Fall has arrived!

Hi all, sorry it has been a little longer than usual since I have blogged. This past week was very busy. On Monday my mentor was out, so we had a substitute, so I had my first opportunity to teach for the better part of the day. I taught three Living Environment classes, two labs and helped out with AP Biology. I was quite nervous about doing this, but think it was a really great opportunity for me to have a full day teaching and being there without my mentor, to know that I can do this. The students were overall good and we got a lot accomplished. That is the nice thing about me being there everyday and helping out when my mentor is teaching, because the students know me, so they know I am there everyday and won't take advantage like they might if there was just a sub. I for the most part taught my class on my own this week, which overall felt good. I am still getting comfortable with the material, being up in front of the class and trying to master class management skills. I think all of this will come with time and practice. My mentor said it took him 2-3 months where he felt like he had the hang of it and felt more at ease. It is really helpful that my mentor has gone through the Union  Program and has been out 5-6 years now, because he knows what it is like and what I am experiencing because he did it not too long ago. So it is helpful to hear that he says I am progressing as I should and each day I seem more comfortable. Which is good that I appear comfortable because I certainly don't always feel it. 

Let's see, what else happened this week. Thursday night instead of my literacy class, I attended Troy High School's Parent Open House. This was an opportunity for parents and/or guardians to come in and meet their student’s teachers, to learn what their student’s will be doing this year and what the expectations were. I think it went really well and the families we met were extremely nice and asked some great questions. We did not see a lot of parents, but I know it is hard with work schedules, families, games and practices, that parents are usually running all over the place. It was nice to see how the evening went and observe the families changing classes, and being able to see their student’s schedule, which I think many were surprised at how far their student’s had to travel from some classes. The high school is a good size and some students have to travel from the first floor on one side to the third floor on the other. For the most part they try to schedule students classes on the same floor or as close together as possible, but there are usually a few classes, they have to travel a little further for.

This weekend is a three day weekend due to Yom Kippur on Monday, which is nice because it is giving me an extra day to prepare for the week. My supervisor is coming in Tuesday for the first time to observe me teach. I must admit, I am nervous, just because it is another person watching me and I want to do well. Though I know the main reason he will be there is to see how I am progressing, tell me what I am doing well and provide feedback on how I can be better. So ultimately he is there to help make me the best teacher possible for my students, which is a good thing, but still stressful. We also in the program have to videotape one class we teach every two weeks. We then have to watch the video and essentially evaluate ourselves. I have decided to do this for the first time on Tuesday as well, because I am doing a review lesson and thought it would be a good time to get this started. So wish me luck!

On a fun note, I know I am always talking about the internship and grad classes, but I do make some time to have fun and take a break. This morning I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to head to the annual Adirondack Balloon Festival in Queensbury, NY. This is an amazing opportunity to see over 90 hot air balloons take off at sunrise. I used to go quite often as a child and went a few years back, but because it conflicted with work, I hadn't been in a while. So I was quite excited to be able to go. We were able to see 4-5 balloons this morning, but unfortunately the fog was so bad today, they cancelled the rest of the morning launches. The festival runs all weekend from Thursday-Sunday and has evening and morning launches. So I will have to wait until next year.

Well it is time I get some work done, so I am prepared for the week ahead.

Below are a couple of photos that kind of came out this morning. The fog made the photos not quite as clear as usual.

Officially finished my second week!

It is hard to believe I have just finished my second week at Troy High School. This week was especially busy because I had all three of my graduate classes this week and had my first full week of student teaching. This week I also met with my supervisor. Each intern is assigned a mentor, the cooperating teacher they will work with the entire year and a supervisor. Each supervisor has approximately 3 students that they are responsible for. Their job is to visit their interns every two weeks, for an entire class period to observe their class. They look for many things such as classroom management, use of multiple modalities, keeping the students engaged, and much more. I am sure I will have much more to add to that as time goes on. So my mentor and I met with my supervisor to discuss the expectations of the year. The meeting went well, but left me feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the end, but with the support of my mentor and supervisor I know it will be okay. 

  As I had mentioned earlier in the week, I gave my first quiz. For the most part I was fairly pleased with how it went and was pleasantly surprised how well some of the students did. First quizzes are usually tough, because the students don't know what to expect with the quiz (even when you tell them) and are still learning how best to study for each class and teacher, so it usually takes a few quizzes to get a sense of how it will go. Friday was the first class that I taught almost the full period. It overall went well. I realized that I am really tough on myself, so it was helpful to hear from my mentor how he felt the lesson went. He was able to pick up on a variety of things I did well as well as a few things I need to be aware of or practice. I thought I would take the critique a little harder, but I know it is being said only to make me better and alot of the things he said, I was already aware of that I needed to work on. 

  I did not make it to TGIT this week as I had hoped. I had some lesson planning to do and prep for Friday and made the choice of school first. This weekend, I have a lot of lesson plan writing to do. The reason being my supervisor said, at any given moment I should have my lesson plans written three days ahead. So when he comes in to observe, he should be able to go to my binder and see at least three days out. If he does not, then I cannot teach on those days. The reason being, if we are out sick, we need to have plans established. Also, planning is integral in knowing where we are heading and what we need to do to get there. So I decided each weekend, I would write for the entire week. Except Monday, would need to be written Thursday for Friday, so that my mentor can review it ahead of time to make sure I am on the right track. I have learned so much already about myself, my students and the teaching profession. I am very grateful that my internship is one year instead of the traditional semester. It will allow me to see the entire school year in regards to the curriculum and will allow me to truly establish myself as my students teacher. They will see me as a constant person in their life, instead of me only being there a few months and knowing I am leaving. I am excited to see how my students change over the year and hopefully all of their successes on the Regents exam at the end of the year.

On that note,  going to go work on my grad homework and lesson plans.

Have a great weekend! I will update you on Tuesday!

Getting my Feet Wet

So I have been at Troy now officially for a week and I already feel at home. Each day I become a little less nervous and get a little more comfortable with my role as intern. I have slowly been teaching small parts of my class and it is great to be involved. I also think I know all of the names of my students, which I am really excited about, because I was nervous I would struggle with that, but know how much it means to have your teacher know who you are. Something I forgot to mention is on the first day of class I had my students fill out an index card about themselves. It is a great way to get to know your students a little better, but was something I always grumbled at as a student. If you ask the right questions, you are able to get an idea as to what your student’s are about, or at least be able to find a connection with them. I would certainly recommend to future teachers, if you did not do this to try it when you have your own class, it can certainly help you make a difference. My mentor has been really helpful working with me to team-teach until I feel comfortable enough to take over. Today, I taught for about half a class and I could feel the nerves beginning to fade as I began to speak. I think it helps that I get to observe my mentor first period so that I am that much more prepared for my fourth period class. Plus, each night I review the materials and make notes so that I am more familiar with what is going to happen the next day.
  Today was a review class, so I took the opportunity to get a little more involved. I decided to make a review sheet for my class, because it is always nice to have one sheet that has the important information that you need to know. Plus, it gave the students an opportunity to work together and for me to walk around and to see if they were getting it. It was interesting as I walked around to see which students decided to work together and which opted to work on their own. As my professors in the MAT program always said during the summer, you can learn a lot about your students when they work in groups and when you get to observe them. This was one of my first chances to really observe them, when the teacher or myself was not talking. I am interested to see after their quizzes tomorrow, if their review sheets made a difference. I will be able to compare their grades to the other two sections, as a gauge for me if review sheets help or not. Obviously each class is different, but I wonder if it might help with some of the tougher questions, so I will keep you posted. Today is my first night class for Biological Demonstrations, so I am excited to get a sense of what that is all about. 
  I am currently trying to stay on top of my work for my internship and grad classes, because I am hoping I can attend TGIT, which is an event put on my UGC every Thursday evening at Clinton's Ditch. It is a great opportunity to see friends and faculty in a relaxed setting with some good food and company. This is the first gathering for the year, but I have heard nothing but good things, so I am hoping I can take advantage of the opportunity.
  I think that is all I have for now. Have a great week everyone!

1st Week of Student Teaching

Let me try to recap the first week of student teaching and grad classes. Tuesday, I started my first day at Troy High School, minus the students. Tuesday and Wednesday were Professional Development Days, in which there were various workshops and opportunities to meet in department meetings and get acclimated to the school. My mentor for my internship is also a Union Graduate, so it is extremely helpful to work with him because of his expertise of the program and because he has been teaching for a few years. I was able to work with him to help set up the classroom for the year and also talk about how he grades, does seating, set up our grade books and talk about the materials for the year. The students came on Thursday and you could feel the anticipation of the teachers that morning prior to the students entering the building. I must admit I was quite nervous and excited about the arrival of the students, thus I did not sleep all that well on Wednesday night. I think being an intern, became that much more real, knowing the students were arriving and I was just hoping all would go well.

The students came and it felt like everything truly began. I met the students I would be teaching and all of the other students that my mentor would be teaching. For these classes, I helped pass out papers and interacted with the students, but played more of the observer role. In the classes I would be teaching, I was a bit more active, team-teaching, more talking, with my mentor, to establish my presence as their teacher right off the bat, boy was I nervous. On Friday, I was still feeling anxious, because I knew my mentor wanted me to step in and teach a bit on Friday, so I was brushing up on my Biology and trying to calm the nerves. On Friday, after observing him teach a class, we discussed afterward how I felt I wanted to continue. We decided to co-teach, going back and forth, so I was not teaching the whole time, but so the students continued to see me playing an active role and so I can begin to get comfortable. I felt a little shaky, but I think I did okay. I am just starting out, but know it will get better. The other science teachers are so supportive and helpful as is my mentor (who is extremely supportive and encouraging), that having such a strong support system will certainly make a difference. In addition, there are eight other Union interns at Troy, so it is nice to see a friendly face and someone else who is going through all the beginning steps, together.

As far as Graduate classes, classes started Wednesday, so I had two of the three classes I will be taking. I had Special Needs Seminar (about at-risk students) and Literacy. The professors seem nice and the work seems overall doable, though as always, getting the course syllabus and realizing how quickly the semester will go is a bit overwhelming. The Literacy class is kind of interesting, because it is actually two sections that are taught as one class, which is fun, because I get to see a lot of my classmates from the summer. So far have a bit of work to do, that I tried to get a jump-start on during the weekend, so that I am not too overwhelmed during the week. This week I am starting my work study position working with the Special Assistant to the President and VP of Enrollment Management and Student Services. I am excited about having this opportunity and because of this job, actually had a preview to the new Graduate Building, which is amazing. The Graduate College has almost completely finished a new building, located just off Union's main campus, is spectacular. It will house all the offices for the programs, as well as the curriculum library, classrooms, student work areas and many places for students to do group work or work quietly on their own. So much thought and time went into the design of the building and I would have to say my favorite part is the lounge area when you first walk in. It is a large room, with many large windows, a fire place, a 50" flat-screen TV, coffee area and comfortable, moveable chairs. I am looking forward to its' opening on September 21st and having an opportunity to use this new space. 

Well, I think it is time I get back to my work so I can get so I can then rest up for the week. I will keep you posted on the week's on goings soon!


**Below I have included a few photos of the new Graduate Center. The one on the right is of the lobby, prior to the furniture moving in, but gives you a sense of the size and beautiful windows.

Summer Program

Welcome and thank you for joining me as I journey through my MAT experience. The summer required portion of the program was a blending of experiences and I cannot even begin to explain how much I learned as a student and future teacher. The summer began with a lot of nerves and questions. Would I like my classmates and professors? Did I make the right choice in Union and becoming a teacher? Could I handle the work? What do I expect? We all began the first day quiet, not overly chatty, with a presence of fear and excitement in the room. This all changed after we had a class retreat on the second day. Now I have to be honest, the thought of going on a retreat with complete strangers, being outdoors and in a cabin, left me feeling not too excited and dreading the two days. The experiences and friendships that developed after the two day excursion to Skye Farm, left me feeling extremely thankful at having had the opportunity to have this experience and getting to know my classmates. We returned to class the following week and the professors had to wait for us to quiet down because of the loud chatter and bonds that had been created. I will talk more about our Skye Farm excursion, because it was truly an experience I will not soon forget.

The classes over the summer met Monday-Friday, and often ran from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. These classes taught me so much about literacy, teaching strategies, how to plan and execute a lesson, how to think like a teacher and student and so much more. The morning classes were Psychology of Teaching and Literacy, followed by our Methods class (which corresponded to our discipline), followed by lab where we taught lessons to our classmates. The most nerve-racking part for me was the lab, because I had never taught before and teaching a lesson to fellow graduate students, scared the living daylights out of me. What I found though was endless support from my peers. We all encouraged one another, really emphasized the positive, but provided constructive feedback to each other, to help them better themselves. The professors over the summer were supportive, encouraging, provided so much knowledge, expertise and things to think about, I could not have asked for a better opportunity and professors to help me become the best teacher I can be.

Now I make this sound like the summer was not a challenge. The summer is tough, it is a lot of work and so much information being thrown at you, but it is completely doable. You are challenged. You are challenged to not only think about learning from a student perspective, but a teacher perspective. You are taught to think about what you are thinking about your thinking (if you have not heard the work metacognitive, you will hear it over and over and realize how important it is). The summer is a challenge, or at least it was for me, because I had been out of school for four years and really did not have much background in education, except for my schooling experiences. So I was learning a lot of information and was a student again.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. Much more to come on my internship and my path to becoming a teacher!


*Below, I have included a few photos from Skye Farm of the group and of us canoeing on the last day there!