August 18, 2008 at 9:13 pm | In co-workers, one-on-one | 2 Comments

I went to Haskell today and found out that I cannot get a TA job if I am not in school. I am not going to go to school just to be a TA when I am a teacher. Deirdre, my ex-supervisor, told me that they are looking to hire a PE teacher and get rid of their psychomotor. It’s not what I’m dreaming of doing, but it’s better than nothing and it’s a job. AND I could still do HLC in the meantime. So now it’s about getting on the SUB list so that they can hire me for that.

Back in June my supervisor from CSUN told me that a school could request a certain person to be a sub. I e-mailed her to get specific information and she told me….

“Hi Kathy,
The school has to have an opening for a substitute and then the principal can request you to be put on the list. She must have an opening to hire you for a substitute position to request you. Prof. N.”

I don’t know if this will or not. I’ll call Bobbi tomorrow and find out.

But it was nice to go back there and see some of my old friends. I love them. They were/are so good to me and have helped me so much. They ar ea bit reason that I am where I am (as far as being a teacher). This was something that Michelle, my friend there, pointed out – that I am a teacher. Even if I am without a job, I am officially credentialed and I am a teacher! Crazy to think about.

I had my teacher meeting tonight at HLC. I love everyone there, too. There are a few people (teachers) whom are interesting and I have to roll my eyes at, but overall they are all nice and approachable. Which really makes me want more hours. Hopefully when the school year starts I’ll get more hours. I have 13 hours this week, including 4 hours tomorrow.

The student I had today was sweet – it was his thrid day there and he was very interested in learning. I was told today that he cried the first day – afraid of taking the tests to start with. So it’s nice to see. I work with him again tomorrow and Thursday. Tomorrow, though, I also worth with AS who I think I mentioned before. He has issues, but I worked well with him. He’s a good kid but must have some attention issues. This will be my second time with him. Then the girl that has the anxiety issues – I work with her on Wednesday. Then my favorite girl I work with on Friday.

That is all for now.

The End of the Week

August 9, 2008 at 12:13 pm | In co-workers, one-on-one | 1 Comment
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The end of the week came quickly and it ended well. I worked with NS again and it was great. She’s such a good kid and awesome to work with. The two hours went by really quickly.

There isn’t much to say about it right now. Except that there was another teacher in there with JM and she has been there longer than me… and man, I couldn’t believe her lack of understanding on how to do her work. I’ve only been there 4 days and I knew.

I got my schedule for next week. Easy schedule. 9-11 and 10-12 M-F. 10 hours but I wish to have more.

That is all.

New Student (to me).

August 7, 2008 at 5:07 pm | In one-on-one | Leave a Comment
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Today I helped AS. He is going into 2nd grade and seems to have problems of some sort. He admitted to me that he has a “nervous tick” (his term, not mine). He kept scratching at a scab he had near his ankle (eventually pulling it off and bleeding). He has learning issues as well – He is on his 400th or so hour there (that’s a lot!). He was there only for 1 1/2 hours, half phonics and half math. Usually the students have different languae arts to do, one of them being phonics – he is only on phonics. In math he has difficulty adding (even 9+1). This all went to reinforce that I am not the type of person that can deal with SpEd students. Not that he is one, I have no idea – just the way it felt. I had to get his attention a lot. He was worried about how much time was left and he didn’t know how long 15 minutes were (asked me “is that a long time”).

I was initially supposed to work until 11:30 but last night I got a call and asking if I could stay until noon for another one-on-one. It turned out to be NS. She is adorable. Alissa worked with her for 30 minutes that overlapped. She is grasping things quickly, to the point that I don’t know why she is there. But who am I to judge? There must be a reason that they are paying $$$$ to send her (and her sister) there. I’ll be working with her tomorrow as well.

With three days and 7 days under my belt I have to say that I feel like there is too much emphasis in moving from one level to another. Also in writing down what we did and what should be done next, etc. Not really difficult things to do, and not too time-consuming either (once you have the hang of it) – BUT I’m used to things being much more student learning oriented. I don’t think that the students get this feeling – to them it’s just doing what we tell them to do. So maybe it’s a good program – but it’s the vibe I’m getting right now.

Alissa came in once to “check up” on me (and another new-hire) right before NS came in, but other than that there was no supervision of us. We were left to our own devices. I had to ask a couple of questions to make sure I was doing things correctly – but I had it figured out mostly. We shall see how things go tomorrow!

Day Two Goes Well

August 6, 2008 at 1:53 pm | In one-on-one | Leave a Comment
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They basically left me along today. For the first half hour or so there was a full-timer there (working on something) so I was able to ask her some questions. But for the rest of the time (1.5 hours) I was on my own and it went well. I had a newish student today as well, we’ll call her JM. NS was there too, but with a different teacher. I’ll work with her on Friday. JM was more comfortable/talkative than NS and so we didn’t get as much done as we could’ve/should’ve. I did get through most of it and the mandatory 45 minutes of phonics.

I felt just a little bit anxious about it, but I was good for 99.9% of the time.

When I left I felt like it wasn’t long enough – that I should be there for more than just 2 hours at a time. I’ll ask about getting more hours in the future. Especially now that I have nothing going on. I need the money but I also enjoy doing it. It’s nice to be out of the house and doing something productive. Of course it would be nicer to have my own classroom somewhere, but I’ll take what I can get.

Day One: Complete.

August 5, 2008 at 12:45 pm | In one-on-one | Leave a Comment
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I have been getting up at about 9:30 for the past 3 weeks, today I had to leave at 9:30 to be at work at HLC by 10am. To say the least it was disturbing to wake up an hour earlier. Good practice, but still annoying. I had to get gas before heading to work so I left a bit earlier than I should have. I ended up being 20 minutes early to work anyway. I sat in my car for a bit and then went in. There was a new student today – she was a very cute 5-year-old. My first student, I will work with her on Friday as well. We shall call her…NS.

It was interesting to be there the first day. I ended up doing a lot of work on my own (with her, that is) because they had a sudden new enrollment and Alissa had to test the student. It worked well. I felt comfortable and didn’t feel much, if any, anxiety.

It all needs to come in time as experience happens. For the rest of the week I’ll be on my own but still watched over by the full-time staff. However it’s going to be easier than I initially thought because the “shadowing” that is happening isn’t very “on top”. They aren’t in my face. Maybe it’s that they are very nice and caring people. I feel comfortable with them, not preassured nor anxious about making mistakes. I don’t know who will be watching me, but all the women there are nice, so I’m okay with whoever it ends up being.

So no exciting first day post, but it’s something, at least.

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