Brent

Last Week of School!

    Hey everyone! How is it going? Well I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving break, I know I sure did. Over break a did many things. I went to a couple movies, hung out with friends, ate a lot of food, slept in, and went to the Holidazzle parade in the cities. Well today officially starts my last week of student teaching. Boy it sure did go by fast. It was a lot of work, but when I look back at what I did I am very impressed with myself.

    Well as for today in the middle school I reviewed with the students what organelles were in an animal cell. We went over their structure and function, which was very difficult for many of them to remember after having a break. Then in the high school I started the next chapter in the book, which is on Cell division. It was a pretty easy lesson, then I had them work on a lab, which involved them looking at a karyotype. It was a rather easy lab for them and many of them finished their lab during class. Well anyways it was a great start of the last week and I am really going to miss student teaching for many of these students.

BLOGG YOU LATER Brent

Learning about Cell Organization and Light Reactions!

    Hey everyone! How is it going? Well it is going great here. Well as for today I had an awesome lesson. Today I taught about how cell make up tissues and tissues make up organs, and organs make up organ-systems. It was a really great lesson and I think the students enjoyed it as well. What I did was I took the human body, and I broke it down into an organ system. Then I looked at the digestive system and told the kids about that. They found it really interesting. Then I took and organ, the stomach and I looked at that. We saw that the stomach was composed of different tissues, which was need to look at. Then we looked at tissues and then finally cells. It was a really good lesson, and the teacher that was observing me also said that it was a great lesson. She then gave me a review on my lesson, since it was such a great lesson.

    As for the high school, I also had another great lesson. I first had the students take a quiz so that I could see what they learned from the other day. Then I had the students look at the chloroplast of a elodea plant. So I gave them about 15 minutes to do that. Then after that I taught them about a light reaction, which was rather complicated for them, but it is something that we will work on, in the next couple of weeks. Anyways today was a great day. Now I am going to go get some subway, and then go back home and watch The Office, and then call it a night.

BLOG YOU LATER Brent

Difficlut day Teaching

    Today I woke up thinking nothing could go wrong, but today was a day like non other. Today I started off my day as usual I woke up at 5:30, jumped in the shower, and got dressed. I then headed towards Proctor high school. Everything up until this point was going great. I taught my first hour life science class and it was a really great lesson. We talked about what it means to be alive and what makes a living thing living. However it was after this class that my world was shaken up. It was after this class that I found that my grandpa had went to the hospital and was not doing very well. I got a little choked up, but I still had a job to do, so I pressed on and taught again for my third hour life science class. I was rather difficult to teach having my grandpa on my mind, but I managed to press thought it.

    For the second half of the day I was in the high school and I taught a lesson on photosynthesis, which went pretty well considering the situation I was in. Then it was after my last hour of the day that I found out that my grandpa had passed away, which was really hard for me. Well anyways I though I would share why I wasn't at school.

BLOG YOU LATER Brent

Good Lesson Today!

    Hey everyone! How is it going? Well sorry it has been such a long time since I last blogged, I have been very busy, also my grandpa passed way last Friday so I went back home for the wake and funeral. Last night I just got back to town and frantically put together my lessons for Monday. I ended up going to bed last night at 10:30 which was really nice, because I was supper tired.

    Well as for today I taught a lesson in the middle school about prokaryotes and eurakaryotes and the lesson went pretty well considering I was not planing on teaching today, because my teacher said she had it all taken care of, but obviously she didn't. Then as for the high school I was really nervous, because I had to teach a lesson on photosynthesis and my adviser was present watching me teach. She had to evaluate me and I really wanted to do a good job for her. After giving my lesson, which I though was rather dull, I was surprise to hear from my adviser that it was a great lesson. So that news made me really happy and I was really glad that I did so well on it. Well as for tonight I am going to try and relax and watch my TV shows, then I will plan my lesson, and go to bed a hopefully 10:00. I know what an exciting life.

BLOG YOU LATER Brent

Hunting Weekend Coming up!

    Hey everyone! How is it going? Well it is going great here. Today was just a great day! I had a great day at school and I think it all started out this morning when I went to school at 7:00 and some of the teachers told me how great of a job I was doing. Just from hearing that I had a great day, I taught great lessons in all of my classes and got all caught up with homework. Well as for tonight I am just going to relax and watch some TV. Also Paul and I are going to go to Wal-Mart to get our hunting License, because we will be going home this weekend to hunt. Well I need to get going and grade some papers.

BLOG YOU LATER Brent

Short Week!

    Hey everyone! How is it going? Well it is going great here. Well as for the week, it is going to be a short week because I have a National Science Teacher Conference to go to down in the cities on Thursday and Friday, so I will head back home on Wednesday. This week should go by really fast, which is a good thing because I really need a break.    
    As for today in the middle school I will be teaching the students about what they found at their stream site. I will be presenting notes to them and they will have to copy down what I write. For many of them it will be their first time writing down notes in class, and will be a good way to get them to transition into the middle school and what is to be expected of them when they get older. After giving notes to my first two classes I was really impressed with how well the students behaved while taking notes. They were quiet, didn't complain, and asked questions while I was presenting the notes.  In the high school today I reviewed the organelles of the cell and focused more on the membrane. Then after that I had the students work on a animal cell lab, where they had to look at their cheek cells under a microscope. Many of the student's really enjoyed the lab and really got into it, which was really nice to see.
    As for tonight, I am going to watch the Monday night football game. Also Jessica and I will be making cookies because on Wednesday I will be having the students work on making edible cells, which they will make and then eat. Well anyways I better get going.

BLOG YOU LATER Brent

Pool Sharks!

Hey everyone! Well today is Saturday, and I hope you are enjoying the weekend as much as I am. Well today I slept in until 10:00, which was so nice since I have been waking up at 5:00 everyday this past week. Well once I woke up I decided that I was going to playBioschock , which is the video that I have been trying to get into this whole year, but have been very busy, so this morning I spent about 2 hours playing that game which was amazing. It wasn't until about 1:00 that Jessica and I decided to go run some errands. We needed to go grocery shopping, because I will be having the students in the high school build an edible cell and we will be using cookies for that. At the grocery store I bought cookie dough and a whole bunch of candies to represent the different organelles.
    That night Jessica and I went to Runway to visit some friends and play pool, which was a lot of fun. Jessica and I did amazing playing pool, she was making every shot possible and I wasn't doing that bad either. We were just on a role the whole night, we only lost one game out of 10 games. Then after playing pool Jessica and I went back home and we watched the proposal, which was actually a pretty good movie. It was funny and ad a good plot. Well anyways I better get going. It is getting late.

BLOG YOU LATER Brent

Long Time No Blog

    Hey everyone! How is it going? Well it is going great here. Sorry it has been such a long time since I last talked to you. I have been so busy with student teaching. I basically wake up at 5:30 go to school, work my butt off, come home at 3:45, eat, and plan for my next day. Well let me inform you about how my day went today. Today was a great day. I had some really great lessons planned and I was really looking forward to presenting them. For the middle school I taught a lesson on how to use a protractor and compass to make a pie chart. The lesson I gave went really well. The students understood what they were doing and it was amazing to see that. Also in the middle school I got my mid term evaluation sheet back and that was great to see since I got all good remarks.
    Also today I had Beth, one of my instructors come to visit and observe my lesson on organelles in the cell. The lesson went amazing. I talked about each organelle in the cell and then I made an analogy with each one so that the students could relate them to something else in the real world. Overall the lesson went great, the students participated, and really got into the lesson, which was great to see. Well that was pretty much my Friday which like you can see went pretty well. As for tonight Jessica and I are going to finish up our season of 24. We have been watching it for the past four nights and I think some time this weekend we will be able to finish it. Also I think we will be going out to eat at Subway some time tonight. Well anyways I better get going.

Blog you later Brent 

Great Day!

    Hey everyone! How is it going? Well it is going great here. Well today I had a great day. Today everything went right for me. I had a great lesson in both the middle school and the high school. I also had a great night. Well before I get a head of myself let me tell you about my day. Today at Proctor it was the final day of homecoming and the students were really excited about it and excited about the game. Well today I taught the students about how to graph and then I let them practice graphing. I also had one of my instructors at the college view my lesson. After I was done with my lesson, the instructor critiqued me and she said that I did a great job, and that I had prepared an excellent lesson. She said my classroom management skills were really good and I did a great job of stating my instructions and expectations for the students. That was all great news to hear, since I was sort of nervous about this week. As for the high school today, I taught a lesson on pH and acids and bases. It was pretty much review and a lot of the student had no problem with the material. After I taught the lesson I had the students take a short quiz on what I had been teaching them for the past week. 
    After class it was time for the homecoming parade and the pep fest. The parade was very short and it had all of the student's floats in it, which was fun to watch. Then after the parade we went to the pep fest in the gym, which was a lot of fun. For the pep fest they had a whole bunch of activities, they had a couple of relay races, a food eating contest between the king and queen, and of coarse cheering! Well after my great day, Jessica and I decided to go for a walk at Hartley Nature Center. The weather was so nice and that is why we decided to go out for a walk. Then after that Jessica and I went out to eat at American Bar and grill, which was really good, since I got my favorite sandwich The Chicken Ranch. Then finally at 7:45 Paul and I went to the movies. We went to Zombie Land, which was a really funny movie. Well anyways I better get going. Have a great weekend.

BLOG YOU LATER Brent

TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!

    Hey everyone! How is it going? Well it is going great here. Well what a game last night. The Twins and Tigers had a game for the ages. I was glued to the game since the start. I don't think you could have scripted a better way to leave the Metrodome. Well the Twins won and it was truly an amazing game. Well today teaching was very easy. It is homecoming week so today their was the crowing of the king and queen, which lasted from 1:00-3:00, so my day went by pretty fast. Also to start my day there was a two hour late start so we did not start until 10:15. In the middle school we just went to the computer lab and typed up our stream study reports. The reports were really good and I was really impressed with how much the student's typed and how well they did. Then like I said from 1:00-3:00 I had to go to the Assembly in the gym to see the crowning of the king and queen for homecoming. A far as tonight I have night class so I will be their from 4:30 to about 5:30 or so, then right after that I am going to rush home so that I can see the Twins game. I also have to plan for my next lesson, which will be on energy.