Student Teaching - Weeks 13 & 14

by Rachel Miller - Bridge Elementary

LEAVING THE CITY

Well it has finally come, my last full week and weekend in Chicago. However, I must say that it was one of the best. My mom came Friday afternoon and picked me up from my school. This was her first time ever in Chicago so I got the pleasure of giving her a weekend packed full of the best Chicago experiences. It was a great way to end my time in this city because I really got to experience the city life for one last hoorah. We went out to eat so many times… I have never eaten so well. I took her for some real Mexican and Polish cuisine and we also went to a new Mediterranean restaurant in Lincoln Park and we finished off the eating tour with brunch at Elly’s Pancake House. In addition to all of the good eats, we also took several long walking tours of the city and we went to the Chicago History Museum. Going to the museum was awesome, and I learned a lot about the city. I think going there was even better after living here for a semester. However, the weekend was also spent packing up my apartment. It has really sunk in that I only have a few days left. I am ready to go home, but I am really going to miss living in Chicago.

STUDENT TEACHING

Looking back on the semester, I have to say that I enjoyed the actual teaching experience the most. This is the first teaching placement that I have had that I really felt like I had some ownership. I really connected with a lot of my students and the school faculty. I have had the honor and privilege of working with so many amazing and caring individuals. My cooperating teacher has become one of my best friends in the city, and she is a truly inspiring mentor. Aside from the commute, I am really going to miss going to Bridge Elementary every day. Living in this city for the past four months has taught me a lot about myself. I never knew that I could be so independent. My confidence level has increased exponentially. I really feel like an adult.  I am ready to get out in the real world and have my own classroom. I feel ready and very confident. I know that I can handle pretty much anything that comes my way, and that makes me very proud of how much I have grown as a person and excited to tackle new challenges. This experience has been more than I could have ever dreamed of. I am going to miss everything about living and working in this amazing city, but I know that it is time for me to move on to a new chapter of my life. I learned how to be a city girl and now I have to learn how to be a Southerner…. Atlanta, here I come!

Student Teaching - Week 12

By Rachel Miller – Bridge Elementary

STUDENT TEACHING

Talk about a busy week. You can definitely tell that the semester is winding down because there were a lot of things that I had to do this week. The biggest was finishing my professional portfolio. Luckily, I had been planning and uploading artifacts for it throughout the semester so I was at a good spot. This week was dedicated to writing all my rationales, adding extras, and making sure it was exactly how I wanted it. Honestly, I am very proud of it, and looking at all of my work that I have accomplished this semester still surprises me. You don’t really realize how much you have done until it is all compiled in one place. All of my fellow student teachers should be very proud of themselves and everything that we have accomplished this semester.

The school week was pretty normal. The only unique day was Wednesday because we had report card pick-up and parent teacher conferences. This day was awesome because I didn’t have to be at school until 11:30am. This meant that I got to have an extremely productive morning. I slept in about a half hour, went to the gym, ate a big breakfast, drank coffee while I caught up on the news, did my hair, I even had time to do my make-up and paint my toe nails and there was still time to do a bit of work on my portfolio.  I actually went to school looking like a person who is calm and put-together. Most days I feel like a chicken with my head cut-off, running around trying to get everything ready for the day. This was a welcome change.

LIVING IN THE CITY



Lincoln Park Zoo

 Sadly, all of our art events are now over so I didn’t have anything super cool to look forward to midweek, but it was probably for the best with all the work I had to do. I did make my weekend count though. I had two great runs outside. Today I did a long run and took the opportunity to do some exploring in Lincoln Park. I even ran in the zoo for a little bit. I don’t think the zoo was technically open since it was 7:00am and I don’t know if you are really allowed to run in there, but the gate was open and there wasn’t anyone there to stop me so….

Yesterday, we had another girls’ night out at a new Tapas place in the Wrigleyville area. I liked this place a lot better than the last place we went. This restaurant was very small and had a nice cozy vibe. We all ordered our own tapas and shared the vegetable paella. Ginnie and I split some mango sangria, as well, which was delicious. It was definitely a great way to finish off a crazy and hectic week. Next weekend my mom is driving out here to move out my stuff. I can’t believe how fast this semester has gone. Only one full week left. Yikes!

Student Teaching - Weeks 10 & 11

by Rachel Miller - Bridge Elementary

Well, I am back from an incredibly relaxing spring break at home. It was nice to get out of the concrete jungle for awhile and experience the color green in vast quantities. I think I may have relaxed a little too much though because this week of school has left me exhausted.

STUDENT TEACHING

Nature Show

However, it was a pretty interesting week. On Tuesday my cooperating teacher arranged for the 5^th and 6^th grade classes to have an educational music program put on by a group of her friends’ rock band, Nature Show. The kids absolutely LOVED it, and the band was really great with them. They talked about what it takes to be part of a musical group and how they have to work together to write and learn songs. They even had audience volunteers come down and try out their instruments. I think the students were very inspired by them, especially, since most of the band members taught themselves how to play their instruments. They also surprised the kids at the end by covering Katy Perry’s hit song “Firework”.

We also had another professional development day on Friday. This day was mostly spent on finishing up grades for the third quarter. I took full responsibility for this quarter’s grades, and it was not an easy job, but I did it and all grades for 1100 students were entered into the computer on time. I just cannot believe how close I am to being finished with my placement… less than two weeks. 

LIVING IN THE CITY

icream

Vegan ice cream!

This weekend has been pretty productive and I have been doing a lot of work in order to be on top of things these next few weeks, but I did manage to make time for some fun. On Friday, Ginnie and I attempted to go to the Global Dance Party at the Old Town School of Folk Music, but tickets were sold out. As an option B, we took a bus to Wicker Park and got ice cream at this really cool place called icream. Apparently it has been featured on the food network, and it is a pretty popular spot. What makes this ice cream place unique is that you pick your flavors and mix-ins and they make your ice cream from scratch using liquid nitrogen. You can even watch them do it.  It was super cool and the ice cream tasted great, too. I was even able to make my sweet treat vegan because they have soymilk as an option.  My only complaint was that it was a tad on the expensive side, but for the experience it was worth it.

Homeless in Chicago

Finally, on Sunday I participated in a service activity with a few other Chicago Semester student teachers. We teamed up with a group of students from Trinity Christian College to distribute sack lunches to the homeless downtown. It was an interesting experience. At first I felt a little uncomfortable approaching people, but by the end of the afternoon it got easier. 

 It felt good to give in some way, especially, since I see so many people in rough situations here everyday. I am very thankful for all of the great people and opportunities that I have been given in my life, and doing service always reminds me to not take what I have for granted.