Not so Artsy ... or am I?!

Being a teacher I think you are expected to have at least a little bit of creativity. I, however, got the short end of that stick! lol. As a kid my dioramas and other "artsy" projects were never very detailed. I didn't have any great ideas on how to do this, or how to do that.. and my mom didn't either. (No offense, mom, but we both know neither one of us are very crafty - haha.) Back in grade school the same select kids always had projects that looked like they should be in a museum somewhere, but it also looked like their parents did the whole thing... which wasn't the case for me. I usually enjoyed working on it WITH my parents, but I did do the most work! My dad can draw/copy pictures really well - so when it came to projects that needed drawings he was the one I'd go to. He has many funny stories that involve him and my older brother staying up all night working on art projects. (Justin was quite the procrastinator and he'd always tell my dad about it the night before it was due!!)


Anyway, I have my first observation on Tuesday. My supervisor is coming in during math time and it just happens to be the day we start "greater than/less than". She wanted the first lesson she watched to be short and sweet, with an activity. I decided it would be fun to make each student an Al the Alligator clothespin. Al will always eat the bigger number, and that will help them remember which sign is which: > or <. Zach spray painted them for me (thanks, hun) and I am going to glue the eyes on. It's not very crafty, but I hope the kids get it and use it to help them!

Al taking a bite... lol.

Another funny thing happened with my dogs the other night. I couldn't figure out what the heck Lacey, my beagle, was barking at. She was on the edge of the couch looking into the dining room and growling/barking. I looked over and saw the table and a closed window and then realized I had placed a puppet that I made in a class last Spring on the table and it was standing up. The puppet has no eyes or ears now - I guess I'll have to do some surgery if I ever use it in my class, but I guess she saw the shadow! haha. Maybe I am a little artsy after all! Even my dog could figure out what it was! :) We had to pick a character from our favorite childhood story and do some sort of paper mache and it had to have attachments that didn't fall off when it was turned upside down. We also needed a prop. I chose to do Grandpa from "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and I made a plate of yarn spaghetti with painted Styrofoam meatballs. Artsy?! I think so!!

This is before his ears/eyes fell off in my trunk!

Next week I start "Total teaching"!! I'm a little nervous, but I think it will be okay. She will be leaving me alone starting on Tuesday and I'm just hoping my classroom management only gets better from here! She said she thinks her being gone the whole time will help because it will look like I'm really in charge since she's not there watching me and chiming in with certain things. We shall see! My mom sent me a really cool book called The Tough Kid Toolbox that I got a few ideas out of and two other teachers even borrowed it to get some ideas for their class. (2 brand new teachers teaching two Kindergarten classes with 80% of their students having NOT gone to pre-k... I don't know how they do it!)

Yesterday I spent 3 hours of my life taking my LAST certification exam (well, until I get to FL) the OPTE. It went alright, I think. There were 75 multiple choice questions - which a majority of them were answers like "A. I and II B. I and III... etc" those SUCK! lol. At the end there were three essays and by the end of that my head AND hand hurt... what a crappy way to spend my whole Saturday - it started at 12:30.

Anyway, I better get to work. I can't believe I didn't post once throughout the week, but I'm just so busy with school stuff and after that 's done I'm always exhausted and in bed. lol. Today I have a LOT to do so my Sunday will be busy! Enjoy your week! :)

P.S. GOOOO NOLES!!! They beat (#7)BYU 54-28! Hopefully we'll be ranked again after that WIN! ... They play USF next week (the other school I went to) - I'm just hoping we can somehow watch it!!

-Ashley