Today’s lesson plan creation

In class today, we were given the task of creating a way to teach children about conservation. Now, there are several different types of conservation. When I think of conservation, I think of saving water and planet protection. So for my activity, I created an ‘obstacle course’ that the children would go through in order to water the plant at the end.

First, the students would form groups and have a fixed amount of water. Next, I would show each student how much water (using a cup with a pre-drawn water line) is needed to water the plant. Then, the children would go down the line pouring however much water they think that they should in the cups provided. At the end, each student would pour their remaining water into the cup with the water line to see if they properly saved enough water back. Those that succeed would then get a prize or candy of some sort.

So, I have been debating about trying out a website called TeachersPayTeachers.com. This website is intended for teachers to create, share, and sell products such as: lessons, lesson plans, decorations, and activities. I have already received many free products from this site and I may start up my own account. I will let everyone know if I do and link my profile later on if I do.

Thanks for reading!

Job hunt

So, in an earlier post I talked about how my boyfriend and I are needing to figure some stuff out and I will no longer be only a student. Yesterday, I put in one application and today I was set up for an interview! I am so excited. The position is to be an assistant teacher at a learning center. Although, I prefer being a lead teacher, I am super excited regardless. I cannot wait to see and work with children again! I thought it was hilarious that this comes out right after my post about why I want to be a teacher. Things are looking up. Now to figure out what to do about our living situation. Current idea is to see if the family would be willing to let us keep the house  since grams is no longer living here. We shall see.

Anyway, thanks for reading

What made you decide to teach?

I often get the question, “What made you decide to teach?” I think it is a wide variety of things. Subconsciously, I think I always loved teaching but never really noticed it. There has been many instances in my life that I have taught. When I was 12 years old, I became a black belt in martial arts (the youngest in my school) and I soon after became an instructor. I absolutely loved teaching. I taught this for roughly 5 or 6 years before taking my break due to my studies becoming a priority.

I originally wanted to be a neurosurgeon but after going to college for a year, I found that it was not what I really wanted to do. While I felt that I had the intelligence and the steady hands, I wanted to have a family at some point. Surgeons, especially neurosurgeons, spend long hours in the hospitals with an average of 80+ hours a week. This would not leave me very much time to have a family and care for them in the ways that I would like to. My childhood was filled with many bad things (as my blog makes obvious) and I do not want my children to go through the same things. I also grew up raising my siblings which gave me a lot of practice with children.

After about half a year from the point of dropping out of college to reassess my life and what I wanted to be, I decided to try out teaching at KinderCare. I was immediately hired as the Pre-K teacher. This was one of the best decisions of my life! I loved those children and they loved me too. Everyday that I came in, the children would all crowd around me and give me hugs; it was a wonderful feeling. As time went on, I had several parents tell me how amazing my teaching was and how well their children were doing. Some of the parents had even mentioned that I was the reason that they stayed at KinderCare.

The best thing about teaching, for me, is watching the light-bulb moments. It is such a great feeling when you help a child reach new heights. For example, I had a little boy who wanted to learn how to write his name but, he continuously would say that it was impossible. He got very frustrated and he would throw things but, each day I sat down with him until I came up with a better idea. I had the whole class come together for an experiment. First, I would give each child a dry erase board and have them gather around my white board. Next, I would draw a line and have them copy it. Then, I would draw another and another. Until finally, they had created a letter and this blew their mind! This made a wonderful breakthrough where several children wanted to learn how to write their names. I spent time teaching each one. Now, the student that would throw things felt more confident and I treated his name in the same fashion. After about 3 weeks of continuous practice, he figures it out. The next day, his mother came in exclaiming how wonderful it was to see her child start trying things. Apparently, he had the family all sit down at the table while he wrote his name for them (correctly I might add). This was just the best feeling ever. I live for these moments!

Anyway, thanks for reading!

Tattoo Excitement

So, I have a friend who is an apprentice at a fairly prestigious shop (at least in my area). She has decided to give me a free tattoo to help her practice. I have been watching her work: her drawings, tattoos, and concepts. She is doing really well. On 9/11 I am getting it. I thought I would get a tattoo for my love of teaching on my forearm.

It is going to have a watercolor background with an adorable owl at the top. The middle/bottom is going to have “Teachers who love teaching, teach children to love learning” and a small apple to the side of the lettering. Now, normally I wouldn’t get a quote but, there are few tattoos for teachers and I have always loved this quote. I feel that it is a good reflection on how I feel about teaching. I have also decided that the arm that I put it on, is going to be dedicated to my teaching. The plan is to get a small tattoo each year that fits each group of kids. That was all. 🙂

Thanks for reading.

Introduction/What my blog is about

Hi everyone, I am a 21 year old woman who is an aspiring teacher living with PTSD. I am currently in college working on my Early Childhood Education degree in order to teach second grade. I do not plan on telling my name at least at the moment to keep my identity safe from my family and abusers.

My point in writing this blog is to help me cope with my PTSD. While I am sure I will touch on this more later, in short, my mother had me very young and she had a long string of bad husbands/boyfriends whom were abusive in all senses of the word. I was abused from ages 5-17 from both the men and my own family. I was emancipated at 17 years old. I live with my boyfriend and his grandmother with dementia. I stay home full time to take care of her while he works; this can sometimes cause my thoughts and flashbacks to be worse due to seclusion. I plan on this blog being more than just this though; I want to also use it to talk about my life and everything (that is interesting or worth talking about) that happens to me.

Thank you for reading my blog and feel free to give me advice or ask me questions.