Appointments

Tomorrow is my first day of observations at Roseville Area High School. Sadly, they lost one of their teachers on Monday night and the BST Testing made this week a little strange for the teachers and students. It seems there is never a typical week for me to do observations--frequently when I went to Preble High School for my initial observations (100 hours to get into the program) there seemed to be something that made a lesson not so typical. I am beginning to wonder--is it typical to be atypical? I know I like the idea of having all of my days planned out (especially for student teaching), but there are all sorts of little glitches and bumps. I think I'll just have to be laid back and "roll with it," so to speak.

I also (think I) was able to sign up for a training with the Minnesota Literacy Council. It was a little confusing, but it looks like I'll have to miss the Monday training (I have a night class--Project Proposal) and go on Wednesday, March 2nd and Saturday, March 5th. I signed up for the "Literacy Volunteer" as opposed to the "ESL Volunteer," which means:

• Volunteers who plan to work one-to-one with an English-speaking student who is focusing on a reading or writing goal
• Volunteers who plan to work one-to-one with an advanced ESL student who is focusing on a reading or writing goal
• Volunteers who plan to work one-to-one with a student preparing for the GED

It seems kind of silly for me to have some of this training, since I'm getting a graduate degree in English Education, but I know there are certain needs that these students have that I won't be trained for in my regular coursework. It will also be good to know what is expected of me from the Minnesota Literacy Council; they might want me to employ certain techniques.

We had our first day of the "ESL Class" (I think it's something like Second Language Learners--I don't know... they keep changing the "PC" term for it) and I found out we have to put in 5 hours of volunteer time with ESL tutoring. It seems kind of paltry in comparison to the 100 hours of observation we had to put in just to apply. But Jenny, if you're reading this, I'm thinking of you (and all of your frustrations and triumphs...)!

To end, some webpages that Professor Beach put up on Tappedin. They look really great:

Author Resources
Focus on Adolescent Literacy
Cyberguides
Nicenet
ReadWriteThink Lesson Plans