Let's see where I left off. Sorry I have not blogged in a little while. I have been sick and thus have missed some of my grad classes and my internship. On a positive note, everyone has been so helpful and understanding in working with me to make up my work. My mentor also covered my classes for me while I was out which I was so grateful for. I went back to school on Monday and was observed by my supervisor. I was extremely nervous how it would go after having missed a week of school and the fact I was still not 100% and it was a short week. Luckily it went pretty well and my students were cute. One of my students high-fived me to welcome me back. Some even commented how dedicated I was by coming in when I was still not feeling well. So even though it probably was not my best day, I really felt a connection with my students which is so important to me. Monday, was the last official day of the quarter so I had to calculate their 2nd quarter grades. I am happy to report many of my students are doing much better this quarter and I am so proud of them. It is amazing how rewarding it is to see such a huge improvement in some of my students and I cannot wait to share that with them when we return.
So I mentioned this week is a Regents week. Tuesday-Friday of this week January Regents exams are being held and for those not taking Regents exams, they do not need to report to school. The Living Environment Regents exam was held Tuesday morning. I had the opportunity to proctor my first Regents exam and to work with the committee of teachers as they graded these exams. This was a valuable experience because it was helpful to see what types of questions students asked on the exams and where they got stuck. To see the grading process it was interesting to see the process, how the Regents set forth to grade the exams and how the students actually responded. I am glad to have gotten the opportunity to do this so I am prepared for my students taking the Regents in June. Now I have the rest of the week off to try and get caught up on life and homework and hopefully get myself back up to speed so I can hit the ground running on Monday.
Well that is it for now. If you have questions, comments, please post a comment, it would be nice to hear from you!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Busy week and good times
Hello All! Hope everyone is having a great New Year so far! Let's see this past week was a busy one with a lot due in my seminar course and starting a new unit. We started a new unit in my internship on the Human Circulatory System and the blood. My students have been really intrigued so far and it is nice to see them excited. On Friday, I was able to show them a dissected cow heart. I was able to show them the structure of the heart so they could start to put what they have learned so far together. A few of the students were less than excited, but did look, while the majority put on a glove so they could touch the heart and see what it felt like. They were so excited, out of their seats looking on and ready to check it out. I even had one student who asked if she could take a picture of it. This was a great moment and it felt good that they were this interested.
This week I was pretty busy with my work study job as well and the UGC was in an excited flurry due to the ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the opening of it's new building and thank it's generous donors. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the event due to my internship, but I heard it was a great success. We are lucky as UGC students to have such generous individuals that recognized the good work that UGC has done and is doing and were able to make this new building possible.
Last night was the Winter Semi-formal that UGC held at a local restaurant, the Van Dyke Lounge. We were in a private room upstairs, which was a huge, gorgeous facility. The food was phenomenal, the atmosphere was great and we had a great time dancing. I was initially unsure of whether to attend, but must say I had a fabulous time as well as everyone else. It was also great that some of the professors and administrators attended as well. It was nice to have them join us and to be able to see them outside of their environment as well.
Well time to get to work, three day weekend with lots to do!
Below are a few pictures from the semi-formal.
This week I was pretty busy with my work study job as well and the UGC was in an excited flurry due to the ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the opening of it's new building and thank it's generous donors. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the event due to my internship, but I heard it was a great success. We are lucky as UGC students to have such generous individuals that recognized the good work that UGC has done and is doing and were able to make this new building possible.
Last night was the Winter Semi-formal that UGC held at a local restaurant, the Van Dyke Lounge. We were in a private room upstairs, which was a huge, gorgeous facility. The food was phenomenal, the atmosphere was great and we had a great time dancing. I was initially unsure of whether to attend, but must say I had a fabulous time as well as everyone else. It was also great that some of the professors and administrators attended as well. It was nice to have them join us and to be able to see them outside of their environment as well.
Well time to get to work, three day weekend with lots to do!
Below are a few pictures from the semi-formal.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Happy New Year
Happy New Year All! Hope everyone is off to a great start for this new year! So far mine has been jam packed and started off as a sprint. Let's see. Since I last posted, I started and completed my Middle School Experience. As part of the MAT Program, if you are placed in a high school for your internship, you have to complete 20 days in a Middle School and if you are placed in a Middle School, you must complete an alternate experience of 20 days in a high school. I had the opportunity as I mentioned before to work in a Physical Science class with 8th graders at Doyle Middle School for the end of November, month of December and beginning of January for 2 periods in the afternoon. This was definitely quite a change from my High School experience, it is amazing how much students can change in two years. I loved the cooperating teacher I worked with in the Middle School. He was great to observe and work with and had a great rapport with the students and provided me with a lot of information and insight. It took me a couple of weeks to get comfortable with the students and for them to get comfortable enough to work with me. The material being covered required some extra effort on my part as we covered acids and bases, organic chemistry and something I am definitely not familiar with, nuclear chemistry. It was a great experience and I am grateful at having had the opportunity.
The winter term is now in full swing, this term I am taking three classes, two of which meet at night during the week. The third class, is the MAT Project, which is for this entire term. Each student who is working on the MAT Project is assigned to an advisor, that they work with throughout the brainstorming, research and implementation process. My advisor has been great so far. We even met on New Year's Eve day to discuss a possible topic, which I was grateful for, because I was having a hard time working out my topic. I am still working out where my project is leading. What I can tell you is I am going to start by analyzing student usage of a computers at home and hopefully end up creating a website/blog for my students, to provide additional information on units we are covering, provide opportunities for them to comment on posts that I write and also provide a location where students can communicate with other students, myself and parents. We only have 10 weeks to complete this project which consists of research, some implementation in our classroom and then analysis of what we have done and want to do in the future.
The other two classes I am taking this term are Biological Instrumentation and a seminar course. The seminar course is focused on assessment, the meaning of testing and development of our portfolios for job interviews. So far this class has been a bit overwhelming, with a lot of work so far. The good thing is, is all of this work is to help us create the best portfolio possible to best represent ourselves in our (hopefully) many job interviews come this spring and summer. The Biological Instrumentation course is actually held at a local middle school and is being taught by two middle school teachers, one of which taught this summer during the summer program at Union. They are both great and I look forward to learning from them. This class is extremely class intensive with less outside class work, which is a welcomed relief. This class exposes us to the different types of technology we may encounter in our future jobs to show us how to maximize their capabilities and to enhance student learning.
Just so you don't think we don't have any time for fun, last month I traveled to NYC to see my roommate from college and to see the tree at Rockefeller Center and have dinner at Serendipity, which was great! Also, another fun thing coming up, is the Graduate College is hosting a semi-formal for it's students to get together and celebrate. It is being held Friday at a local restaurant, so it should be a great time had by all. Not sure yet if I will be able to attend, but I know a lot of my fellow classmates are planning on attending and are very excited.
That is it for now, but I promise to continue posting again and keep you updated on all of the happenings. If you have any comments, questions, concerns or something you want to know more about, please comment and I would be glad to help!
Below I am attaching a photo from the city.
The winter term is now in full swing, this term I am taking three classes, two of which meet at night during the week. The third class, is the MAT Project, which is for this entire term. Each student who is working on the MAT Project is assigned to an advisor, that they work with throughout the brainstorming, research and implementation process. My advisor has been great so far. We even met on New Year's Eve day to discuss a possible topic, which I was grateful for, because I was having a hard time working out my topic. I am still working out where my project is leading. What I can tell you is I am going to start by analyzing student usage of a computers at home and hopefully end up creating a website/blog for my students, to provide additional information on units we are covering, provide opportunities for them to comment on posts that I write and also provide a location where students can communicate with other students, myself and parents. We only have 10 weeks to complete this project which consists of research, some implementation in our classroom and then analysis of what we have done and want to do in the future.
The other two classes I am taking this term are Biological Instrumentation and a seminar course. The seminar course is focused on assessment, the meaning of testing and development of our portfolios for job interviews. So far this class has been a bit overwhelming, with a lot of work so far. The good thing is, is all of this work is to help us create the best portfolio possible to best represent ourselves in our (hopefully) many job interviews come this spring and summer. The Biological Instrumentation course is actually held at a local middle school and is being taught by two middle school teachers, one of which taught this summer during the summer program at Union. They are both great and I look forward to learning from them. This class is extremely class intensive with less outside class work, which is a welcomed relief. This class exposes us to the different types of technology we may encounter in our future jobs to show us how to maximize their capabilities and to enhance student learning.
Just so you don't think we don't have any time for fun, last month I traveled to NYC to see my roommate from college and to see the tree at Rockefeller Center and have dinner at Serendipity, which was great! Also, another fun thing coming up, is the Graduate College is hosting a semi-formal for it's students to get together and celebrate. It is being held Friday at a local restaurant, so it should be a great time had by all. Not sure yet if I will be able to attend, but I know a lot of my fellow classmates are planning on attending and are very excited.
That is it for now, but I promise to continue posting again and keep you updated on all of the happenings. If you have any comments, questions, concerns or something you want to know more about, please comment and I would be glad to help!
Below I am attaching a photo from the city.
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