Look At Me Still Talking When There’s Science To Do
In Grand Rapids… thinking about Barrow (among other things)Archive for student teaching
Birds pass by to tell me that I’m not alone.
I just finished my Last All-Nighter of college.
There was no reason for it, really, but I have to turn in my Last Homework later this afternoon, and one thing leads to another. Fortunately some other things got crossed off my to-do list as well… forms, emails, and applications about which my mother is going to ask me and about which I am going to be evasive unless I get a response.
I am kind of tired and hungry and it’s raining, but today is the Last Tuesday of student teaching.
And tomorrow is the Last Wednesday. By the time I get to the Last Friday, on Friday, I’ll hardly be able to contain myself.
You’re good at finding shortcuts around this part of town.
“Tell Mrs. B you want to keep teaching,” “Please, we like you better!” and “How about ONE more day” are among the things the tricky seventh graders are saying to try to entice me to keep them from returning to a teacher who doesn’t let them talk in class as much as I do. It won’t work for a minute though- I’m done. And untrickable.
The most remarkable part of my success was that I didn’t self-sabatoge. I’m notorious for having difficulty getting out of bed. Just ask Jobby, who took it upon himself to be my wake-up call in Alaska. There is almost nothing that sounds better to me than staying in bed 5… 10…. 15 more minutes. No matter how pleased I am about the upcoming day’s events, I still have to force it. So you can imagine that when my agenda included “7a.m. to 4p.m.: Student Teaching,” the feat was nearly impossible. I forced myself out of bed, I forced myself to go out in the cold ans scrape off my car, and I forced myself to keep driving the whole twelve and a half miles to the school. I even forced myself to go to bed by 10:30, which in itself is remarkable, but I couldn’t stop the constant internal conversation:
Jenny: I could just call in sick.
Other Jenny: No. She already doesn’t like you, don’t push it.
Jenny: I hope the school is on fire when we get there!
Other Jenny: I suppose that would be nice, but remember, you have an observation today, and it WOULD be a pain to reschedule.
Jenny: You’re right. Can I take a nap when we get home?
Other Jenny: Of course… not. You have 75 papers to grade and some science to do.
Jenny: Crap.
I hoped for worse than fire, but there’s no need to go into detail. Now that I have SEVEN days remaining that require me to be physically present at the school, I am coasting… and staying up later. But why shouldn’t I? I have television to watch and rocks to paint and the last month of college to catch up on, and as I’ve mentioned, I’ve done remarkably well until this point. So well, in fact, that some people might think I don’t hate student teaching as much as I’ve reported, but don’t let yourself be fooled. Oh no.
Staying up late on purpose is a novelty at this point. I haven’t even been able to sleep in for days and days, in part because of my trip to Nebraska this past weekend. Picture proof for now, words for tomorrow.
Goodbye Nebraska.
Change your clocks when you change your socks.
I think that when I was awakened from my nap an hour ago by a phone call I was dreaming the plot of a “classic movie.” It involved a bathroom and donuts and pizza and it was a comedy, but since I’d always been under the impression that this “famous film” was a horror movie, I was quite on edge. As a viewer I was also able to interact with the movie, and was certain that the naked baby handed to me by the male lead would bite me viciously. My roommate Mary would likely find this funny. Baby lover!
My roommate Mary and I haven’t seen much of each other lately, since the time we have between our various obligations is often taken up by naps… when we aren’t feeding ourselves and doing laundry.
For me obligations include being at the school until 5:30 or later more often than not. My professors and College of Education advisors keep yammering on about young teachers being unwilling to put in enough time, but really, if the time I am putting in is not enough for a student teacher, they are insane. And I, as we know, am more unwilling than most of my peers to be a success.
The yammering goes on to suggest that principals love to see your car in the parking lot late into the afternoon and evening and that if they notice you get major bonus points. I doubt that the principal even would know that the silver Neon, truthfully one of the last cars left when I finally leave, belongs to me. I could write my name on the side in big letters, but, oh, wait, this principal can’t do anything for me. The district is trying to eliminate several teaching positions for next fall, and if he did have a job for me I probably wouldn’t want it.
That’s not being completely honest. I get it that jobs are important and hard to come by, and if I were offered a teaching job, there’s a good chance I would take it. Much of my disgruntlement is the result of not being paid and… well, I’ll not air my grievances here, out of the kindness of my heart and the very real possibility that my students or coworkers could track me down.
Either way, I am tired all the time. Losing an hour this weekend did nothing to help my sleep health, but it did mean that the clock in my car is correct again. I maybe didn’t change it last fall.
Two weeks from today I will be finished teaching Language Arts- and that’s 3/6 of my day. Sure, I’ll have a stack of seventh grade poetry to grade, but the promise of being able to sit in the teacher’s lounge all day with a red pen is quite cheering. Verily.
Twist and shout
I guess when I said “tomorrow” I meant… “sometime in the next 24-50 hours.”
Here, then, is the promised “twist,” and the explanation, for goodness sake, of the mysterious time-sensitive package.
The package was directed to the American-Scandinavian Foundation, and there were actually two packages, one each from Jobby and me. They were applications for grant money; the fellowships offered are up to $23,000 per year, and we’d each budgeted for the full amount.
While in Iceland at the ITEX meetings, Jobby met a woman from Tromso University who was looking for two American students to work with her on ITEX research during the 2009 field season on Svalbard and in the lab in Tromso during the 09-10 academic year. HE was interested, naturally, and so, he thought, was a friend of his who had been in Barrow with him. (I’ll give you a clue, her picture is just to the right, there, under the word “authors.”)
So, I could, potentially, if I get funding, be in Norway starting this coming May, for the duration of one year! I had a very short amount of time to prepare the application, but I was able to get all my references in order, so we’ll see. Fifteen collated copies amounts to masses of paper. (And of course I need to continue looking for funding opportunities.)
Expense-wise, the funding I’d be getting would cover this trip, including the grad classes I’d take during the school year, but there will be some parts that I’d fund personally (gear, and that sort of thing). Plus, if I AM going to be out of the country for a year, do I want to spend another couple months away in Mexico?
I do, but I get it *cough*MomandDad*cough* that it’s expensive, etc etc.
I have to decide in two days.
Or sooner!
I want more details.
A city wall and a trampoline
Last spring I applied to participate in the COST program, COST being the Consortium of Overseas Student Teachers. I requested three European locations as sites where I would potentially do some of my student teaching in Winter 2009. At least 8 weeks have to be done in the US so that I can be certified. Clearly, being a certified teacher is important to me.
What is more important to me: adventure, traveling, not spending the entire semester student teaching at some crummy school in Grand Rapids.
The locations I chose are unavailable because of a scheduling conflict, but COST offered Mexico as an alternative. Mexico, as you know, is not “Overseas” from my present location. Mexico, as you know, is large, and therefore unhelpful as a specific destination name. I do not know where in Mexico the placement would be, but it could be an American school in: Queretaro, Mexico City, one of two locations in Guadalajara, or Merida, Yucatan.
I have to decide very soon if I want to spend around two thousand US dollars to fund this experience. Speaking Spanish is not necessary, which is good because I can’t. (Yet?)
I don’t know what to do, because this IS a large expense, but also a grand opportunity. It is not what I applied for, but they are first-rate schools (according to someone who got to tour them). Tomorrow I will write about another twist for the decision making process, but until then…
I would love to have someone make this decision for me, hint hint.
