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. 

 

 

Student Teaching - Week 9

by Rachel Miller - Bridge Elementary

STUDENT TEACHING

Ballet Hispanico

What a busy week! This was my first week of full time student teaching and it was also the first time this semester that I had some kind of commitment or activity to attend after school.  On Monday, scenery crew for the play started. Tuesday was seminar day. Wednesday was the Chicago Semester hunger banquet. Thursday I had my weekly art event. This week was Ballet Hispanico at Columbia College. Then, finally, Friday I went to Curie Metro High School with Ginnie and Amber to see students perform the musical, Little Shop of Horrors.

LIVING IN THE CITY

Little Shop of Horrors Cast

But of all of my busy things this week, my favorite was definitely going to Ginnie’s school for the musical. First, it was a very neat experience to see a school that is not my own. It was even better that it was my roommate’s because we talk about school all of the time. I can finally imagine it now when she tells me stories about her day. I found it amazing how contrasting the atmospheres are at both of our schools and their surrounding neighborhoods. I am beginning to realize that this is one of the most amazing things about the city. The neighborhoods are so vastly different and unique, that it is hard to believe that they are on the same planet, let alone in the same metropolitan area. Second, the play was incredible. I had no idea what to expect since it was a high school performance, but I was shocked.  I mean the props, costumes, lighting, and acting were nothing to get too excited about, but the music was absolutely phenomenal! When they first started singing I didn’t believe that it was real. They were that good. After the show, Ginnie told me that Curie has one of the best music programs in Chicago, and (here is a fun fact) one of the musicians in The Black-eyed Peas went to Curie High School. I believe it, because, my goodness, those students are seriously talented.

Shamrock Shuffle 8K

This was an especially special and fun weekend (well Sunday) for me because it was the long awaited Shamrock Shuffle. I met up with my teacher, another teacher from Bridge, and another teacher elsewhere in the city to take on the streets of Chicago in my first road race in over two years! It was also the largest race I have ever run in, and it is also the largest 8k race in the country… 40,000 people. There were two separate start times to accommodate everyone. I was supposed to take off in the first group, but I wanted to run with my teacher so I went in the second. Just to give you an idea of how many people were running, we were the second group, right, meaning half of the participants were already running before we even went to the start. Then from the time my wave actually started to the time I actually crossed the start line was about 20 minutes. We weren’t even at the back of the pack either. We were solidly in the middle. It was kind of insane. The numbers also made for an interesting run. I was bumping people all the time and it was so hard trying to pass, but it was okay because it was so much fun! I only ran with my teacher for the first two miles because she needed to walk, so then I was on my own for the last three. I cannot get over how fast the race went by. I felt like I had run less than a 5k when I reached the finish (I guess that is a good sign). I feel like I got the running/road race bug back. I cannot wait to run my marathon in less than 51 weeks!!! Oh yeah, that was another crazy thing I did this week. Coming March 17th, 2013 I will be running 26.2 miles on the streets of Atlanta, GA… wish me luck!