I am excited to finally undertake my first official classroom project. I am attempting to create my teacher's chair for my classroom. I found this beauty in a quirky shop in Algona, IA for only $20. I decided to give it a try and if it doesn't work... I am only out 20 bucks. I finally got the motivation to start ripping this thing apart in order to see the bones of the chair. I am planning on restaining, refinishing and reupholstering the chair.
So far, I have all of the old upholstery and cushioning off of the chair. I will post more as I get more done. I am hoping to get this project done by the end of Spring Break. We will see how well that will work out.
Here are some before pictures!!
Bodhi really wanted to be in these pictures...
And here is a picture of the chair minus the upholstery.
I had my interview today! Everything went well. I arrived about 30 minutes early which was good because they were able to start my interview early and they didn't have to wait on me. This interview was a little different from my last in that there were 6 teachers and the principal participating in the interview. However, it was really relaxed and inviting. They went around and each one asked me a question. Most of the questions were about my discipline style and my ideas about the common core/Iowa Core. They seemed to be really excited about my knowledge towards the Iowa Core as well as my technology knowledge. They toured me around the building and showed me the classroom that I would be working in. It is currently a resource room and has a door leading outside but no windows... That might be a little getting used to but nothing I can't handle. It was a great experience and all of the staff seems really positive and excited about learning new things and making these changes.
About 2 hours after the interview, I received a call from the principal saying that they had already made a decision regarding their interview process and that they would like to offer me the 3rd grade position!!!!
This is the "frog" effect if anyone is interested... :)
I am so excited for the opportunity to have my first year of teaching in such a great school. Also, for those of you who know me.... I get to shop for CLASSROOM SUPPLIES!!! I am beyond excited and ready to just start but apparently I have to do these things like finish student teaching... graduate.... get my teaching license.... finish my reading endorsement.... silly things like that. Hopefully I will be able to wait that long.
If anyone has any questions or would like some advice from someone who has been in these crazy interviews, I would be happy to help. I am not an expert by any means but would love to help in any way that I can.
I have been scouring Pinterest (because it is Spring Break and I am a really good procrastinator) and found the most amazing organizational website!! Personally, I love to stay organized but struggle to find something that really fits what I need... Up until now! I have been watching videos and searching this website for hours now and absolutely love it! Here is the link... https://www.erincondren.com
I have fallen into the pit of organizational ideas. My favorite thing that I have found is the teacher planner. It seems to have everything I would ever need and more in a teacher planner. The planner includes tons of resources and organizations pages. It also has inspirational quotes just for teachers sprinkled throughout. Here are a few sample pages that I snagged off of the website.
Here is a video that shows a little more detail to the planner and how an experienced teacher might use it. Plus it is adorable! It is a bit pricey at $59 but for something that I will be carrying around daily for a year, I am willing to spend money for something that is sturdy and works. Check it out!
I hope you love it as much as I do. I have definitely decided this is my gift to myself when I finally get my first teaching job.
She also has pretty adorable desk calendars and personal (life) planners as well. I am personally partial to the teal and gold life planner and might have to slip that into my order as well.
Update: I have officially ordered and received my teacher planner! It is just as amazing in person as it looks on the site. The pages are all super sturdy along with the spine of the book. The lamination looks like it will last forever. I have spent the past couple week filling in all of the calendars for important dates and holidays for next year. I am super excited to start using this and getting organized!
If you are planning on ordering a product through Erin Condren (which I definitely recommend), feel free to use my referral link. By using this, you will receive a $10 credit to your account after ordering and I will receive $10 to my account as well. It is a great deal that helps broke people like me stay organized!
I want to share a couple of the bulletin boards that I have created in my previous 2nd grade student teaching placement. The first board is based on the Sochi Olympics. The school that I was placed in was participating in a school wide Olympic reading program. Each classroom was assigned a country to represent and ours was SWEDEN! This bulletin board was a place for the teachers and students to place found facts about Sweden as we started to learn more about the Olympics and progressed through the program. Sorry, I do not have photos of the board in progress.
The other board I want to share is a bulletin board to encourage good character traits while using the St. Patricks Day theme. Students were then given green shamrocks that they wrote one character trait they were good at and why as well as one trait they would like to improve on and how they would meet that goal.
I got both of these ideas from Pinterest and then altered them to meet what I needed. I cannot find the original links so if anyone knows where these came from, please comment so I can give credit where it is due.
I have been amidst the job market since January and have started to be called for interviews now. I have already had one interview in a very small town for a 2nd grade position. It was terrifying. I arrived 30 minutes early and would highly recommend this to others who are interviewing. I felt more prepared and was able to have a breather before going in. I did not get to talk much to the secretary but I would highly suggest getting to know them if possible. I interviewed with the principal and superintendent of the schools. They took turns asking me questions and then showed me around the school. If they do not offer, I would suggest asking to see at least one of the classrooms. It gave me a huge amount of insight into the kind of school I was interviewing for as well as the relationships between the principal and the teachers. Plus you get to see the space you would be working with if you get hired.
I have my second interview tomorrow afternoon. I will definitely keep you all posted once I come back with more details on the kinds of questions I was asked and any other tricks I might come across.
I am starting this blog as a way to track my journey through my first year of teaching. I am currently student teaching, as well as diving head first into the journey of job searching. On this blog, I plan to share my experiences in student teaching, tips and tricks of job searching from my perspective as well as setting up and planning through my first year of teaching.
First, I will tell you all a little about myself. I grew up in Iowa and plan to stay here. I love the area and the people. I have tons of interest in technology and plan to use as much of it as possible in my teaching. I am getting married in July to my fiancé. We have been together for 5 years and I am thrilled to take the next step. We have been living together for almost 4 years and have added many "children" to our little family. We currently have a Golden Retriever/Corgi mix (Bodhi), a cranky old farm cat (O'Malley) and two Ferrets(Arthur and Cy). My mom also has our family Bloodhound (Luke) who is a big baby but we love him anyway. We love them all to death and you will probably see pictures of them more than me on here.
Along with our pets, I have a ton of family in the area. I love having them live so close and it is such a blessing to be able to spend so much time together. We love to travel and have experiences in general.
I am looking forward to the experience and would love suggestions along the way! Feel free to contact me or comment on my posts if you have ideas to add.
