busy busy busy

It's been a few weeks since I've written. Oops. I keep having the best intentions to get on and write because I know when I look back I would have wanted myself to. anyway...

the recap:

I'm just about to finish my 5th MAT class for the summer tomorrow.... then... summer break! [kind of].

So far I'm surprisingly doing well in the program... yeah for that. :) My classes so far have been: Learning Theory, The Professional Educator, Action Research 1, Language & Literacy, Structures for Teaching and Learning, a Multiple Intelligences Workshop, and two days of ESOL workshops. Then, next Monday I start a two-week student teaching practicum at Edwards Elementary for the Newberg Summerfest program. Summerfest is a day-camp for students in grades 1 - 5 to spend a week learning about a different theme for three hours-- mine is called, "Look at this World" -- we'll be exploring the various wildlife and species of rainforests, deserts, tundra and savanna's all across the world on a traveling adventure of planet Earth. :) We're making passports, playing games, doing skits and other activities including watching these really awesome National Geographic for Kids videos, and each day we'll be visiting a different continent. At the end of the week, students will have a traveling journal full of stories from their travels. We'll see how it goes... :)

The week of July 27th is solely going to be migrant students from the Newberg community, who are already part of a migrant-english immersion program that is federally funded. The students will also speak little to no English. That is definitely going to be the most challenging part, so the ESOL workshops we took this week will come in handy. Today Alysun and I spent the afternoon setting up our classroom, getting our supplies, and continuing to prepare. Tomorrow will be more set-up (making the journals, nametags, signs, etc.) before camp starts on Monday. I'm sure I'm going to have a lot to talk about during the middle of next week, depending on how things go...

After Summerfest is over, I have the entire month of August off. I have nooooooo idea what I'm going to do with my time-- I really want to be making money! :( We also don't have our student teaching placements for the fall yet, so I'm definitely anxious about that.

So far though, I've been really happy with the program. It's been humbling to be poor and not have a job, but I'm adapting. I'm more concerned with the state of teaching jobs next year, and what budgets are going to look like then. All we keep hearing is that Colorado is majorly hiring teachers! So we'll see what next year looks like. :)