not hard, but just took alot of time to find the specimens, cut the specimens down appropriately to fit on construction paper, mount and label. I took some time last night to do all of the identifications so I only have a few loose ends to wrap up which was a relief. Now I just need to get cracking at my computer stuff, which I seem to be making progress. Things at Troy are quickly winding down, only 8 days of classes, which is crazy to me and the Regents on June 16th. Graduation is 2 weeks from Saturday, this year has just totally flown by I can hardly believe it. No other updates to report I think. Hope everyone is staying cool and please let me know if you have questions!

Have a Safe Memorial weekend!

Last visit

  Today was my last supervisor visit most likely and last three way evaluation meeting with my mentor and supervisor. It is so amazing to me how quickly things are winding down. I am waiting in anticipation for graduation and waiting to see what pans out with jobs, please keep your fingers crossed. I must say today's meeting and observation was the best yet, I was told it was my best lesson yet, so going out on a really positive note is always a great thing. I had a great lesson with my students, they were very engaged and asking really good questions and I had their attention. The past couple of weeks have been stressful and classroom management has been difficult, so I am not sure what about today was different, but it worked and I am thankful. It was also neat to see the students having a discussion and I utilized their feedback well.
  Yesterday, I had the oppportunity to be involved in a mock interview. The Career Center here at UGC organized the opportunity for MAT students to do a panel interview with 3 individuals, most UGC alumni, to get us comfortable with the panel interviews we will be encountering when applying for jobs. It was a really great opportunity, that I am thrilled I was able to take advantage of. They asked some great questions and provided valuable feedback. I figure the more practice I get, the better I will get so that I can do a great job in an interview to hopefully get a job.
  Other than that, not too much more to report. Just working on final projects for the term and hoping to end things on a high note and be closer to a job that I will love!
  If you have any questions, please let me know.

Only about a month left

Just looked at the calendar today to notice that I only have about four weeks left until I graduate! It is hard to believe I only started this program about a year ago. It is amazing how much time flies. When they tell you the MAT Program is intense but goes by faster than you can blink it really does! It is amazing how much has been accomplished in a relatively short period of time. I am not going to lie, it is a lot of work, and most of my time and energy have been devoted to school, but to be done in one year and applying for jobs, is a time and money saver and gets the job done right, faster. And if you plan right, you can still squeeze in some fun things to keep you sane and healthy. Also, having the year long internship where most of us started teaching our classes right away, I can certainly say with speaking with prospective employers is something that truly impresses them and sets us apart. It is amazing to me after having gone through almost the entire year to imagine not having a full year internship. It has been great to be able to see the curriculum all the way through, especially since it had been approx. 5-7 years since I had dealt with most of the information in addition to seeing what types of struggles the students have as well as questions. In addition to be able to know the students, to be a constant in their lives is huge and very rewarding. I have seen a lot of growth in many of my students, and smaller growth in others, which is still progress. It is hard to imagine not walking into Troy High everyday next year, it really has become home for me. I know many of the other teachers, the hall monitors and some of the other staff, I am truly going to miss it. For those of you that are starting this summer you are in for a real journey. The summer though at times seems overwhelming was truly one of my favorite parts of the program and is just the beginning of the workload. So enjoy the summer program, take in all that you can, because it only gets a little crazier. Hopefully I will get to meet many of you over the summer as I will be working at the Graduate Center this summer, so please if you see me, say hi and ask any questions if you have any, I remember being in your shoes and the more questions you ask, the better it will be!

Hope to meet many of you soon!

Moving along

So last week's post did not publish as I thought it had so I ended up posting it today though it was last week's information (sorry about that). This week has been pretty busy so far, here I thought it was going to be on the quiet side. My supervisor came in today and I gave a quiz yesterday and I am just trying to gear up for interviews, job applications, wrapping up the school year preparing my students for the Regents, it is just crazy. As I had mentioned last Friday I had the opportunity to chaperone a field trip of my mentor's AP students to RPI. This was a lot of fun and the weather was great for walking around RPI's campus.We had the opportunity to get into the labs, where the students and myself were able to dissect fruit flies (well I attempted, it was really hard!). We were also able to see microprep, which was all the preparation needed so they could run different samples they were testing, so many steps for the small amount they end up with at the end. We also were able to see the process where they were able to test drosophila wing muscle, to see how strong they were and various other items. The students seemed really interested and was a great learning experience for them. We were able to have lunch in the dining hall, which was nice to regroup for the afternoon. Overall a great day and a great way to end the week.
   As I had mentioned a few times last Friday, was the Wine 101 hosted by our very own Dean Allen of Education. He was our host for the evening and walked us through the wine tasting process, as well as introducing us to eight wines, share what they should smell and taste like and what meals they went best with. There were also appetizers and desserts served. It was an enjoyable evening and I have some new wines to try, I am definitely a white wine fan, so there is a new one, beginning with a V that I need to go out and get. We received a booklet that listed the wines we tried and other future suggestions, which is always helpful. Great food, beverages, conversation and company. This Thursday actually marks the last TGIT of the term. It will actually be a fundraiser for the Cancer Society, so they ask us to donate $3 per student which all $ collected will go to the Cancer Society, so we are hoping for a large turn out. So I am hoping to finally make it since I have been unable to during the year. This Friday will also be our last Urban Roundtable. It is amazing how quickly things seem to be coming to a close. Only a little over a month until Graduation it is so hard to believe.

Well I think that is it for now! Please write with questions!