Hello Pioneers!
(You understand the significance of "Pioneers," right? No, It's not a reference to "Pioneer Women," [though she is quite fun!] --Lewis & Clark were pioneers! It's my new mascot! Since I'm now an official Pioneer, I just assumed you would all become instant fans! No? Hmm. Well… I tried, Lewis! I gave it my all, Clark!)
What a week...seriously, what a week! [And it's not even over yet!]
This week has been kind of a whirlwind. Homework is still mountainous, but becoming more and more doable with each passing day. Some teachers say, “Oh, just skim this chapter!” Sounds great, right? Not so much. Skimming stresses me out ALMOST as much as art class stresses me out (we’ll get to that soon, don’t you worry). I can’t skim. If I’m told to read something, I’m all about the highlighting key phrases, circling words multiple times and arrows streaming around the margins connecting points. So, when someone tells me to skim—I panic. I begin to read one or two words per line, jumping and skipping from paragraph to paragraph—NOTHING good comes from skimming. But, I’m working on it. It seems this skill will be extremely beneficial throughout the rest of the year. The 200 pages of reading a night would get a little daunting for an entire year…
Lets go back to my Arts, Culture and Creativity class. I’m aware that this sounds like a fantastic class—and it really is. I enjoy learning new techniques on incorporating/integrating the arts into the core curriculum. The first day of art our professor handed out a glob of red clay to each student. I thought to myself, what a GREAT class! Well, now that we’ve moved on to contour drawings and paintings…well, lets just say I didn’t inherit my father’s artistic gene. Give me a camera, and I’ll be golden…but that blank piece of paper and loose instructions (that really aren’t so loose, sneaky professors!) and I freeze. And the thought of presenting my “art” to my cohort (classmates) produces something resembling an anxiety attack. Luckily for me, children seem to applaud all artistic efforts (as does my cohort! Thanks guys!)
Speaking of my cohort, what a fabulous group of people! I love each and every one of them. They each have their own personalities that really add to our classes—it really makes going to class for hours each day, worth it. It’s only been three weeks, and already I feel like I’ve known these people for years. We spend nearly 7 hours together each day, so I guess that’s natural! But, enough with the sappiness…
Here’s my official apology for those who are forced to endure story after story about the funny, intelligent, and ridiculous things my cohort says! Thanks for at least pretending to listen! You’re quite convincing, really!
I also feel like I should apologize to all those in the dining hall yesterday watching the World Cup—we apparently chose the wrong table close to the TV and shouted and screeched and laughed for an entire hour. Oh well, they were probably the pre-service high school teachers. Whatever! Not that there's animosity within the education department...
Today was so fun! After our normal Social, Historical and Ethical Perspectives (SHEP) class we hauled over to the Children’s Museum where we were given green stickers (aka the green light) for being in the museum without being accompanied by a child J Yes, we were those creepy students with notebooks standing around the exhibits and watching your children play and interact—and we learned a lot, thank you very much! The museum was GREAT! It’s based on the theories of Maria Montessori and the Reggio-Emelia school in Italy. Studying the theories in the book and through discussion, I wasn’t sure I really agreed with these theories. After seeing it played out in the museum and being aware of Montessori’s intentions, my eyes were completely opened up to this way of teaching. I could definitely see the benefits of learning through play and inquiry with real-life tools and child-sized furniture. In this place, the children were competent. They were figuring everything out for themselves (minus those pesky parents all up in their child’s grill—“No, little Johnny, the boat goes in the water like this!” or “Suzy, are you crazy? Don’t swing the doggy by his leash!” but eventually, most parents seemed to relax and let their kiddos explore! Thank goodness!).
After our guided tour and personal observations, we gathered together in a classroom where I presented my artifacts to my cohort. Each day two new people share artifacts and our classmates can ask questions. Now, don’t you dare call it Show & Tell! What do you think this is? Elementary school? Uhh…okay so maybe.
Anyway, my friend Sean presented his artifacts before me. We were standing at the front of the class, when Sean breaks out this Tupperware container. You know what he pulls OUT of the container? Well, I sure as hell didn’t want to know. But I quickly found out, being that I was mere inches away from said Tupperware. BUGS. Not just ANY bugs—but a hissing cockroach. It was named peanut…or marmalade…it’s really hard to say. I was too busy having a heart attack in front of my class that I forgot to listen. The other bug was some walking stick thing…I don’t know. All I know is Sean thrust the leaf with the walking stick thing in my face, “Wanna hold him, Makenna?” No Sean, I’d like to pass out…but thanks. Needless to say, I began my presentation by saying, “Well, first thing you should know about me is that I’m utterly terrified of bugs, spiders, and all creepy crawly things.” (to which, Sean gasped more audibly than you could ever imagine).
You’ll be happy to hear that I survived. Who knew a trip to the Children’s Museum could be so extremely lethal! But that’s not dramatic, right? J
Well, there's so much more I'd love to tell you. But in reality, my allotted blogging time was up quite a few seconds (or minutes...or..well...nevermind) ago. So, that's all folks!
Tomorrow is ZOO DAY! I'll try my best to remember and take pictures...but I'll be so busy observing the animals behavior and sketching away in my "tablet" (not to mention trying not to drown in a pool of sweat in the 90+ heat..) we'll see what happens!
Enjoy you're evening, readers!
Sincerely,
Makenna
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