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.