Much Ado About Nothing

Well I haven't posted much about stuff other than my travels lately so I might as well talk about the other stuff going on.

School is going well. I just starting taking on Reading Aloud and Language Arts this week. I am reading the book The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. The students seem to like it so far and I'm integrating in literary concepts that the students need to know as well as "Think Alouds" that the school has to do. These consist of making inferences and thinking aloud while you read--does this make sense? What will happen next? Stuff like that. For Language Arts we are working on Author's Purpose and how to distinguish what the author wants us to get out of us reading. We have the word PIES to remember (Persuade, Inform, Entertain, and Share Feelings). Right now the students are working on a skit in groups of three. There group picked an author's purpose out of a hat and they have to create a quick skit to perform in front of the class. Within ten minutes almost every group was ready to go. My students LOVE to talk so this was a great activity for them to do; it also really helped with teamwork and collaboration skills. I will have the students perform their skits next week as we don't have school this Friday and Thursday is a very crammed day.

I also got to sit in on an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting today. This is my second meeting that I have been a part of and it went really well. It was nice for me to be there and to hear about all of the intervention strategies that are currently being used for this student to succeed and things that we will change that affect what I do in the classroom. After the meeting, one of the resource teachers was really impressed that I know all about RTI (Response to Intervention). DODEA is fairly behind in the states as far as intervention stuff so almost all of the teachers have no idea about some of the stuff that I have learned in my schooling.

We also had the new Superintendent visit our school today. She seems like a really friendly person who really enjoys her job. She has been working for DODDs since 1987 and has acted as principle and assistant superintendent before. I think that the schools will really benefit from her there.

School has overall been very crazy and we have been playing a lot of catch up. In the States, we would combine as many things into days off as we can. We really don't like to take off of school. Well in DODDs we had off for MLK day, Teacher Work Day, Inservice and Parent-Teacher Conferences, and upcoming President's Day. So the kids have had a 4 day week, followed by a 3 day week, followed by another 4 day week, and finally next week we will have two 5 day weeks in a row. I don't know what I'm going to do having a normal schedule!!! It's crazy, but I'm loving it!

My roommate Sunshine is here! It's been so nice to have some company around the apartment and someone to talk to in the evenings. We have been getting along really well and planning our travels together for the rest of my time here. This Saturday we are planning on going to Neushwanstein Castle (Cinderella's Castle)! I hope that the weather holds up and that we can get a good picturesque view of the castle. I love fairy tales so I'm really looking forward to this trip. Next weekend we are trying to find somewhere to go that celebrates Fasching (Germany's own Mardi Gras). People dress up in customs and have big parades and such. It looks like a lot of fun and there are a couple of city options for us to go to. We are also planning on going to visit Munich and Dachau (Concentration Camp) in one weekend. As well as Rotenburg, Bamberg, and of course Prague! I found a bus line that will take me to Prague from Nuremberg round trip for 48 Euro!!! That's super exciting!

Other than that, I have been working out via Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. I just started Level 2 today and it's definitely a good workout and it gives me something to do in the evenings that isn't school related.

Tomorrow the teachers have their weekly dinner and we are going to a pizza and pasta restaurant. I'm so excited because I haven't had pizza since probably December and I am craving some! We are also going to see the movie Argo at the theater on base. I'll let you know if it's Oscar worthy ;)