My Very First Lesson Plan

This is a milestone- my very first lesson plan of my teaching career! It's for my Instructional Strategies class; we have to present a lesson plan and teach it to the class. I've decided I'll teach the Food Guide Pyramid. This is a first grade lesson (from all that I've researched on it) for health education and I think that it can be really interactive. I'm really excited about it, but am still in the planning stages. I'll post about the actual lesson once it's been completely and will hopefully have been succesful at it!

The $1 Spot Will Be My Downfall

It's one of my favorite places in the world - the $1 Spot at Target. I am absolutely obsessed with it. It's conveniently located so as soon as I walk through the doors and grab my basket, I'm sucked in. It excites me much more than it probably should because every time I go, there are tons of new things to look at and wonder if I need (and justify the need to myself, which I am usually able to do). Almost every time I go to Target - which is far too often - I pick up at least one item from this little section of heaven. And usually it's an item for my non-existent students or my non-existent classroom.

Stickers? Sure! I could use these to grade papers with!
Pencils? How cute are these! I will put these in the treasure box I plan to have in my room!
Books? My students can learn to read with these short, easy-to-read picture books!

...the list goes on and on.

While the $1 Spot continues to suck me in, hopefully I'll continue to find fun little goodies for my future classroom.

"Why do I need to know this stuff?!"

Because you will go back to school at 25-years-old, be required to take three state exams and reteach yourself this stuff in order to pass. That's why.

I am currently studying for the General Knowledge Exam that I will take February 20- three short weeks from now. I'm not too concerned about my abilities in the grammar, reading and writing sections, but the math might just do me in.

For the next three weeks I'm devoting myself to my study book in order to pass this test. So far I've gotten through fractions. I have TONS more left to learn (reteach myself) about geometry, algebra, x to the nth degree and everything in between.

I've always been everything but a mathematician. I didn't even remember what the order of operations were! (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. . . still not sure what the E is for.) I will celebrate heavily once I pass the GKE- and will be relieved when I never have to try to determine what the difference between a number and an integer is (which I have determined they are both the same thing, with different definitions so that math books can just mess with your mind).

FCAT Follies

I have a pretty strong disdain for the FCAT. Not because of my own personal experiences, but I feel that it negatively impacts the curriculum. This is one of the many reasons I'd like to teach such a younger grade; it doesn't have as much of a focus on the FCAT as older grades do.

The more I learn about the FCAT, the more I feel it does somewhat of a disservice to students, and teachers. While I agree that there needs to be a strong system put in place to determine which schools need improvement and funding, I just don't think that the FCAT is the way to go about it.

My problem lies in the way the curriculum is skewed in order to accomodate the FCAT. Of course, each student should have as much exposure to the determined subjects of the FCAT as possible in order to pass. However, I don't think it should be so engrained into the curriculum that what we do will be done strictly for FCAT.

I have a lot more to learn about the FCAT and it's processes, but from a beginners standpoint, it just seems like somewhat of a handicap for teachers and students.

Here is an editorial from the Tampa Tribune about this topic- Move away from FCAT to improve schools

First Year Utopia

My ideal situation for my first year of teaching would be getting a first grade class.

However, I'll take what I can get.

Because. . .

Hello World

For the first 18 years of my life, I thought I would be a teacher. There was no question about it. I played school all the time when I was younger; I had the best educated stuffed animals around. I loved to pretend to grade papers and read to my 'students.' So, when I got to college, my best guess was to go into education.

After hearing about a few friends of mine that had troubles with the standardized tests necessary for education and the extra math classes, I decided I should look into something else. The lazy part of me decided I didn't want to deal with standardized tests or even TRY to forge through one more math class. So I picked public relations- "My life will be ooooh-soooo-fabulous in the wonderful world of PR!"

WRONG.

After three years of hating my job and the industry I am in (and countless job searches to find something else), I decided to really go after the one thing I always had my heart set on. Education. I'd thought about it my last two years of college- wished I had the chance to change my major but it was too late at that point, wished I had the money to go back to school after college, and the list goes on and on.

I am lucky enough to have a wonderful support system who pushed me in the right direction and is able to support my dreams of becoming a teacher. So with their help, I'm on my way.

In November, I started an eight month program at the local community college so that I will be teaching in August. I've gotten through one set of courses and have 3 more sets to go.

I know that this is the right path for me because of my excitement everytime I step into my classes, everytime I do my homework, everytime I think about my future.

So here are the anecdotes of my journey.