Long time, no blog

Well, hi! Here's my latest news...

I completed my student teaching experience after giving my portfolio presentation on May 23rd. My license is currently being processed and I am doing that old job search thing again. Yuck. I forgot how much I dislike job hunting. I think that I might be able to start blogging again now that I have time to breath. We'll see if I can keep it up after I start teaching :) Here are some photos from my presentation. If you're interested, here's a link to my online portfolio, but I warn you, it's a ton of writing. If you do happen to read a bit, let me know if you find any errors... it was very difficult to write and proof on the funky software in just one week :)

 

 Hallway mosaic

 

 Some school stats

My host teacher

  

Some dehydrated plant cells under the microscope

 

Carbon footprints :)

 

Amazing handmade gifts from my students

Checking in...

Hi!

I'm still alive! I am almost there! Only a few weeks left of student teaching. You guys, I am really getting the hang of this too. It's amazing how much teaching is actually really just psychology. It's about convincing a room full of kids that they are amazing and capable, that you are worth listening too for a hour, and that what you have to say is worth learning, studying, and retaining. It's a one-woman show every single day on the topic of biology and your audience doesn't really want to be there. Oh, and no refreshments provided.

I have learned SO MUCH in these past few weeks. I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be relieved once it's all over, but I have confidence that once the classroom is my own, I will be prepared to provide my students with what they need and deserve.

Reeeeaaaallly looking forward to summer though :) If you haven't seen me in several months, I should be back as a normal-functioning member of society by the end of May. If you hear of any nice summer jobs let me know. I will be unemployed come June and won't be teaching until next fall. I am also sharing the awesome and oh-so-true video that I discovered on my friend Ali's blog. You rock Ali :)

brace yourself

I don't know if anyone still reads my blog. Probably not, considering there's nothing to read anymore. Sorry. My life has become student teaching. When I am not teaching, I am preparing for teaching, talking about teaching, dreaming about teaching, or rushing through meals and chores so that I can get back to my lesson planning. Once in a while I try to escape and do something different, but even while squatting in weight lifting class this morning at the YMCA, I was putting together a list in my head of everything I wanted to accomplish this weekend in order to be prepared for Monday. It consumes me.

My family has also been dealing with the fact that my Dad was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. That word. Cancer. It's like a punch to the gut. The situation is good though. He was proactive and caught it very early. The issue now is not the cancer itself, but the getting rid of it. I think he is leaning towards surgery, but either way, treatment has its own risks and side effects. My plan is that he will be totally back to normal in no time at all. My Dad is a very healthy guy and we don't have a history of cancer in our family. That, along with the fact that I am willing it to happen, is why my plan is going to work.

Scary- but did you know that one in six men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime!? Yeah!! Really! So go tell all the men you know to go get checked. Guys are a little more shy than us women. We've got our 40-mile walks, hot pink ribbons and booby bracelets all over the place - but it's time to raise awareness about prostate cancer. Go. Now. Tell someone. Then send some good vibes my Dad's way.

So, if you've hit your quota of emotional reading material for the day, it's time to quit. There's a lot that I would love to share about student teaching, but just like the actual experience, it's a roller coaster. Up, down, up, down, up, down. Throw in some screaming, barf, and that feeling of being out of control and that pretty much sums it up. You don't know why you keep getting on, but something about it is just so satisfying.

Let's start with some ups...

- The student production of "Grease the Musical."  SO MUCH TALENT.

- Community Day where organizations and businesses from the Northside came to talk to the students about what they do and how to turn their interests into careers.

- The incredible talents of the Step Team, Breakdance Club, Tumbling Team, and Hmong Dancers.

- The showing of the film "Bullied", followed by a guest appearance and discussion with Jamie Nabozny himself.

- Student comments like "You icy Ms. Westby. I like you."

- Kids who have been in this country only 5 months using the term "first order heterotroph" correctly in a sentence.

- One of my special ed students suddenly outperforming most of the regular ed students in class.

- Spring break! Only a week away and my chance to finally catch up with life :)


And then there are the downs...

- Several students are leaving because our interventions are no longer effective. Their behavior has gotten out of control. I worry about where they will end up and if they will ever get the help they really need.

- A star student losing his head and the resulting media attention. So many of my students look up to him as a role model. The situation is incredibly disappointing and upsetting for everyone.

- Scary politics. Would you support a law that made it easier to become a doctor, lawyer, or police officer? Do you think that it would attract more people to the profession? How do you they would do with less training? What type of people would you expect to be attracted to this new easier, alternative route? So why is it okay for teachers? Is that what we want for kids? And where is this teacher shortage you speak of? Teachers are being laid off every day because of cut backs and school closings. Get real.

- Wisconsin deciding to take away collective bargaining rights for public workers. Take away public workers rights and call it "balancing the budget" and then turn around and offer tax breaks to the rich. Real smart.

- Looking over teaching contracts and the legal issues of being a teacher, mandated reporter, and public employee. The accountability and responsibility is HUGE. The salary and benefits... not so much. The highest salary on the chart for a teacher with a PhD and over 15 years is less than the starting salary of a pharmacist. I know this because one of my friends in class is a pharmacist trying to become a math teacher. God bless her.

Did you make it to the end of my post!? If so, thanks for reading - I know I unloaded a lot this time. Maybe over spring break I'll have a chance to do something lighthearted or crafty and then blog about it. Fingers crossed!!!

Deep Thoughts by Kate

I discovered some things recently that have made me very aware of my limited time here on earth and the potential that each days holds. Uh oh... Kate's gettin' all deep and philosophical. That's right people. If your not in the mood to jump into some deep self-reflection with me, I suggest hopping over to the kiddy pool at AFP and reflecting on someone else's life. Nothing too emotionally stirring there. The deepest thoughts I ever had while viewing other people's awkward family photos was "Oh geeeez! I totally rocked the greek column during my own senior photos session too!"

It began when I stumbled on this "scarf calendar" over at Swissmiss. Cute right? Somehow the longer I looked at it though, the more it began to represent my own brief existence. My inability to redo the past. The shortening of the scarf that is my life. Wuhhhhh Wuhhhaaaa! Debbie Downer!

Then, a couple days later, I discovered a site called Thought Questions where they continuously post really thought provoking questions set to beautiful photographs. These things suck me in. Part of me looks at them and is reminded of those lame motivation posters. You know the ones. They have a whole line of ironic/mocking versions... and for good reason. But then the other easily influenced/gullible side of me starts actually trying to answer these deep life questions.

Really guys - WHAT WILL THIS DAY MATTER IN FIVE YEARS!? I spent thirty-five dollars on a new haircut yesterday nobody even noticed today. I could have fed a starving child in Africa for like three months with that money. UGH!!!How many days would I go back and do differently if I could? What's holding me back from making the choices that I really want to make deep down. The other question I frequently come back to is, "If I could duplicate myself into life-coach kate and self-Kate, how would I direct my own life? What advice would I have for myself? How would I tell myself to live my best life possible?" 

I frequently think about these questions in regards to my future students too. I am already worried about them. I still remember what it was like to be in high school, but now that I'm on the other side of it, it's easier to see the hang ups and "major" obstacles for what they really were. I worry about the kids that I will undoubtably encounter that hold themselves back. The ones that can't see past high school or don't believe in their own potential. How can I get them to take a step back and start directing their own lives and making choices to live their best life? It's amazing the hope that people will have for others, but will then deny themselves. I think I found a tool that might help me address this in my future classroom though. A way to step out of oneself and give that inner voice an actual way to talk back. It's called Future Me and it's a website that allows you to send yourself messages in the future. Brilliant! Who knows you better than yourself, and how great to be able to remind yourself of your goals, weaknesses, and inspirations than - yourself! I sent future Kate an email congratulating her completing her master's program and reminded her of why she became passionate about this stuff in the first place! Way to go future Kate!

So, what will this day matter in five years? Will I even remember it in six months? Will I have at least made choices that will have have a positive impact on the future me? I suppose I could write future me an email and remind myself of today and the choices I made for future me and the choice that I hope future me will have made. I only get to do today once. Each of us only has one life and we only get one shot at today. Me, I'm going to go do some yoga tonight and improve the health of future me... but first I'm going to go climb my way out of these deep thoughts by giggling at some babies dressed as Chippendales on AFP...

Someday

I don't actually want to become someone who sleeps till noon everyday, but I am super excited about leaving the office for my own classroom. I hope it has windows. I miss windows.

My plight to become a poor science teacher

Last night, I went to my second night of astronomy. I was really excited about this course at first, but so far, I have been less than impressed. The class is a mix of adult learners (some seeking prereqs for master's programs, like myself), high school PSEO students, and your garden variety community college student. I have noticed a lot of army decals and veteran's plates in the parking lot too. You would think that with such a variety of learners, the prof might put a little effort into engaging her audience. Nope. Not only is she terribly dry, but she totally lacks time management skills, so we are already a whole chapter behind...and it's only week 2. In addition to the challenge of staying awake, I am finding it somewhat difficult to learn about these very large, very 3-dimensional concepts using only my very 2-dimensional textbook. Did you know that a first quarter moon in MN (which looks like a "D"), looks like a third-quarter moon (which looks like a backwards "D") in the southern hemisphere!?! My professor actually told us that she has no idea what the astronomy textbooks look like in the southern hemisphere, because everything must be opposite. Tricky stuff. Wish I could get my brain to engage. It's kind of hard to get myself to learn physics from a dull prof, on a Monday night, after being at work for nine hours. If I was good at physics, I would have majored in physics, instead of biology. Darn you, Minnesota State Board of Teaching!

So, this morning, I awoke feeling a bit discouraged about the year ahead. A year of pre-requisite courses from various community colleges. A year of the LSU "Distance-Learning" program. A whole year of forking out more money for undergraduate courses, just so I can continue to work toward my masters. A year of three separate physics courses - barf. I looked in the mirror and thought about what I was doing. Did I really want to become a science teacher? Is this really what I'm supposed to be doing?

...and then a tiny little fruit fly buzzed by my face and landed on the mirror. I looked at it and immediately identified it as being a wild type Drosophila melanogaster. The red eyes were a dead giveaway. I thought about how the entire genome for that little bug had been mapped out and studied by millions. I then I realized that I had just answered my own question. Yep, brush your teeth Kate. It's time to go to work so you can pay for all those classes. And tonight when you get home, it's time for geology. Get after it.