Planning, TPT, and Other Teachery Things

I have just been so busy, which I am sure many of you know how busy being a teacher can be let alone a first year teacher starting after the school year. I feel like no matter how much I try to plan ahead for the upcoming week over the weekend, that I always fall behind, though my team feels the same way since we have a new curriculum this year. 

Overall things have been slightly overwhelming with things at work. Like keeping up with county assessments, planning, meetings, emails, and events going on at school. It's all just a lot and I never know who to talk to about all of this. I kind of have a mentor, who has been really great, but there are just some things that she doesn't know or I find out that she told me wrong. I just worry about missing deadlines for all of the county assessments and getting in trouble. 

I have one assessment that needs to be done by the beginning of November and all I have been doing for the past two weeks is assessing students. I feel like I am not teaching them anything, especially during math because that is the time that I spend the most assessing students. It has gotten so bad that I don't even know exactly where I am even at in math. After school this Monday, we are going to plan for math and I am just so thankful because I feel just lost at this point. 

Then I have started my own store on TPT which has been an interesting and new process, so far I have only free items, but plan to add paid items soon. I know that it will take time for my store to grow and when I add my paid items that it could take time for it to sell. I post twice a week and thankfully I spent my summer creating items, so I just had to add it to my store and I do not have to worry about creating activities. 

I know my store comes second compared to my students, but I do want to take my store seriously and hopefully it will become a little something. I plan to move sometime the beginning of next year. My commute is about 50 mins to 1 hr. drive and it is starting to take it's toll on me. I will soon be driving in the dark to work and then back home in the dark. 

Anyways I better get back to planning for this week. Luckily we have a half day on Thursday and then no work on Friday. I could really use a three day weekend. Also I am not sure about a schedule for my blog, but hopefully I get everything settled with work soon and can atleast post once a week. 

Kindergarten Teacher!!

I know just last week I said that I was working as a long term sub for a teacher's assistant, but know I officially have my own classroom starting on Friday!!!

This went really fast because the new school year has already begun and they needed a teacher fast. I get an email asking about doing the interview on Monday. Then Tuesday I had my interview and then today I was offered the position! 

I just still can't believe this. I am just SOOO excited. I know this next week is going to be crazy and I am ready for it. 

New School Year.....and No Job

The new school is here and I didn't get a full teacher position. Which was not a surprise because after finding out my profile was available to principals until the end of summer most positions are taken. 

Anyways a few weeks ago I went in for an interview for a long term substitute position. There was a few spots and it was decided that I would be more comfortable in the grade that I had interned in. The down side was that it was for a teacher assistant. 

I wish I knew more about how much of a money difference there was between assistant and teacher then I might have said no. I will be there until sometime in January. I assist two teachers. One really good thing about this was that I get to experience more and different teaching styles. I also really enjoyed seeing what they do on the first day! It gave me some great ideas for hopefully my classroom next year. 

I can't say exactly what will happen when my time is up here. I know that it will be a sad time and I will miss the kids. Maybe another long term sub position will open up and I will be offered it. Or maybe he will know of another one at another school that I could do.

This is the first week of school and oh I am in kindergarten! I don't think I said that. Though the kindergartens don't start a full day of school until

Student Teaching Tips

I wanted to give those who are being to student teach some tips that will hopefully help them along on their journey. 

1. Breathe

Take a deep breath. You are going to do fine at your internship. You will make mistakes, but you are suppose to. You will have a mentor there every step of the way to help and guide you through everything. And you will learn so much during you time there. 

Also, Remember to have fun and to not stress about the little things. Before you not it this will all be over and you will be graduating. 

2. Student Teaching Binder

This binder is similar to my To Do Binder, though once I began student teaching I made some adjustments to accommodate along with my student teaching schedule. 

This helps me keep organized about all of the different assignments and lesson plans that I will have to do throughout the semester. I also like to take this with me to my classes and when I am at my placement school. 

In this binder it holds lots of important information that I need:

• Grade Sheets
• To Do List
• Calendar 
• Assignment's Schedule
• Class Syllabuses

To create this binder for yourself, you will need:

• To Do List
• Grade Sheets
• Calendar 
• 1/2" Binder
• Dividers/ Sheet Protectors

* The Schedule and the Syllabus you will have to get on your own. 

Also when printing out the To Do List and Grade Sheets I like to print on the back of them too, so that way I can use them again while saving paper.  

Now, lets go through how I set up the whole binder from the cover to the back. I use a binder that has sleeves on the front and the back of the binder, so that way I have more places to put things. 

On the front of the binder I have my To Do List, so I can pick up my binder and look to see right away what is I need to do. I like to go one to two weeks ahead of the time to write down what will be due on the list. I also write them down in order from what will be due first. 

On the ringers of the binder, I use dividers for each of my class. For each class section, I have a divider that also is like a sheet protector where I have the syllabus on the front and then the grade sheet on the back.  

3. Save Your Money

I can't even begin to tell you how many girls in my cohort spent lots of money during our student teaching semesters. Be wise and don't spend so much. It's important, as future educators, to learn how to create amazing lessons without spending all of our money in the process. 

It's more about the content of what you created and not always just the looks. You can make things look amazing with just a little money. Don't worry about how over the top some of the other student might be doing. As long as you meet the requirements your teacher has given you then you both will get the same amount of points. 

Also ask your mentor to see if she happens to have any of the things you need. Teachers are like secret hoarders and you will be amazed by what they have hiding in their storage closets. They also don't mind letting you use there things for your lessons. 

4. Your a Student

Don't ever forget that you are a student and it is a privilege to even be at that school. One girl in my cohort became too comfortable in the school and the other teachers and even the principal did not like that (I talked more about this here). Remember you are going to need your mentor's recommendations when applying to jobs.