Lol
(Source: extraordinarymegs)
❝
Within this Christian vision for marriage, here’s what it means to fall in love. It is to look at another person and get a glimpse of the person God is creating, and to say, “I see who God is making you, and it excites me! I want to be part of that. I want to partner with you and God in the journey you are taking to his throne. And when we get there, I will look at your magnificence and say, ‘I always knew you could be like this. I got glimpses of it on earth, but now look at you!’
— Tim Keller (via jmaee)
(Source: lesleymeredith)
- attractive person: hi
- me: is this some kind of sick joke
Student Teaching & Now Subbing
Oh man. I have not written a personal blog in a while. Life is quite different since student teaching ended at the end of February. If you have lasted this long following me on Tumblr, get ready for a long, genuine, raw haul on my experiences for the last month & a recap of the journey towards my single subject credential.
God placed me at a wonderful junior high with a great master teacher, and to top it all off, meeting 2 seventh grade Honors Language Arts classes, and 1 benchmark class. I was in full control of just one class of 30 students: Periods 6/7 block, the other Honors class. Oh, how I miss my students. I sure miss the staff that I got to know during lunch hours in the staff lounge.
Student teaching was quite the experience. There was a lot of effort, sweat, tears, lack of sleep, setting of priorities/ staying organized, and assertiveness put into getting this credential. I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to work in a high school setting and junior high. I am happy that the Lord allowed me to grow and find a niche as a 7th grade Language Arts teacher. My students always had something to contribute; whether it was random silly remarks, interesting artwork, productive comments towards a class discussion, somewhat inappropriate questions (this did not occur often, let me assure you & not so crazy where I’d lose my job), and just pure admiration as they helped shape me into the teacher I am today. Although I do not personally have a permanent teaching job at the moment, I can’t wait for that day I do have my own classroom with my own set of students. I know for sure that not every student will be the same. I may not even have half the respectful attitudes I had in my student teaching experience, but God will be my rock. Initially, it was tough transitioning from a high school to a junior high, mainly because of the expectations, routines, and grading. My intermediate school had a very specific system regarding discipline. It was progressive; there were HW and Behavior cards that tracked their actions. I was able to get the hang of it after at least 2 months (the cards system).
Getting the content across, that’s a different story. At first, I was stuck trying to teach like my master teacher. In the first few weeks, I was taking notes of her style & it came to the point that I tried to cover everything she did. She advised that I decrease my super high expectations, and just RELAX. I am still learning and that I have to find what works for ME. Not every teacher has the same style and she really encouraged me to find mine. She said that I have developed such a wonderful rapport with my students & my enthusiasm in the classroom keeps them engaged. My master teacher always highlighted my strengths & pointed out areas I really needed to improve on. I remember teaching grammar, more specifically- prepositions, and I helped them memorize the most commonly used prepositions through a song, the tune of “Yankee Doodle” ahaha. I found it online & it worked wonders in my lesson haha. I used acronyms to help my students remember other grammar stuff. I made it into a contest & the row that had most students participate would be the first dismissed for lunch lol. I loved Fridays because that’s when my students got into their Book Club groups and shared their artwork & opinions on the book they read based on the assignment. I would just walk around monitoring, making sure they were on task. I’d praise their crazy talented drawings and ask questions about what their book was about.
Teaching my students how to structure their essays was pretty fun. I was there to guide students with their expository essays, persuasive essays, and help start their response to literature before my last day with them. Grading essays were quite the pain though. That was my least favorite. Good thing I had the smallest class, the other ones were a class size of 33 & 39. The Lord was good to me haha :D My master teacher felt that my comments on student essay rubrics were always on point, covering both areas that were successful & areas that students needed to improve & focus on for next time. Essay grading was one area where me & my master teacher were in sync, no question at all for the most part.
My students knew I had to leave at the end of January. When it came to the last 2 weeks, my students were in denial. They honestly couldn’t believe that I’d be gone & not spend the rest of the year with them. On my birthday, one of my students made me cake pops. 
I was so touched & felt appreciated. This gesture went a long way. I was really happy. I never knew how much I have impacted my students. Thinking about it this moment is getting me sad. This student was one of the students who always, always participated in class. I loved her personality & spunk. She’s a sweetheart.
On my last day, a few students gave me good-bye sentiments.
^This student was one who would stay in class after school to talk me :) I loved getting to know her. She had a bubbly personality too. This student was another of the bunch that would always participate in class. 
This particular student was usually quiet during discussions, but she was always well-behaved, hard working, respectful, and did well in class :) She gave me this card & a little bracelet that said “Courage” and that necklace on the right. Another sweetheart.
This particular student, she stood out to me from the beginning of the school year. In her introduction letter to me for a class assignment, she said that she’s a Christian within the 2nd line of the page. I was quite encouraged to read such a bold statement coming from a 12/13 yr old. She sounded very sure of the God she loved and believed in. This same student gave me this card^ and wrote me a heartfelt letter. On the back of it, which read “We’re going to miss you!” a few students wrote their signature & sad faces. This has got to be the most encouraging letter I’ve ever received from a student. She said she’d pray for me & even left her number in case I had any prayer requests. I haven’t contacted her though. I wasn’t really sure on those student-teacher personal grounds :O I just left my student/work e-mail for students to contact though. With all these scandals in the LAUSD, I don’t know anymore :( If you don’t know what I’m talking about, get yourself informed.
*Quick tangent, these much older teachers need to stop taking advantage of young children. The word “teacher” is not holding as much respect or authority with their actions, it’s tarnishing everything we’ve built up. I watched on the news last night that as many as 9,000 pink slips may be going out to these teachers in the LA Unified School District -____-
Deng, this post is LONG. Sorry. It’s not like I didn’t warn you. I am almost done talking about my last day. So, once the bell rung, a swarm of my students huddled around me and gave me a hug. It was a bit too much for me. I was tearing up inside, not physically cuz I didn’t want my students to see any tears. I will jump at any opportunity I have to return & sub at my old school. I have learned so much from the staff, students, and my master teacher. I never would have survived this program without the support of my family, closest friends, colleagues in the program, and most especially, God.
The bottom row of pictures is my class of 30 that I got to know over one semester <3 <3 The other 2 classes (1st two above) were ones I got to know as well, but just taught them at least 2 to sometimes 3x a week. I do know & remember all their names :)
Here is my current state: SUBBING. SOOOOOO DIFFERENT. I am meeting students who do not respect their elders/authority at all. Well, out of the 8 subbing assignments I have done, technically 2 had students that were very rude & disrespectful. Being in a class for just one day is NOT enough to establish a strong authority. So far, I have learned that I can’t come in like a tyrant. My young demeanor led to one HS boy having the boldness to leave his # & motion out the door a “Call me!” -__- Aiyah, hilarious yet ridiculous kid. I can’t seem to handle 1st graders, but I sure enjoyed 2nd graders. 6th graders at this one particular school was just ruthless and made me cry inside, waiting for each period to end, holding on to survive…. lol. (That was my 1st day subbing, crazy crazy disrespectful kids). I need to establish some sort of rewards system when I come in to sub because it’ll somehow be more effective. I find myself more exhausted after a day’s worth of subbing. In the end, this is only shaping me into a better, tougher yet fairer teacher. God is still molding me. He is not done with me yet. Most of the time after a bad day of substituting, I start thinking about my 7th graders & wish I was back teaching them. All I know is that when I have my own classroom, I am going to bring in all of my experiences, integrate the positive and effective strategies that will keep my students engaged. All the negative & ineffective experiences will be a reminder of what NOT to do. I will still greet my students at the door each day before class starts. I will keep the same effort to memorize students’ names within a week or 2, 3 weeks at the latest. These steps I took helped me develop great relationships with my students.
If you were to ask any teacher/staff member from the junior high I student taught at to use three words to describe me as an educator, he or she would probably say that I am conscientious, enthusiastic, and caring.
submitted by http://biebsbeadlesgal.tumblr.com/
I tell EVERY girl this!
To all my closest friends, my acquaintances, and precious girls from CICC <3
