Mixed Emotions

Do you ever have one of those moments when you truely enjoy what you are doing and want it to last forever? When you cannot even imagine yourself doing anything else because it seems so natural for you...but at the same time, you want life to progress, to go on. I am having one of those days/weeks. I have enjoyed my time immensly here at governor's school. It feels like I have been here forever and cannot even imagine what life will be like this Friday when I go back home. We have genuinely become like family here and I am not looking forward to saying all of my good-byes. However, I am excited to go back home to my friends and family. It seems as though I have missed so much back home and cannot wait to hear all the stories.

So, while I am excited to catch up on all of the events back home and see all my friends and family, I am sad to be leaving governor's school and my month of learning and fun.

Days 17-25 - Teaching Experiences

During the past week I have had the opportunity to taste a little bit of what teachers do. I taught students going into fifth and sixth grade with two other governor's school students. We did this through a program called Youth University (YU) at UT Chattanooga. It was an awesome experience. We all had to do thorough lesson plans, implement guidelines and classroom rules, practice classroom management, and teach for an hour and twenty minutes. While we were doing all of these things we were also getting observed by UTC staff and some of our governor's school counselors. They all gave us a lot of input, including things we did very well and things we needed to improve on. It was a tremendous learning experience that I can reflect on as I am considering a career in education.

My group was given the topic of Knights and Castles. What we did was we took that topic and taught about things related to that time period, the Middle Ages. Every day we had the kids interact with us while we were teaching and we periodically completed projects so the kids had something hands-on to do and so they could have a chance to be creative. This worked very well for us and it seems that the kids learned a lot. By today, they could respond appropriately to questions we asked them about topics discussed this week. They all also did very well on a jeopardy game we played in class today. This also happens to be a jeopardy game that we designed in our tech class.

This week was very fun, but also hard work. I learned some things I am good at and some things I need help with. But after all, an effective teacher is always learning and seeing what works and what does not.

Days 13, 14, 15, and 16 - Preparation

Next week all of us at governor's school get to teach a lesson every day for an hour and twenty minutes to a class of kids in a UTC camp program called Youth University. I have mentioned this before, but now I feel the clock ticking. As said before, I get to teach fifth and sixth graders about knights, castles, and basically the middle ages. A lot of preparation and planning has gone into these lesson plans. Our plans have to last the whole time, there has to be activities, and they have to learn through it all. We also have to come up with different ways to teach them because kids all have different learning styles. I think I will feel a lot better when my group and I have all of our plans ready and finalized. We also have to have good classroom management and be able to keep their attention. Teaching is not the easiest job in the world. I did know that before, but it is one thing to know it with your head and actually experience it yourself. I still have not decided for sure whether or not I want to be a teacher, but I am hoping that by the end of this experience I will know for sure if teaching is the profession God has for me.

As for all of the things we have done this week...
We have mostly done work and just socialized with each other. We did, however, have a water fight last night, and we have a surprise for us tonight. We also went to an art museum today and had to create a skit and discussion/topic on a painting. I have really been challenged to come up with different ways to teach and to come up with different topics from things I never would have thought of before.

I have to go now, but will continue to keep you posted, even if it takes me a few extra days than when I first started out.

The Challenger Center

Yesterday we went to this thing on the UTC campus called the Challenger Center. It is a place where you can go to experience what it is like in a Space Crew and in Mission Control. You get a mission and you have to rely on every other member, whether they are in Mission Control or Space Crew, to do their job. It was a very hands-on team building experience. I personally found it very stressful to work in Mission Control because we had to do most of the work and get it to the Space Crew in time. If you are part of the Space Crew you still have to work within a time limit, but I did not stress over it as much. Well, that was more for my job. I know other people's jobs were probably more stressful in Space Crew. I was Remote #1. We had to analyze data in Mission Control and collect data in Space Crew. We all got to experience both. However, if one person did not do their job, it would mess up the entire operation. It is a good concept to learn in life, especially when working with other people. All of our jobs are different, but if one person does not do his/her job, it can mess the whole project, or whatever else you are doing, up. It also teaches us that we need other people in our life and cannot just go through on our own. We need to work with other people and learn from other people. While Jesus is our ever-present strength and he can do anything, I still believe we need a community of people to help us and who we can help. We can all work together and use our own gifts and abilities to work together for the glory of God, serve others, and show God's love to others.

Day 9, 10, 11, and 12 - BUSY and TIRED

Sorry I have not written in the last few days. I have ben exhausted, working on assignments, and still trying to have plenty of time to relax and hang out with new friends. In a way college life is not so bad, but in a way it is not that great either. For starters, it is a lot of big assignments that are due on different days, all with time spans overlapping each other. It could be a lot worse, though. And then I remember that in two years it will be. I will not be in a some special program for a month with only twenty-six other people. I will have more than two classes. I also will have teachers that know I am in college and not in high school anymore. Two of the biggest things I need here are good time management skills and lots of motivation. I am working on developing these things. There needs to be a good balance of school and fun. While I make it seem like all we do and worry about is work, that is not true. As I have said earlier, we have gone to the Aquarium and the Creative Discovery Museum (this one twice). We watch movies in our counselors' dorm at night. And just last night some of the girls that remained here on UTC campus had a slumber party. Life is good. I have to go right now and work on journal assignments. Miss all of you guys back home!

Days 7 and 8 - Craziness

These past two days have been crazy! We have been soooo busy and I feel like I have not really had a break yet.



For starters, I have to let you know that I finished my lesson plans that I had to turn in today, but not without much hard work and a fairly late night. (Mom, it wasn't too late so please don't ask.) ;)



Yesterday, we had the opportunity to visit the Aquarium here in Chattanooga. It was a wonderful experience. I even got to pet a Sturgeon and a Stingray! The Sturgeon felt very rough and the Stingray felt really slimy. It was something fun to do in an environment where we could learn without restrictions and guidlines.



Today we went to the Creative Discovery Museum (CDM). I did not get to experience all of it, because we had to create lesson plans in a group, but I liked what I did see. For those of us not going home this weekend, we get to go back to the CDM and "play" there for a longer period of time. We also continued having class today, getting our questions answered, presenting things, finishing up things, and learning a little bit of new material.



I am so grateful for this opportunity and cannot wait to see what else I learn. Hopefully, with this experience, I will have a clearer view of the profession God wants me in. Good night everyone. I hope you have a marvelous rest of the week. :)

Day 6 - Sunday Services

Since I am a couple hours away from home, I did not have a chance to go to my home church. I had the opportunity to try and find a different church for my four weeks here. Because I grew up in church, I have always been in a church that my family and I both liked and claimed as our home church. I have not really had the chance to visit other churches too often. However, today I attended a church just down the road from campus. A group of us went together, and it was good. It felt a little out of place to be in a different church, but it was kind of cool, as well. The Pastor talked seriously and joked around some, the worship was contemporary, and the atmosphere pretty nice. All in all, it was a good experience.

After church, I chilled some and then started making some lesson plans. My first ones only have to be for one subject, one day, and one hour and twenty minutes. That is not long at all, but yet it has some challenges. I have to make sure it fills up that time period. It has to be fun and exciting. The kids have to learn a lot from it. There are still so many other requirements that it has to meet. This can be a very daunting task. However, I enjoy it much more than the other project we have to do...

The other project we have been working on is a PowerPoint of a part of the philosophies of education. I have the topic of behaviorism. My group and I got so much accomplished today, but still have to work some kinks out. I cannot wait until this project is over.

Overall, governor's school is still a lot of fun. I believe I mentioned this earlier, but it feels like we have known each other for most of our life. I love this feeling of family and community. Our counselors are also pretty cool. We have four counselors total, two girls and two boys. We have now also labeled them as parts of "our family." We have the "mom," the "dad," the "two-year old," and the "aunt." What fun this experience has been so far.

Day 5 - Weekend Fun

Today we visited Ruby Falls and Rock City. Ruby Falls is a cave with a waterfall waiting for you at the end of it. It is truly a beautiful cave and tour. The only other cave I have been in is Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. I personally found Ruby Falls more interesting and fun. Rock City is very much filled with fairytales and beauty. It even had a Fairyland Cavern. It was very interesting, and I have heard it is especially beautiful at Chrismastime with all of the decorations. After all of our "tourist visits," we came back to UTC and just hung out and finished what work we needed to, talked, laughed, watched movies, ate spaggetti, and killed a huge jumping bug that took forever to die. All in all, it has been a wonderful first weekend at governor's school.

Day 4 - It's the Weekend Already?

This week has been one of the fastest and one of the longest weeks of my life. It feels like I have been here forever, but at the same time I fell as if this week has flown by. While here at governor's school, there are times I start feeling stressed. I look at everything I have to get done bby certain dates, but it always helps me to break it down and get little things accomplished inside of those bigger things. However, I am also having a great time. I am meeting and getting to know new people every day, while also watching movies and playing games. Tomorrow is really when we start to go to different places and do different things. We are going to Ruby Falls and Rock City tomorrow, and we get to go to the Creative Discovery Museum and the Aquarium next week. I have to go now and get ready for my big day tomorrow....talk to you guys later.

Day 3 - Walmart Fun

Today was filled with more classes and group work. We also received an assignment that is due next Thursday, which includes creating a powerpoint over philosophies of education. I was assigned behaviorism. As you can see, I feel like I am learning a lot already. We have mainly been talking about behavior styles and different learning styles, but I cannot wait to see what else we learn this summer.

Tonight we went to Walmart. For those of you who do not know me or know me well, I love getting out of the house. I really do not mind where I go as long as it is somewhere. But I was even more excited than usual tonight about going to Walmart because I have not been anywhere, besides the campus here, since Tuesday morning. And even those little trips, like Walmart, can be so much fun, especially if you have good friends to go with.

As a side note, I am thanking God right now because I wrote this entire post from my dorm room and am able to post it from here, as well. This is exciting because my computer has been in remediation for the last two days waiting for me to continually update it. I will get back to you soon.

Day 2 - More Teachers, More Friends

One thing I really enjoy about governor's school is we are put in groups for so many different activities. This allows us all to be able to meet new people and interact with those besides our main group of friends we hang out with. I have been able to meet so many intelligent and kind people here. How grateful I am for that! We also have been getting to know our teachers fairly well too. Yesterday I only had chance to meet one of my teachers. Today I had the opportunity to meet the rest of them, as well as have a question and answer session with the Dean of the school and the Head of the Department of Education. It was very interesting and I got to learn many interesting things about educators, their college education, and different tips when getting an education degree. Well, I must go now to complete an assignment and to start on some research for "Knights and Castles."

Day 1 - It's Finally Here

For those who do not know which governor’s school I am at, I am attending one for prospective teachers. Yesterday was my first day of governor’s school. It was a day of mixed emotions: excitement, fear, joy, nervousness, and a sense of the unknown. So I don’t bore you with too many details, I will try to be brief. In reality, we did not do too much. There were lots of orientations and the setting up of classes and such. We then had the afternoon to relax and get to know people better. Another thing we did was we drew topics out of a bag at random so we can teach it to a group of kids in a couple of weeks. I drew “Knights and Castles,” which is to be taught to fifth and sixth graders. I am looking forward to being able to teach these kids, plan activities, and learn more about what goes into planning a lesson. We also had quite a bit of free time to get to know our roommates and the campus. They are such wonderful girls. Last night we even played volleyball. For those of you who know me, and even those of you who do not, I am not really an athletic person. Thus is the reason I am thinking of pursuing a career in education. However, while we were playing, one girl made the comment that it felt like we have known each other for ten years. I could not agree with her more. It was a lot of fun, and hopefully I will get a lot more practice in and be able to show you my new acquired skills when I return home.