Ok people, yesterday was INSANE! I requested a substitute teacher for Friday because I had to go to the teacher fair at BYU. Wow, teacher fairs area crazy!
First, let me tell you about Thursday. When I told my students that I wouldn't be at school on Friday, they naturally asked why. This was the conversation that followed:
Me: Well, I have to go to this fair so that I can have a job next year.
Students: WHAT!?!? You aren't going to be here next year!?!?!? You can't leave. You are such a great teacher!!!
Me: (Sighs because I know that I've told them this before) No, I wont be here. This is only an intern spot. They don't have a position open for me for next year.
Students: So, if another English teacher leaves, then you will be able to stay?
Me: Yeah, I guess so.
Students: OK, who can we sabotage???
:)
I'm flattered that my kids want to keep me around.
Anyway, onto the teacher fair. I got there right as it started, 9:00am baby! It was already packed and I had no idea where to go. The days before the fair, I had made plans of the top districts I wanted to visit and a few I wanted to interview with.
Well, with all the madness I didn't get to interview with all of them, but in the end I did have 6 interviews total at the following schools/districts:
-ALA (its a charter school in Arizona)
-Davis county School District (Farmington/Kaysville area)
-Granite School District (Salt Lake area)
-Box Elder School District (semi-rural Utah)
-Duchesne School District (in rural Utah)
- Jefferson School District (Rexburg, Idaho area)
The only other district that I was sad to not interview with was Salt Lake School District. Others, like Alpine and Jordan School Districts, weren't interviewing at the teacher fair.
I wont go into a ton of detail about the interviews. Really there was only one that I felt I didn't do well in because it was so stiff-feeling. I do better in a more natural, conversational interview. Really, I rocked the other interviews, and I had 3 interviewers specifically tell me that I did a fantastic job on the screening interview. :) Yay!
I had to be honest with some of the districts. Duchesne, for example, I explained my hesitation because I need to be somewhere where I can be social. The woman I interviewed with was awesome and she was able to convince me a little more to keep that district open as an option. In fact, she wants me to come out some time in the next few weeks to see the schools and meet principals who are looking for English teachers (yeah, I guess I made a pretty great impression on her). But...still, we are talking about rural Utah here. Probably not my first choice, but I am keeping my options open. Who knows where the Lord has planned for me to end up.
More than anything, this experience helped me gain confidence that I will be able to get a job for this next year. People enjoy talking to me in interviews, and I think I give them a positive yet honest reflection of myself. The job hunt is still going on, but at least now I have a few more good contacts.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
The "Outsider"/"Insider" Experiences
For our final project for The Outsiders, I wanted my students to think deeply about what it feels like to be an "insider" (accepted, feeling of belonging, a part of a group, etc.) and an "outsider" (unwanted, awkward, alone, etc.) I had them write about a time when they felt like an "insider" and think about why they felt that way and how others saw them. Then (the fun part) I told them that they had to go be an "outsider" some time during that next week. I gave them ideas about how they could break social norms and then analyze how people reacted towards them and how they felt.
Well, the project isn't over yet, but I have already had some interesting stories come from this. On Friday one of my students came to class wearing his clothes backwards (both shirt and pants) and walking backwards to class. He told me that he had already been called a "freak" 3 times in the school hallways. Another kid told me that he had gotten flipped off when he had done his outsider activity (woops, I wasn't really expecting that to happen).
Today I was very touched when a young woman in my class shared with me what she did. She started out by saying that her dad helped her think of her outsider experience. She is a very danty and pretty girl, and her father had her put on a very large shirt and stuff it with pillows so that she looked very much overweight. He then had her return movies to the Walmart Redbox and do some other errands. She seemed very somber as she told the class about how people stared at her or she heard some of them laugh or say mean things. She told us about how she felt embarrassed. I was so impressed with her story, and I could tell that the experience had made an impression on her.
After school I called her dad to personally thank him for his help in this assingment. He said to me, "well, I wanted her to really feel it. My daughter has had a blessed life. She is blessed with beauty and she knows it. She always has had good friends and family. When she was originally coming up with ideas for your assignment, I told her, 'Those ideas are too fun. You can't do something with your friends because the point is to feel alone and awkward. You have always had that support. You need to actually do something that allows you to feel what the other side feels.' " Needless to say, I was very impressed with dad. I thanked him again for his support.
So hopefully this assignment is able to make a difference in at least a few students' lives. I know that not everyone will let the lesson sink in, but I think it will touch the hearts or a few students. Hopefully they will be able to remember their experience when they are faced with a choice of how to treat someone whom they see as different and as an "outsider".
Well, the project isn't over yet, but I have already had some interesting stories come from this. On Friday one of my students came to class wearing his clothes backwards (both shirt and pants) and walking backwards to class. He told me that he had already been called a "freak" 3 times in the school hallways. Another kid told me that he had gotten flipped off when he had done his outsider activity (woops, I wasn't really expecting that to happen).
Today I was very touched when a young woman in my class shared with me what she did. She started out by saying that her dad helped her think of her outsider experience. She is a very danty and pretty girl, and her father had her put on a very large shirt and stuff it with pillows so that she looked very much overweight. He then had her return movies to the Walmart Redbox and do some other errands. She seemed very somber as she told the class about how people stared at her or she heard some of them laugh or say mean things. She told us about how she felt embarrassed. I was so impressed with her story, and I could tell that the experience had made an impression on her.
After school I called her dad to personally thank him for his help in this assingment. He said to me, "well, I wanted her to really feel it. My daughter has had a blessed life. She is blessed with beauty and she knows it. She always has had good friends and family. When she was originally coming up with ideas for your assignment, I told her, 'Those ideas are too fun. You can't do something with your friends because the point is to feel alone and awkward. You have always had that support. You need to actually do something that allows you to feel what the other side feels.' " Needless to say, I was very impressed with dad. I thanked him again for his support.
So hopefully this assignment is able to make a difference in at least a few students' lives. I know that not everyone will let the lesson sink in, but I think it will touch the hearts or a few students. Hopefully they will be able to remember their experience when they are faced with a choice of how to treat someone whom they see as different and as an "outsider".
Bullying the Outsider
Today we had another assembly on bullying. The Utah governor actually said that every school needed to watch this assembly. The speaker was Nick Vujicic, a man born with no arms and no legs. It was a very powerful assembly.
For the rest of the day I talked to my students about the effect this assembly had on them. At first when I would ask them what they thought about it, I would get only a few reluctant hands and weak responses.
So I decided to relate it to what we are doing in class.
We just finished reading The Outsiders. My students have fallen in love with the characters, especially Ponyboy and Johnny. I asked them, "Now that we have finished the book, who would like to be Ponyboy's friend?" All hands went up. I then related to them how we see Ponyboy as he really is: his likes and dislikes, his personality, his relationships with his friends and brothers, his hopes and fears, and his failures as well as his successes. We love him with all of it. But if we saw him on the street, what would we think? To be honest, we would probably look at his greased back, long hard and his tough-looking friends and think, "No way. I wouldn't be friends with him. We are nothing alike." How many times do we do that at school and not give people a chance just because of their appearance.
I told them how the assembly and the book and their insider/outsider project all go together to help them apply what they have learned.When you have acted the part of the outsider, some of you did experience teasing or name calling. Since you knew it wasn't real and it was only for a project, it might not have affected you very much. But I want you to think of people who experience that every day.
It breaks my heart, but I have had some students who have come up to me and said, "Ms. Mayans, do I have to do a made-up outsider project? Because I already feel that." They tell me about having to sit alone on the bus because no one likes to talk to them. Or about how people say they smell and stay away from them because they live in a home with people who smoke. Do we notice the outsiders in our classes, our hallways, and our communities?
To be honest I actually cried.
They seemed to be much more attentive after all that.
I feel so blessed to have gotten to know each of these kids. Some are shy, some are crazy outgoing, some goofy, some are surrounded by friends, some stay by themselves. No matter how they act, I personally know of their worth, and it hurts me to see other kids belittle them because of the things that make them unique. Hopefully the books we have read this year will inspire a little more acceptance and love in each of them.
I love my students.
For the rest of the day I talked to my students about the effect this assembly had on them. At first when I would ask them what they thought about it, I would get only a few reluctant hands and weak responses.
So I decided to relate it to what we are doing in class.
We just finished reading The Outsiders. My students have fallen in love with the characters, especially Ponyboy and Johnny. I asked them, "Now that we have finished the book, who would like to be Ponyboy's friend?" All hands went up. I then related to them how we see Ponyboy as he really is: his likes and dislikes, his personality, his relationships with his friends and brothers, his hopes and fears, and his failures as well as his successes. We love him with all of it. But if we saw him on the street, what would we think? To be honest, we would probably look at his greased back, long hard and his tough-looking friends and think, "No way. I wouldn't be friends with him. We are nothing alike." How many times do we do that at school and not give people a chance just because of their appearance.
I told them how the assembly and the book and their insider/outsider project all go together to help them apply what they have learned.When you have acted the part of the outsider, some of you did experience teasing or name calling. Since you knew it wasn't real and it was only for a project, it might not have affected you very much. But I want you to think of people who experience that every day.
It breaks my heart, but I have had some students who have come up to me and said, "Ms. Mayans, do I have to do a made-up outsider project? Because I already feel that." They tell me about having to sit alone on the bus because no one likes to talk to them. Or about how people say they smell and stay away from them because they live in a home with people who smoke. Do we notice the outsiders in our classes, our hallways, and our communities?
To be honest I actually cried.
They seemed to be much more attentive after all that.
I feel so blessed to have gotten to know each of these kids. Some are shy, some are crazy outgoing, some goofy, some are surrounded by friends, some stay by themselves. No matter how they act, I personally know of their worth, and it hurts me to see other kids belittle them because of the things that make them unique. Hopefully the books we have read this year will inspire a little more acceptance and love in each of them.
I love my students.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
March- supposedly the hardest month
Happy March everybody!
Well, I have heard from all of the teachers at my school that March is the hardest month to get through. February has a few Mondays off and April gives us spring break, but March is long and unforgiving (so they tell me). But, I have to say that this last few week have been AWESOME and I feel like March will be good for me.
Mind you, March will definitely be tough. And here are a few reasons why:
Tough Month Reason #1:
This is the month I get to really start looking for jobs. At the end of March, there will be a Teacher Fair at BYU and, boy, am I nervous! I am getting my letters of recommendation from key people and finalizing my resume, but it is so scary thinking that I am going to have to sell my skills and convince schools that they really do want me. Then there is always the fear of the unknown. Will I have to move? Will I have to move out of Utah? Will I be happy where I get a job? Will I love another grade like I have loved my 7th graders this year? Will I like the school and the English team? Ahhhh! So many questions.
Tough Month Reason #2:
I have my final interview with my college professor this month to review this year as an intern. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my supervising professor. She has helped me sooo much and I don't know if I would have been able to survive this intern year without her. But, I still get nerves having to have this final interview. We will go over my lesson plans (yes, I have an overflowing binder with all of my lesson plans from the year), we'll see the evaluaitons I received from my mentor teacher and my students (I'll come back to talking about those evaluations later), and we'll
Tough Month Reason #3:
Term 3 ends and the last term begins. I dont know why, but the start and end of a term is just hard. It's hard to look at grades at the end of the term and self-evaluate what I could have done, should have done, will eventually do better in my teaching. This term seems to have flown by, and it has been difficult to implement some of the things I thought about at the end of last term. I have last minutes assignments to grade and next (and last) term to plan. Wow, I am a busy woman!
Well, I have heard from all of the teachers at my school that March is the hardest month to get through. February has a few Mondays off and April gives us spring break, but March is long and unforgiving (so they tell me). But, I have to say that this last few week have been AWESOME and I feel like March will be good for me.
Mind you, March will definitely be tough. And here are a few reasons why:
Tough Month Reason #1:
This is the month I get to really start looking for jobs. At the end of March, there will be a Teacher Fair at BYU and, boy, am I nervous! I am getting my letters of recommendation from key people and finalizing my resume, but it is so scary thinking that I am going to have to sell my skills and convince schools that they really do want me. Then there is always the fear of the unknown. Will I have to move? Will I have to move out of Utah? Will I be happy where I get a job? Will I love another grade like I have loved my 7th graders this year? Will I like the school and the English team? Ahhhh! So many questions.
Tough Month Reason #2:
I have my final interview with my college professor this month to review this year as an intern. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my supervising professor. She has helped me sooo much and I don't know if I would have been able to survive this intern year without her. But, I still get nerves having to have this final interview. We will go over my lesson plans (yes, I have an overflowing binder with all of my lesson plans from the year), we'll see the evaluaitons I received from my mentor teacher and my students (I'll come back to talking about those evaluations later), and we'll
Tough Month Reason #3:
Term 3 ends and the last term begins. I dont know why, but the start and end of a term is just hard. It's hard to look at grades at the end of the term and self-evaluate what I could have done, should have done, will eventually do better in my teaching. This term seems to have flown by, and it has been difficult to implement some of the things I thought about at the end of last term. I have last minutes assignments to grade and next (and last) term to plan. Wow, I am a busy woman!
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Word Play Day
I learned at the UCTE conference in November that word play is important for our students. For years I have loved words. I remember calling my mom after classes where we talked about British poetry and telling her how I could TASTE the words. Taste!? I'm sure she thought I was going crazy, but it is an experience I will never forget.
haha, I may be an English nerd, but I feel that these are fun to watch. They make you want to say funny words. I had my students write down words that they found fun to say. I gave them a challenge to say at least one of those words 5 times throughout the day. They found the official definition of the word and practiced saying it. Really, they already knew what the word meant, but this helped solidify the word in their minds. (Plus, often times big, unknown words are the most fun to say). Some of the classes had extra time to work with a group to make a song using their favorite fun words.
I loved it!!
Here is my list of fun words:
You dont have to wait until college literature courses to fall in love with words and the way the fall onto your tongue. So today we played word games and watched some fun videos that helped my students understand the musicality of ordinary words. Here are a few of the clips we watched:
haha, I may be an English nerd, but I feel that these are fun to watch. They make you want to say funny words. I had my students write down words that they found fun to say. I gave them a challenge to say at least one of those words 5 times throughout the day. They found the official definition of the word and practiced saying it. Really, they already knew what the word meant, but this helped solidify the word in their minds. (Plus, often times big, unknown words are the most fun to say). Some of the classes had extra time to work with a group to make a song using their favorite fun words.
I loved it!!
Here is my list of fun words:
- bubbly
- superfluous
- befuddled
- meanderer
- pompous (especially fun to say when you relax your lips and cheeks)
What words are on your list?
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