Living the dream

After talking to one of the seniors I decided I needed to walk to the far right side of Siesta Key. The senior informed me that there were remains of a dock. I thought that since I made it to the far left side of Siesta Key beach then why not go to the far right. The two pictures of the ocean are from my adventure on Tuesday at Siesta Key Beach.

On my way yo school today, I decided to stop for coffee to give to my mentor teacher. I then drove a new way to the school, and was able to see this beautiful sunrise. 

Lesson learned

First period always sucks it up, and does just what is asked of them.
Seniors always go above and beyond. One student approached me at the end of the day, she told me that she tried her hardest to say really smart things. The reason why she tried so hard was, because my supervisor came in to observe me today. My supervisor was ecstatic at the end of my lesson. We were both amazed by the students, and how philosophical they were with their answers. Love them!
Last period of the day. "What we have a new lesson today." I had the most interesting interruptions from them. During my lesson a couple of them asked me a question:
"Ms. Hines, do you not realize I have a billgion other things to do right now?"
"Ms.Hines, what is your favorite color."
Then the best interruption, "Ms. Hines look!" As a student holds a flip book he created, using post-its, during my lesson. Surprisingly my last class is my favorite, and they take the most in, even with all of their distractions. After my lesson I went up to my mentor, and reflected that I should have waited to teach the lesson tomorrow. She replied along the lines, "That's just the way they are, I think they got it." 
I am going to miss these students so much. I am giving the seniors my e-mail address, and I hope they will keep me updated on their work and life.
Two more lessons to teach, and then I am done at Riverview :(

Last Weekend in Sarasota

This posting is very laid-back, and reflects my weekend! 

My last weekend in Sarasota, started with going to Lido Beach! 

 After Lido, I met up with the other two interns, Caitlin and Nicole for dinner at the Old Salty Dog. We discussed our experiences down here. We are all in it for the right reason, the best thing about our experiences are the students!

Saturday morning I went for a little jog, and still made it to most of yoga class! 

The instructor told us, "to loosen up the body, and to relax. When are bodies are under tension we become tired." I hope that I am able to remember that for the rest of my life. 

Nicole, Caitlin and I made pumpkin seeds after visiting the Fruitville Grove. The pumpkins came from Ohio :)

Next week at this time I will be back in Ohio. I can't wait for my mom's chili, but I am going to miss my kiddos. I feel so lucky to be down here. I can not picture a better experience. My mentor teach does so much, and is a part of so many things. She has inspired me tremendously in the last 6 weeks. I plan on staying in touch with her as much as possible. I told her that I expect images of the students work. I also expect to see her graduation pictures next August, when she becomes Dr. Dacey.  The students are incredible. I can't wait to develop my teaching portfolio more, and add all of their work to it. A couple of the students have given me their artwork, and I do not think they realize how much that means to me! Thursday will defiantly be a rough day for me, I don't want to say goodbye.    

What do your students do?

My students lay out and soak up the sun! They also managed to create a pretty awesome cyanotype!

AP Art

My seniors just chillax in the hallway! 

They also have to stand guard. They protect their cyanotypes from non-art students, whom do not realize there is a reason to students sitting and staring at the ground 

Students keep track of time to make sure that their cyanotypes are not over exposed.

They also have to lay glass on top of their projects so they do not blow in the wind. The day in the life of my AP and Senior Art classes! 

End of week 5, a bittersweet journey

    The students, the students, and the students. I love them so much, and I can say with complete confidence that my most challenging class (with behaviors) is by far my favorite. From the first week I knew that they meant well, but were never going to be calm. There has been a few moments of complete silence and full attention on classmates or on me. In those few moments I know that they are completely amazed or interested in what a classmate or what I was saying. The first time silence happened in the class was a week ago when one of the students was creating a demonstration on the Active board. Today it happened a couple times when I was explaining my example to the class. When the class was fully engaged a few students asked some questions, that complete stunned me. The questions they asked had to do with logic and creativity. 

    Yesterday my supervisor came in, and my favorite class did not disappoint. They came in full of life. I do not think I ever had the room completely silent or on track, but I did have a majority of their attention. A couple of the students sitting next to my supervisor were asking her what she was giving me, and advised her to give me a good grade. Hearing this from Mrs. Quin after class, allowed me to realize that some of the students appreciate me as much as I appreciate them. 

    Last week I had a tough talk with the AP class. Their projects were not up to par. Today I was still advising students on what improvements could be made. I was surprised again this week with this group of students. They has been working with Mrs. Dacey for 2 years, and I was so surprised by most of them coming to me. A couple come to me, because Mrs. Dacey advises them to, but the majority come to me first. One student however approaches Mrs. Dacey before and after speaking with me. She is one of the more gifted students, and she thinks highly of her work. Mrs. Dacey informs her that I am the one in charge of grading her assignment, and suggests to the student that she listens to my feedback. The studenn. The tone Mrs. Dacey used was one that suggested you will not get a hundred if you do, bt asked her if she could turn in her assignment a couple days ago, Mrs. Dacey said you caut that is your decision. Today the student turned her project in. I graded her assignment, and gave her a 99. After school I saw her on my way out, and informed her that I love an element that she added to her project since the last time I saw it. 

AP Art Dream Exploration

Pre-IB II Animal contour line drawing

Pre-IB I Mandalas

Riverview High School IB Art Displays, created by me :) 

Pre-IB Art 1

Freshmen and Sophomores

Still Life

Contour Line Still Life

Op Art Inspired by Bridget Riley

 Senior Art

Summer Assignment

AP IB Art

Summer Assignment

The end of week 4

       Update on the last couple weeks. I just read another interns blog, and I have been feeling a little homesick myself. I am so glad that I stuck with the 6 weeks program, which actually turned out to be 7 weeks. 
I love it down here. It is so nice to live on the gulf side. The ocean is so calm and peaceful. I just have so much to get together before I graduate in December. I am planning to apply to jobs down in the Sarasota for next fall. 
My host and her family are so kind and full of spunk. I love it! Today we are decorating for Halloween and celebrating my host's birthday. 
       My students are the best. Last Friday the Senior Art class went to the Dali museum and the Hot Shop. The Hot Shop is a glass blowing studio, and we were able to see a guy make a plate from start to finish. A couple of the student set up a picnic. They asked me to join them. We had homemade pizza, stuffed mushrooms and pumpkin cookies. I made enough pumpkin cookies for the whole class, they turned out more like muffins. 
       One downfall teaching on Friday. I tried to teach a lesson to 10th graders on a Friday afternoon. There were a few unpleasant students that wanted to be smart. But, then the other half give so much respect that the joy of teaching high school is still in my heart.I just now know not to teach something new on a Friday. There will be a review segment on Monday. 
         My last period class is full of life, and I am going to miss them so much when I leave. I taught the Pre-IB 1 students a new lesson on Wednesday, and I allowed a couple in 8th period to draw on the active board. When the second student went up the class was silent, and watched him quietly. The student decided he was not done, even though I told him it was time to move on. There was a power struggle. I was laughing so hard, because we both were trying to get control of the board. I ended up tear eyed, and the majority of the other students were laughing too. 

The Pier at Sharky's

The Picnic @ Dali

I bought three of these "kisses" 

My first week in Sarasota! 

Myakka Park

Siesta Key Beach

The students at Riverview are very gifted and dedicated.  I cannot believe that the first week is over already, it went by so fast. I was able to teach a lesson to two of the classes yesterday. I have been walking around getting to know the students in all of the classes. Some of the eighth period class tried to guess where Ashland University was located. Their guesses included other countries, eventually someone did guess Ohio. I could not have asked for a better mentor teacher, she is extremely helpful and outgoing. Today we went to a museum in Sarasota after school.