Life at the Koivun home
Here at the Koivun home, we're all keeping pretty busy. Ela has a class ski trip to Wilmot Mountain this Friday - her first. That should be lots of fun for her. Ela also continues in band, playing the clarinet, even though she says she's not too sure if she wants to continue playing in 6th grade.
Julia is doing excellent work in school - she is the only student in her class to score a perfect 100% on her weekly spelling test. Every Friday, since the beginning of school. She's gotten 100% on every test. We are so proud of her!
Stevie is currently learning about the planets and outer space in class and he is having a blast! (pun intended) He comes home daily with new knowledge to share with us.
Jon stays busy every day and every weekend. If he's not working at his friend Phil's house (putting up a new garage), then he's busy at home or, like this weekend, busy at work. When a new implementation (computer program) goes in, it has to be done during "off" hours. The last few implementations have been on Thursday evenings, but this time, he has to go in on a Saturday. Unfortunately, I've got classes this weekend.
I've usually got classes three nights a week - Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. However, I'm also taking a course that's taught as a weekend workshop. For two weekends, I have classes on Friday evening, then all day Saturday and Sunday (8am-4pm). This weekend just happens to be the second weekend workshop.
On the plus side, I begin my preclinicals this week. "Preclinicals" in the education track are the hours we have to log observing a class or teaching a class (as student teacher). There are 120 hours of each required for my degree. The 120 hours of student teaching is done in your last semester of the program. The other 120 hours of observation are split up into 3 40hour segments, each to be completed alongside the appropriate methods course. Last semester, I did my 40 observation hours at West Aurora High School, in Aurora. This semester, I'll be observing at Hubble Middle School in Wheaton. It's much closer (compared to Aurora) - it only takes me about 20 minutes to get there. I start this Thursday, and will continue observing on Thursdays for the next eight weeks. I do get to teach lessons, but I am there to observe the teacher and learn from her strategies and methods. When I teach my lesson, she has to remain in the room. I can't formally teach any lessons "alone" until I'm certified. Or certifiable, your choice.
Oddly enough, I can teach lessons with a Substitute Certificate. And that's just what I applied for last week. In the state of Illinois (as I'm sure in other states as well), if you have a Bachelor's Degree, you can apply to receive a Substitute Teaching Certificate. With absolutely no prior knowledge of teaching. Now, most people crazy enough to want to sub for teachers have some general knowledge of teaching. So while I go to school to get my Teaching Certificate, I am able to sub. Now, our school district is in dire need of subs, and I've been told it's the same story across many school districts. I would love the opportunity to get the experience (and pad my resume as well) by subbing. Except I have one small problem... his name is Stevie. Stevie's still in preschool, which means that until he "graduates" to kindergarten, he's only in school for the morning. So I think I'll hang on to my subbing certificate and put it to use in the fall, when all three kids are in school full-time, and take the bus there and back. Because that's my whole dilemma - what do I do with my kids in the morning when I have to leave for my teaching job before they get on the bus? I hope there are before school programs available, that drive/bus them to school. I guess that's something I have to look in to. Any teachers out there willing to share their solutions? Please let me know!
School is a lot of work, but things are going well for me. A lot of reading this semester... if you want to hear about it, drop me an email. It's probably a lot of boring details to post here.
Julia is doing excellent work in school - she is the only student in her class to score a perfect 100% on her weekly spelling test. Every Friday, since the beginning of school. She's gotten 100% on every test. We are so proud of her!
Stevie is currently learning about the planets and outer space in class and he is having a blast! (pun intended) He comes home daily with new knowledge to share with us.
Jon stays busy every day and every weekend. If he's not working at his friend Phil's house (putting up a new garage), then he's busy at home or, like this weekend, busy at work. When a new implementation (computer program) goes in, it has to be done during "off" hours. The last few implementations have been on Thursday evenings, but this time, he has to go in on a Saturday. Unfortunately, I've got classes this weekend.
I've usually got classes three nights a week - Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. However, I'm also taking a course that's taught as a weekend workshop. For two weekends, I have classes on Friday evening, then all day Saturday and Sunday (8am-4pm). This weekend just happens to be the second weekend workshop.
On the plus side, I begin my preclinicals this week. "Preclinicals" in the education track are the hours we have to log observing a class or teaching a class (as student teacher). There are 120 hours of each required for my degree. The 120 hours of student teaching is done in your last semester of the program. The other 120 hours of observation are split up into 3 40hour segments, each to be completed alongside the appropriate methods course. Last semester, I did my 40 observation hours at West Aurora High School, in Aurora. This semester, I'll be observing at Hubble Middle School in Wheaton. It's much closer (compared to Aurora) - it only takes me about 20 minutes to get there. I start this Thursday, and will continue observing on Thursdays for the next eight weeks. I do get to teach lessons, but I am there to observe the teacher and learn from her strategies and methods. When I teach my lesson, she has to remain in the room. I can't formally teach any lessons "alone" until I'm certified. Or certifiable, your choice.
Oddly enough, I can teach lessons with a Substitute Certificate. And that's just what I applied for last week. In the state of Illinois (as I'm sure in other states as well), if you have a Bachelor's Degree, you can apply to receive a Substitute Teaching Certificate. With absolutely no prior knowledge of teaching. Now, most people crazy enough to want to sub for teachers have some general knowledge of teaching. So while I go to school to get my Teaching Certificate, I am able to sub. Now, our school district is in dire need of subs, and I've been told it's the same story across many school districts. I would love the opportunity to get the experience (and pad my resume as well) by subbing. Except I have one small problem... his name is Stevie. Stevie's still in preschool, which means that until he "graduates" to kindergarten, he's only in school for the morning. So I think I'll hang on to my subbing certificate and put it to use in the fall, when all three kids are in school full-time, and take the bus there and back. Because that's my whole dilemma - what do I do with my kids in the morning when I have to leave for my teaching job before they get on the bus? I hope there are before school programs available, that drive/bus them to school. I guess that's something I have to look in to. Any teachers out there willing to share their solutions? Please let me know!
School is a lot of work, but things are going well for me. A lot of reading this semester... if you want to hear about it, drop me an email. It's probably a lot of boring details to post here.
Well, that's all probably more information you wanted to read about, but I haven't posted long-winded posts in forever, so I figured I was due for one soon. So there.
I have to admit, I do kind of miss blogging daily (or at least more than once a month), the way I did on Stefan's blog. Of course, for that, there were daily updates to write about. And it was something everyone wanted to read about. Now, I'd just be writing about everyday, ordinary, mundane things, and I'm not too sure - but I think the size of my audience would dwindle down to two (my mom and me). So I'll just post occasionally on Mama's blog - she seems to be doing quite well with it on her own. I know she especially loves the fact that she can share pictures here... and boy, does she ever share pictures!
Ok - I'm signing off now. Before I find another tangent I have to go off on!
posted by Suzie at 1/29/2008 11:22:00 PM
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