So far, I'm enjoying my student teaching fairly well. I've been able to get to know a lot of the other teachers, which just makes everything nicer. At the beginning of my placement, I was having some issues with another teacher treating me like a teacher and not a gopher. I realized this week that somehow, our relationship has changed and she treats me much more like an equal than before. My teacher is fun to be with. She loves to teach and has tons of great ideas. I have had some trouble adjusting to her style of teaching ... she tends to yell, which I do not do nor do I want to do it. Last week I found myself contributing to the negativity. Since then, I've done my best to encourage students and point out the good that a few might be doing in order to motivate the rest to behave.
My current goal is for my students to walk quietly in the hallway, in a single file line, with their hands behinds their backs. This is the schoolwide procedure, but my students somehow missed the memo. We've been working on it last week and this week. They are definitely getting better! Again, I've found that positivity and praise has better results than telling the students what they're doing wrong.
Starting next week, I should be teaching full time. Right now, I'm supposed to be teaching everything but two things. However, most days that doesn't happen. That is probably my biggest frustration right now. At the beginning of my placement, my teacher and I sat down and plotted out when I would begin teaching every subject. But, for whatever reason, she will often teach it anyway. Or, we will get extremely off schedule and won't have time for certain subjects. I'm at the point where I know I can teach on my own (my teacher was sick and not at school on three different days and I taught everything) and, while I value her input and advice, I just need to teach. And, as silly as it may sound, I think the biggest thing that annoys me right now is that we are way off schedule, both daily and for the longterm. What can I say ... I love my schedules!
Fun fact, I've only had one 5-day week so far! Between meetings, snow days, and teacher inservice days, I've really lucked out!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other news, Peter was hired at Notre Dame last Friday! He will be working at the OIT help desk. We originally heard about this job opening last September, around the same time we decided to stay in South Bend after we married. The job didn't actually open until December. Peter applied and had his first interview two weeks ago. He received a call a week later telling him the position was between him and another applicant and he would have to do anther phone interview. No pressure! Well, about ten minutes after his interview, his boss called and offered him the position! God is so good! Deciding to live in South Bend was a huge step of faith for us. It meant that Peter had to leave his job in Michigan and move here with no way to provide for himself or us. But God has always been faithful to each of us and has always provided what we needed. This is a testimony of His power and goodness!
We are currently looking for a place to live. Originally, we were going to rent a house, but we are now thinking that renting an apartment/duplex may be wiser financially. We would both like to pay back our college debt as soon as we can, while saving up for a house of our own.
