Primer día en Madrid

So, I have been up for 30ish hours approximately. I left the U.S. less than 24 hours ago and that's crazy to think about because it has been a very long and full day. The flight went well. They fed me a lot, which was nice, but they also interrupted my sleeping for breakfast when I had finally got to sleep. I got pretty restless, but I made it safely so that's all that matters. Once I got off the plane, the airport looked deserted. It was weird. I don't know if they just don't have flights until later, but at 8 a.m. (2 a.m. central time) there were no people at the airport. My exhausted self marched my butt through customs, baggage claim, bought a train ticket to where I was going and then...I got a workout. You know why, because supposedly the train station was too close to the hostel that I am staying at. The taxi driver refused to give me a ride. I seriously got in the taxi, he even put my 53 pound suitcase in the trunk and when I told him where I was going, he said it was too close and he wouldn't give me a ride. He told me it was a few blocks away (which I knew was false), but I started walking because there were no other taxis in sight. I passed a few people, but I decided to pass them up and lug my two bags and huge suitcase many blocks to the hostel. Needless to say, I was really tired, my arms hurt, and I was sweating. And I broke down after I checked into the hostel. After I got clean, I calmed down and my thoughts of "What the hell am I doing?" left my head.

For the rest of the day, I looked at a few apartments with my companion, Stephanie (who went to Carthage with me). I did see a nice one that I liked, however, the other occupants were smokers so I decided I could find a non-smoking, better apartment. I have spent a majority of the day looking at apartments online and I have six that I will be calling and looking at tomorrow. Karin (who is also here from Carthage) and I will be looking at places tomorrow and trying to find a place. There's really not too much of a hurry because I am at the hostel until Wednesday, but I would rather get it over with so I can feel settled in and not be living out of a suitcase. I need a place that I can call home, if I don't I think I'll go crazy.

Anyway, let's talk about how this is the first country outside of the U.S., that I've been to, where you can flush the toilet paper and no one questions you if you drink the water. Boring! Where's the fun in that?! Just kidding, this year will be fun and I know I will find many differences between here, the U.S., Perú, and Costa Rica. Also, let's talk about how there are a ton of people at the hostel from different places: Mexico, Portugal, Austraila, North Carolina, Belgium, China, India, Russia, and I'm sure the list goes on, but those are just the people that I've meet. I have also listened to a conversation on 9/11 conspiracy theories that people believe. Notice I said the word "listened." I let Stephanie take the reigns on that conversation, but it was interesting to hear people's opinion. We also had some not so serious conversations, like "Show me what your license looks like?" "Wow, yours is nice, mine is a piece of paper."

It's been a long day and still I was in the U.S. 24 hours ago..wow. Crazy. It's off to bed for me though. The other "students" at the hostel are going out, but I think I will hit the sack and get ready for another day of apartment hunting tomorrow. But for now, the others are not out yet and I am listening to the Mexican and Portuguese compare Spanish, Portuguese, and Brazilian Portuguese. It's entertaining. Adios. Hasta luego.

Let another adventure begin.

I have no idea how to start this blog. I haven't written since January. Since then, I have finished student teaching in both an elementary school and a high school, I have graduated from college, and I have received my initial Wisconsin teaching license. Over the summer, I got the opportunity to work in the gift shop and admissions window at the Racine Zoo and now, I am off to Spain for 10 months to teach 6 and 7 year olds. I feel like I have accomplished a lot and yet I know that there's more to come and, to be honest, I'm not sure that I'm prepared.

I fly to Spain today, which is just unbelievable. This day has come so fast. Too fast. I have said goodbye to many amazing people that I will miss incredibly. Luckily, I'm going to have an amazing time in Spain with no regrets. I will not miss out on opportunities to live and grow.

As I sit here at the gate waiting, I am anxious to get on the flight and reflecting on the other two times that I have gone abroad. Both of those times were amazing and I expect nothing less for this one.

Keep your eye out for the next blog, when I will be in Spain!

IB field trip

I didn't go to school today.  No, I didn't sleep in.  I wasn't sick.  I went on a field trip with my cooperating teacher, a second grade teacher, the IB coordinator, and the principal.  It was so fun, enlightening, and inspiring.  If you didn't read my last post, I'll remind you what IB stands for...

IB stands for International Baccalaureate and it's a "recognized leader in the field of international education, encouraging students across the world to become active, compassionate, and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right." (http://www.ibo.org/)

In the past three days, I have already learned so much about IB and it's PYP (Primary Years Programme).  The curriculum is set up as six transdisciplinary themes per years:

• Who we are
• Where we are in place and time
• How we express ourselves
• How the world works
• How we organize ourselves
• Sharing the planet

There are also eight key concepts and questions that students explore and re-explore throughout the different units and subject areas.  They are as follows:

• Form - What is it like?
• Function - How does it work?
• Causation - Why it it like it is?
• Change - How is it changing?
• Connection - How is it connected to other things?
• Perspective - What are the points of view?
• Responsibility - What is our responsibility?
• Reflection - How do we know?

The last important things that I've gotten out of the last three days are the ten Learner Profile characteristics:

• Inquirers: Students develop their natural curiosity.
• Knowledgeable: Students explore concepts, ideas, and issues that have both a local and global significance.
• Thinkers: Students think critically to engage themselves in figuring out complex problems.
• Communicators: Students express themselves and information through a variety of modes of communication
• Principled: Students act honestly and with a strong sense of fairness, justice, and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups, and communities.
• Open-minded: Students appreciate their own cultures and personal histories and are open to the perspectives, values, and traditions of other individuals and communities
• Caring: Students show respect and compassion towards the needs of others.
• Risk-takers: Students approach unfamiliar situations with courage, as well as defend their beliefs.
• Balanced: Students understand the importance of intellectual, physical, and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being.
• Reflective: Students give consideration to their own learning and experience

As you can see that's a lot to memorize, but I'm working on it!  After the field trip today, I've decided that it's going to be interesting trying to create lesson plans while keeping these concepts in mind.  One thing though, in my opinion, is that these things (especially the Learner Profile characteristics) are things you, as a teacher, parent, mentor, guardian, etc., should be teaching children anyway.  Honestly, all of these concepts are or should be in most schools, they are just not identified under the title of IB.  My colleagues (wow, colleagues....that's such a grown up word) pointed out today that the thing that's so great about IB is that you do have the framework to help create and follow curriculum, but if you work at a school, I encourage you to at least make sure you're teaching your students the essential characteristics that are needed in life, like respect.

Anyway, enough about IB, kind of, let's talk about my field trip.  We went to another IB school south of downtown Chicago to see how they run their program.  It honestly was amazing.  The school we visited not only is IB, but it practices environmental sustainability.  They have a garden where they grow some of their own foods for the cafeteria and, even when it's not school grown, there food is organic (the kids eat SO healthy)...they have chickens, every classroom has a compost container, they recycle, the students take off their shoes at the front door and put on slippers to decrease the allergens that are brought into the classroom due to students' allergies.

It was really neat to see another IB school, especially since I'm just learning about it.  It helped me understand it even more.  Also, as a student teacher, it was really interesting to see a different aspect to a school.  I was in meetings and debriefings all day listening to what my current principal and fellow colleagues wanted to start implementing at their own school.  It was a completely different perspective (haha..one of the key concepts :)).  I really have enjoyed the past few days and I think this experience is really going to make me think about teaching different.  Hey, who knows, maybe I'll end up working in an IB school after graduation.

Other than being challenged by trying to figure out how I'm going to plan lessons, the most challenging thing for me is learning how to communicate (a learner profile trait :P) to K-5th graders.  It's really different talking and helping younger students.  How are you supposed to solve a problem between two young students, like if one student calls another one fat?  Let me tell you dealing with those issues will probably be the most difficult for me, but I've really been observing my cooperating teacher and trying to get the language down.  I'll become more comfortable with it as time goes on.  As for now, I'm still learning all the time.  Until next time, adios.

What I learned on my first day of school

Today was my first day of student teaching for grades K-5.  I haven't really had experience with students of this age, but I already learned/realized a lot from my first day of teaching...

1. One Direction is the new Backstreet Boys and N'Sync
2. One of the member's name is Harry
3. I forgot how small I was even in 5th grade
4. The Disney Channel has moved on from Lizzie Mcguire and That's So Raven
5. Talking to little kids is way different then talking to adolescents (I need to practice)
6. My feet are not used to standing all day
7. Water fountains are short in elementary school
8. Activities done in elementary school are fun!

Okay, so that definitely can't be all I learned, but that's all I can think of right now.

I guess I will also share that my school is an IB (International Baccalaureate) school.  As stated in the mission statement, IB "aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect," etc.  It's actually a pretty nice program because it emphasizes that the students uphold certain qualities.  For example, the IB Learner Profile traits are...inquirers, comunicators, caring, reflective, principled, open-minded, thinkers, balanced, knowledgeable, and risk-takers. I'm obviously just beginning my learning experience, but I can already tell that everything I learn at this school will help me in my future, no matter what grade I am teaching.

Last J-term

Okay, so Carthage has this thing called January term, otherwise known as J-term and pretty much it's supposedly the best time of the year.  Students only take one class for the month of January so there's more time and less homework therefore making it a relaxing month.  For me this year, I didn't take a class at all.  I worked full-time in the office that I have worked at since freshman year.  It's a blast there and it was a great way to spend my last J-term.  This coming semester I will not be taking classes, but I will be teaching them.  That's right.  Tomorrow, January 28th, I will be starting my student teaching experience, not to be confused with my past study abroad experience.  Although, going into a classroom of Kindergarteners - 5th graders will be much like a foreign country.  I'm anxious to start and if I didn't say it before, I plan to discuss my student teaching experiences here on my blog.  For the third quarter, as I said, I will be at an elementary school and for the 4th quarter, I will switch to a high school.  However, since I haven't quite started yet, let's go back to talking about my J-term.

The number one goal of mine during J-term this year was to finish my cross-stitch and I did.  Yeah!  Between watching Grey's Anatomy and The Bachelor, that gave me good quality cross-stitching time.

Here it is...

As for dancing, I've still been pretty busy with that, too.  We've already had several performances for the hip hop dance team, Iluzion!  Like this one...

or this one. (hopefully the link works)

Also with dance, my friend, Seles and I are choreographing for the Spring dance show to Jessie J's Who You Are and that's going fantastically!  I'm so excited to put it on the stage in March.  Also, I will be in another dance for the show, however, we haven't started rehearsals for that quite yet.  Also, on my list of fun obligations is the newly created Carthage Globetrotters.  It's a student organization that some friends and I started for students who have studied abroad.  It's still in the works, but I'm excited to see what the semester has in store for us.

Of course I've been watching some movies over J-term as well.  Like Pitch Perfect!  So good.  Funny.  Good music. :) How Do You Know?, which was an okay movie.  Also, as I type, Twilight: Eclipse is on.  My roommate and I got crafty and made a gingerbread man, provided by my grandma and it was delicious!  Taylor and I also went shopping, where I bought a whole new student teaching wardrobe. Woot woot! :D  Speaking of student teaching, I have met both of my cooperating teachers now and I look forward to working with both of them!  It's such an exciting time!

Finally, some last minute fun before my life gets busy was going to a Reel Big Fish concert at the Rave in Milwaukee!  It was a blast and I was with some amazing people!  It wasn't as amazing afterward because we stood out in the cold waiting for the cops to show up because someone had busted in the window, but it was still a good time and everyone was still in a good mood because of the concert and company. :)

Lastly, I went to an Arbonne party where I got a facial and a foot scrub, which felt amazing.  My last week of work is done and I spent part of this last weekend at my boyfriend's, where we ate dinner with my sister and brother-in-law.  I also was fortunate enough to see my grandma and grandpa and I had some good quality time with a friend last night.

As I said before, my first day of student teaching is tomorrow and I will let you know how that goes!  I hope you all have wonderful Mondays and a good night. :)

Christmas 2012

Okay, so here's the Christmas post...are you ready for this?

My Christmas break started out pretty busy.  I got to see my sister and brother-in-law, I spent time with my boyfriend's family, and spent my first weekend of break watching 10 games of water polo.  I have no idea what I'm going to do when I have kids that are in sports because my body already can't handle the bleachers for that long.  Thanks Mom and Dad for always supporting Kayla and I in sports! It means a lot and I apologize for all the back pain. ;)  I also had the joy of playing Yahtzee and watching White Christmas with some of my friends and I finished out the first weekend eating dinner with Tim at my grandma and grandpa's house.  Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures from break, but I do have a few so I'll try to sprinkle this blog with some of those.

Once I was finally home, I got to work on some priorities that need to be done.  I had an eye doctor's appointment, I revamped my educational portfolio, did some last minute Christmas shopping, and present wrapping.  And then, the storm hit...

I have never driven in worse weather than that day.  It was horrible!  I was so overwhelmed and a trip that is normally 15 minutes took me 45 minutes...and on top of that, I didn't even make it home.  I was forced to stop in the town of Roseville and I'm happy I did because otherwise I would have ended up in a ditch, I'm sure of it.  Luckily, I was stranded at my friend's house and not the highway, like many people were.  My dad as a volunteer firefighter along with the other firemen rescued approximately 80 people from the highway.  I, however, spent the night at my friend's house.  We watched the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Night Before Christmas.  And 24 hours later, I was home safe and sound.  I made cookies that night and then I was off again the next day to spend the weekend before Christmas with Tim's family.  The first week of break went way faster than I wanted it to, but it was still fun.

Radar for the storm that came through

At Tim's for the weekend, we watched Elf and Holiday Inn, which are just great Christmas movies!  And we also played Scene It!  That was actually my first time playing and it was pretty fun.  Of course I thought that because I love movies.  I was also able to go to Tim's church and to one of his family Christmases.  It was so fun and it was nice to meet his family.  It's interesting to observe and take part in others' Christmases.  Each family has their own traditions, their own holiday foods (like my family's Swedish meatballs and potato sausage or Tim's family's mostaccioli), maybe you open presents one by one or maybe you tear through all of them, maybe you carol, maybe you play games, maybe you go and see a movie in the theaters on Christmas day.  Whatever you do, I'm sure it's special.  I hope you all had wonderful Christmases this season.  How did you celebrate your's?

Christmas Eve pajamas 

What are my traditions do you ask?  Well, my family has a Swedish meal on Christmas Eve, we get new pajamas to wear also, and we play a game that involves a prize at the end.  The prize this year was the game Farkle.  Unfortunately, I didn't win, but if you haven't played the game, you should!  It's fun.  On Christmas morning, we open all the gifts (not one by one) and we eat leftovers for brunch.  And this year, on Christmas Day, my family and I went to see the movie Les Mis.  It was so good and I'm happy that I was able to see it in Chicago on stage before seeing the movie.  Of course I'm going to tell you to see it because I always do..so go see it! :)  While we're on the subject of movies, other movies that I watched over break that I have never seen before include:  Ted, The Green Mile, Jagged Edge, and Unfaithful.  All good movies!  I also spent the majority of break cleaning and cross-stitching.  It may not sound like an entertaining break, but it was actually really good.  For example, I rearranged all of the pictures in my room and now my room looks awesome!

I ended my break with Tim coming down to my house.  We played games with my family and went to church and grandma's on Sunday morning.  Then, we got to see friends that we haven't seen in awhile.  Overall it was a wonderful break.  My week one of J-term is over now and I'm going on week two.  This post is long enough for now though so we'll get to talking about J-term soon enough.  Until then! :)

Welcome Back!

Long time, no talk.  The "Welcome Back" in the title is a welcome back for me.  I sit down here reluctantly to write this blog, because it has been quite a long time since I've written, but let's give it a shot.

This past semester has been a busy one, like all are.  I took a full load of five classes which included: Human Anatomy, Jazz, a Spanish topic class, and two Education classes.  I really enjoyed Human Anatomy, we learned about all the different systems of the body, a partner and I had fun making a movable eye model, I got to see the inside of a deer heart and a sheep's eye, plus I passed the class, so overall it was really good. :)  Jazz as always was always fun to go to.  I love the instructor for that class and one of my favorite days in that class was learning "Thriller" on Halloween. And just to add a little fun to this blog post:

My Spanish topic class dealt with the gauchos of Argentina, which can be compared to cowboys in the U.S.  We read an epic poem, "El Gaucho Martín Fierro," which is considered a work that helps to define Argentine national identity.  It wasn't my favorite class, but it did mark my last Spanish class that I took at Carthage completing my Spanish major.  My last two classes were Education classes that were both very similar.  Both dealt with the use of literacy in schools and how to include it in your content area.  For both of these classes, I was able to go to a high school and observe, as well as teach at a local high school.  It was a blast, I learned a lot, and it got me excited to student teach this coming semester.

Other things that were on my plate this semester were again being a part of the Iluzion hip hop dance team.  We've only had one performance, but we have several more planned for this coming semester.  Sorry there is no video yet, but one will come. :)  Speaking of dance, I also was again involved in the dance show at Carthage.  I was in two dances and then I had the opportunity to choreograph a solo.  It was a great experience and the show was a success.  Only one more dance show at Carthage to go.  Finally, other priorities first semester included finishing my student teaching application, my education portfolio, and Fulbright application.  I find out at the end of this month if I move on further in the application process.  My hopes are high, but we'll see. :)

Now on to the fun things of the semester!

• Went to the Kenosha Dinosaur museum with Tim
• Jumped off the pier in Kenosha
• Last first day of class with my roommate, Taylor
• Went to Six Flags with my sister, uncle, and cousins :)
• Ate lots of sushi
• Went to graduation party for my brother-in-law (he graduated from the Police Academy)
• Carthage Homecoming 2012
• Went to Kenosha's pumpkin patch/corn maze and carved some pumpkins
• Went to a Pilobolus dance master class (See video below to see this style of dance)
• Went to Six Flags with Tim for Fright Fest
• My parents came for Family Weekend
• Dressed up as Calvin and Hobbes with Tim for Halloween
• Went to dinner and Les Mis in Chicago
• Saw the last Twilight movie with some friends
• Had good food and company at Thanksgiving
• Worked my last Christmas Fest at Carthage
• Carthage Fall Dance show
• Went to ugly sweater party
• My 22nd Birthday
• Received my student teaching placements for the Spring
• Finished my last semester of classes at Carthage

This previous list only brings us up to about halfway through December, but I don't want to go any further.  I'll do that in my next post.  However, for your entertainment, here are some pictures that accompany the previous list:

Okay, well that's the end of this blog.  In my next one you will learn what I did over Christmas break and what's in store for me this coming semester. :)  Have a great day!