what can I say...?

First off, I want to thank everyone for an amazing term, and Dr. Meier for a class unlike any other. I learned so much and had such a good time! It was definitely a class to remember! :)

The social studies discussion that we had on Wednesday was great! It gave a chance to recap and close the semester. And out of that discussion comes my social studies manifesto… Which while thinking about this I was like haha, what if I call it a womanifesto so being the word nerd (rhyme!!  :) ) that I am, I looked up the etymology of the word manifesto and the “man” part actually comes from the latin manus which means hand. ANYWAYS! Off topic… here’s the Handifesto… hehehe… excuse me, I had a molten chocolate cake in the past couple of hours and I guess the sugar is kicking in J

Social Studies is the oft-forgotten subject in our public schools. However, that is not what I want in my classroom. I want my students to be social studies experts. That may seem like a lofty goal, but social studies is everywhere, it’s the study of life, it’s how life worked and how life works now. If I don’t teach my students social studies, how will they be good citizens? How will they know about their brothers and sisters around the world? How will they know what a good financial system is? There is so much of life that revolves around social studies, the students should feel cheated if they do not get a good social studies education. Also, social studies is so easy to integrate. Almost any subject can be tied in with social studies.

Before I came into this class, I had some ideas of how to teach social studies because of my apprenticeship of observation over 13 years. However, this class made those ideas concrete and accumulated them together. In 7^th grade we did a medieval fair where we did a lot of research, and I think that’s a really neat idea, and that also ties in with the Living History Museum. Another thing that I learned in this class that I would love to incorporate into my classroom is Block City. Government, especially at the local level is something that I don’t think was ever emphasized in my schooling years. However, that’s such an important subject. Like I mentioned previously, it’s about life. It’s the knowledge of where to go to pay bills, where to renew licenses, and so much more. The students need to know these things. Another activity/idea I have taken from this class is StoryPath. I love this idea! And I especially think it’s a neat idea to start at the beginning of the year and keep it going, or even change out the setting every semester.

Social studies, by name is a social “science” it requires interaction and active interest. I think one of the coolest ways to teach about other countries and people is what I initially thought the tourist model of cultural social studies was. I think of that as planning a trip to a country and finding as much information as possible before making the trip. The students could find out about the major cities, the people, what kinds of food would be awaiting them, what language. The students would get to delve into all parts of the cultural because it would feel like there is an imminent trip.

Another idea that I thought of during our discussion was “uncovering” vs. “covering” and I thought that by covering material, I want my students to uncover the vast world of social studies. If I present social studies and history as it should be, with the interesting stories of people and events like the Donner Party, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and so many other interesting topics, the students will be excited about learning. When they’re excited about the learning they’ll want to learn and research by themselves. So in a way, my teaching will, hopefully, bring more questions to the students minds because it will pique their interest.

Another thing that naturally comes with teaching social studies is having a culturally responsive classroom. When I teach my children about other cultures and other people, I’m embracing diversity and showing them that there are different types of people and that is ok. I think when teaching about other people, it’s also very important to highlight the similarities or to show the students that even though these people are different, the children still go to school like we do, or just any other way to bridge the gap between the students and other cultures. This shows them that they don’t have to be afraid of people that are different from them, which I think when people are not taught this, it is the root of ignorance and discrimination.

There are so many benefits and reasons why social studies should be part of the school curriculum. It’s my job to make sure that my students get a good foundation of social studies so they can build upon that the rest of their lives. Whenever they meet people from different countries, they can file that information with their other topics we covered or even pull out information that we learned and be cognizant and knowledgeable about the new person they are meeting. Or when they are old enough to vote, they know the proper way to register and what comes with the voting process. Or when they open a bank account, they’ll know what interest, principle, deposit, and other terms are. They’ll be ready. For anything ;)

Singapore to China

I loved the round-table discussion we had in class on Wednesday discussing various topics in social studies. We talked a little bit about the necessity of knowing where places/countries are, and while I don't think we all need to be as sharp as Lilly (but how cool would that be?!?), I do think it's important to know the general location of countries. And as it so happens, I was at dinner with a couple friends on Wednesday evening and someone was talking about how they were going to Singapore and another friend said why don't you go to China too?!? It's so close! go see the Great Wall of China. There was a pause at the table and someone was like really? And then we came to the consensus that it wasn't really that close at all. In fact, Singapore is at the tip of Malaysia, close to Indonesia and China is a long way north. I think that's part of the reason it's important to know the general location of countries. Imagine if you were planning a trip in your head and then thought you could go to all these places, and then when the map is consulted, it actually doesn't work at all. Although I guess you could also just look at a map to plan the trip. But I think because so many things are so easy to look up, we're becoming a little too dependent on technology. I think we all agree that the multiplication tables is something that's really important to know, not just be able to calculate. But what if later generations decide that we don't need to know those either. There might be some cool gadget that's tiny and will do math for you. I don't know I guess I just think some information you just should know. And I guess everyone's definition of what that information is differs, which is ok, maybe even it's good to have those differing opinions. It makes you look critically at information and decide what is important to you and why.

Living History

As with many other people, I really enjoyed the living history museum... especially the buttons ;) But seriously, I think this is a great way for people and students to get a much deeper knowledge of history. When you do it with students they'll be studying the time period, the life of that person, and so much more than is usually presented to the kids, and not only that, but while they're working hard to learn about the life of someone, everyone else in the class is working hard too, so they get to learn about so many different people. Also, I think kids have an innate curiosity to know about who the other students are and how they may relate to the person they are studying. I know I was excited when Amy (sorry!! I forgot who you were) and Heidi (Clara Barton) mentioned Seneca falls and women's rights. I wanted to know if they had ever met Elizabeth Cady Stanton and worked together. When students do this, they also see how history weaves itself. These seemingly unrelated characters actually had things in common.
Lastly, I mentioned to my mentor teacher that we did a living history museum and she mentioned that one of the 4th grade teachers did it in her classroom and it turned out really well. I was a little surprised that she did it with fourth grade, but she said that they practiced and they did a really excellent job, so I guess it just depends on the class, but you can do it with  younger students to an extent. And on a sidenote, later in the day I saw that teacher and she said that one of her ETSU students from last year mentioned it to her and that's where she got the idea from. How cool is that?!?

Night!
Imani

FQR

I think the various comprehension and study strategies we learned in class are really beneficial. I think as an adult learner some of these seem a little tedious. We automatically make the connections and make responses in our minds, however, I think writing it down on paper, specifically on the paper you're reading makes it a lot more valuable. First, you have to stop and formulate what you're thinking and also, for future reference, you can just look back at the notes and get a quick synopsis of what the piece is about.
For elementary students I think the FQR strategy is a good way to get them to slow down and actually comprehend what they 're reading. Usually they might be in a rush and just try to get to the end, or they're just decoding words and not really following the thought process. This strategy ensures students "get" what they're reading.

soooo many things....

JOKE!! :)
Well, as the title implies, there are soo many things to update!! But, I'd like to start with a joke. I read this in one of the level readers in my 3rd grade placement, and I loved it! I loved it so much that I had to share it with my mentor teacher, and she loved it too! I pretty much told everyone I saw that day. But first, a disclaimer: I love corny jokes. So if this joke falls flat on it's face, know that I thought it was hilarious.... :D so.... drum rolllll please:
What did the chef say when the waffles all fell to the floor??

"Oh! How waffle!" hehehehehe!! I love it!

Anyways, if you've stopped laughing and have returned to your seat after doubling over and falling off your chair with laughter (don't worry, I didn't laugh that hard) we can continue.

Exit Ready...?
I took my exit exam on Friday! yayy! I'm ready to exit... that is, if I get this semester's work done AND student teaching! soo excited, but really kinda apprehensive at the same time. And just a note of reminder, in case people haven't seen the fliers yet, the student teaching meeting on December 16th is at 10am.

The Terrible, Horrible, Barely good Sunday... kind of.
FOOTBALL... I don't even know what to say. WHERE WERE THE GIANTS?!?! HOW did the cowboys beat them?!? I mean really?!? My only team that won yesterday was the Colts! and the Steelers-Patriots game was just painful, although I bet it's not as painful as what the Redskins are feeling right now, I mean they're just getting WALLOPED! But other than that my Sunday was wonderful! haha! But really, I made chili and ate it with frito's and all the fixings (cheese, sour cream, green onion, tomato, olives.... MMM! Delish!)

Social Studies Connection
Lastly, (what a good cue word, right? I bet our language teachers would be so proud ;) the booktalk! I'm so disappointed I'm going to be missing everyone's on Wednesday! You guys will have to tell me what books y'all read so I can get in on the info! But yeah, I think Language Arts is SUCH a good way to incorporate social studies! And we're in luck too! there's probably a quality book on practically any social studies topic, especially historical events. And there's so many activities you can pull into it. You could have the students write journal entries about what they think that time period would be like, or what they would do, or you could even do a storypath and the students would have background knowledge from the book they are reading!
And I really, really liked the book I read, Journey to Topaz, although I have to tell you, it was a tear jerker. Just imagining that happening to families is so horrible. I kept imagining what it would feel like, and I just don't understand why... However, it did teach the history well, and told it from a unique perspective. Overall, it really was a good book. I'd definitely recommend it. The author has excellent style, and even though it is an easy read, you never feel like you're reading a kid's book. Excellent for student and adult readers alike! :)

So... Everest? Anyone?

Once upon a long time ago I went to one of those dome IMAX theaters and watched Everest. It was so neat to see it on a giant dome screen, but because of that I had a little background knowledge of how dangerous, while at the same time exhilarating climbing Mt. Everest can be.
I personally have no wish to climb Mt. Everest, I definitely understand why people would want to, but I think at the very most, I'd have to climb other large icy mountains first to see if Everest is something I want to do, which there is a tiny tiny, slim to none chance of ;) But generally, I think ice climbing is really neat. My brother used to do it a lot, in fact he had the crampons, ice picks, helmet, all kinds of things. It was really neat to see his pictures of how challenging ice climbing can really be. I think one day I'd like to do ice climbing, just to say that I've done it, after that, if I go again depends on how the first attempt went ;)
Lastly, I kind of love storypath! I think it can be so much fun with your classroom! It's a way to actually get in to the learning rather than just reading about it and doing reports. Students actually transport themselves and take on a different viewpoint.

The Alphabet Game.... and a staring contest :)

Soooo! Last night I had to go look something up on the world map, and as I was looking at it, I thought of Lilly and how she knew where Turkmenistan was... (I was so impressed!) So I looked it up and tried to find it. It took me a while, but I got it! And then beside Turkmenistan I saw Kyrgyzstan and all these other countries that I never think of, and I was like wow, this is good ammo for the Alphabet game! -When I was younger, and even now sometimes ;) my dad and I played this game on long drives where someone starts with a country or a place and the next person either has to name a place with the letter that the first place ended with or one that starts with the next letter of the alphabet (ex: if the first person says Alabama, depending on the rules, the next person can either say Arizona or Barbados.) So anyways, after playing this game for a while, you start to run out of ideas, especially if you're strictly limited to countries. sooo bringing this back to Lilly ;) I bet when she gets a little older she would be soooo good at this game! haha! She could name every country in the world! I would not want to go up against her! :)
the staring contest
And now, to the funny story of the day. I was at Happy Valley today in my 3rd grade placement, and the students were doing centers and the teacher was putting emphasis on the students staying on task, and being quiet, so one of the students (a girl) came up to me and said they were done with their center and asked what should they do next. So I told her that they should look at each other and do this... and I stared at her. So we got into a staring contest. And can I just say, she was really good!! But I beat her in the end :D .... Now before you guys start thinking I was wasting time and being a bad example, in my defense, the students at my center were playing a game and regulating themselves, and this student was done with her center and honestly, there was nothing else for her to do until the teacher called time and they had to move to the next center :)

Ciao!
Imani

Top Secret Mission and a New Look

OOOO mannn!! Who is excited about the top secret activity we learned about in Social Studies on Wednesday?!? I think it's soo exciting! I came home and immediately looked up the *treasure* (muggles may read this so certain words have been changed ;) that is located near my house. There are soo many, and I sooo want to do this sometimes really soon. Apparently this *treasure hunting* is a huuuuuge thing to some people. When I think of going *hunting* I think of maybe trying to find 10 pieces per hunt, but I was reading comments on some of the treasure that other hunters had left and they said they were on a specific type of hunting trip and went to more than 100 different locations PER DAY!!! They said in 6 days they had gotten over 700 treasures!!! That is sooooo I don't even know what to say! I think it'd be really cool to go on a hike that has a lot of them along the trail and that way you're hiking, but also treasure hunting.
In the Classroom
I think this is a really neat idea to use in the classroom. The kids would love it. It seems so exciting to go on a treasure hunt, I mean I'm in college and I was just like  Let's Go! I think it'd be especially neat to do one of the ones that is a clue one, that each box leads you to the next one. It kind of reminds me of the amazing race. OO! I wonder if there is treasure that tells you to complete specific activities. It's like a world-wide amazing race! haha!

The New Look
so.... what do you guys think? do you like the new layout? I logged in and saw the background, and I was like it's time for a change! :) So I was looking at the other backgrounds and this one was under celebrations, and I was like YES! Let's celebrate!! I have soo much to do in the next week, that a little celebration and cheer on my blog is just the thing ;)

Cache you around! ;) (haha! *catch* you around... it's ok if you didn't laugh, I love corny jokes :D)
Imani

I need to find...

Does ANYONE know where I can find circle pretzels? I need ones that fit hershey kisses inside them! My cousin makes these little treats and they are sooo good and I soo wanna make them, but there are like no circle pretzels in the area!! I've looked and looked... has anybody seen them anywhere?
And I promise ;) as soon as I find them and (finally!) get to make them, I'll bring them to class to share :D

Confesssions of a Shopaholic Moment... about Maps

So I had a Confessions of a Shopaholic moment... no I am not a shopaholic, and no, that wasn't me being in denial :) The story goes like this... Once upon a time (I'm channeling Dr. Gann's class here) I wanted to find a different kind of map, so I typed into Google, Map of the World, but I didn't come up with anything worth noting, so I typed in "Interesting map of the world" :) Channel Confessions of a Shopaholic when she typed in "angle on (some finance topic)" and her boss catches her. haha! (sorry if that story did not make you laugh or smile at all... I'm infamous for my stories... apparently I tell them really badly. It's like crickets chirping at the end... someone once told me to fix my stories I should say "then I found five dollars" because that makes the story instantly more interesting... )
Anyways!! The map that I found that I thought was cool kind of ties in with the internet and how it's at the tip of our fingertips and we use it pretty much allllll the time. http://www.yugatech.com/blog/the-internet/world-internet-map/ This map shows the internet connections around the world, kind of like density of internet. As you can guess, some countries don't even have a dot. I'd be interested to see how many connections constitute one dot.
Another cool map I found also has to do with the internet, but more with social networking sites... http://lh3.ggpht.com/raj.m.rao/R8OELsb1BmI/AAAAAAAACDk/FiDiQkaTBeY/s800/untitled%5B4%5D This map didn't come with a key to tell you how they determined what color each country would be, but I think it's interesting to see the different sites that are dominant in each country... some of them I've never even heard of!

Connect ;) with you later!
Imani

( : Geography : )

Howdy!

I have to say, I kind of love maps :) We have a big map of the world and map of the United States hung up in the hallway at our house, and I love to go look at it, especially when we take trips, it's neat to see the different states and cities you'll go through. And can I just say, I never knew Boston was sooo north of us. Before I went there this summer, I always thought that Boston was somewhere south of New York.... nope nope nope. It's less than 2 hours away from Maine! But anyways, I think it's so interesting to see where things are located, what seas are near what countries, where other places are in relation to us... That's why I thought all the maps that Dr. Meier showed us was cool.
I remember when I was in school, I'd always look in the geography text books in the index to see if Bangladesh had made it, as in mentioned anywhere. It's such a small country, but it has so many people!! I remarked to Heidi when Dr. Meier showed us the World Population map that the big pink blob next to India was probably Bangladesh even though Bangladesh is tiny, about the size of the state of Illinois. It's very densely populated. I found two other cool population maps at red one and green one. I think the red one looks dangerous! haha! I wouldn't want to fall on that! :)

Buh bye!
Imani

Mulan and Pocahontas

So yesterday, I was looking something up and somehow I ran across the movie Mulan. I got really nostalgic and looked up a specific scene on youtube; to my great excitement I found that it has the whole movie!!! You have no idea how excited I was, I didn't watch the whole thing, but then I saw Pocahontas, and I forgot how much I looved that movie!! So I started watching my favorite parts from that movie too :) And as I was watching the Colors of the Wind song came on and it just seemed so relevant, to class, and to our culturally responsive teaching. I loved that line where she said/sang "how high does the sycamore grow? You'll never know if you cut it down..." That goes with respecting the earth and not being wasteful, but she even says something along the lines it doesn't matter whether we're colored or white... I just really liked hearing it all over again, it was one of my favorites when I was little. And as I was watching I got reacquainted with Flit and Meeko.... O man! I love those two! They're so funny together! For example when Flit saw Meeko's tail as a target and charged at him and then got stuck in the boat and they flipped it over... oooohhh, I love this movie! It just makes me all giggly. haha! Maybe nostalgic is more the word, it brings back all the good memories... I think movies sometimes these days are so polluted with sexual innuendo that watching a cartoon movie from the past just makes me happy, without having to look away from the TV or be amazed at what they show on TV... anyways, that's a long way from Pocahontas... just like Pocahontas is a loong way from what actually happened in history, but it's still a good movie. :D I'm thinking about watching Sleeping Beauty later... did you know I never watched that movie till I was in high school? That was the first time I watched Sleeping Beauty..laugh all you want, but me and my friend went through a Disney phase where we traded Disney movies for like two weeks and caught up on the classics ;)

Something smells tasy downstairs, I'm going to go investigate!! and then it's off to finish the concept map ;)

αντίο (bye in Greek)
Imani 

Eggplant Parmesan which induced a 5K.... and of course football

10.10.10 <-- How exciting is that?!?

So I've been meaning to make eggplant parmesan for a while, and the other day my grandpa found some really good eggplant at the grocery store so he went ahead and bought it. So on Friday, I was completely exhausted and I didn't wanna do anything involving the kitchen, but the eggplants were going to get old, so I buckled down and started making it, knowing the end result would pay off... AND BOY DID IT!! ooo man! It was soo incredibly good! The eggplant was tender and I love mozzarella, so I made sure to put plenty of that, but the fried breading and tomato sauce made an excellent accompaniment for the pasta... needless to say, it was won-der-ful! It was so wonderful that I ate way too much. On top of that, I had one of those ice cream drumsticks! :D I forgot how much I love sugar cones with ice cream... I was supposed to go "training" for my 5k that I was going to do the next day, but that was not going to happen ;) So anyways, I ended up going to bed late Friday and when I woke up at 7am on Saturday I had no wish to go run a 5k. But alas, I had promised my friend we'd go, and it was for Autism Speaks, so I was gonna drag myself out and do it. So me and my friend went and while we were standing around waiting, we saw everyone and they all just looked so athletic! I was like oo man, we're going to be last, we are soo gonna be the last ones to finish. Then as we were "running" (more like jogging, walking for a while, and then jogging again) I was like hey, we're not doing so bad, this might work out ;) It was her first 5k, so she was just kinda going with the flow, but we had fun. Definitely laughed at ourselves a couple of times. Once I bent down to tie my shoe and one of the race people were like are you down? Do I need to call a nurse? It was kind of funny, I bet we looked tired ;) Anyways, I had my best time for a 5k, ~42mins, so before all you expert runners start laughing about how slow that is, I'm proud of myself ;) hahaha! I told someone my time that night, and she was like ohhh, that's pretty good, and then she was like, actually, that's really slow. But anyways, it was fun, and it was for a good cause.

Football :D 
 :) the Colts wonn... o mannn, that game was such a nail biter! I was like are you kidding me?!?! And I can't believe Dallas lost!! They just played really horribly. Did anyone see the overtime between green bay and washington? That was a pretty strong kick :D I'm not a fan of washington, but ever since the packers let go of Favre, I just don't like them that much. I mean Favre definitely needs to make up his mind, but I like his spunk. Although if he flip flops at the end of this season, it's over. I'll be a huge packers fan.... just kidding. I don't think I could ever be a Packers fan, even if I lived in Green Bay, this is going to sound so odd, but whenever I think of the Packers I think of like an old backpack, which is so weird considering they have a young team, especially at quarterback, but whatever...

Sunday School Lesson
I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself. In Sunday school the next chapter I was going to teach was on kindness, and I was like this is such a cut and dry subject. Everyone knows you should be kind to each other, how am I supposed to make this interesting? So I was just hanging out around the house and it hit me all of a sudden! I was so excited, totally stoked about my lesson. I had the kids use chalk out in the parking lot and illustrate what kindness is to them. This one kid drew a picture of him hugging his sister. It was so adorable. I took a picture of each of their drawing and then I had them write about what they drew, after I print out the pics we'll make a poster and put it in the classroom, I'm so excited! :D

O! I love this commercial! (I am in no way associated with Travelers Insurance, I just think this commercial is so fun!) Could you imagine being on a safari and coming across this watering hole? :D


well, I think that's enough for now, I'm still working on my brother's blanket, it's coming along nicely. I realized that football season = crochet fever. Crocheting gives me a good excuse to sit comfortably and watch the game without feeling like I'm wasting time ;)

Till next time!
Imani

he wants to be a teacher because....

hehe.... so today I was at Happy Valley and I ate lunch with the kids :) they had brownies for dessert and the little boy who was sitting next to me (he often gets in trouble for being "off task" but he is so smart and really sweet) but anyways, he sat down and he told me that one of the aides had a big brownie, that it was hanging off the side of her tray. and I was like really?!? that's huge! It might be because she's a teacher. About a minute later he told me "I wanna be a teacher here at Happy Valley when I grow up." And I thought to myself wow, this kid really has plans, that's impressive. And then I asked him what makes him want to be a teacher and he said "the brownies." It made me laugh soooo hard (on the inside). But it was so adorable! He wants to be a teacher for brownies...
When I was in first grade I kind of wanted to be a teacher so I could tell people what to do! ooo man... thinking back I can't believe that was my motive. I was really looking forward to being a teacher in 2nd grade when my teacher made me re-write a journal entry. I was so upset! I was going to become a teacher and then teach her kids and make them re-write stuff! (I'm sitting here shaking my head... what a far cry from the real passion a teacher should have... but don't worry, I've reformed my thinking ;) )
Anyone else have any amusing/inspirational I want to be a teacher because.. stories? I think it is so interesting what brings people to want to be teachers, especially elementary. There's such a variety of passion :)

hei (bye in Finnish)
Imani

O dear....

.... this is going to be a long one, I can feel it in my bones... :)

New Bookshelf :D
Does anyone else feel the thrill of rearranging your room? This weekend (instead of studying ;) ) I brought a new bookshelf into my room, I'm serious I was soo excited! It's more space to put my books and sort of reorganize. I used to be such a re-decorating junkie when I was younger. I'd rearrange my whole room every couple of months. And I'd do it all by myself! I had such arm strength when I needed to move my bed or dresser, but my mom would always joke with me that when I had to carry things for her I was like ummm, that's too heavy, but I had no problem moving furniture. Anyways, I got a new bed a couple of years ago and it's pretty much impossible to move, and plus it would look awkward in any other position in my room. So for a long time I haven't rearranged my room... Well you can imagine how excited I was to get a new bookshelf :)

Crocheting ;)
AND this weekend I also finished a blanket I started crocheting last winter. Does anyone else crochet?! I loove it! My cousin always call me a grandma, but seriously, it's so much fun. I love the satisfaction when you finish a project and you can actually use it. Next project.... a blanket for my brother. It's brown and blue... I bought the yarn last winter when I was on a crochet marathon, I was crocheting all the time and this yarn was too pretty to pass up ;)

FOOTBALLL :D
On to football news! yayy! :) except that Peyton and the Colts lost :'( AND they didn't even show the game! I was following the last couple of seconds on the computer and they tied at 28 and I was like YES! Overtime!!! and then.... uggghhhh!! I literally groaned out loud when I saw that he kicked the field goal!! why?!?! At least Eli still hadn't played yet, so I could count on him... and he won!! And I watched the Denver/Titans game... whew! that last botched kick was such a relief! Sooo glad Denver won... (sorry Titans fans) I'm currently tuning in and out of the Patriots/Dolphins game.... :) Miami was doing soo good! and now they're losing... hope they can turn it around... (yeah right.... :P)

Mash :P
So I don't know if I mentioned this in one of my last posts, but I had Shepherd's Pie for the first time last week, it was soo good!! I couldn't stop thinking about it till I went to bed that night... I'm still trying to hunt down the recipe, I'll let you know how that goes. Anyways, instead of a mashed potato top the lady put a potato cauliflower mash on top. It was so incredibly good. It was really smooth too. So! of course, I had to try and make it, and finally after a whole weekend of trying to make it, I finally did tonight. It was so wonderful! It tasted just like potatoes and cauliflower. It had a really nice buttery taste, but it wasn't overpowering AND I didn't want to wait that long for the cauliflower to get really tender, so when it was al dente I finished it. I'm actually glad i did that though cuz there were some nice baby chunks of cauliflower in the mash... MMMmmmm! I definitely got my starch in for the day! ;)

Social Studies PLAY! 
Can I just say, I loved the plays today! Everyone did such a good job!! I was just really bummed I didn't have my camera... I'm serious the days I don't have my camera handy... KODAK moments GALORE! I definitely think that acting it out internalizes the material so much better. Rather than just reading a textbook or even having an interactive lecture isn't the same thing as actually acting out the parts! And I think it's such a good idea to use in the classroom. Especially with ample time to prepare, this can be such a great tool, not just for each of our own classes, but the school as well. Like we discussed in class, this would be awesome to do for the younger kids. Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed it, I just wish I was wearing red to make the "Lobsterback!" comments more real ;) and Denise.... her enthusiasm for her part still makes me giggle :D
There are so many historical moments that are sometimes just stored in the back of our minds, but doing plays about it is something the kids will remember (so when they're in Social Studies in college and have to write a list of Social Studies memories... they have a lot more exciting thing to write than others... wouldn't we be so proud?)

Anyways.... homework is calling my name.... till next time!
Imani

Critical Voice and Guatemalans and Humus

Critical Voice
I liked this article... (how bland of a statement, but at the moment I couldn't think of a better opening line) I thought it was interesting that it seemed like Stan really thought that his plan for teaching actually was good. The first time I read it, it seemed like he thought teachers would be relieved to have their lesson plans handed to them. Then when I read over it again it seemed more like he was talking to administrators that they could have full control of their teachers. He must really think very little of teachers to think that they want the creativity stamped out of them and only do what people tell them to do. Either that, or he has a very stereotypical view of administrators. That they want all the power. Though it may be rare, I'm sure there are many administrators and principals who advocate for their teachers.
As far as developing and having a critical voice, I think teachers with passion have that. You have to. You can't be really passionate about something without willing to speak up for it. When we see kids being mistreated or unfair rules being enacted how are we supposed to stand by silently? I think of the Malcolm X quote, "If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything"

Guatemalans
in other news... I saw something on the news that made me so incredibly upset. Apparently in the 1940s Americans injected the Guatemalans with STDs for a study! I could barely believe it. I mean who does that? The first rule in conducting studies is that you can't harm the people that you're studying. Why do we think that people in 3rd world countries are somehow less than others? How can people justify something like that? It reminded me of when the colonists gave the American Indians blankets infected with smallpox. What are we  supposed to do with information like that? I mean what do you even begin to do to correct that? Or make sure that something like that never happens again? Why can't we learn from history? You can't see the future, but historical vision is 20/20 you can see what you did, know what happened and what the effects were. Goodness... I'm slightly dumbfounded.

Humus
Lastly, I went to my field placement on Thursday and it went a lot better than the first day went. There were a lot of interesting events, plenty of journal material, but I'll just tell you the funniest, shortest story. I was helping with a science lesson with the students and we were talking about climates and they were reading in the textbook, and one kids was reading about soil and he said, "soil is made of nutrients and humans" I giggled in my head and told him it was humus. Could you imagine :)? You can tell that kids sometimes guess at words. When they get to a foreign word, without really reading, they just tell you what they think it might be. I had to tell a couple kids to slow down and really read. But it was a good day. Got a rough plan for what I'm going to do for my lesson. We'll see how that goes ;) AND! I learned about the gallon guy/girl! Click on the link in the links section... I thought it was a great way for kids to learn comparative measurements! It was even helpful to me!

Adeus! (bye in Galician <-- where do they even speak that?)
Imani

Smell the Roses... and pizza :)

Nee How!

That almost sounds like something a cowboy/girl would say... you can definitely countrify it :)
So today I came back from campus and I was kinda tired and thinking about the paper left and the loong article and questions i had left to do... not to mention the scanning that still has to get done... O Lord! there is gonna be some serious prayer tonight that the scanner doesn't jam on me tomorrow morning! haha! Anyways, so my mind was completely occupied and I was walking to my front door and I noticed the rose bushes my grandpa had planted sooo long ago, and to my pleasant semi-surprise there was a GORGEOUS small, elegant red rose blooming. and so I stopped to smell the roses. And a bee buzzed by me, so I was slightly jarred out of my rosy dream world but I went right back to smelling the roses, because on the other side of that front door was plenty of homework :)
Lastly, here are the pizza pictures! I was too busy eating the scrumptious pizza ;) so by the time I remembered to pull out my camera everyone was done eating, but that's ok. Anyways, I think my favorite picture is Michelle's bean face :D

Michelle's beans ready to be used for multiplication!!

hmmm.... Amanda seems to be in trouble.

serious class discussion underway...

not serious class discussion :)

note the finished pizza to the bottom right :)

what's left... of the pizza

Till next time!
Imani

placement, football

So, I started my placement on Thursday, and it went pretty well. It was a day to remember :) As I was walking to the classroom my mentor teacher said she had greeter duty but the door was unlocked and I was welcome to go in. I thought this would be a good opportunity to look around the classroom. I put down my stuff and started looking around. There were picutres on a bulletin board of all the students and a writing sample about their favorite food, or whether they liked picnincs, there were a variety of prompts. Then I saw some of the textbooks they were using. Having just discussed the glossed over version of Columbus in social studies I opened their social studies book and looked to see what they had to say. There was relatively no discussion on how the Indians were already here and we took their land. However, it didn't assert that Columbus discovered America. It said something along the lines of that the people in England didn't know about it and now they did. I don't remember the exact wording. And this may be because I was in an analytical mood of the social studies book, but I also saw the section they had on slavery (I don't know if this was the section, and the only place it mentioned, but I was slightly appalled). The most in-depth topic it went into was how a slave family got their own family later and flourished. It kind of just skipped over what slavery was really like and how the slaves were brought over here in over-packed ships... etc.
Anyways, onto the stories :) I was waiting in the classroom by myself and I hear someone open the door and tell their child that the teacher isn't here, but an ETSU student is... I was like hmmm... I wonder who it is. So I went to say good morning, but by this time the parent had left. I asked the little girl her name, and then I told her mine. She gave me cute little smile and said, "that's a pretty name" I almost started laughing! it was soo adorable! that was supposed to be my line to make her more comfortable, but instead she definitely made me feel welcome in the classroom. And then, about 2 minutes later a whole crowd of kids came in, and I had stood at the door waiting to say good morning to them, and they just started barraging me with questions. Who are you? What's your name? Are you our sub? and they started getting a little wild ;) and then that same little girl, as she was putting her stuff away said, be nice! ooo man. I think I found my ally in the classroom! haha! But anyways, the rest of the day went well. They're a pretty good class. I got to do a mini-science lesson with the small groups in centers, so that was neat getting to know the kids in a smaller setting.
I could go on to gripe about this new system they have where students take pencil tests and then have to transfer that to a computer, or the teacher has to transfer a test of 40 questions for each student on to a computer, but it really wouldn't make a difference, and I can see some of the reasoning behind it, so.... yeah.
But my mentor teacher is really helpful, she gave me all kinds of resources, stuff for my math paper, etc. I'm looking forward to working with her.
Lastly, football :) I feel soo bad for the Giants!! poor Eli, he played so well with his passes, but there were just so many other mistakes. They play Chicago next week... we'll see how that goes.
And INDY! :) Right now it's only half time, but they're winning! so that's a good sign, let's just hope they keep it up. And I'm really glad the Saints finally lost :D
Anyways, on to finish homework.... can't wait for Pizza tomorrow! Yum yum delicioso!!

Imani

Relatively Wonderful

Today was pretty good... and here is where you are going to giggle (or laugh, if you're a boy - another stereotype, I know, but how many boys giggle, or even if they do, they don't say that "I giggled at that story") my measure of how relatively wonderful my day was involves food. I enjoy good food, the better the food, the better I like it ;) and I loove spreading the joy of good food. So on Monday I went to the library and I had the intention of getting something from Einistein Bros. since it's brand new and all. I got there and I saw cinnamon twists, and I was like hmmm.... that looks good... and then! I saw a tag that said something along the lines of Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Coffee Cake. but there was nothing behind it :( I was so determined that that sounded so tasty that among the bustling lunch crowd I asked the lady if they had anymore. She said she'd check in the back, and when she came out... (cue the singing voices) it loooked BEAUTIFUL! 

I mean doesn't that look amazing? And if it doesn't, I promise it looks even better in person. So she was about to put it in a bag and then she looked up at me and asked me if I wanted it warmed? Did I want it warmed?!? YES Ma'am! o. my. goodness. I cannot explain to you how positively wonderful it smelled when she handed it to me. I waited till I got out of the library and sat on one of the stone walls to take it out of the bag. By the size of the thing, it was not something to eat while you walk, and that's no way to enjoy your first Einstein Bros. Chocolate Coffee Cake. So I sat down, took it out, and chocolate was all over my fingers. It was all warm and melty...... and then I bit into it.
oooo man. The inside if that cake is like butter. It is soo smooth and velvety. and I was surprised because it wasn't cinnammon-y and streusel-y, it was just velvety goodness.
So yeah... onto why I was posting this. I happened to spread the food love today during lunch. First Daphanie and I were going to the treehouse to get a chocolate bar or something and I mentioned the coffee cake to Daphanie and she told some of the girls that we were going and Nekesha offered to split it with me. Now I wasn't going to get it at first, I mean I'd had my share for the week, but I mean if someone wants one, you can't tell them no, right? ;) So I gladly obliged.
And then, I came to the room and Rachel saw me eating it :D and she mentioned that it looked really good. I told her, "o. it is!" and I gave her the details about how great it is, and how convenient it is to go get one (they should hire me as a sales rep or something). And like 10 minutes later I see her walking into the classroom with an Einstiein Bros. bag... SUCCESS!! So anyways, that's two new people I've introduced this fabulous new coffee cake too. I'm sure many more will follow suit ;) Have you tried it? Do you like it? Do you plan on trying it now? :D

O! and for those that don't like coffee, it doesn't taste like coffee at all, it's just named that I guess because a lot of people eat those kinds of cakes with their coffee.

Au Revoir!
Imani

Football and Black Ants

Sooo.... I got a new look. What do you guys think of the new background?
It was a pretty good football day. In fact, that's why this post is so late. I had a Giants @ Colts game calling my name. So quick recap of why today was so wonderful. The Titans lost, the Patriots lost, and the Colts won :) but that also meant that the Giants lost, and though I didn't want them to win, they kind of got slaughtered. Obliterated, demolished, stepped on...
Speaking of what wasn't stepped on, the ants from Black Ants and Buddhism. I knew I wanted to blog about this article when we got it. It just seemed that it was the most interesting. Not that the social studies textbook isn't something I would totally take on vacation with me ;)
There is so much to write about in this article. While I was reading my mind was just buzzing with tangents.
Firstly, I was really impressed with Som Jet. He really had conviction in his beliefs. It takes a lot of courage to stand up in front of your class protesting something that everyone else views as completely normal.
In the last part of the making connections section the kids were brainstorming a list of human rights and as I was reading them I thought about how innocent kids are. They have this clear sense of right and wrong and what's fair and what's not. I remember we watched a video in social studies this week and the kids were making rules for the classroom and I remarked to Heidi sitting next to me that kids are so smart, and that sometimes I think they're smarter than adults. Later that night I was thinking about what it would be like if kids really did make the rules. And I feel like in an ideal world it would work really well, but I guess right and wrong isn't always very clear and that's why things get a little complicated. However, I do think getting down (or maybe up) on our student's level and examining how they view the world can be very beneficial.
Lastly, I just want to say that we need more teachers like Ms. Cowhey. And we should aspire to approach teaching the way she does. She looks at every opportunity as a teaching moment. And not only a teaching moment, but a real in-depth lesson. The lesson could have been "be nice to ants" or "respect all creatures." But she chose to go on a much deeper level and connect it to people in her classroom and the beliefs people hold. She educated her students about the global world and made sure that they didn't live their whole lives hanging out with White Christian Americans, crushing ants and swatting mosquitoes and thinking they were like everyone else on the planet.

UPDATE!!

Hello there!
So, it's been a while. Not really that long, but a lot has happened since I last posted, so just bear with me. I promise there is some exciting (maybe) news at the end.
Let's start at the beginning. On Thursday (the 16th) I went to Happy Valley to meet with my mentor teaching to just get set up. I went in the afternoon, right around pick-up time. The parking lot was so full!! I didn't even think I could find a place with so many cars, parents, and buses.
When I got there I started getting a little nervous. This school is in the country, like country country. Which is fine, but I was just a little unsure about how parents and students would perceive me in my hijab (headscarf) and jilbab. I said a little prayer before I got out of my car and then walked to the school. There were obviously the curious glances, but other than that it went well! :D I met with the teacher and she was really helpful! I am very much looking forward to working with her this semester. She said the Thursday schedule is a little different than all the other days because they have RTI, but I'm looking forward to that as well because it'll teach me how to deal with different kinds of situations. So my first day starts the 23rd... the First Day of Autumn! :D
Next update, my reading assessment with my child. I was very apprehensive going into my session on Thursday. She, understandably, didn't do that well on the media knowledge test, so I was very concerned with the beginning alphabets test, but she did ok actually. Even though I'm not her teacher, I felt so proud of her when she got the right answer. And just a future hint, stickers are your friend! I took some motivational Dora the Explorer stickers... they were magic. There was a point where she flat out told me, "I'm waiting to go back out to the playground." I went into emergency mode because we had only been there for like 6 or 7 minutes and we had more tests that we needed to get done, so I was like, "well, if you can finish this next test for me, I have stickers!" OO what a lifesaver. She ended up picking out 4 Dora stickers, but they were soo worth it ;)
Speaking of Dora, I was reading a Dora book to a 3 or 4 year old little girl whose parents are from Pakistan, and at the end of the book there is a picture of all the Dora the Explorer characters and I was like, "Hiba who is this?" as I pointed to Dora and she was like thas me! And it was soo cute, because she does kind of look like Dora, and then I pointed to Boots and I asked her who that was, she said, thas you! ooo goodness. apparently I look like a purple monkey. I guess that's better than her telling me I look like Benny the Bull who was also on that page. lol!
And Saturday... the PRAXIS. Surprisingly, that wasn't the most nerve-wracking thing that happened to me. I woke up, went to the test, it went ok, there was a set of three of four questions that dealt with one topic and I had no idea what that topic was, but I think the rest of it I did pretty well... We'll see four weeks from now :) So anyways, I got out of the exam... finally, had to wait for soo long, but got to my car, reversed and started driving, and as I'm driving I hear this flapping noise, and I'm like hmmmm.... that doesn't sound good. So I stopped at the light and the noise stopped ;) and then when I started driving it started again, by this time I was pretty sure I had a flat tire so I pulled into Zaxby's and called my dad. Well, it was flat alright, in fact when I was sitting in the parking lot, I could tell because my car was slanted towards the back left. Anyways, I learned how to change a tire today! and that tires are pretty heavy, even when they're flat! And apparently if you drive a flat tire (which I didn't know about, in my defense) the two rubber parts (such untechnical language, I know) apparently rub together and create rubber dust. Which is how you know that you're tire has been deflating for a while. great! I mean, doesn't that sound wonderful?
Well, that's all I have for now... all updated :) I am soo looking forward to tomorrow. I'm going on a picnic with my picnic basket (and some other people :D) but what I'm most looking forward to.... is....

are you reaaaaadyyyy????

GIANTS @ COLTS!!! yayyyy!! Go COLTS!

bok (bye in Croatian),
Imani

First Day of School... the pics

Aloha Block!

Kim and her suitcase on the first day of school

A radiant and pregnant Daphanie on the first day of school.

Pamela and Elizabeth look sooo excited to be here! ;)

Right before Dr. Gann's class... just hangin' out.

Call it coincidence... purple seemed to be the color to wear on the first day.

The Pregnant Women of Block.... in order of due date, left to right.

I'll have the ones from the colonist game in social studies up sometime before Monday! Happy "weekend"

再见 (bye in simplified Chinese)

Imani

...interesting

Do you ever get into a giggly mood? I have running commentary in my head... Whatever happens I have something to say (maybe some of you have already noticed) and generally my commentary makes me laugh. So anyways, I'm in one of those moods right now. I'm trying to finish my math homework, and I just feel like giggling (mind you, math homework is nothing to giggle at) I think it's an attempt to procrastinate. Like I know I should be doing it, but lookie here! I'm on my blog.
Anyways, onto non-giggling, block-related things. I did another reading assessment with my child today. It was interesting (for lack of a better word) We read Curious George Goes to an Ice Cream Shop. She liked it, but some of the questions I was asking her was too difficult. And it's hard to gauge her reading level because she didn't know the front of the book, but she knows the direction I should be reading. And even though she knows that, when she wrote her name, she wrote the first letter, then the second letter was to the left and then she continued onto the right side of the first letter. Is anyone else confused as to how to assess the responses they're getting from their child? At first, I was like uuughhh I wish I got a child that knew all the answers (lol... yeah right!) but I think this is way better. It's actual experience. The assessment is something that should teach me what to do in certain situations, and if there ever was an interesting (sorry for the repetitive word! I usually am much more articulate) case, this is it! Can't wait till we get to the other assessments! My next assessment is on Thursday...
O! and I'll post the first day pics and the Pregnant Women of Block picture soon. I still haven't uploaded them to my computer... but! as soon as I do, I'll post it :D
On to chocolate chip cupcake baking!

さようなら (bye in Japanese)
Imani

STRESSED backwards = DESSERTS... or funny videos

ok... Was I the only one slightly overwhelmed today? Ms. Dosser's Teacher Work Sample feels like it's just something I have to sit down and look over and organize it in my head.
Dr. Nivens... another story, I feel like I don't even know where to start to articulate how to do the remediation plans. There are so many areas to tackle to steer that student back to the right track. Maybe even just completely re-teach... is that a valid remediation plan? A complete do-over? I'm sure once I get into it and actually look over it, it might make more sense, or at least I can get an approach that I want to take.

This brings me to the most exciting part of the post... when you're feeling stressed or down, watch the second video from the top. It makes me laugh EVERY time. and I'm serious, me and my cousin watched it over 50 times in the span of a week. The other ones are really funny too. My favorite part from the main trailer is when Gru makes the kittens drink the milk. I saw a book at Barnes and Noble the other day with a finger puppet and I automatically thought of this trailer! Which video is your favorite? and if you watched the movie, on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) how good is it?
Enjoy!

 

да спаткання (bye in Belarusian)

Imani

NOOOOOOOOOO!!

Oh. My. Gosh.
Oh my gosh. What happened?!? and whyyy? I cannot believe the Colts lost the first game of the season. I'm speechless (though I'm sure I'll get over that soon) and WHY didn't CBS OR FOX carry the game?!? Maybe if I could have watched and cheered them on they would've won.. haha! At least Eli Manning won. I did watch that game :) and the Steelers won in overtime :) yay!
and new england won.... ugghh.
This is going to be an interesting season. Next week it's Giants @ Colts. HOPEFULLY the Colts win, although it'll be soo sad to see Eli lose again against his brother... I don't know why, but I get emotionally attached to the players. I care how bad they feel after they lose, etc.
Anyways, it's snack time... leftovers from Carino's!! :D
What did you guys think of the games so far? Anybody as speechless as me for the Colts loss?

Deja Vu and Are You Reeaaadyyy?!?

Deja Vu
So today I went to Little Bucs to start my reading assessment for Dr. Gann's class. It just so happens that the room I was in with my "student" was the same room I went to kindergarten in!!! Before it was Little Bucs it used to be called the Child Study Center and there was pre-school along with kindergarten. We were the Orange Roosters, then there was also the Blue Bears, Red Lions... I have so many fond memories of that room. It's (obviously) changed, but I could just picture the red book cases, where I used to take a nap (never really sleeping though, now I wish I could) where we used to have morning meetings, etc. But, on to present day. My kid was so sweet. When I first met her I was going to shake her hand but I don't think she is used to that so she just grabbed my hand and held on to it. When we got into the classroom at first she was really quiet and then she opened up a little; however, by the time we got to reading a book (the rapport part, not the literacy section) she was already attention-spanned out. I was turning the pages, but at one point, she took the end of the book and flipped all the way to the last page! It was so cute. The funny thing was that the book wasn't really a story book, it was just about spring, so it wasn't that entertaining and I kind of wanted to flip to the end too! haha! So we ended right after the logographic literacy test becuase I could tell she just wasn't into it anymore. Hopefully next time can last a little bit longer.

Are You Reeaaadyyy?!?
Are you reaady for some foooootbaaaalll?!?!?! YAYYYYYY!! The official football season is finally upon us!! I'm so excited for tonight's game! As a Colts fan, I am sooo going for the Vikings tonight. And I really hope Favre does really great this season and then that's it. no more wishy washying! This is getting a little bit ridiculous. But I guess it's all in football fun. Who are you all going for tonight? And are there any specific games you're looking forward to this weekend? Leave me a comment and let me know!

օրոր (bye in Armenian)
Imani

the second first one!

Hello again!

for such an exciting background, the title names are pretty boring... Will get better though :)
So I've been thinking of all the things I could write about/do on my new blog. And here's one of my favorite ideas. I've been fasting for the past month for the month of Ramadan, and this weekend is the holiday of the end of fasting. So! I'm always looking for a reason to have a "party" in the classroom, and since I love cooking, I thought In order to celebrate, I'd bring a snack/dessert of some kind on Monday. This is where you come in. And why it's an exciting idea. There should be a poll on top of this post, I'll either bring chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chips in it (no frosting, because I'm not a huge fan of frosting and these cupcakes are pretty moist if I do say so myself) and/or oreo-bottom cheesecake. The poll closes Sunday at noon, so try and vote before then... :)

Adios!

The First One!

Aloha blog readers!

Hope everything is going wonderfully with you! I'm super excited, as you can tell by the promptness of this post, and the exciting background. But beware, I have very fickle taste when it comes to design, especially when there are so many options and it's so easy to change. So don't be surprised if the background changes often... in fact, expect it.

So I guess I should start off with what Block is exactly for those who don't know. "block" as it is so creatively called is the semester of classes a student takes before doing his or her student teaching. It's basically all the methods courses (math, language arts, and social studies) as well as field experience and a reading assessment class. It only meets on Mondays and Wednesdays, but it's from 8:15 to 4:30! :O! That is the longest day of classes I have ever had. In my life! Especially in college.
But! (I feel like "Alas!" would be the perfect phrase there, but that would risk getting too Medieval...) It should be educational, at least interesting, and definitely something to blog about!

I'm very much looking forward to this semester with my fellow classmates. This will (hopefully) be my up to date experience in block this semester! I plan on writing about my experiences, taking pictures and posting them, and maybe even posting some videos :O! I have some pictures I want to post and even updates on what has happened so far, but it's nap time... :) after a loong day of classes, it's well deserved.

Enjoy!