I Like My Observations

I have been enjoying my time at the high school that I go for my observation hours.  The teacher is really nice and she tries to give me any tips possible that will be useful for me when I become a teacher.  What I have been doing when I am there is that I go in during first period because she has a prep period and she told me that coming too early will result in me just sitting there.  Then when I go to her first class with her, I hand out any papers to the class if she has any, take notes during her lesson, and then walk around the room afterwards during the class work problems to help anyone who needs it.  This has actually been pretty easy until last Friday.  I do not remember ever learning certain charts and things when I learned algebra like box plots and tree diagrams, so I was a little nervous when the class was doing the tree diagrams.  I paid attention to the lesson and was actually able to learn and then help the class with it.  In the algebra 2 honors classes, I helped to grade test papers; which does not bother me at all.  I like that I am able to go through to mark and if they have it wrong, go through their work and show them the correct operations or simple errors that they had made. 

The next day that I am going is this Friday and it will be interesting.  The school has a half day that will let out at 12:30 and then I am going to go to a professional development workshop.  I do not really know what will be talked about because the teacher had told me and invited me last week and I wanted to check with my professor first if this was possible.  I hope that I will actually be able to learn some new ideas or concepts that will help me.

The Saturday

My Saturday before classes started was kind of a nightmare.  First, I had to go grocery shopping early in the day with my brother; which I hate.  It was one of the big grocery shopping trips to Costco that I dread.  Then when we were unloading the groceries, a dog ran by and a little boy was across the street screaming to get the dog.  My brother and I tried to call the dog to us, but my arms were full of groceries and the dog ran around me.  My brother was able to run after the dog, but he had run fast ahead.  The little boy never crossed the busy street, but went back and I kept unloading by myself.  After 5 minutes, I began to worry and went inside to grab some ham and a leash.  I was driving down the street when my brother called me to tell me that he caught the dog and he was on his way back in a car with the people that were helping him look.  I was angry and went back home with my brother getting dropped off afterwards.  I still cannot believe he went into a car with strangers.  Then we went down the street where I had seen the boy and a car go with people that were originally looking for the dog.  While walking, I called the number on the tag and spoke with the owner.  I saw a group of people at the end of the street while talking and asked the owner where he was.  I was shocked when the people come up to my brother and I with the dog like its theirs while the owner is telling me that he is on another street farther away.  The people said that the dog was walking around the area two weeks ago and they have a friend who owns a dog similar that got out in the past.  At the same time, the man on the phone tells me that the dog got out just an hour ago.  I was confused by the situation until the people told me that the owner probably put a new tag on the dog and that it was not originally his.  A woman was saying how would I feel if it was my dog so I just sit there and agree, but in my head I am screaming Oh. My. God., what did I get myself into. 

After the woman spoke to the man along with her husband, of which they were in a heated argument at one point and talking about fighting, we decided to brong the dog to the owner's house.  This was after the people first checked to make sure that it was not their friend's dog.  We had brong the dog because the owner said that he did not have a car at the time and asked if I could bring the dog or hold onto him until he could get a car.  After returning the dog, the man tells us that he and his wife found him after he followed their dog home one day and triedto find the owner, but didn't.  They decided to keep the dog as his wife fell in love with him and he was scheduled to be taken care of properly at the vets.  He also  said that he hopes the dog was not exposed to any of ours because he had highly contagious worms, but if our dogs did get them, then they would just need to get pills from the vet.  At this point, I was fuming over the situation and did not say anything to try and leave as soon as possible, but I don't think I ever wanted to scream at someone so much before.  He had the nerve to ask me to hold onto the dog if I could not bring him and then tell me afterwards that he had worms.  I was just happy that my dogs did not go anywhere near him.  I was finally able to go home and then washed all of my brother's and mine clothes along with the leash.  I just hope that this never ever happens again.

Spring Break

So, during my spring break I didn't really do anything exciting.  I did get to do some school work and relaxed a little.  I did do two days of observations over break.  I basically did what I always do, which is I take notes while the teacher gives the lesson and then go around the room with her to help the students with their classwork.  I was also able to visit my uncle on Thursday in the nursing home that he was moved to from the hospital.  The hospital made it mandatory that he stay there for a month before he is able to return home.  My Saturday was interesting, but I will put that long story in another post.

Family Fun and Counting Down

This past weekend was really fun and relaxing, especialy Sunday.  My niece's baptism had some really humorous moments in it.  There was this little girl that was crying and screaming during the ceremony and the next thing you see, the father is carrying his daughter out trying to gag her with his hand.  The priest was waiting for them to get to the back and then he said that though he was loud, even he could not beat that lung power.  Afterwards, we all went to a restaraunt where I really enjoyed the conversation and fun.  I was able to hold my niece and play with my nephew, though he kept wanting me to spin him and toss him around; which even in a separate room from all the other customers is just rude.  Though I did not do exactly what he wanted, played and lifted him up. 

Now that it is Thursday today, I REALLY cannot wait for spring break.  I just want to catch up and relax so badly.  I feel like school and other things are just tiring me out and I need a break from something.  I just have to finish my classes today, observe tomorrow, and then I am home free.  I always love to point out how ironic it is that I love to get away from school and complain about it, but I want to be a teacher where I will work in a school. XD  I have to agree with many points that people tell me; it is the student's perspective I do not like, so I cannot wait for the tables to turn for when I am a teacher.  I do really enjoy helping the teacher that I observe with, even if the classes repeat or I am just simply grading papers.  :)

Things to Look Forward to! :)

I decided to start a different post for the happy things to come so that hopefully the bad will not corrupt the good.  Tomorrow I go back to the high school that I had my first day of observations at last week.  I really liked being able to help out the teacher this semester with the students and not just having to sit in the back to watch like an outsider.  I hope that I can continue to be useful in the classroom and gain a lot of experience from the field.  Next on the list, on Sunday, my family is going to come together for the First Baptism of my niece.  I hope it wil be a nice day for that and everything runs smoothly.  I remember at my nephews First Baptism, there were triplets and the parents just stayed at the front while different pairs of god-parents rotated with the babies :P.  What I really cannot wait for is that spring break will start soon.  I want to just catch up on work, start things ahead of time, and relax.  :D

Bad Couple of Days

*Sigh*   :/
I feel like I am drowning in school work lately.  It seems like there is always so much and there is no end to it.  As soon as I finish one thing, another is due.  On top of that, my great-uncle went into the hospital on Tuesday after my great-aunt and cousins could not wake him up.  When he got to the hospital, his vitals were fine and he was awake, but there was another huge problem...... he could not remember anything.  I don't just mean he forgot what happened that day or that week, but he could not recognize his wife or his children.  The only thing that he remembered was his address; which was really weird since he bought the house with my aunt.  The doctors said that his levels were off, which were apparently causing his brain to go off.  The doctors also said that because he is 95 years old, he might not make a full recovery.  Fortunately though, he was able to recognize my aunt that night and then the next day he was fine.  In fact, he was happy and felt so good that he wanted to go home!!  The doctors said that he has to stay in the hospital a few more days though.