First Lesson!

So today I taught my first "mini-lesson". I had to give a pre-spelling test to 5th hour Intermediate Comp over some words that are commonly misspelled. (misspell was actually one of the words!) I was lucky because my CT gave the same quiz during the 2nd hour class, so all I had to do was copy what she did. :-p I think that it went pretty well, even though some of the kids were a little too talkative and I was being too nice. Haha. Anyway, I teach another small lesson tomorrow, but to both sections. Scary!

New Teacher Orientation

So the past 2 days have been new teacher orientation at Naperville Central and they were so much fun! I never realized how much stuff NCHS actually offers...they make Wheaton South look horrible, and I thought our school was pretty good. NC has a huge rock climbing wall, a pool that offers a kayaking class, flower arranging, a high ropes course (rope bridges and such suspended from the ceiling in the gym), an auto department that will fix staff cars (we only have to pay for parts...$8 oil change!) and to top it all off, the people are so much fun. I now know that my ultimate goal is to get hired there.... :-)

First Encounter

So today I went to Naperville Central and met my CT Nicki (cooperating teacher) for the first time. She seems like she will be a great person to work with and I think we are going to get along. She just had her first baby so she was on maternity leave which means that she didn't have any classes I could observe. So instead we just walked around the school and I was introduced to a bunch of the other English teachers and a few administrators.
I also got the material for what I will be teaching in a few months! I will be teaching Contemporary Fiction, Intermediate Composition, AP Language and Composition and Yearbook. Nicki said that I will probably take over one class at a time so I am not completely overwhelmed by the amount of work. I also got copies of all the books I will be teaching this semester (and I didn't have to spend a penny!). My book list is...
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Night by Elie Wiesel
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I've already read a majority of those books and the ones I haven't read, I will be reading this summer. Nicki told me not to stress out and spend my entire summer working on lesson plans, so I will take her advice and put everything off for a few weeks. Haha!