There really is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Alright, i know it has been a very VERY long time since I've written but so much has been going on! Full time teaching, full time classes, and an attempt to live life to the fullest! OH lala! My plate has been very full this year, but in the end (after the loss of sleep and constant demands) it really does feel good. Every day I feel that my students find something that they enjoy doing in my French class; moreover, we have grown as a class...there are actually times where everyone is learning AND having fun!! I believe that my students know I truly care for them, and that I am doing my best to help them succeed and have fun with the language.

I thought I would end this final 504 blog about how incredible every person is in our SMAC cohort. We have endured so much!! Just take a moment to think of where we were at about twelve months ago. I feel that we have all gone through so many life changes in a very short amount of time, and I believe we are growing into better individuals because of it. We have learned how to become amazing multi-taskers - dealing with a constant flow of assignments, classes, full time work, pretending to have a normal life, and developing our very own philosophy of teaching. Congrats everyone. You amaze me :)

Igniting the Flames of Learning with Animation - CoverItLive! MACUL Conference

New Year et Bonne Année.

Well it's a new year and a new start for all of us. I'm so excited to start student teaching full time. I feel that everyday I am learning new things and challenging myself. It is amazing what the students themselves can teach you, and I feel that I'm very lucky to have the opportunity to begin my journey as an educator at a young age. I see the students looking up to me and that I can try to explain concepts to them in terms that they will understand.

Also, the first two weeks of my new year have been so jam packed with new happenings, decisions, responsibilities, and life changing situations. My high school was faced with a death and a suicide. Moreover, the students are under extreme stress due to their final exams. I felt lucky that my cohort was approached earlier this year by teachers who talked about the idea that we will be facing serious situations within the schools. Many of our students are facing difficult situations outside of the classroom, and as a teacher I have to keep that in mind.

I'm also excited to be looking towards the future! I have and currently am learning SO much this year, but I can't wait to learn from my life experiences teaching as a "real teacher." haha We'll see if I get through the second semester first! ...But it is fun trying to develop some new teaching techniques that engage and improve student learning. For example, our Educational Technology class has taught me how to take advantage of technology and it's use in the classroom. I created an online webinar about the web2.0 resource Bubblr (http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/) with my partner. The webinar opened up my eyes to how interactive I can make the language classroom. Also, I am going to use web resources like Google Maps to truly "wow" my students and show them that learning languages can be exciting!

So, overall, there is much to come in the upcoming semester.... I will keep you updated and keep on trekking through (especially in this snow... maybe I should take up skiing...)

"Those crazy bloggers..."

Originally, I was totally opposed to blogging because I felt that people add too much personal information to an area that it is open for everyone to read. However, I am more open to it now after seeing presentations in our 504 Friday classes. Many of the guest speakers were very successful and used blogs to act as teaching aids for their students
I saw that students participate, and they are able to see their work in one location ( which is also nice for parents).

I was looking at a teaching blog called http://21classes.com/ and found it very interesting. I urge you to visit it and look at the teacher blogs. I was amazing that FOURTH graders blogging!! (I feel old…) Moreover, I looked at http://classroomblogging.wordpress.com/ and it talked about another topic we discussed in 504 - Making PowerPoint presentations more effective!! The blogger highlighted very similar ideas that were presented in class, and now I truly feel that I cannot create a PowerPoint presentation without thinking before I create ☺

One thing that I was disappointed about while researching teaching blogs was that I did not find while many sites created by language teachers. The lack of foreign language teaching blogs disappointed me because I was looking for teaching ideas. However, I will continue the search in hopes for an inspiring language blog!

LEAVES LEAVES LEAVES… C'est l'automne, un temps pour le changement

I feel that my teaching pedagogy has been improving everyday. (That's right! My very own pedagogy.) It is not easy to observe all the time, especially when you know you would manage a classroom differently than your mentors. However, I do feel that I have been learning a lot from my experiences. I am getting a better at learning my students’ names, which I found out is VERY important. Moreover, I feel that my two classes with the methods teacher and field instructors are extremely valuable in learning how to be successful in the classroom without the aid of my mentor.

Last week I tried teaching a full lesson to a class of around thirty-five students, it was not easy!! I had a girl throwing food across the room and others starting their own conversations before I moved onto a different activity. I learned that I need to keep the kids active, manage the classroom, and be well prepared for what I will be teaching! It was quite the day… but practice makes perfect, right?

On a very exciting note: I visited a middle school French class in Dearborn and it was so much fun!! I originally started the program in hopes that I could student teach at the middle school level, but there weren’t any French middle school teachers participating with the MAC program. Nonetheless, the one-day visit really opened my eyes to what is available to me. I teach every level in the high school so I see a wide age-range of students, and I loved interacting with the middle school children. They were so tiny and just getting excited about the language! I want to continue visiting the different schools (which I think is a wonderful opportunity to have within our program requirements), and I am interested to see schools that are a little more economically disadvantaged than Pioneer – I want to see how these schools are able to engage students when resources (such as paper and technology) are not available.

How am I dealing with being a SMACer by day and having a real life by night? Well…. it involves very little sleep, a lot of multi-tasking, and focusing on what is best for me. Not an easy task!! BUT having a good cohort and positive friends to help me along the journey is always a good thing ☺

p.s. I always forget how beautiful Fall is in Ann Arbor. I have been absolutely loving the weather, and (even though I am up before the sun rises) I love seeing the changing colors of the leaves and feeling the cool breeze walking home at night.

...Oh, and T-shirts won the SMAC poll. More to come on how we will set up the design and ordering! If you have any ideas, please let me know. Gracias ~