Oh... I have a blog?

It seems that for the past couple of months I may have forgotten that I have a blog. Not that anyone really reads this, it's more or less for my personal use. But, I figured while I actually had some spare time where I'm not doing anything related to school (although I SHOULD be), I'd give a quick little update.

I will warn you, I'm going to be tooting my own horn, and being really obnoxious about a few things in here... so If you don't want to be bothered by my bragging or complaining, I suggest you stop reading here. And I will not apologize for it. (Damn it. I'm proud of myself!)

School: School sucks. I hate this semester more than any other semester I've ever been enrolled in through out the past 8 years of my life. Why? Well, that is an excellent question. I hate it because of a few key reasons... 1, ALL of my friends with the exception of 3, are doing their student teaching internship this semester and so I'm stuck in classes with (excuse my language) dumbasses that have either just gotten into the elementary ed. program, OR they are just plain stupid and have to have EVERY little assignment/thing/sentence spelled out for them. If you know ANYTHING about me, you know that I do not do well with stupidity, ignorance, and brown nosing. And all three of those equal the majority of the people in my elementary education classes. 2, I have a professor that can't stand me because I keep questioning their teaching methods. Call me crazy, but I feel that since I'll be in debt for $20,000 when I finish this degree, that I deserve to question things that I either do not agree with or think are ridiculous. 3, The education classes that I'm in are boring, repetitive and are supposed to be taken at the beginning when you get into the program... but you know me, I have to be different and take the 4 hour higher level classes FIRST and leave the "easy" stuff til the end. The so called "easy" stuff has mainly turned out to be a mess load of busy work and ridiculous assignments that no one really understands. Not to mention one of my classes is called "arts integration in the elementary school" ... I hate art. I'm creative and crafty, but I am NOT an artist. So far, the most fun I've had in that class was when we did some creating with Model Magic and today we made Shrinky Dinks. And yes, I was one of the FEW people that actually KNEW what those were. And remembered making them when I was little.

SO.... School is not really fun for me this semester. I go home every weekend just so I can get away from the ridiculousness. And I'm not real happy up here this go around. The only thing that's keeping me sane this semester is my History of Nazi Germany history class.

LIFE: Life. Life is crazy. With all this mess at school and tons of school work, papers, and what not I haven't had much time to myself. Every weekend I go home I end up doing more school work than anything fun. And I've almost decided that I have more fun hanging out with my Mama than with anyone else. (Mom, You're welcome).

Other than that, Mom and I went to Washington, DC for spring break at the beginning of March for 5 days and had an AMAZING time! I'll need to do a separate post just for that...

This is where I'm going to step up onto my pedestal so that I can toot my own horn for a little bit. :)

Several weeks ago in my history class, Dr. Brown told our class that the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honors Society was accepting applications for their new spring inductees. I went online to the history website at UNCP and looked at the application and realized that as far as I knew, I met all of the qualifications. So, I filled one out, and took it over to the Registrar's office to get it signed and all official and turned it in. I wasn't sure if this was a "fill it out and we will let you know if we want you" or a "you get in because you filled it out" type of deal. Turns out, I GOT IN because of the history classes that I've taken AND because of my high GPA in those history classes.
         So, today, I was formally inducted into the Alpha-Delta-Xi Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta at UNC Pembroke! WHOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately, it was only a ceremony that History majors and members of Phi Alpha Theta could attend, so mama couldn't come. But, I've got a certificate that will be framed shortly, and a couple of HONORS cords to wear at GRADUATION in December!

LAST WEEK, mom called and said "you've got a letter from the center of academic excellence at the college" ... well, that either meant that they wanted to tell me that I am in fact, 'excellent' OR that I was not and I needed to leave the school. Needless to say I told mama to open it, and she read the letter to me. It was a letter informing me that based on my grades, GPA and hard work ethic, I was being inducted into the Mu Delta Chapter of the Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honors Society. This one is based on all of my classes and grades and GPA, and it is also for "non-traditional students". The induction for this one will be April 11, and my mom will get to come to this one! She's very excited.

Needless to say, I've been very humbled and taken back by these two different honors that I'm receiving. And Yes, I am freaking proud of myself. I moved back to North Carolina with a goal to finish my college degree, and I'm 4 weeks away from summer break, and 4 more months of student teaching away from having my bachelor's degree!  I've worked my ass off for the past almost 2 years and I absolutely love what I'm doing, and what I will be doing once I'm in my own classroom. And whether I had gotten recognized or not, I'd still be proud of myself.

HOWEVER, it means even more to me to know that I am being HONORED for everything that I've worked so hard for. And this is why I'm bragging. Because if someone had told me I'd have the GPA that I do in college 6 years ago, (or that I'd be living in Lumberton, but that's a WHOLE other story) I would have laughed in their faces.

BAM. I've got it!

So, that's all of my horn tooting for now... Until I decide to post pictures of these inductions, of course. :)

Explanation

That last post is going to sound weird to some of you without an explanation. To my mom and Dora Potts, it won't be weird. Because they're teachers, and they'll understand. (Yes, I said teachers. As in present tense, because Dora, you are still a teacher, and mom- you'll ALWAYS be a teacher).

So, I joined the NCAEE (North Carolina Association of Elementary Educators) a while ago and then found out that their annual conference was going to be in Raleigh the same weekend that I was going to be in Raleigh for some TEC stuff. So, I asked my wonderful mother if I could go (aka, will you pay for it, and the hotel?) and she said yes. Although I did have to say, "Mom, Ron Clark is going to be speaking there. I have to go. I HAVE TO." But I didn't throw a fit, so at least I spared her from that :)

Anyway, I ended up at this conference. At 1pm today (Sunday) Ron Clark bounded through the conference hall and lept onto the stage and proceeded to talk to us for the next hour and a half. And he didn't just stand that. He bounced around, practically flew through the audience and kept us laughing and sometimes almost crying the entire time.

So the previous post was a thank you of sorts to Ron Clark for what I learned today, and what I saw in his movie. Another day at the conference tomorrow, then back to Lumberton for my recent american history midterm... Classes Tuesday, and then home for fall break.

Although... I'm not sure that my professors realized that it IS actually Fall break because I seem to have more work than a break should really require. :)

Elementary Science Day

My friend, Shruti Jamindar summed up today perfectly... 


"SOOOO proud of everyone for getting through Elementary Science Day today! Whether you had a great time or experienced challenges, you got through it and remained character, sanity, and patience! I'm proud of you all!!!" 


Today, was Elementary Science Day. This means that all of the lovely ELE majors taking Math and Science 2 this semester had to go out to Union Elementary School in Pembroke to teach our science lesson plan that we had already planned. 


Here's where the problems were... 
1. When we were assigned this lesson plan three weeks ago, we were not told that we would be teaching it. Last semester we got to choose which lesson we wanted to teach. So, naturally, everyone thought the same for this semester. 
2. EVERYONE chose 3rd grade for their lesson plan. Let's be honest here, over half of the people that I'm in class with aren't big fans of 3-6th grades. I myself am more of a 1st, 2nd, 3rd girl... (but will take any teaching job once I graduate...) We've just never had experience with the upper grades until this semester. 
3. Since everyone chose 3rd grade, when the time came for classroom assignments at Union Elem., Our teacher had to move a lot of us around. So, for example, my friend Kelsey went from 3rd grade, to teaching 6th grade. (WHAT?!)
*I had written my lesson for 4th grade... and got 4th grade.*
4. There was a lot of re-writing lesson plans this past week. If you didn't get your grade level that you wrote your lesson on, you basically had to re write it. Because a 5th grader was not going to think that playing with glue or running around pretending to be a gas molecule. (just being honest). 
5. It was pouring down rain today when we arrived at Union Elem. 
6. The teacher I had was not there, there was a substitute, and there was nothing left telling the sub that I was going to be coming. 
7. The kids were terrible: I am so mad that I even have to type that. I absolutely adore children. I love teaching. It's truly my passion... but theses kids today had to be from another planet. (*In a way they were... they're from Pembroke). I will give them the fact that it was Friday, and it was nasty and rainy outside. But have some respect! 
8. The substitute had to fill out my evaluation of the lesson. It's a grading scale 1-5, 5 being the best, and 1 of course, being the worst. 
 -Professional attire: 3... Now, this didn't make sense. I had on dress pants, a nice shirt, dress shoes, and I had even STRAIGHTENED my hair. Which is a HUGE deal for those that know me and my hair... and I was dressed BETTER than half of the other people at the school... and the majority of the people I'm in class with.... 




So, needless to say, it was a fail. But, for all of the amazing experiences that I HAVE had in a classroom through UNCP, this is one of TWO that have been terrible. So it's not too big of a deal. Although telling me that at 12noon today when I was leaving the school practically in tears would have probably made me slap someone... But.. that's the only lesson we have to teach for Math&Science this semester... our "math" aspect of class will be our "Family Math Night" at the same school... but it's a class-wide thing. We'll all be participating in that together. 


So, my first attempt at 4th grade was not what I expected. But I'm willing to try again... at a different school... with a nicer teacher... Perhaps next time I'll wear a tuxedo so that I'm really dressed up. 

Good art. Solid art.

Today was my second day of classes... which ended up being a very long and tiring day spent on campus.

I got up this morning around 9, and showered, got ready and had a minute to check my email and all that before I made my lunch in my cute little lunch box and headed out to campus.

First of all, parking on campus is a bit ridiculous right now because they're in the process of re-opening the parking lots near the railroad tracks. They did some construction (much needed) and re vamped it over the summer and it's still a bit of a mess. Nevertheless, I finally found a parking place in the general parking lot behind the gym building.. which is relatively close to the Dial Building and the Education Building, where I would be spending my day. I gathered my things, checked my schedule for the room number and set off for the Dial building where my history class was. I got there, with 2 minutes to spare (note to self- leave earlier on Tuesday). Dr. Brown handed me a syllabus, although I had a copy that I had printed out already (naturally).

Dr. Brown began class by asking why we had signed up to take this course. In my head I was thinking... "well, Dr. Brown, I signed up for it because I need 2 history classes this semester for my concentration and this was one that wasn't about Asian or Korean history and I figured I would understand it better." Let me be clear: I love history. All kinds. But I'm more of an American History/War lover. And "War Lover" doesn't mean that I love war, it just means that I find the periods of war fascinating. The title of this particular class is History 4270: Modern European Cultural History. I imagined that it would go in depth of the cultural societies of Europe. BUT, as these nerdy-man history majors answered Dr. Brown's "why are you in this class" question, I began to realize I may have made a terrible mistake. These nerd-men were telling him how much they longed to learn about the cultural surroundings of the great works of art, and how they had always seen these paintings but hoped to learn more about them...

Excuse me? Art? Did someone say "works of art?" I thought we were in a European History class? No? ......

To my horror, this class is about European Culture. It's just also about art. And should really be labeled as an art history class... We get to delve into the glorious works of art by amazing painters and talk about how they make us feel and, of course, the cultural surroundings of these works of art AND architecture in their time period.

....For anyone that knows anything about me, you would know that I'm not a fan of art. And I don't really appreciate "good" art. I don't have a problem with it, I just don't understand it. Art was never my forte in school... Although I can draw a dynamite stick figure... And I can craft the hell out of a card or stamping project. But real art? No thanks. I'd rather check out a hot dog stand in NYC than the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Gasp all you want to. It's just how I feel.) In other words- when it comes to art- I'm completely ignorant.

Yes, I lived in Los Angeles, CA. Yes, Cameron took me to the Getty Museum on a trip out to see him before I moved... Where we stayed all of 20 minutes and spent more time getting a drink and wandering around the gardens than we did at looking at the actual art work. "Good art, solid art" became our mantra that day. And it still follows me.

So as Dr. Brown was explaining the different essays about art work or architecture that we would be required to do this semester, all I could hear in my head was Cameron saying "Good art, solid art".... Terrible. I know. But DAMN it was funny.

I guess it's not a bad thing that my cousin Sarah is moving back to NC from London next Thursday. Where she just spent the past year obtaining her Master's Degree in ART HISTORY. Perhaps little Sarah can educate her ignorant cousin Kara on these "beautiful works of art." No promises though.

My only hope is that perhaps Dr. Brown will be able to teach me, somehow, to actually appreciate the art. And not just look at the piece and say "Good art, solid art."

Dr. Brown- your work is cut out for you. May the force be with him.


Aside from my realization that perhaps I should read the course description in the class catalogue better next time, the rest of my day went pretty smoothly. After History I had to dart over to the education building in 10 minutes (long walk... not really that long, but this heat is killing me) for ELE 4000 which is Classroom Management. After that I went to Starbucks (on campus! yes!) with Lauren before heading to the curriculum lab for a Praxis 2 workshop... 2 hours later we emerged slightly lethargic and had enough time to grab something to eat before heading to ELE 4020, which is Math and Science, part 2. Math and science is once a week, and lasts for 4 hours. Most teachers the first day of class will normally keep you long enough to hand out papers, go over the syllabus, and talk about important dates... then they'll let you go early. However, having Mrs. Berdeau last semester, I knew better.

And, sure enough. I walked into class and saw our boxes full of the materials we would need for experiments and scales lined up on the window sil. Sigh. Thankfully, the 4 hours passed unusually fast due in large part to the awesome table that I have. Lauren, Whitney, Kelsey and I are all in a group together, which is fantastic. And will probably prove to be a bad idea later in the semester :) haha.

Needless to say, I got home around 9pm and started on school work that I needed to get done and printed out a million different chapter reviews, and science/math forms and such for all my classes. And I should TOTALLY be in bed right now. But I got into this book I'm having to read for classroom management and can't put it down. So I decided to blog... because that makes sense? (It doesn't? well, it did to me... )

Going home tomorrow afternoon, just for the night, to pick up some things that I accidentally left there... including my Wii. Which Mom said she would meet me halfway, but I'd rather watch her try and unhook the Wii from the TV in person... more fun that way :) Love you mama. !
So off to bed, get up, pack a little bag, and on the way to ILM.

Then back to Lumberton Saturday to submerge myself in reading about these damn works of art.