One Step at a Time in Education

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...

  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...

  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...

    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...