Here I am on yet another adventure! Destination: Orange/Irvine, CA.
Coming back to Concordia for my SUPER-senior year (well, semester) I had no idea what to expect. Student teaching was next, but what exactly did that mean? How was I going to work with my co-op (cooperating teacher)? Where am I going? What am I teaching? Can I teach? How typical me, stressing out about the future.
I'll try to quickly summarize student teaching I. I worked with Mr. Kevin Behne in his 7th-9th grade classes at East Butler in Brainard, NE, teaching world histories and a little civics. I drove the half hour there and half hour back everyday with Liz who taught in a biology room. I experienced the high of having a struggling student volunteer to present their speech and the low of catching students with blatant plagiarism. During this time, I'm taking my social science methods class one night a week for 2 hours at a time, attempting to have a social life, and frantically lesson planning/creating PowerPoints. It was a great experience of controlled chaos that left me drained, but I enjoyed it overall (some days more than others, I must admit).
As I'm in the midst of student teaching I, I'm also looking forward to the next portion. At the beginning, I had absolutely no idea where this would be. I heard through the grapevine that southern California was a probability. Obviously, I'm getting excited only to find out that it may not be a possibility all of the sudden. In our methods class, the motto was "Be a duck." It makes sense~ on top of the water you look cool, calm, and collected while you're paddling like crazy underneath! Perfect teacher description, right? Anywho, getting back on track, I tried to appear like a duck when dealing with student teaching II confusion. With about 3 weeks to go until ST2, I finally got confirmation of the next step for me: living in Orange, CA with the Kannegs (who my friend Lauren lived with the previous year) and teaching at Crean Lutheran HS in Irvine about half an hour away. Awesome. So it's figuring out what's next.
When making the trek to Cali, I roadtripped out with my mom. Stopping along the way and looking for the little joys is one of the best parts of spending 24 hours driving with her. So here's a basic breakdown.
Day 1~ Nebraska, Wyoming, to Ft. Collins, CO to see the Mackenzies, through the mountains at sunset, to Glenwood Springs, CO. Relaxing in the famous hot springs in Glenwood Springs before going to bed... perfect way to end a 12 hour-day of driving!
Day 2~ Glenwood Springs, CO (and breakfast with some Sewardites...weird), through the everchanging scenery of Utah, through the upper west corner of Arizona, and settling in Las Vegas after walking the Strip of the numerous casinos. I saw the Eiffel Tower, NYC, and a pyramid... all in one spot!
Day 3~ Las Vegas and FINALLY to my new home: Orange, CA. After sleeping in and meandering to Orange, the Kannegs took my mom and me to a cute little Mexican restaurant before we drove to school to know the route.
OK, lots of words here. I'm share more in another post. Adios!
