Greetings, readers, and welcome aboard! My name is Grace, and I am a college senior who is about to embark on a great adventure: my student teaching semester, which begins in just a few weeks. In this blog I hope to chronicle my challenges, my successes, my lessons, and my overall journey to becoming a credentialed teacher (and hopefully beyond as I enter the workforce in June!). I am not entirely sure what this will look like, but I imagine you can expect shining successes, frustrated rants, amusing anecdotes, student stories, lesson plans, book reviews, and more.
For now, I offer you a bit of background. Beginning at the end of January, I will be full-time student teaching at a public school in western Massachusetts. I will spend three weeks in kindergarten with Mrs. M and seven weeks in first grade with Mrs. V. Both of these classrooms have an ELL focus, which I am excited to explore. I spent four hours a week in Mrs. V's second grade classroom last spring during a literacy course, so I am really looking forward to working with her again in a new setting! She mentioned to me that her first graders have reading buddies in the third grade, so we will get a few visits to the students I got to know last year. I loved those kids, so I am super stoked about that :)
On top of all that, I am hoping to continue to lead a semi-normal student life. I plan to serve on the boards of two organizations, sing in two choirs, and direct a play! I'm theorizing that it will be good practice -- my hope is to teach in independent schools while assisting with choral or drama programs. Following my graduation in May, I will spend seven weeks working at a fantastic summer program in Wellesley, MA before heading to an independent school South Korea, where I have secured an elementary teaching internship for the 2013-2014 academic year.
That's all for now. Stay tuned, and wish me luck!
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Currently reading: Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin -- a little more fiction while I have the time for it!
Current high: a reunion with some dear high school friends tomorrow
Current low: three cancelled flights in a row while trying to get home for winter vacation
