Thursday, January 8, 2009

New Year, Goals are in Place, Dreams Waiting to be Reality

Today is my last day in Plano. I leave for Waco tomorrow. It's has been a superb Christmas break. Confession. I was a little apprehensive at the beginning of the break. I was technically done the Tuesday before Thanksgiving so I thought it was going to move slow like pond's water (that's a common phrase that comes out of my mom's mouth. Something moving as slow as pond's water. I've never personally sat by a pond to see how slow the water actually moves but I'm taking my mom's word on it. She's usually right about things).

Like others, I have tried to make a list of New Year's Resolutions to accomplish before I'm doing another countdown and wondering who is going to be the lucky man to receive a New Year's kiss. Here is what I have come up with so far.

1. Graduate - I feel like this is a given. Something that is sitting on a silver platter that I will pick up on May 16th. But it's not! I still have 15 weeks of my internship, science seminar, Teacher Work Sample and evaluations done by mentor teachers.

2. Find a Job-this is one of my resolutions that is dicey. I know, there are so many teaching jobs in every district, you have nothing to worry about, blah blah blah. But mind you, there are thousands of college graduates doing the exact same thing I am doing right now. Fighting for the same jobs that I am. Everyone dreams of having their perfect job. Being in an elementary school that feels like a hand in a glove. But you have to stand out a little bit more than the rest. That's what I've been picking my mind at during Christmas break. What can make me, Claire Chambers, stand out a little bit more than the others?

I think the fact that I have had a year long internship at a elementary school for student teaching will get the ball rolling for being unique in a line-up of college graduates. Many education majors only work with a class for merely 15 weeks. But Baylor seeks to have college graduates from the school of education to work with a class for a school year. While in my internship, I have worked with 80 kids (4 different homeroom classes rather than one), and also have taught different subject to another 60 kids (the other 3 homeroom classes at Spring Valley). This makes teaching 140 kids (soo many names) and working alongside 7 different teaching styles. Pretty neat, eh?

Since I've been at Baylor, I have working in every area of my degree. Freshman year, I worked with a 1st grader named Stephanie Nava, Sophomore year, I worked in a kindergarten class at Bells Hills Elementary, Junior year I taught 2nd grade (the best grade) in the Fall, and 3rd grade in the Spring. And this year, I'm teaching 4th grade. So my EC-4 degree will show evident that I've dapped into each area.

Whew, maybe one of my new year's resolutions should be to move onward. Not freak out but take what I have and run with it.

Sounds good.

O, something yall can think about. In an elementary class, there is a theme to the room. When I think back to what I enjoyed in elementary school, I think of ballet, the color pink and American Girl dolls. Not too great for a class theme. Do you guys have any ideas on what could be fun for an elementary school class???

1 comment:

Nancy said...

I've never heard that 'slow like pond's water' expression. Interesting!

I think the world is your oyster -that's my mother's (L's grandmother) expression. It means the world is yours. I mean, you have VERY impressive credentials! I think you can pretty well teach wherever you want.

That's what I think.

See you someday.