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Exeter NH's Rich History

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  Reflect on what you have learned about the 10 themes of social studies through your readings and research and through the lens of K-8 learners and their learning needs in today's world. My understanding of this beautiful town grew exponentially through research in preparing for this social studies unit. I decided to focus my unit on New Hampshire and at times, specifically on our town of Exeter. I work and live in Exeter and this lesson plan unit is focused on geography standards for 2nd grade students. As I drove through the quaint downtown of Exeter for the first time 6 years ago it was a truly romantic experience - I swear there were sweeping strings of an orchestra playing and I thought to myself, I would love to live here. A walkable town with a charming down town, a body of water (river cascading through the down town area), a beautiful public library and a solid school system. If you have ever been to Exeter you know that all of the check boxes are filled. To be honest, fi...
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Miss Inefficient - That's Me!

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Miss Inefficient - That's Me! Yes, we are in week 6 and what is on my mind tonight - besides persistent, radiating neck pain - is my FPF lesson plan. Some of our class completed their observed lesson a while ago. I in my incredible inefficiency finally completed my FPF lesson plan on Monday. I completely revised this thing no less than  three times.  Now, on the eve of completing my supervised lesson I am sick of my lesson and of myself. I am fairly sure that no one else in our class has struggled with lesson plan and unit plan writing to the extent that I have. Perhaps a big part of my issue - besides my lack of confidence and lack of attention span - is that I don't feel comfortable leaning on my mentor and professional resources more. I don't know how to ask for help.  So here I am, the night before my lesson figuring out what I need to print. But I did pick up everything that I need for my hands on activity... I just hope it all comes together for the students an...
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I Think I Can, I Think I Can...

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  Hello Friends, I hope you are well.  Perhaps it is the weekly blog posts or maybe it is our recent group project but I feel like I know most of you better than the classmates of my previous classes.  Thank you for being so transparent with your highs and lows as we continue this class. We are only at Wednesday, but this has been a pretty great week. I can't believe I am typing this right now (it feels like I could jinx things, however I believe we make our own luck, even in elementary education) but I almost feel like I am hitting my stride with this special education paraprofessional thing. Having said "we make our own luck," watch tomorrow be a doozy.  Anyway, what I am learning now as a special education para - how to navigate challenging students, how to deescalate situations working with little ones with big emotions, how to better follow through, how to modify assignments and support the education of the students in my care - all while a guest in a general ed...
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This Too Shall Pass, Right?

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  Tonight is one of those nights where my work life morphed directly into my home life. There were some (students') tears at work and now I just finished dealing with tears at home.  My daughter is now laying with a pillow and blankets on the floor next to the computer I am using while I am typing this blog post.  This is allowing my husband to focus on reading Harry to sleep. Harry's exhausted after a long school day and his final cross country meet of the season. Instead of crying, Lilly is now happily "reading" some picture books. It is much easier to tune out her precious story telling than her piercing cries.  If I am ever asked in the future how I managed to balance, a full time job, being a mom and taking classes - I'll have to be honest in my reflections and say bluntly, "I didn't. Don't do as I did." This is rough. I nearly feel teary, too. I wish I had it all together. But I feel like I am missing something in our class as I feel like t...
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Keep it Simple (...Stupid)

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    It's about that time... To write some lesson plans.  And about the time to remind myself, "Colleen, keep it simple. Don't overcomplicate this." But my mind opens up and begins to jump around. Instead of pouncing on a solid topic, landing on the knowledge points to share and identifying activities to solidify student understanding, I begin to get stuck in thinking about all of the different topics that I could focus these lessons on.  This next paragraph is dedicated to anyone who has seen the 1980s video version of Anne of Green Gables - I'm talking about the VHS complete version. My father read me all of L M Montgomery books from this series. When I was in elementary school I checked this movie out from our public library constantly.  There is a character from the books and films, Miss Muriel Stacey who is the quintessential powerhouse inspirational teacher.  It is funny that Anne (also a teacher) is the heroine of the series, but Miss Stacey...
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Well, Here We Are

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Breaking Out of the Vacuum   So, tonight has not been the most inspirational evening to stir up creative juices for my first true blog posting assignment. If you can imagine: near constant interruptions from my two young children, a long (but actually pretty great) school day, followed by spectating a cross country meet for my nine year old, a quick dinner eaten over the computer keyboard and now my tired mind forming the words for this blog post.   My kids and I would much rather that I lay down to read bedtime stories to them, but this time is also important - for me. Blogging provides a valuable time for self reflection and self expression. For a once journalism major, I rarely write down (or type out) my thoughts to share with others. That's pretty lame. Working in a classroom can be a socially isolating experience for adults. Last year, while I was subbing for a kindergarten teacher out on a maternity leave, I would sometimes go to leave the classroom at the end of t...
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Honest Sentiments

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(Lillian, aged 2) This is my Lillian, she moves through life with an unabashed (and contagious) joy. Lillian will be four next month. She is curious, kind and loving.  She inspires me to try to be a little less structured and to be a little more playful in life.  I am less than a month into my current job as a special education paraprofessional. I love to laugh with the students that I work with, but I save the majority of my silliness for joking around with my team members - a group of eight fantastic and talented women, and two skilled supervisors. I love my immediate team mates - I am grateful for our shared laughter and support.  I currently dread going into work on Mondays, this was not my experience in my previous position as a Reading and Math Interventionist. But I also did not work with combative students in that position. The children that I work with now are unpredictable and one of them, whom I no longer work with, left me seeing stars and hearing the cla...
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