Adventures of a Shockingly Average 30-Something

With Thanksgiving approaching in just a couple short days, I suppose I ought to think and figure out what I'm thankful for this year. So, what am  I thankful for this year? The first thing that comes immediately to my mind is my time in the classroom.  I spent twelve days in a fourth grade classroom with 11 amazing nine and ten year olds.  It was a truly amazing experience, and I am so glad I had the opportunity to be in their classroom.  These kids made me feel so old at times.  They were so  frustrating with the fact that they never  seemed to have a pencil when they needed one.  Being quiet in the hallway was pure torture for them, and doing independent reading was worse than walking in the hallway.  And I'm pretty sure the sentence I repeated the most while I was there was "Your shoes need to be tied."  Well either that or "I hear too many voices!  I shouldn't be hearing your voice right now."  But honestly, I wouldn't ...

My time with my 4th graders is far too quickly coming to an end.  This Tuesday (November 26th) is my last day with them.  Twelve days (Tuesdays and Thursdays for 6 weeks) flew by in the blink of an eye, and even though being with them has made me even more sure than I was before about the fact that I don't want to teach older students, I really am going to miss these kids. I usually post conversations I have with my students as my facebook status, but my friends are always telling me I need to put them all in one place.  So.  Without further ado, a few Conversations With My Students: ---------------------------------- Student: "Are you SURE you're in your twenties?  I'm taller than you..." ---------------------------------- Two of the boys in my 4th grade class are, when they're together, trouble makers/pranksters and if they're near each other, that's not really a good thing for the teacher. I'm walking the class back from music this aft...

Oh hey there! So now that I've officially been accepted to the study abroad course for this summer, I'll be sharing the link to my page on GoFundMe. http://www.gofundme.com/562lyw If you have extra money and would like to donate it to help me to be able to afford to go this summer, I would really appreciate it so so SO much!! The trip is $6,103, but then I also need to get my passport ($135) and bring money (~$700) for miscellaneous expenses, which brings the total up to just about $7,000. My goal on GoFundMe is only $3,000 because I’ve applied for scholarships for this class/trip and am doing other things to raise money as well.

If there's one thing I'm absolutely a pro  at, it's procrastinating.  I had an obscene amount of homework to get done today (six lesson plans - 4 for a project and 2 for my fourth graders - and other homework as well).  I know myself, and I know that when I'm on the computer, I'm on facebook.  Being on facebook is not exactly being productive, so I needed a way to avoid facebook while still being able to be online to do research for my lessons and to be on the website I have to type my lessons up on. Since I use Google Chrome, I added on an extension called Stay Focused, thinking that surely this would make a world of difference to me.  I was certain that I would get my lessons done without the distraction of facebook.  I set it to block facebook for me for two hours, with no doubt in my mind that I would be unbelievably productive during those two hours. Nope. As soon as I realized I couldn't get on facebook, I got off the computer.  I did ...

Do you know what frustrates me to no end?  Family members who are suddenly acting as if I haven't thought about literally everything  about going to Australia this summer.  Mostly the financial situation.  The constant question of "well how are you going to afford it?" and the sudden "I don't think you've actually thought this through completely..." YES I HAVE.  I've been thinking about this since I first came to Potsdam. I KNOW it's expensive.  Don't they realize I know it's expensive?  Don't they realize that's why I applied for scholarships?  Don't they realize that's why I've been collecting the cans/bottles to return?  Don't they understand that's why I want to do one of the Hershey bar fundraisers?  I have  thought about it.  I've been thinking about it all for, literally, years now.  Why, all of the sudden, am I being criticized by them for this? They know how badly I want this.  They know how ...

My group for one of the classes I'm taking this semester (Creative and Sensory Experiences for Young Children from Birth - 2nd Grade.  How's that for a class name??) made a recycle monster for our creature project for the class.  We named him King Jeffrey, and you can read my first post about him by clicking here. We presented King Jeffrey to the kids at the daycare on campus today.  We presented in the Preschool-4 room (to four year olds who aren't in kindergarten yet).  It went SO well!  The kids loved our story about King Jeffrey and were really into it.  They absolutely loved  getting to feed the king cans and bottles. Being with the younger kids... that's where I'm most in my element.  That's the grade/level I want to teach at.  PreK, kindergarten, or first grade.  Seriously, first at the absolute oldest.  Don't get me wrong, I love my fourth graders and I'm having a good experience in the fourth grade... but it's not where...

So remember how I'd said don't laugh about how I'm collecting bottles to return to help save money so I can afford to go to Australia this summer? It really does add up.  I mean, I'm not thinking I'd get $6,000 with bottles.  Now that  you could laugh at. But I had $26 from bottles over the summer, and then my mom returned another $15 worth while I've been at school.  And then up here at school, my roommate and I are saving them, and I've got a few friends who are saving them for me right now as well.  Last time I returned bottles, I got $10.45, but that was before I knew I was going to Australia, so my roommate and I spent most of that on food to cook.  We have $2.55 left of that.  And then I have $5.40 worth of bottles in our room right now to return once I can find a ride out to walmart.  That's nearly $50.00 JUST from returning cans and bottles.  That's crazy. So no, it's not $6,000.  It's not even the $500 payment I need to m...

... And this summer, I will! When, on Wednesday, I met with the two people in charge Potsdam's end of the Student Teaching in Australia program that Potsdam does with Cortland, they told me that their decision about my application was that they were on the fence about making a decision.  They told me that my written materials were great, but when I interviewed with them, I didn't appear that I was ready to student teach in a cross cultural context.  I have a very strong feeling that their decision was going to be a "no" because they were giving me a whole bunch of information about another program where I would still be able to go to Australia, but not to student teach there.  This other program is just a study abroad program, where I would go to Australia with a small group of other Potsdam students. I spent most of the next few days thinking about Australia, and weighing the pros and cons of the two different programs.  With one program, I would be over there n...