Not sure how many people will really see this, but I am doing all I can now to help out my brother and my family.  He was just recently diagnosed with a cancerous tumor.  Follow the link to see his story and send him a message or donate..  http://www.giveforward.com/fundraiserforvinny

Very thankful for everyone's support and prayers.

Update >>> Sudbury Experience, Back as TA, and Students with Disabilities Cert

Hi All! 
Well, It's been awhile.. A lot has happened and changed.  I decided that I do not want to sub again next school year.  Not that I didn't enjoy it, I loved the experience and definitely think it was needed and worth it.  I just did not like not having something steady and anticipating the calls in the morning.  (Not to mention, I had to do overnights 3 days a week to keep my health benefits with my other job.  I was also growing tired of that.)  


Mid April, I decided to look into a new experience, The Sudbury School.  I found out about this school by picking up a post card in a restaurant in New Paltz.  It was an invitation to an open house.  I decided to check out the web site (which I linked above) and became interested in applying and finding out more.  Surprisingly, I do not recall learning about this model in my college experience.  For those of you who do not know, Sudbury is a democratic model in which student create their own curriculum.  There is also age mixing.  At this school, students really learn how to define themselves.  I decided to do an internship to learn more.  I've never seen students as happy as I did at the Sudbury  School.  Everyone there was so creative and so imaginative.  Students of different ages formed relationships and looked to each other for help and advice when they needed it.  Staff there was more of an equal.  Students decided how to spend their time, whether it be all day playing outside or all day painting.  Here, it is believed that learning will occur naturally, which I witnessed.  Students also learned consequences and responsibility through the JC (Judicial Committee) which met every day at 11.  Students had the ability to "write up" someone or something that went against the school code book.  The issue would then be discussed and voted upon by the members of the JC.  A sentence would then be discussed.  The sentence would always be related to the broken rule.  An accused student had the choice of pleading guilty or not guilty.  If not guilty was plead, the case would move to School Meeting.  School meetings happened every Thursday where different school activities were voted upon.  Staff were parts of different committees to help run the school.  (For example the playground committee or public relations committee.. ) There was no principal.  I enjoyed really getting to know the students and seeing them spend time doing what they had interest in and what made them happy.  Half the time in public school, students have learning forced upon them and might not even retain the information because they are not interested in it or it is boring.  Other adults that came to Sudbury to do special interest groups expressed that they had never seen students so creative.  Overall, this was a wonderful experience and if you have a student who is having difficulty in a regular school, I would definitely recommend looking into a Sudbury School.  Sometimes all it takes is a different atmosphere.  


I finished my internship at Sudbury in the beginning of June.  After that, I decided to go back to being a TA, where I know  I would have full time, guaranteed hours.  I stayed with in the agency where I worked before and did overnights so it was easy to transfer back.  I am not in the same classroom as I was a year ago, I am now working in a Tier 2 room.  It is pretty different, but nice to see how a new teacher does things.  I am also enrolled in 2 courses that I need to extend my certification to Student with Disabilities.  I really hope on getting a teaching job in the near future.  I am hoping that this extension will help.  In the mean time, I am still applying and keeping my hopes up!  I just feel good that I am in the field and getting the experience I need and doing what I need to do first.  

Getting that full time position...

Well, once again it's been awhile!  Subbing has been pretty slow the last couple weeks because of the holiday break and the snow.  We're suppose to be getting even more snow tonight.  I've been trying to get together all of my applications and files that need to be sent along with them.  I've contacted who I need to in order to get the updated recommendation letters I need.  I find it interesting that things fall into your life as you need them.  I recently started keeping more closely in touch with two teachers I student taught with.  Because of this, I felt more comfortable asking them to update letters of recommendation for me.  I have student loans coming up that I will need to make a payment on.  One of the same teachers introduced me to a jewelry business where I can make some extra money in my spare time.  I'm happy that these people have come back into my life and help me out.  I just believe that if you stay positive and know that things will work out when they are suppose to, they will.  I've also been reading this book called, The Secret.  It's very good and I recommend it.  There are tons of inspirational quotes and it explains how "You are what you think."  The Secret shows you how to be more aware of your thoughts and how to attain your goals.

Since it's the New Year... I've been thinking about what I want to do differently this year.  For one, I want to start to cook more.  I've been saying that and I actually got some really neat cookbooks for Christmas.  Thanks Grandma :)   I also got a crock-pot! Very exciting!  So I hope to actually put those things to use.  The second thing, is to express more to my mother how thankful I am to have her and to actually let her know that I love her more.  What else?  Probably try to have a better relationship with my sister.  As I've gotten older, I've really realized the importance of family.  I want to really get focused for what I am doing next in my career.  Obviously, I want that full time teaching position, but it is just not going to happen if there aren't any openings.  So should I look farther out, like the city? Or another state? I don't know... Or what do I want to do next school year?  Do I still want to sub?  I like subbing, but I do not like not having health benefits through it or the fact that it is not steady.  I've been thinking about going back to being a TA if I don't have any luck with applications this time around.  I still am working overnights (3 nights a week) just to keep my health benefits.  It has taken away from weekends and my free time, so it is not something I wanted to do for a long time.

Well, if anyone has suggestions for job hunting, please feel free to leave them! Or maybe some other ideas of places I could work related to the field that might offer some good benefits.  

Update

Just thought I would take a minute to update.  I've been extremely busy between two jobs.  Subbing has been going great so far.  I had a placement at middle school yesterday.  It was my first time at that level, I had been getting called for the elementary school prior to that.  It was extremely chaotic in the morning because there was an overflow of subs in the office due to a teacher training workshop going on.  Time was ticking and I was waiting to get my assignment.  I like to have enough time to prepare and read over the plans.  One of the most stressful things is only having 5-10 mins to prepare.  So, I was thrown into an eighth grade English class!  Not as scary as I thought, being that I almost look like a student myself.  First period went great and as the day went on, the students got more rambunctious.  I had a few challenges with students who were being inappropriate and just talking about things that weren't related to the lesson.  All in all, it wasn't bad; I was able to maintain control and get through what the teacher had left, for the most part.  I like subbing at the middle school level because of the way the day is broken up. I like having new sets of students and being able to refine my lessons if I know something did or did not work well for a previous class. 

 I've been trying to find more educational pages on Facebook to follow.  Here are some I will share:
National Geographic
The Teacher's Hub
Social Media in Education
Edutopia
Verizon Thinkfinity
Gateway to 21st Century Skills
I am Teacher

There are tons of great resources and information for teachers on these pages.  

First Day Called To Sub

My first day called for a sub job was yesterday.  I was more excited than nervous.  It was a nice first day because I was asked to sub for a teacher's aide.  Since this was the case, I was able to get a feel for the school and classrooms.  I worked mainly with one student and took the whole class to recess, lunch, and gym.  Overall, the day went good.  I was able to work well with the student I was assigned to and get him motivated to do his work.  I learned that recess and lunch can be chaotic times.. Unfortunately, I did not have a whistle like the other aides in the lunch room had, so it was difficult to draw all students attention when it was so loud.  Students definitely did try to take advantage, knowing that I was new.  Getting this preview, I know that one of the most important things is to establish rules early and clearly.  

Behavior Management:

I liked an idea that the classroom teacher used to monitor behavior.  She had a bulletin board in the room with all of the students' names on it.  Under each student's name, there were three index (sized) cards, one red, yellow, and green.  They were layered on top of each other in this order.  After being verbally warned more than one time, the student would be asked to change their card from "green" to "yellow."  Each day the students start off at green.  Then after students got to red, there would be consequences.  I like this system because it teaches the students that they are in control of their own behavior and they are physically moving something to remind them of that.  Students can visually see where they are and how the majority of the class is.  

A New School Year, A New Experience

I am both nervous and excited to start substitute teaching.  I have been reading a few books to help prepare myself:

• Substitute Teacher Handbook K-12
• Substitute Teaching from A-Z

I've also purchased some books such as Mind Joggers! 5-15 Minute Activities That Make Kids Think.  I want to be as prepared as I can.  I have looked at the district's website and printed out information on the school policies and also found some really neat web resources there.  This blog is full of resources :  Teaching 2.0  A Professional Development Resource Blog.  There is an infinite number of tech resources out there for the new school year!

Right now, I am in the process of making a binder to organize everything that I will need to carry with me, such as my assignment logs, teacher reports, student activities, school calendars and locations, etc.  I will be subbing mainly for elementary and middle school students and need to have a variety of plans.  If there is time to fill, I want to have something that I can implement and that is educational.  I've continued to build my book collection for different levels.

I have read tips for substitute teachers on management and organization.  I plan on going in with an open mind and getting the most out of my experience.  I will keep a notebook of different ideas I see in classrooms that I may want to use in my own one day.  I know that there will be good days and bad and will use each day to shape my teaching style.  I can read different tips and strategies but won't see the reality until it happens.  Being prepared and organized is the first step! :)

Continuing My Professional Blog

I really would like to continue to utilize this blog that I created with my Masters program for Integrating technology. I will be starting to substitute teach in the upcoming school year and would like to use this space to write about my experiences and put up any resources that I find or would like to share. I am going to put an effort into finding ways to use the web to benefit my teaching career.

As I probably have mentioned in earlier posts, I am unfamiliar with Twitter. Today, I logged in again (it has been a few months since I created it). I am going to use my Twitter site to follow educational posts. Here is a link to my page: https://twitter.com/Michelle0529. You can see who I have began to follow there.