First Post!

Hello! I'm excited to be starting my blog today. :)

I graduated from college in December of 2009, and since then I have done a few different things - working as a one-on-one aide in a first grade classroom, subbing in several districts, and currently I am in the midst of a long-term substitute position in seventh and eighth grade at a small Catholic school. Although my true love is first grade, which is where I did my student teaching, I am really enjoying my current class! They are a very enthusiastic and energetic group of students, and their progress and effort makes me happy every day.

Here are a few things we've been doing in class lately.

In Social Studies, we are learning about Washington's presidency - moving into Adams' presidency. To assess their knowledge of Washington's Proclamation of Neutrality, the students created political cartoons depicting the proclamation. They chose a perspective, used symbols to represent major players, and included captions or titles to give further explanation. I was very pleased with their creativity and understanding!

For World TB Day, on March 24, I gave students symptoms of a child suffering from a mysterious disease. The students got together with their medical teams to research the symptoms, diagnose the child, and suggest treatment and prevention for tuberculosis. They created informational brochures as an assessment.

So that's a little peek into what we're doing in seventh and eighth grade. It's an interesting age level... you never know what's coming in the next minute. They definitely keep me on my toes!