Done as Dinner

In April, when we were finishing up the winter semester, I asked a classmate of mine if she was done. "Done as dinner," she said. And now I'm done as dinner. Yesterday I finished making changes to my papers and also submitted a final project via email. Aside from some papers to be printed out and going to class on Monday, I am done with the classroom portion of my program.

What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time, I was immersed in finishing up the final project for my curriculum class. Ten-one hour lessons about the National Parks. Stein reminds me that I went overboard, and maybe I did. But all I know is this weekend last year I spent Thursday through Sunday in front of the computer, for 12 or more hours each day (good thing that Stein had his golf outing). I remember finally emerging from the house 10 minutes before class started on Monday. I raced to campus, ran to class, and arrived in the classroom panting and sweating. As I plopped down my 4 inch binder I looked around. Everyone else was staring at me while holding their 2 or 3 inch binders. Did I go overboard? I think I did. Yet at the end of that class, I knew that I still had more classes to take. There was fall, winter, spring and summer semesters ahead of me.

But now I don't have more classes ahead of me, I have student teaching. I will be busy again, probably busier than I was for that curriculum class. But this time it's the real deal. The unit I wrote for curriculum was planned using a hypothetical class. When I'm student teaching, I'll have 25-30 4th grade faces looking at me everyday, each with their own interests and learning needs. This is the exciting part for me. The potential of it all.

While I'll miss being a student in the classroom (most of you know that I've become a nerd and kind of a brown-noser since my undergrad days), I know that it's time. It's time to take everything I learned and apply it in the classroom. And it's also time to learn the things I never learned in class. Teachable moments are when topics pop up without warning and suddenly it's something to learn about. I anticipate a fair share of moments for the students and for myself.

So now I have almost 2 weeks off. What am I going to do? Well, there's some stuff around the house that I've neglected the past couple weeks. So a couple days spent getting that done. And then I plan on reading. It's a toss up though, between the 6th and 7th Harry Potter books or the Michigan 4th grade standards and benchmarks or Fountas and Pinnell's Guided Reading Manual. Hmmm. I think I need a nap just thinking about it...