Hey, NCC and Friends!
I feel as though I should give you a giant update on life here at NCC, but I’m going to keep it simple. The last seven weeks have been incredible! There have been many emotional roller coasters with the loss of a dear friend, the submission of my application to student teach, and everything in between! (Yes, I have officially applied for my student teaching. I am ecstatic!)
I’ve been surrounded by an incredible NCC family through all of these events, and cannot express how grateful I am to have had such amazing support. Please, feel free to read Amanda Marek’s blog to get some more insight on the loss of Shaun Wild. He was a mentor and friend to me through deciding how I wanted to approach my time at North Central as well as a teammate through our education group, SLATE.
On a brighter note, last week, I was fortunate enough to see American Idiot: The Musical at the Oriental Theater in Chicago! CUAB sold tickets for only $15.00, which included transportation. Even through the surprise snow storm, we made it to Chicago and had an incredible time. Our seats were in the first three rows of the first balcony. If you don’t know the set-up of most theaters in Chicago, THE SEATS WERE INCREDIBLE! We had an amazing time. Below are a few pictures of the bus ride, a group of us in front of an advertisement in the Macy’s (Mych, Franny, Me, Ali), and then Franny and Mychall in front of the theater. The presentation was not anything that I anticipated, but I left the theater in awe. I couldn’t believe the art and intensity that went into the production, even though it was completely non-traditional. There were many technical tricks and transitions that were, imho, beyond most other productions. (Side Story: imho = in my humble opinion. Who knew? Thank you for teaching me, and you’re welcome, Paul!) AH! I just loved the show.
On more of an Education note, I completed my math practicum with my second grade students on Friday. I cannot mention how much I was impacted by those students. The class was filled with 19 bilingual students. I had spent 24 hours with those students over the last seven weeks, three days each week. We bonded together quickly, which assisted in my ability to impact the students on an academic level. I could go on for pages about these students and how much I learned from each one, but I don’t want to bore anyone.
During the last twenty minutes of my time with the students, the class surprised me with a cookie cake and a book where each student detailed their stories about my teaching and presence in the classroom. The special part about this book was that each student wrote their own story, using their own spelling and grammar. The students did not want for their teacher to correct errors because they wanted to show me how much they had learned on their own. This classroom started their transition to full English just eight weeks ago. Each student certainly left a handprint on my heart. :-)
At my other practicum, I have 22-29 fifth graders for Accelerated Language Arts/Intervention time. I still have three more weeks with these students, so I will try to post a story about them soon.
For now, it’s time to try and sleep! We are heading in to Week 8. (WHAT?!) Yep. Week 8.
Here we go!
//mg