11 months

Thats how long its been since I last posted. I just commented on a blog I am following this week while some students are traveling, and I was reminded of my own blog. So I jumped over here to see where I left off.

Kind of fun to read my last couple posts about teaching. With one year under my belt, I feel much more confident about my classes (even though they still continue to change often) and the testing I will be starting up next month again. I am no where near an expert at this ESL stuff, especially in the public school arena, but this year has made me realize I know what I am talking about and have some good ideas once in awhile.

Today I was so happy when the teacher of my lowest two fourth graders came up to me and shared that those students are using the new method for decoding words words I have taught them, and its helping. I have recently seen them finally understand and get excited about being able to "divide" new words they encounter after many weeks of reviewing the same thing. Its these little moments of realizing I am making a difference, be it oh so little, that make me happy and keep encouraging me even through the frustrating times.

One of my grad school classes has also been very fun and enjoyable this semester also. Its about language and culture, so of course, I am in my element and loving every minute of it. I am also realizing how many different cultures I have been fortunate enough to experience and how that has shaped me. For this class I have to write a cultural autobiography, and I am actually excited about completing this assignment.

Thats all for now. We will see if this keeps up, and if I continue to write updates here. I do enjoy being able to reread this online journal of sorts, and who knows, maybe someone else is also actually reading it too.

Mondays

I just decided that, in case anyone does actually still read my blog, I should change the name to something about teaching. That is kind of the biggest thing in my life right now. 

So last Monday was indeed a snow day and I was very excited. But I ended up spending my whole day studying for the exam I had on Tuesday, and didn't focus too much on preparing lessons for my new groups. I went in Tuesday, slightly unprepared in my opinion, and pretty sick. After a day of that I called it quits and stayed home on Wednesday to give my body some time to rest. Thursday and Friday were still pretty tough and made me realize I still don't quite know what I am doing with the new schedule.  To my delight I found out on Friday that for the next two weeks I would not be teaching, but will be testing all of the ESL students in the school. What fun!  Although I was a bit stressed about this endeavor as I left Friday afternoon, to my surprise it is not actually that difficult and gives me lots of extra time. 

Today, as it should have been a snow day but wasn't, many students were absent and I tested maybe half of the students scheduled for today. In our spare time, my colleague and I went over the tests before giving them out, enjoyed a relaxed lunch, and prepared for other tests we have to give later in the week. Although I do have many tasks at hand right now with these tests, I have high hopes for getting my room into order for the new schedule that will start again in a couple weeks. (And then be stopped again so I can proctor other state mandated tests. Gotta love No Child Left Behind!)

All this being said, I joyfully left school this afternoon quickly after the kids did, as I had no lessons to set out and get ready for tomorrow. Being home a tad earlier than normal I made some brownies along with dinner. Now its 7:18pm and I have already finished my homework for tomorrow's class and am not quite sure what to do. Ya, sure, I could post on blackboard for my other class, but the last time I did that on a Monday my posts were deleted by accident. I should go read some manuals for my new lessons at school, but that won't start back again for two weeks. Maybe I will go watch some TV and go to bed early. What a great Monday! 

Oh where does the time go? Its a bit harder for me to come up with good reasons to post on here nowadays, since I am living in America. But at the same time I see this as kind of a journal (although very public) and I always enjoy looking back and reading my old posts. 

I have been teaching in the public schools now for four months, and just as I was thinking I was getting the swing of things, everything is changing. I walked into another teacher's classroom the other day to let her know I had a meeting and would not be taking her students. This meant she now had 6 extra students in her class that she hadn't expected or prepared for in the final lesson of the day. She laughed and commented that when you become a teacher your middle name changes to "flexible." I laughed along with her as I knew my whole schedule was about to change.

I took home many new manuals this weekend and have made up my new blank lesson plan sheet. Now its time to make sense of the new curriculum and figure out exactly what I am doing. I heard there is a slight prediction for snow on Monday, I am thinking the timing is pretty good for a snow day, or at least a delay. 

update with photos

Wow, its been awhile since I posted.

So I bought a little whiteboard for my classroom, and I put it on the side of my desk, with a note above it that says "Write a note to Miss Kobus here."

This is what was left after a really tough day:

(names removed for security)

Here is a picture of the sunrise the day after a snow storm. (day before was Snow Day #9)


And last but not least, some photos of my favorite person in the whole wide world:

Clinton isn't the only one with a street named after himself in Kosova now. George W. Bush Blvd. is a new street in Prishtina. Click here for the article.



It's just strange to me that a country would change the name of a street to be that of another country's president. Do we have streets named after people in America?

ice storm

So Western Massachusetts got hit by a really bad ice storm on Thursday night. Its Saturday night and we are still feeling the effects of it...mainly meaning - NO POWER! Thankfully we have a small generator here, and wood to keep the furnace going...but no electricity to heat up water for a shower or to push the hot air around the house. I am about to go sit in the basement next to the furnace. Its warn down there.

Ok, I will see if I can upload a few pictures. Click on this link to see some pictures. Sorry they are still in raw format and aren't even straightened out yet. That will wait until I have decent internet speed and some power for my computer.

This was a conversation I overheard in my classroom yesterday, between two first graders.

A: You know that day it snowed?
B: Ya.
A: That was God.
B: No, it was magic.
A: Well, God has magic powers.