Student Teaching - Week 8

by Rachel Miller - Bridge Elementary

STUDENT TEACHING


Chicago River - St. Patrick's Day



This week at school was a lesson in patience and flexibility. Since there was still some testing going on at the junior high, for several classes we had to revert to the old “art on a cart” method. However, we did not have a cart so we carried all of the supplies from classroom to classroom. I don’t think that elaboration is needed on how incredibly inconvenient this was, especially since many of the classes were working on different projects. Things were not a whole lot better once we could use the art classroom either. We just got a smart board (which is AWESOME!), but nothing is hooked up, and we are not sure when it will be because our end of the building does not have Internet access. So right now, we have a bunch of great technology that is completely unusable. Also, with the addition of the smart board, we also do not have use of the document camera that I am accustomed to using and the students are accustomed to learning from. Finally, we also have had several storage tables removed from the classroom, and as a result, all of the art materials are sitting on the floor. The situation is far from ideal.

However, I have managed to make the best of it, by finding other ways to teach my students. I have been making use of the white board for demonstrations and have been working one-on-one with more students. I am discovering that the best teachers are ones that can be flexible and make the most of a bad situation. I definitely got a taste of that this week and it is a lot easier said than done.

LIVING IN THE CITY

Pizzeria Uno

This weekend was a pretty crazy weekend in Chicago, with the unusually nice weather coupled with all of the St. Patrick’s Day festivities. I had some friends from home visit, and I was incredibly thankful for the beyond gorgeous weather. On Friday, I had deep-dish pizza at Pizzeria Uno’s. I have now tried three different deep-dish places and I think Uno’s is the best so far.

On Saturday, I got to see the river dyed neon green, which was pretty neat. I didn’t know that they dyed it that bright. It was also amazing to see how many people were there. It was nuts; we barely found a spot to watch.

The Chicago Diner

After the river dying, we didn’t hang around to catch the parade. Instead we headed up north to get lunch at a place called the Chicago Diner. Do not let the name fool you because this is actually a completely vegetarian/vegan establishment, and I mean completely. There is not an item on the menu that cannot be made vegan and there is absolutely NO MEAT. For me, being a vegetarian for the past 7 years of my life, this was a dream come true. I have never been to a place where I could order anything on the menu. In the spirit of the holiday, I ordered a Ruben with setian “corned beef.” It was incredible. It actually tasted like corned beef. I do not understand how they did it. I also couldn’t help myself and ordered a vegan cookie dough peanut butter shake. It was to die for. If I had a million dollars I would probably eat at the Chicago Diner for every meal, every day of my life. I am trying not to think about when I leave the city and have to back to limited dining options. It will indeed be a sad day.