Global warming.....and crazy classes

I cannot lie. I LOVED the weather today. I was able to take one of my PE classes outside, I ran in shorts and a t-shirt, and I was overall "hot" in June, I mean January in Nebraska. This is by far the craziest weather we have had since I have been here. This weeks' forecast looks really nice with highs in the 50's yet the lows are in the 30's. It is insane, but if it lets me shed my coat for a while I am on board. I would be in full support if it did not make my classes go bonkers. The students were so restless today! My seventh graders, yes that pesky class again, were the lucky ones who got to go outside. Well my lesson was just short of an epic fail. It was not that my game was bad, or even my instructions were terrible, it was the blatant ignoring of the rules, and seeing just how far they could launch the ball when they kicked it......we have some work to do. Any suggestions on how to get 7th graders to do what you want them to do (or anywhere close) are greatly appreciated. 
I took over two more classes this week as well. I am now teaching 5th grade PE, 6th grade PE, 7th grade PE, 5th grade health, and 6th grade health. That is plenty of lesson plans to keep me busy for now, especially with the other homework on top of that. All of this being said I am really enjoying myself. I am to the point that I am  sure that I am going to love teaching, even with all of the frustrations that accompany it. 
Keep me and all of the other teachers in the Lutheran Ed program in your prayers this week as our credential files are being sent out. It will be the beginning of interviews and having reality truly slap us in the face. I also had a skype meeting on Sunday with my supervisor over in Australia, that was a reality check for me. I am going to Australia.....soon......and have some preparation to do. I am nervous, apprehensive, and really excited. There will be more updates coming soon, so hold tight. 
I will leave you with one story from last Friday. We were playing line tag in one of my classes (oh by the way my co-op was sick on Thursday and Friday, so I basically taught full days for those days:) when one of my students who was sitting on the floor because she was out started singing. She is a second grader who is about the size of a kindergartner, so she is adorable to say the least. I went over to her and just asked "Hey (keeping names anonymous), what are you singing?" The tune was a little unrecognizable, but  precious all the same. Her response made me smile so big. "Edelweiss" she said and jumped right back into the song. Ha. Awesome. 


I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! 
Psalm 118:24 "The Lord has done it this very day, let us rejoice today and be glad"

I think I want to be a teacher

Today was one of those days that I walked away from really excited about teaching. There was no specific event that happened that made me feel that way, but it was just a good day all around. My co-op was out sick and so there was a sub in for her. (there have been a few students out too with stomach flu issues, so I have been dousing myself in hand sanitizer between classes) Since I knew all of the procedures and have worked with the kids now for a couple weeks I pretty much ran the whole day. There were plenty of arguments among the younger grades during dodgeball, but I feel like I handled them well. My 6th graders had a period to work on their health projects, they had quite a few questions and needed a bit of help, but I worked through that as well. Even my 7th graders did really well today in PE. They kind of got the hang of sideline soccer, and this would be the first time I would say my 7th graders have "gotten" the hang of something. The sub only had compliments for me which was very encouraging. I know that I have a long way to go still, but it was a good day. 

To add on to my great day it was so nice outside that I went on a run in shorts after school today! And bonus....methods class is cancelled for tomorrow morning. So today marked the last day of morning methods! Woohoo!! I have a skype meeting with my supervisor from Australia on Sunday afternoon, so hopefully I will have more information to report after that time. 

James 4:10 "Humble yourself before the Lord and he will lift you up."

Boogers

First of all, sorry that I already missed a day of posting, I just could not get to it. Yesterday was not a day full of excitement, still busy enough though. I did not think that it would be terrible to combine two uneventful days anyway. Probably the most drama that occurred yesterday was during first grade PE. The students were in the middle of running their laps when one of the girls walked up to my Co-op and me in uncontrollable sobs. She could barely spit out the words when we asked her what was wrong. "I::sniffle:::Can't::::gasp::::Find my:::::lip quiver::::my:::face scrunch:::My headband!!" My co-op looked at me because she could not understand what she was trying to articulate though her tears, but luckily I speak distraught female so I caught what she was saying. So it was Ms. Pauluhn's job to take her back to the music room where her class had been the period before and search for the beloved missing headband. Mrs. Warner said she had not seen it, and did not even remember her wearing her headband today with the big red flower on it. So after she calmed down a bit we walked back to the gym to play in PE and decided to look for headband after class. Well the mystery was solved when the first grade teacher came to pick up her class after PE and told the student that she had her headband because she had left it by the computers. You would have thought the National Treasure was found. Speaking of treasure......boogers. 
Getting to the title of this post, I have seen more boogers picked, blown into tissues, or eaten this week than I don't even know what. It seems like every time I turn around one of my students' fingers is in their nose. Disgusting. I mean I know boogers are not comfortable, but they eat them like candy, it is GROSS.  I know I used to pick my nose when I was younger, but at least I was smart about it, because everyone knows that if you cover your nose with your other hand it means no one can see you picking it. They just stand there proud to find their next gem. Sorry for all of the details, but that is one thing about gradeschool that I do not think I can get used to. 
As far as teaching goes this week, it is going well. A struggle, frustrating, fun, annoying, and all the above but it is a great learning experience. I learn the best by doing, so student teaching is allowing me to try out different methods by trial and error. My seventh graders were a lot better after Monday. The waters were certainly tested, and I think I stood my ground enough with them to gain some respect, because all it takes for them to become quiet is for me to stand there for a couple of seconds. (I feel kind of powerful). Do not get me wrong, seventh grade PE was no walk in the park yesterday and today, but it was definitely not as much of a battle. I have a long way to go, but focusing on the small battles won keeps you going. 
As the end of this week approaches it brings with it, a due date for a paper for secondary methods' class, two more days of lessons, starting a curriculum assignment for my other methods class, planning a new health unit....And......time with friends, Mrs. Humlicek Enchaladas at Molly's house on Friday night with a cold Margarita, and hopefully a little more sleep:)   
I hope everyone is having a lovely week. We talk a lot about how teaching is mostly relationship and choice. So it is our choice every day what our attitude is going to be. I have to choose to wake up and be joyful that I have another day in a classroom to spend with kids. Though many days seem daunting, God has put me in a place where I can do what I love, why should I not be joyful?


I will share one of my favorite verses.
Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer"

I knew it would come sooner or later

I am pretty sure that I could write for a while about the happenings of today, but seeing as though I should probably already be asleep I will try and keep it brief. I began my actual "teaching" today. I taught 5th grade health, 6th grade health, and 7th grade PE. I got a bit more nervous than I expected before I got up there to teach my first lesson to the 5th graders. We were reviewing for their chapter test, so I prepared a game to play that incorporated all of their vocabulary terms. All things considered the class rain fairly smoothly. Most of the kids liked the game, and I am pretty sure they got some review out of it too. So objective number one met! 6th grade health went alright too. My co-op told me that I started to speed up a little too much at the end, but there was just so much information to get in, and such little time to do it!

My battle came during the last period of the day, 7th grade PE. I started a soccer unit today, and I think they really wanted to test me on my first day. They talked the entire time, did not listen to directions, and overall just did not do much correctly. I just had no idea what to do with them by the end of class, even my co-op leaned over to me at the end and said I was nicer than her because they would be running laps by now if it were her. I was not going to resort to that on the first day. However, Early in the class period I told them that my second graders were listening better than them today. Later, when they still were goofing around and not taking anything seriously I told them to Criss-Cross applesauce (which means sit indian style for those of us that grew up before the year 2000) They gave me some weird looks, and finally did it. So I proceeded to tell them I am going to treat them the same age as they are acting; and if they would like to sit like that every time I talked I could arrange that. The game we played after that little "peptalk" did not get a lot better. So we ended class with a "I was disappointed in how you guys acted today, and I expect more respect tomorrow" speech. So wish me luck as I enter that classroom tomorrow, because before class I was the cool college kid who sat in on their classes, but now I am that stupid student teacher:) Can't win them all right. I learned a lot today about what it is going to take to survive in a classroom. And survive is the key word here...that is all I am trying to do. Students learning is a bonus right now.

My day after school today just added a little to my frustrations. I had methods class from 4:20-6 and then had to deal with my dead car that was sitting in the parking lot from the night before. My friend jumped it for me, and I drove it home, only to turn it off and realize that it would not start again. Who knew you had to let it run for like 30 min to let it recharge! You really do learn something new every day. So after a phone call to my dad and jumping another time, I took a nice drive around town to let it recharge. Thanks dad for your help and putting up with all of my phone calls. Love you!!!

The day certainly did not go how I expected it to, but what fun would that have been?

2 Corinthians 12:9 "But he said to me'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me"

I made it.

Week number one under my belt, and It feels great. Friday was a great day to wrap up the week with. I finally feel like some of the students are opening up to me ( and I can call almost all of them by name:). Friday is free choice Friday for the students so they get to choose what game to play. The 6th graders chose to play dodgeball, and then screamed for Ms. Pauluhn to play. Ok I will play, but I wasn't going to go all out, because they were not ready for this intramural dodgeball trained teacher. ha. First round I was running up to throw it at one of my girls and just got smoked in my chest/throat by one of the boys. Bring it on..........next round I was holding nothing back. I got a few students out, but the third game was the best, I just absolutely railed the kid in the stomach who had pegged me the first round. He looked at me shocked, like he never thought I could get him out, and a little bit surprised at how hard I had thrown it. It was all in good fun though, and that was probably one of my favorite classes. We have the sixth graders for health later in the day, and that student walked in and kind of threw his nose up at me, and I just kind of chuckled. Earlier in the week he had decided that I was cool because we were both wearing puma shoes. Now, he told me that did not matter anymore. They took a quiz that period and when they are finished they are allowed to doodle on the backs of them. He finished drawing his picture and called me over. It was a picture of the dodgeball game, and him hitting me, and I think he had me saying something, but it was hilarious. He just looked at me and smiled. Haha, gotta love middle school boys and their competitiveness. Good thing we arent going to play dodgeball for a while again. The rest of the classes went well too, I think that these eight weeks are just going to fly by.
On Fridays the teachers end the week with snack in the library; it is just a time to get together and chat a little and unwind from the week. My co-op was in charge of snacks and brought cake. If any of you know me at all you should know that cake probably made my week:) But either way, it was nice to talk to some of the other teachers and get to know them as well. Jamie (one of my friends who is student teaching in the 5th grade classroom at St. John's) and i felt like teachers when we left the library that afternoon.
Bring on week two.....


Isaiah 55:9-11"“As the heavens are higher than the earth,  so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

Over the hump

Really not much to report today; we started up morning methods again after the first three days of this week off. The day goes a bit quicker when you get to school at 9:30, but it still makes for a long day when class starts at 7:30. My only question, is there a full moon right now, because my classes were insane! So much talking and so many arguments today. Arguing over who was pitcher (even though they all get a turn anyway) who was last, who got to sit where, who got to catch the ball......and the list goes on and on. We only had four criers so its okay:)
My Co-op and I discussed what units and lessons I am going to start teaching next week. I am going to begin by taking over the 5th and 6th grade health classes and 7th grade PE. We will see how it goes! Thanks for all of the prayers and support through this process.

Psalm 56  "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God whose word I praise- in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? "

It's Only Three Days In???

I already feel like I have been here for weeks. I looked at the calendar today and realized that it was only Wednesday of our first week. It feels like time is just crawling right now, but I know that when next week starts and I am teaching all of the lessons from the units I planned, days are just going to pass in a flash. 
One conclusion that I came to today was that recess was a LOT more fun when you were running around. Standing by the swings monitoring your class when the actual temperature outside is in the low 20's and the feels like temperature with wind chill is in the teens, I realized that recess (at least in NE) is miserable. And all of those times when I thought that teachers were just being fun suckers......yea guess what; I am officially a fun sucker. HA!
My favorite part of today was my last block with the 7th graders. They were taking a test over basketball rules today, and Mrs. Simpson wrote the last question on the test. "What is the student teacher's name?" I knew that this was going to be good, friends that I have had for years still can't even spell my last name, and these kids have not seen it written out once. So following is a list of the responses that I got, spelled just how they were on their papers. 
Mrs. Ralph (I have no idea either.)
Miss P
Ms. Paytor
Mis. Bee
Mis. P
Ms. P
Ms. Pettu
Miss Paula
Polmo
Ms. Pumml
Mrs. P
Mrs. Pauloon


So only one person got full credit for this question. I was nice to the Ms. P's because I did say they could call me that on the first day. I love how I became a Mrs. to some of them and others were so completely off I am beginning to wonder if they ever paid attention. It gave me a good chuckle. The other name that I am known to some of the younger kids is Ms. Balloon. One of the first graders asked if that was my name today, and since it is understandable where the misunderstanding would come from I just smiled and corrected. Later this afternoon I was walking down the hall and heard another little one whisper on my way by, "That was Mrs. Balloon!" "Nu-uh! Her name isn't balloon!" Ha, so we will see how many different names I will get by the end of my eight weeks. I will keep you posted. 


Lamentations 3:22-24
 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

Day Two

Not a lot happening today. The tiredness already setting in, and most of that was due to our rickety old house that does not hold up under windy conditions. I was able to get about a full half of an hour sleep all together last night, so waking up this morning was a bit painful, but I am looking forward to hitting the sack in a few minutes. 

As I write I am enjoying my first glass of wine during student teaching, and there is no question that there will be many nights that are ended with a great glass of merlot. That being said, it was not as if I had a rough day but I figure that if I only drink when I have a bad day people may start to wonder....;)

I met my kindergarten class for the first time this afternoon, and love them already! They are just adorable. They too were given a chance to ask questions about me, and I was prepared to give the usual answers except they through some curve balls to me. "Is your house close to the water?" "Do you know my dad?" and my personal favorite was the girl who looked at me and whispered "Do you have a pool?" Haha, have to love how their minds work. I think that being with the kindergarten class made me more excited about having kids some day than teaching kids their age some day. As of now, I am still partial to secondary, but I was told to never say never. (and no that is not  Justin Bieber reference). As they were lining up to leave one of the kindergarteners saw my tennis shoes and gasped. "Can your shoes jump?!". Of course they can! So I proceeded to jump, then before I knew it, it turned into a game of jump with Ms. Pauluhn. Who knew it could be that simple. Ha. 

Probably my other favorite happening of the day was during first grade I believe. As they were moving to their places to begin running their laps, one of the girls came up and did the shirt tug. With a frantic and concerned look in her eyes this is what she proceeded to tell me, "Ms. Pauluhn. Um....um.....umm...The chips, the chips at lunch today. They were bad. All of them!! They were all expired!" Haha, I was not sure what to say back to that, what I wish I could have said was "Well hope you didn't eat them, because that would mean some bad news..." But this was definitely not the student to be joking around with. So I am pretty sure I sent her on her way with just an "Ohhh" I hope those chips don't take my classes out for a week, haha.

Not a super enthralling day, but I know they will not always be. The little stories are the things that are going to keep me going, so I hope they do not bore you. Good night everyone and God's Blessings. 

And So It Begins...

The last three and a half years of late nights, frustration, worrying way too much, procrastination and fun (oh and did I mention soccer, soccer, soccer) have led me to this.....what I thought I was so anxious to get to. Student Teaching. Now, I do not think in my mind I ever said "Heck yes I cannot wait for student teaching; it is going to be great! I am so excited about being thrown into teaching where you are watched 24/7 and Bonus they let me take classes at the same time!" I do know that I am someone who is always looking to the future working toward some goal and this was in that plan for the future. My goal for the past few years has been to graduate college. It has been all about taking the right classes, putting together the puzzle of a schedule that will get me out of undergrad in 4 years. It was not an option in my head to go a minute longer. However, now that I am here, I am pretty sure I would be okay with another year:). Nevertheless, here I am facing what seemed so far off. I cannot believe that I made it to and through my first day in the classroom. But before I jump into telling you about my first day I will back up to last week really quickly.

So the education department thinks it is a great idea to prepare us for student teaching by having a whole week of meetings, classes and presentations (not all bad, but still worth complaining about). Waking up for 7:30 class every morning, sitting through 4 hours of listening to someone talk, and then going to evening class to wrap up the day is my idea of a great time, so last week was my dream come true. I did get some good ideas from some of the presenters but I was definitely ready to be done with the week. The first day was the beginning of the emotional roller coaster I know that I am going to be stuck on for the next 8 weeks. It is finally hitting me that I will be leaving this place I call home in that short amount of time. I sat in class that first morning and was for sure I no longer wanted to be a teacher. When Prof Kroominga said "If any of you have come to the conclusion that you just do not want to teach, you don't like kids, and if you are not ready for the work that comes with it, tell us now and we can figure something out" I almost raised my hand stood up and told him that he was reading my mind. I actually decided that I did not want to teach anymore and I Really did not want to student teach, so if he could get me out of it that would be great! But I resisted that urge, and made it through the whole day to Dr. Bork's devotion that solidified in me just why I want to teach. I am a minister of God and I know that I can and will have an impact on kids lives, even with all of my downfalls. So in that first day I went through the entire spectrum of emotions from hating even the thought of being a teacher, to okay maybe it will be alright, to Alright I am going to be the best dang teacher out there! Besides being a little monotonous the rest of the week went smoother than the first day. All of that bringing me to where I am right now.

The end of day one in my school, and it was great. I am at St. John Lutheran School in Seward for my first 8 weeks of student teaching before I head off to Kingaroy, Australia where I will also be teaching at St. John Lutheran School. The commute this first half is nice, I only have to walk a grueling 2 houses down to get to school. I am teaching K-7  PE, and I have the 5th and 6th graders for health as well. My day is busy going from one class to the next; I have 20 minutes for lunch, and then 20 minutes in the afternoon before my last period. Changing from grade to grade will definitely keep you on your toes. I realized just how much I am going to have to tailor my teaching to the different levels just even after my introduction to my classes today. The first graders wanted to ask me a million questions, and when I met the 7th graders they looked at me partial blank stares and a wonderment of why I was talking. But even with the frigid 7th grade reception it will be fun to get to know all of my students, I only have about 143 names to learn so it will not be hard at all! I start taking over classes on Wednesday, so lesson planning has already begun, and after the first one, I am thinking MAYBE it will not be as bad as I think, but I am not sleep deprived yet, and have not been evaluated so my spirits are still high. 

Just a few quick fun tidbits from my first day before I leave you. I have never been asked my favorite color, favorite food, and favorite aminal (and yes I spelled that how it was asked) so many times before. If you wish to know the answers you will have to ask as well. I also had one of those moments already where I knew I probably should not have said that because I am working with immature kids now who find everything funny (though I should have known better because they are not so different than some of my friends:). While I was introducing myself I gave kids the option of what to call me because a lot of people have trouble saying my last name, so as I introduced myself I told them they could call me Ms. Pauluhn or just Ms. P. Well 2nd and 3rd graders find it funny when you say P, even when you are just talking about the letter. So I got a few giggles out of that one. I will try and post as often as I can, and I hope to get some funny stories from everyday, so keep reading and write back if you wish. I hope this finds all of my readers well, and thank you for sharing in the beginning of this journey with me. 

Psalm 23:4-5 "Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me. for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."