Short Weeks are Always the Crazy One's

 So even though this week was a shorter week, it has been jam packed. Today I was observed again by supervisor and video-taped. Overall it went pretty well, it was a little hectic, but I am glad it is over for now. I ran another review activity, this time we did Bingo. We are having a quiz tomorrow on Biochemistry, which was a tougher unit for them to understand, so I was looking for an activity that really helped them to prepare. So I talked with my roommate from college who is a high school Biology teacher and she suggested Bingo. So I created a Bingo table and came up with 24 words, and then I either provided a definition, structure or question that would lead them to one of the 24 words. Whoever had Bingo received 5 extra points on the quiz tomorrow. I was definitely not as nervous for today, which was quite a relief. I think I did okay, the students were a little more chatty than usual, but overall the activity ran smoothly and I was able to get the whole class involved and participating.
  Last night I had my seminar course, which ended up really interesting. We had a guest speaker, who was the resource officer at Burnt Hills Ballston Lake School District. He is a New York State Trooper, that his main job is to patrol the school district and schools, to get to know the kids, to be someone that they know and feel comfortable talking to. He is the eyes and ears for the school and I can see why the kids like him. He is very down to earth, will tell you like it is and his main concern is the safety and well being of the ~2400 students that he is responsible for, which is quite an undertaking, but he seems more than happy and qualified to meet the challenge. It was extremely helpful as a future teacher and current intern to hear what he had to say. He was very insightful and forthright with his thoughts and experiences. I was very glad to see that they have this type of resource to help keep the schools safe. New York State after Columbine, allotted $14 million to provide resource officers to school districts in New York State. There are approx. ~100 schools that have received this opportunity and many schools are on the waitlist for one. Some school districts use their local police agencies to provide an officer for their school.
 Literacy Thursday, was a little different than usual, but it was nice to try something different. We had been reading about incorporating picture books/children's books in our classrooms, so we all had to bring in books for ourselves and others outside our content, that another classmate could use. I chose one that talks about what happens to a hamburger (digestion). It has a lot of great pictures and shows exactly what happens in each stage, in a simplistic way, that students would understand. We broke up into small groups and had our classmates make suggestions on how we could incorporate writing assignments for our students utilizing these books. It was a great activity and I walked away with some great ideas as to how to use my books for a lesson plan I have to write this week. This class has really challenged me, always pushing me to think of relevant ways to incorporate literacy into my classroom, which in science is so important.
 Let's see, Friday evening I attended my first Science conference, which was held at Siena College (my alma mater). In NY there is an association called STANYS, which is for science teachers in NY. Our local Eastern STANYS organization held a conference for our region Friday evening, offering a variety of options of sessions that we could attend to learn more about particular science topics. I chose one on the brain and the other on science literacy. The brain one, was very interesting and they distributed a lot of materials that we could take with us to use in our classrooms. Then there was dinner, which was an opportunity to chat with our colleagues. I was able to catch up with my fellow UGC science graduate students, which was a lot of fun as usual. Then there was a keynote speaker from RPI, that gave a lecture on Global Warming.
 Then today, I took my first of the three state teacher exams, required for me to receive my initial teacher certification. This one was the LAST, which is the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test. It is a four hour exam that consists of 80 multiple choice questions and one written response of 300-600 words. Luckily it was an afternoon exam so I was able to sleep in and be mentally prepared. Overall I hope it went okay, it has been a long time since I have sat for a long exam like that, so it was a bit draining. Results come out next month, so wish me luck.
 Well it is time for bed, but thanks for checking in. As I mentioned before, if you have any comments, questions, topics you would like me to talk more about, please post a comment and I would be happy to respond!

*Below I am attaching some pictures I have had, of the new UGC building taken at night. It really is an impressive facility and offers a lot to the Graduate students.