Field Trip!

Today was beautiful. The weather was warm and we went on a field trip. We walked to the public library because the school doesn't have one. It was so fun to be walking in the streets of Manhattan with 22 third graders in a line. The librarian read them a story about whales and birds fighting over the surf. They were given free time to explore the library and check out some books. Everything about it was surreal. I didn't think it was real. I felt like I was living in a storybook. The library, the books, the children, the streets, everything was beautiful. I couldn't resist taking pictures. 

I don't want this to ever end. 

En route to the Library

Librarian reading to the class

Japanese section of children's book (as well as French, Spanish, etc.)

Sharing books

Walking back to school

Children's center

View on the subway getting back to my station

Home, for now. 

Click the pics to make them big!

Weekend

This weekend started on Thursday and was pretty busy. Consisted of a concert, night at the theater, chinese food, and a friends house warming party in Brooklyn. Some highlights from the weekend:

Returning to the theater

Beautiful weather

Walking in Central Park

Seeing friends from upstate and Park City

Kourtney and Kim season finale

It's already 11:45pm Sunday night and I have a feeling 5:30am is going to be showing its face sooner than desired. I can't wait to start another week with the third graders. They make the days go by so fast.

The light walking to the subway Friday morning

Neighbors 

Lunch next door to the school

Skyline from Central Park

Lucy my love

Live music

First Formal Observation

Today was my first formal observation. I killed it. The feedback was amazing. My supervisor said she was looking for something to criticize and she couldn't. The lesson went so well I am thrilled. My supervisor said she was so impressed with my lesson. When we met with the other student teachers for our weekly meeting she wouldn't shut up about how great it was. It was a little embarrassing, but I don't really care. Realistically these other student teachers are my competition in the job market even specifically in the school we are in now. I was on cloud 9 for the remainder of the day. It's great to know that I am doing everything right and very well at that. My host teacher said she wants to hire me, and she has never had a student teacher teach such a great lesson, and she has had 7 before me. She said I was so calm, composed, had great expectations, great introduction, included time for discussion, had the students work together and independently, extension activities, and a great closure and assessment. I am still so thrilled. Also, tomorrow is Friday, which means I can get to school at 8:30! What a great way to end my second week.

This video reminded me of the students in my school and after how well my observation went I couldn't wait to come home and watch this.

Wednesday posted on Thursday

Jan. 25

Today is actually Thursday, January 26th but because of how busy I was yesterday I didn't get to posting until now. I did write in my iPhone yesterday on the subway though so here is the text from yesterday:

Today I made a girl cry. Yep. It happened. I made a girl cry. One of my jobs in the class is to check their homework while they are at lunch. They are required to read 30 minutes every night and have their parent sign off that they read in their reading log. Also, their parents are supposed to sign their homework calendar every night as well. Well, this one student had everything else completed except for her signatures. The students have all week to get the homework done late so I just told her to have her mom, dad, or whoever is home with her when she reads to sign all of them next time so she can get the points back that she missed. I walked away and continued to check all the other students homework. Next thing I knew my host teacher *Mrs. J was asking *C what was the matter. I looked over and she is wiping away tears. My heart broke in a million pieces and I ran right over. She was explaining that she misses her Mom. Mrs. J asked what happened that brought these feelings up and I immediately knew. I told her I was just checking her homework and asked C if it she started to think about her mom because she didn't sign her homework. She said yes, and that she only sees her mom once a week because she is so busy working. Obviously we gave her credit and made an exception that she doesn't have to get her homework and reading log signed as long as she records her reading on her own. I felt like a failure.

*No names are being used when mentioning my school. You understand.

After working today and the experience I had as well as all the observations I've made over the past couple weeks I can't help but stop and think about how wonderful of a life I have been privileged to live. I have had many opportunities that some people never have the chance to experience. Today my host teacher asked me to hop on Google and find something that has happened on January 25th in history, or a famous person's birthday that we can have a discussion on in our read aloud. I found that on January 25, 1924 the first winter Olympics began. As she was teaching them about the Olympics and reading about different sports involved in the winter Olympics I started to think about when I experienced the Olympics. When the Olympics were in Salt Lake City in 2002 I was in the seventh grade. We had a month off of school so that the facilities could be used for athletes and different events. It seemed as if Park City alone hosted half if not more than half of all of the events. I had a friend from class be the "test dummy" for the ski jumping hill. Another close friend was an ice skater in the opening ceremony. The entire town was taken over by people from all over the world and I was free to roam Main Street and take in the energy and excitement that is indescribable with the Olympics coming to your hometown. After we read the story we were looking where the Scandinavian countries were. As we were looking at the globe a student pointed to Paris and said she wants to go there. Another wonderful memory I have been fortunate to have is the memory of traveling to Europe, twice. I can't help but almost feel guilty thinking about all the wonderful things I have seen and been able to do in my life until I thought about what I am doing with my life now. I am a teacher, well almost. I can use all of these amazing experiences to help teach my students. I can tell them what it looks like to have the entire world come to your town for the Olympics. I can explain the streets of Paris and describe the nutella crepes I ate in London. I can share experiences of my time in Italy seeing the leaning tower of Pisa, the vatican, the colosseum, and teach them about the Palio in Siena that my contrada won! Students look to teachers for answers and we are here to teach. I am just thankful I have had such a blessed life and had so many great experiences that I can now share and use to improve my lessons. Also, the students I am teaching have had just as many unique experience as I have had. One student was born in Serbia, another in the Dominican Republic. New York City is SO diverse and I am just eating it up! I feel like I have a lot to teach the students and they have just as much to teach me. Having the little girl cry was just a reminder to me that everyone has different backgrounds and I need to be sensitive and aware of that.

Happy Chinese New Year!

My alarm was going off for three minutes today before it woke me. It wasn't waking my roommate Jess either, which isn't surprising since that girl sleeps like a rock. Thankfully Celia and Kelly ALWAYS wake up on time and I can hear the shower through my wall so I wake up at the latest when they do.

School was another great day. I couldn't be any happier with where I am. My teacher is seriously the most amazing person and by far my favorite host teacher I've ever worked with in my college experience so far. Maybe, it's because I am there all day everyday so I known her better than all the others, but regardless she is amazing. I had a meeting with my supervisor and host teacher today. It went really well. My supervisor was telling my host teacher that she can slowly start letting me have control of the classroom when she feels comfortable, and blah blah blah. My host teacher kinda laughed and told her I have already taught a social studies lesson (as well as help with grading, testing, homework check, read alouds, etc.) I'm happy my host teacher and I are on the same path. I can tell she really likes me and trusts me with the students. It makes me so much more comfortable in feeling like I am doing this whole "teacher" thing right. I actually feel like a teacher. It's incredible and so much fun. I was able to test three more students for reading levels and do another read aloud today. The read aloud was about the Chinese New Year, which is today by the way. Happy New Year! Knowing nothing about it I was a little nervous, but decided to use my lack of knowledge to learn with the kids. I started with, "who knows something about the Chinese New Year? What do you know? What do you want to find out?" then went from there. We learned a lot together, I wanted to stop by Chinatown on the way home. Ugh. Now I remember.

I am convinced I am going to fall asleep on the subway home any day now. It is just so quiet once I get on the 6 train bronx bound and everyone else is nodding off too. I am just afraid I will fall asleep and wake up at the end of the line. I found this funny website that I will probably be on someday soon... Asleep on the Subway

Blondie goes to Harlem

I went to Harlem today to meet Molly's friend Amber for church. It was fun and Amber is a doll. They have an upcoming activity for the YSA known as "Speed Dating" the first weekend in February. It sounds like Molly will be in town too, so I have a feeling the three of us might have a hilarious night in our near future.

Going to church 

Church in Harlem

Last night the four of us roommates were FINALLY able to have a ladies night in the city. Once again, I am so lucky to have these adorable ladies living with me. 

(Myself, Jesselyn, Kelly, Celia)

I love Sundays. I relaxed all day and was able to watch the Giants game in my sweats while eating way too much Ramen noodles. Superbowl bound! Lets go Giants!

Snow!

Woke up, went to the window, winter everywhere, wonderful.

The streets of New York City were covered in snow!

NYC stop being so great. I never want to leave you.

Surprise Lesson Success Story/ End of week

Jan 19.

Yesterday, Jan. 19 I had my third day of student teaching. It was great as usual, but something a little unexpected happened. My host teacher was commenting on how much work she had to do to prepare for a meeting she had coming up. Of course I offered to help with the class in anyway so that she can keep prepping, and she took me up on it. I had about 15 minutes to prepare a lesson. First thought, panic. Second thought, my online portfolio. Luckily, I had a 3rd grade social studies lesson all ready to go. I quickly printed it off, looked up the other materials online in the last couple of minutes and went for it. It turned out amazing.

After school I called my roommate Jess and decided to meet up with her. She was going to meet a friend at his office near times square. Turns out her friend Steven works for a company closely related to VH1 and MTV. His position deals with finding venus such as clubs and performance halls for their clients to perform at. He name off a few hip hop, new pop stars, and other pop music people I didn't know but it was pretty legit. The interior of the office had a very industrial design and very modern. It reminded me of the Skullcandy corporate office in Park City. Everyone was young, smart, hard working, and fun. It definitely seemed like a place I wouldn't mind working at if music industry was my thing.

After we left the office we went to meet one of her friends at a coffee shop near times square. I decided to call someone I met at the theater last weeken when Lauren was in town and the night unexpectedly turned into a double date. We hung out in the east village for the evening. It was one of my favorite nights so far but we got home a little too late. It was fun to spend time with new friends in the city. I can only imagine all the new and amazing people I will know by the end of my time here.

Jan 20.
Lastly to catch up I am left with today; January 20 the day I celebrate my birth every year. Considering I didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked it was a kinda rough day. I really can't complain though. As soon as the students entered the room I was showered with, "Happy Birthday Ms. H!" along with homemade cards, a bag of Lindor chocolate truffles, a bag of Doritos, and a map of Japan (although random I think I liked the print off map of Japan the best). It showed me that the student remembered the lesson I taught yesterday and recalled the information when she went home. I was filled with so much love from these students that have only known me since Wednesday! People need to remember to love others as much as children do. I did some more teaching today but with small groups. I helped a few students that were struggling with rounding numbers. They joined with the rest of the class, after I thought they all had mastered the skill. My host teacher was going over a problem with the class that consisted of a part where three numbers had to be rounded tothe nearest ten. She asked for only the students that were working with me in a small group to raise their hands. I was a little nervous that they would answer them wrong and it would show they didn't learn anything in my small group, but they didn't. Every student she asked that was working with me got it correct! I felt so accomplished to have taught these students a skill they were not understanding until working with me. That was probably the best birthday moment all day. I had taught and seen the students learn. It was great.

After school I jetted straight home and into my sweats. All of my roommates did the same and we all were taking naps until about 8. We spent the evening watching "shit people say" YouTube videos. One of my favorites, "shit sorority girls say" as well as "shit whipped guys say". So funny and a great way to spend my birthday evening.

(I brought Hershey kisses as my birthday treat, surprised them when they returned from lunch)

Running Record

January 18th.

I feel like a broken record with every post, but again today was amazing. I finally met my host teacher and she is perfect. She is young, adorable, strict, nice, smart, and everything I aspire to be.

She asked me to do two bulletin boards. My first assignment! Hah such a breeze. Then she asked me to help her with testing students' reading levels. It was so fun to do an actual running record with students. For all those non education people out there I'll explain. A student is given a short one page story to read. They are suppose to read the first 100 words aloud while I follow along with my own copy of the story. I let them read and everytime they say something different than the text I write what they said above the word they are trying to read. For example, if the sentence was, "Mom and Dad love to travel, but haven't been on a vacation in a while" and the student were to actually say, "My Mom and Dad like to travel, and haven't been on vacation in a wind" I would write down the added "my", the "like" instead of love and "wind" instead of while. At the end you count their mistakes with their self corrections to test their fluency as well as comprehension. With the way it works it tells you where they are as a reader.It's amazing how some kids can read really well but have no idea what they read. Obviously its key to have fluency plus comprehension. Anyway, I used to do running records for homework with recordings of students reading. It was amazing to actually do it with a real student and see my college education paying off. Yay college! It was nice that the girl I was testing moved up a level too. I loved telling her contrats you can start reading more challenging books! She went right over to the class library and started looking through her new selection. I love this.

So I'm currently typing this in the subway on my way downtown to met the lovely Lucy! One of my best girlfriends from upstate. Ever since I met her about four years ago we've been very close. One of those girls you can go months or years without seeing and its as if no time has passed. In this case a lot of months has passed. She has been living in the city for quite some time now and we just haven't had many opportunities to catch up. I can only imagine how much we have to talk about.

(This WAS typed on my iphone, but the blog app kept shutting down when I tried to post. There is so much more to post about since then. It is finally friday and I can catch up on a lot of things, homework, blog, and most important SLEEP)

Student Teaching Day 1

First day student teaching in a nutshell:

• Woke up at 5. 
• Awarded third grade for my placement! Yes, awarded... I love third and forth graders so much I want to put them in my pocket and take them home with me.
• My host teacher was absent so I spent my day in the second grade. The school can't afford substitutes so the class without a teacher just gets divided among the other teachers. Pretty sad.
• It was a boy's birthday today! He turned 8. I asked him what his fun birthday plans were and they were to go to ihop, a movie, and to meet Johnny Depp. He said he knows someone that could "hook him up". Sounds like my kind of birthday. We've been warned to NOT eat food from children. I skipped out on the cupcakes.
• The Librarian told me I am going to make a great teacher after spending 20 minutes with me.
• I was able to teach a mini lesson using the book Young Martin's Promise. Hopefully it left the students thinking that maybe someday they could change the world and have a holiday dedicated to them.
• Ummm.. EVERY CLASSROOM has a SmartBoard! This is unbelievable and being such a technology nerd I couldn't be more excited. 
• I was sneezed on more than I would like to know. Starting now Purell is my new best friend. 
• One girl told me her birthday was in a week, I told her mine was on Friday. I asked them if I looked old and they laughed and said, "No! You don't have any gray hair!" 
• Two girls wouldn't let go of my hands on the way out at the end of the day. I live for moments like these.

Photos of the Day:

Love.

Nearly bleeding by the end of the day, but worth it

Stained glass at my subway stop

Finally finished holiday thank you cards. 

Greetings from the Bronx.

There is so much to be thankful for.

Prepping

Tomorrow is the first day of student teaching. It is finally here! I feel ready, but also nervous that once I get there I'll be overwhelmed. I had a wonderful end of the weekend. I spent all day Sunday napping and catching up on sleep. I also tried out our bathtub for an evening bath, which was wonderful (I scrubbed and cleaned it about three times before getting in). I don't think my body is used to the energy of this place. I slept for about 12 hours last night after taking about a 2 hour nap yesterday afternoon. Also, Brigham and Shelby were able to video chat which is always fun.

This morning I woke up and went down the street to the laundromat. I had no idea what I was doing, but there were plenty of helpful people around so I figured it out. Turns out you have to get a laundromat card that you put money on, then use that card every time you want to start the washer or dryer. I am so lucky to have lived at home for the past 4 years. Thanks Mom!

I needed to pick up some ink for my printer and used that as an excuse to go back into Manhattan. I stumbled upon Bloomingdales, which is still lit up with Christmas lights all along the side. It was beautiful. After I got the ink and window shopped I decided it was time to call it a day. I headed back north, picked up some fresh produce, and made a delicious dinner.

It feels like Christmas Eve! I feel like I won't sleep that well because of nerves and excitement. It is really happening! I better go pick out my first professional outfit and pack my lunch. It all starts tomorrow, and very early tomorrow.

I probably should have used a lot less garlic in the Kale. The students might hate my stinkiness tomorrow. Oops.

I wonder if I'll ever have a bad day in NYC

Saturday Afternoon

Yesterday I only had one place I wanted to see, the New York Public Library. Lauren and I went down together in the late afternoon and strolled around for a while. There is so many beautiful places in NYC and this has to be one of my favorite (and its free). I can't wait to go there on my weekends and do my lesson planning for the weeks to come. Also, they have an incredible store inside. I found four beautiful posters and two postcards for only $20. The walls in my apartment are very thankful. 

The original Winnie the Pooh and the crew

Breathtaking

Saturday Evening

Lauren was kind enough to invite me to her friend's play reading. I had never been to one before so I didn't know really what to expect. It is pretty much exactly as it sounds. The characters read the play. It was incredible to see. Having seen only plays and musicals and never a reading I was surprised by the emotion and story that was still so strong and present. The first one of the evening was by Lauren's from Tess, who she met at an acting program a couple of summers ago. It is called Below and takes place in the subways of NYC in an apocalyptic setting. It was so well written, and spoken I instantly became obsessed. We went out with the performers, directors, writers, and most of the audience to a restaurant down the street after. It was fun to meet the people from the evening and see them celebrate a successful night. There was a fun band playing sing-a-long covers by oasis, elton john, hootie, etc. The energy of the evening was so creative, positive, and inspiring. I love being surrounded by creativity. Especially when it is at such an adult and professional atmosphere. It was great to look around and realize that everyone else is 20 somethings living in the city and making their dreams happen. Good vibes allllll night long. I will definitely be making another visit to "the barrow group" theater sometime soon.

Lauren Stanek came to town

(Jess, Stan, Myself)

Yesterday I woke up to a missed called from "Stan" and so I called her back right away. She asked if I had plans for the evening and said that she was thinking of hoping on a train and coming into the city from Mass! I picked her up from Grand Central and brought her back to the Bronx. We made an amazing dinner together and caught up on the latest in each other's lives. It was amazing. Kale, asparagus, green beans, and pasta. My roommate Jess had a friend in Manhattan she wanted to meet so we headed down around 9. We met some really nice people. My favorite was when we stepped into a McDonalds to use their restroom and picked up some advice from some real New Yorkers. They commented on our accents and said its not "the Bronx", its "da Bronx". Also, its not New York, its New Yuuurk. (Hard to explain accents via text). Anyway, we had a wonderful evening.

Stan originally came into town to watch her friend's play, which she has an extra ticket for.
I'm her date, and so excited!

Dreams

Every day my dad sends me an email consisting of a "Thought for the Day". I almost laughed when I opened the email today because it reminded me so much of why I am here and the infamous Jay Z song poped in my head. Speaking of Jay Z, what was he and Beyonce thinking by naming their baby Blue Ivy? 

Anyway, thanks dad. I've been dreaming of living in NYC since I can remember, and I finally found a way to make it a reality.

<3

I spent the day at Student Teaching Orientation, which made this whole experience seem all more real. It was from 10-3 and entailed hearing all the rules and regs of the program, meeting our supervisors, and seeing the other 80 kids in the program. 

All the students from SUNY Cortland (including me obvs) have an amazing supervisor. Her name is Deborah a.k.a. Deb, Debbie, or our NYC Mom. She gave us her home and cell number and told us a million times to call her anytime of day or night. She said if we are sick at 3 in the morning, stressed, upset, or about to get raped, to call her. I love my NYC Mom so much already! She said she doesn't want us to ever feel stressed or overwhelmed. It's great to hear that from the lady that is going to be observing our lessons and grading us! Especially after I heard that other students have intimidating and scary supervisors. I think we got really lucky. 

Below are my roommates. The first picture shows me, Celia is in the middle and Kelly on the right. We three are all from SUNY Cortland. They are both Special Education majors. Jesselyn aka Jess (brown hair in the second picture) is who I share a room with and she is from SUNY Oneonta. Jess and I are both 5th year seniors, Childhood Education majors who started college in Fashion Merchandising, and are transfer students to the college we are graduating from. It's crazy how similar our college experience has been and I couldn't ask for a more perfect fit for a roomie.

(Me, Celia, Kelly)

(Celia, Kelly, Jess)

Go Outside

As much as I love my new living arrangements (see vid below) I love leaving and going to Manhattan more.

I went out on my own all day yesterday and as soon as I got home I couldn't settle down. The energy in this city is so contagious and hard to switch off. 

It was nice to go out with my roommates today. We went by all of the schools we are going to be working at. Turns out the second one I'm at is literally two blocks away from Times Square. The glowing lights were impossible to ignore. While walking through I thought it would be fun to take a picture together. We went for the cutest, nicest boy in the square and as it turns out he is an actor/singer/dancer in RENT right now on Broadway! We did some serious stalking when we got home and found out his name is Mike Wartella. Google it. As creepy as we + the internet is = we found out he is married and has a baby. Double cute and nice. Obviously, I asked if he could get us tickets for the show but to no avail. 

We found a decent looking chinese restaurant on our way back to our place. Surprisingly Chinese in the Bronx is not that bad. Only complaint is they didn't give us fortune cookies. I feel jipped. Currently we are all hunched over our laptops while "Kourtney and Kim take New York" plays in the background. Tomorrow I find out the grades I'll be teaching. FINALLY. 

I still can't believe I live here. 

Performing Arts school I'll start at in March

(notice the RENT poster)

School 1 & the MOMA

Student Teaching School #1:

Dogs waiting for their walk: 

Central Park Reservoir:

MOMA:

Adorable siblings on the subway playing paper, rock scissors. I couldn't help but say hi, found out he is in the fourth grade and loves his teacher. I am so much more comfortable talking to kids then adults. The last picture is my subway stop in the Bronx. Above ground subway. I bet it gets pretty cold. 

 

SO... I went a little picture happy today to say the least. First, I woke up and went to the bank. Luckily there was a Chase right around the corner. After asking the friendly banker where the nearest subway stop was I was off to Manhattan. I timed my commute from my stop to the school I'll be at from January- March and it was pretty close to an hour. Not that happy about the commute, but how can you stay mad about a commute that entails a subway ride into Manhattan. I have to keep pinching myself that this is real. 

I was able to find the school with only one transfer. As soon as I saw yellow busses parked outside I knew I was close. It was ADORABLE. I was lucky enough to see two classes come outside and follow their teacher down the street... field-trip perhaps? I circled the block and found some boys in the back playing basketball on the "playground" surrounded by a 10 foot fence. I love it. 

After finding my school and getting comfortable with the commute I decided to check out the Metropolitan Museum Of Modern Art! Yes, the MOMA! I know the "suggested" student price is $12, but after the ticket lady told me it was the "suggested" price and they accept anything that, "fits in my budget" I decided to enter the museum for $1. I know I'm cheap, but I figure this isn't the only time I'm going to donate $1 to the museum, and when I'm filthy rich one day I promise to make a generous donation to make up for it. 

The MOMA:

What can you say about the MOMA. It was breathtaking. As many times as I have been to NYC I cannot believe I have NEVER been there before! I went straight toward the Modern Art section of the museum and found some fascinating pieces from Warhol, Dali and Picasso to name a few. I was able to check out some of the traditional european paintings as well which are usually my favorite. Something about classical art just gets me. Maybe, it's because the first time I started to fall in love and be moved by art was when I saw the Venus de Milo at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Not long after did the "Birth of Venus" at the Uffizi gallery in Florence, Italy have its affect on me too. I wish I could be more of an art snob but honestly, I'm not at all. I did appreciate the MOMA though and everything it had to offer. I will make a point to return there soon. Also, I highly recommend it to anyone that has never been before. 

I wish I had more time there, but I came back to the Bronx early enough to get some last minute groceries and necessities before dark. Oh, and I got to meet my other two roommates. Love them at first sight. I think this is going to be a really REALLY amazing experience.