Hey!
I realized I haven't posted in quite some time so this new post may come as a surprise. Anyway, I got an email today. Turns out my last post had a comment and according to the comment I have been nominated for an award by my friend, Mel. However, this award comes with a few rules.
1) Thank the person who shared the award with you! Just link their blog in your post about the award, as I did above. You can also thank them with a comment, but make sure to include a link to their blog in your post.
2)Share the award with 15 blogs or bloggers that you think deserve it.
3)List seven things about yourself.
So here we go.
1) Thank you Mel for nominating this blog for an award! There is a link to her blog already above.
2) 15 other blogs.
[Clever Title Here]
A Voice From The Middle
Jumpin' Of The Edge
Letters of Note
Through Night Skies on Soaring Wings
Whatever it's Worth
My Pug Rosie
Writing the Environment
Classical Gallifrey
(TMT: The Mental Toilet)
Chaos Theory
Theresa's Travels & Thoughts Along The Way
Life With the Mainiacs
Write Your Soul
MVHS Building Worlds
The last one is technical a wikispace but I follow it religiously. It is a place where students write stories and share them on the internet. Each year a new group of students creates a new world through their writing. Thus it functions similarly to a shared writing blog.
3) And finally we come to the 7 things about myself.
I love chocolate.
I live alone with my cat, Chloe who I adore. Unfortunately she is a cat and thus is indifferent to this. Which is why as I sit on my couch writing this I have no idea where she is.
I am a recent graduate from college and am thus looking for a job as a teacher. So if you are reading this and you are hiring please get in touch.
I love reading and writing. It is why I decided to go to school for teaching. I want to inspire my students to love reading and writing.
I started this particular blog as a place to store my reflections about student teaching. I am hoping to continue writing in it once I have a teaching job. Unfortunately it has been hard to come by so far.
It was very difficult for me to come up with 15 different blogs to nominate. I have this blog and another blog that I write in more often but I haven't really gotten too much involved in the social aspects that can come from blogging. In fact I am pretty sure only a handful of people read my blogs. If you are reader and your name isn't Mel, Dad, or Meg please speak up. It would be nice to know someone is out there.
I hate my job. I work at an office supply store and it is really boring. Especially after seeing what teaching is like. It seems these days that student teaching was just a big teaser for what my lie could be like.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Dream Unit
Dear Sir,
At my interview you asked me what I would teach if money were no object, if I could teach anything in the world. Realize now that my answer was lame. Yes, I would certainly love to teach the Hunger Games but now I don’t think I was thinking big enough. If I could sir I would teach a unit on Romantic poets. The unit would have students reading Wordsworth, Clare, and Shelley while traveling the English countryside. We would stop at all of these poets’ favorite outdoor haunts and while at each spot the students would be required to write a journal entry recording their thoughts and feelings. At the end of the trip they would be required to submit their journals and 5 poems, each poem written on a different stop on the trip. The trip would give the students a chance to see what it is these poets were feeling when they wrote their poetry. It would open them up to the changing landscape and the never ending struggle by conservationists to save it as well as the life of the everyday person.
Once we returned to school I would follow this unit with a unit over American transcendentalism. This would show them how this movement grew out of the English Romantic poetry but also the many differences. We would read Emerson, Thoreau, and the more modern transcendentalist, Annie Dillard. If I had the money still this unit would be followed by a trip to Waldo Pond, Mount Katahdin, and Tinker Creek so that students could compare this countryside to the English one. Perhaps they would see that the differences between transcendentalism and the romantics have to do with the differences in landscapes.
Sometimes to grasp what we see on paper we need to see what inspired it for ourselves.
Sincerely,
Ms. Danielle Terrill
At my interview you asked me what I would teach if money were no object, if I could teach anything in the world. Realize now that my answer was lame. Yes, I would certainly love to teach the Hunger Games but now I don’t think I was thinking big enough. If I could sir I would teach a unit on Romantic poets. The unit would have students reading Wordsworth, Clare, and Shelley while traveling the English countryside. We would stop at all of these poets’ favorite outdoor haunts and while at each spot the students would be required to write a journal entry recording their thoughts and feelings. At the end of the trip they would be required to submit their journals and 5 poems, each poem written on a different stop on the trip. The trip would give the students a chance to see what it is these poets were feeling when they wrote their poetry. It would open them up to the changing landscape and the never ending struggle by conservationists to save it as well as the life of the everyday person.
Once we returned to school I would follow this unit with a unit over American transcendentalism. This would show them how this movement grew out of the English Romantic poetry but also the many differences. We would read Emerson, Thoreau, and the more modern transcendentalist, Annie Dillard. If I had the money still this unit would be followed by a trip to Waldo Pond, Mount Katahdin, and Tinker Creek so that students could compare this countryside to the English one. Perhaps they would see that the differences between transcendentalism and the romantics have to do with the differences in landscapes.
Sometimes to grasp what we see on paper we need to see what inspired it for ourselves.
Sincerely,
Ms. Danielle Terrill
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Day 70: Writing, Writing, Writing
Agenda-
Meeting
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Study Hall
Homeroom
Creative writing worked more on their background stories. It is taking us a while to get everyone to a place where they are ready to participate in the big battle. Meg, Mariah, and I spent all day working on getting to my death scene. We need to kill me off before Friday because that it my last day. Then everyone can start working on the big battle. I’m excited about our idea. I have an awesome death scene. I will be sad to go though. I love this class.
The sophomores worked on their multi-genre projects. Meg, Mariah, and I worked on writing. It was fun and productive.
The seniors brought in funny stuff for us all to watch. Today we saw an episode of The Office and part of Baby Mama. Very funny. I am having a lot of fun with this unit. I like it. I think the kids like it too.
During homeroom Mariah came back and we did some more writing. We will probably write even more tomorrow. Yay!
Meeting
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Study Hall
Homeroom
Creative writing worked more on their background stories. It is taking us a while to get everyone to a place where they are ready to participate in the big battle. Meg, Mariah, and I spent all day working on getting to my death scene. We need to kill me off before Friday because that it my last day. Then everyone can start working on the big battle. I’m excited about our idea. I have an awesome death scene. I will be sad to go though. I love this class.
The sophomores worked on their multi-genre projects. Meg, Mariah, and I worked on writing. It was fun and productive.
The seniors brought in funny stuff for us all to watch. Today we saw an episode of The Office and part of Baby Mama. Very funny. I am having a lot of fun with this unit. I like it. I think the kids like it too.
During homeroom Mariah came back and we did some more writing. We will probably write even more tomorrow. Yay!
Day 69: Too Funny
Agenda-
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free Period
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Free Period
Today was a pretty uneventful day. I spent some time grading the sophomore’s Holocaust Victim Memorial wall and then I graded Hanson’s poetry portfolio. It wasn’t bad but it was missing a lot of pieces. The sophomores were working on their multi-genre research projects so I had time to grade.
The seniors did their first presentations of something funny for their “what’s so funny” unit. It was fun. We ate pizza and laughed a lot. Nate and Shayne presented today. Nate had a bit from Scary Movie 4. It was funny however, that movie isn’t something I would go out of my way to see. I usually just wait till they are on tv. All of the Scary Movies eventually end up on tv. Shayne did an episode of Drew Carey’s Improv-a-ganza. It was awesome. A lot like Whose Line Is It Anyway but still very funny. After that I showed some scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I love that movie. I think this unit is very interesting and I wish I could be here for the whole thing.
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free Period
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Free Period
Today was a pretty uneventful day. I spent some time grading the sophomore’s Holocaust Victim Memorial wall and then I graded Hanson’s poetry portfolio. It wasn’t bad but it was missing a lot of pieces. The sophomores were working on their multi-genre research projects so I had time to grade.
The seniors did their first presentations of something funny for their “what’s so funny” unit. It was fun. We ate pizza and laughed a lot. Nate and Shayne presented today. Nate had a bit from Scary Movie 4. It was funny however, that movie isn’t something I would go out of my way to see. I usually just wait till they are on tv. All of the Scary Movies eventually end up on tv. Shayne did an episode of Drew Carey’s Improv-a-ganza. It was awesome. A lot like Whose Line Is It Anyway but still very funny. After that I showed some scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I love that movie. I think this unit is very interesting and I wish I could be here for the whole thing.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Day 68: Fun and Games
Agenda-
Homeroom
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Study Hall
Today in creative writing we did more work on our background stories. I was working fairly diligently and I am almost done. However, I was very distracted, worse than most of the students. I checked the weather for the weekend, I looked stuff up, I talked about books. I was a little all over the place. Hopefully I will have the background done by next time because Mariah, Meg, and I need to write my death scene. And then Lifa will be done. This is really the biggest thing I need to wrap up for student teaching. I will be all done after this.
The sophomores were given time to work on their multi-genre projects. Vanessa put the finishing touches on her Holocaust memorial. I think tomorrow I will print out the ones that were emailed to Meg and myself. Once those are up I can grade that assignment. I am not going to wait any longer for the stragglers. A lot of the sophomores had their topics picked out already. I’m betting they are going to be awesome.
The seniors played a game and had their pizza today. They decided to play huggermugger. I had never played before. I think I understand the rules however, I wasn’t very good at it. They were much better than me. It was nice to just sit with them, play a game and eat some pizza. This group of girls is pretty close knit too but in a different way. They are all very comfortable with each other too. I like that. I like that in class they felt comfortable to ask me awkward questions (not this class but previous ones). I wish all classes could be like that.
Homeroom
Class: Creative Writing
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Study Hall
Today in creative writing we did more work on our background stories. I was working fairly diligently and I am almost done. However, I was very distracted, worse than most of the students. I checked the weather for the weekend, I looked stuff up, I talked about books. I was a little all over the place. Hopefully I will have the background done by next time because Mariah, Meg, and I need to write my death scene. And then Lifa will be done. This is really the biggest thing I need to wrap up for student teaching. I will be all done after this.
The sophomores were given time to work on their multi-genre projects. Vanessa put the finishing touches on her Holocaust memorial. I think tomorrow I will print out the ones that were emailed to Meg and myself. Once those are up I can grade that assignment. I am not going to wait any longer for the stragglers. A lot of the sophomores had their topics picked out already. I’m betting they are going to be awesome.
The seniors played a game and had their pizza today. They decided to play huggermugger. I had never played before. I think I understand the rules however, I wasn’t very good at it. They were much better than me. It was nice to just sit with them, play a game and eat some pizza. This group of girls is pretty close knit too but in a different way. They are all very comfortable with each other too. I like that. I like that in class they felt comfortable to ask me awkward questions (not this class but previous ones). I wish all classes could be like that.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Day 67: Winding Down
Agenda-
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free Period
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Free Period
The sophomores finished up their memorial for the Holocaust Victim wall. I think there are still a few missing but most of them are up. I will have to go through and grade them soon. For the most part I have been very pleased with what they have created. They did a really good job internalizing their victim and appreciating their life stories.
With the seniors it was game day. We played anomia. So much fun. I couldn’t help but notice that Hanson was doing the same hand gesture all the time so then I was making fun of him for it. He was easy to get cards from if he wasn’t paying attention. If he was paying attention it was harder because he would say what was on the card and threw you off. I will have to remember that strategy in the future. I won the first game and did well the second game. Shayne won the second game. He got good at it fast. I really enjoy this class. They are a tight knit group but fairly welcoming. You just have to be willing to let them tease you a bit. Or in Heidi’s case, let them be very blunt with you. I’ll miss them when I am gone.
Homeroom
Class: Pre-AP Sophomore English
Free Period
Class: AP Senior English
Lunch
Free Period
The sophomores finished up their memorial for the Holocaust Victim wall. I think there are still a few missing but most of them are up. I will have to go through and grade them soon. For the most part I have been very pleased with what they have created. They did a really good job internalizing their victim and appreciating their life stories.
With the seniors it was game day. We played anomia. So much fun. I couldn’t help but notice that Hanson was doing the same hand gesture all the time so then I was making fun of him for it. He was easy to get cards from if he wasn’t paying attention. If he was paying attention it was harder because he would say what was on the card and threw you off. I will have to remember that strategy in the future. I won the first game and did well the second game. Shayne won the second game. He got good at it fast. I really enjoy this class. They are a tight knit group but fairly welcoming. You just have to be willing to let them tease you a bit. Or in Heidi’s case, let them be very blunt with you. I’ll miss them when I am gone.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Day 66: Portfolio Presentation
Today I spent having my exit interview with my field supervisor and presenting my portfolio in the North Dining Hall.
While I was away the sophomores worked on their Holocaust Memorial Wall and the seniors were taking their AP test.
While I was away the sophomores worked on their Holocaust Memorial Wall and the seniors were taking their AP test.
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