Man, so I realize no one writes stuff here, so no one probably reads it.  That will not deter me.  I had a great moment today!  One of my students came in excitedly saying, "Miss Cunningham! Guess what I did yesterday?!" I asked her, and she told me about how she went to a talk the day before on a new underwater camera.  The man speaking talked about the index of refraction of water and how that was the key to designing the lens he used, and how the lenses were oriented in the camera.  She was excited that she understood what he was talking about after learning about lenses and indices of refraction in Physics.  She even got to explain some of it to her sciencey mom.  Made me feel good to be a teacher.

Lessons from the Valley

OMG... It started already. How time flies!

Courtney brought up an interesting point at the end of her blog entry. I reported to my first day of planning in the Valley on Thursday. I was really excited/anxious to finally start everything, but one recurring thought was going through my head most of the week "What on Earth should I wear?" Finally, the morning of, I decided to err on the side of caution and I put on some bomb gap black slacks and a quasi-dressy white shirt. I thought I looked pretty good. A product of having awesome female family members who seem to always buy me clothes that match. I nervously dressed myself and took the glorious 7 minute drive over to the Valley for my first all staff meeting.

I knew I had made a mistake as soon as I stepped out of the car. I watched in amusement as other teachers rolled up wearing various assortments of flip flops, shorts, tank tops, athletic clothes and generally comfortable garb. I looked like I was getting married or going to court. The first thing that my cooperating teacher told me when I walked into the social studies office was "Wow, I should have told you that we were casual today." "Yeah, I said, I thought it would be better to be over dressed than under dressed." I nervously walked to the other side of the school and waited for the meeting to start. It was my responsibility to find out and I never asked.

The principal is an awesome guy. Obviously I have not spent much time at the school, but I really like listening to this guy talk. He had a powerpoint for the first meeting and went around and introduced all of the new teachers in the building and finally after he went through all of them, he posted a slide showing the names of the three student teachers in the Valley this fall. I was the second listed of three. The first one was not there, and when he read my name I stood up and smiled and waved. He then smiled and said "It looks like you got the dress code." To which I replied "I guess I will just be the awkwardly overdressed student teacher today." It got a good laugh, and it was an interesting way to introduce myself to the entire staff. I walked around the rest of the day as "awkwardly overdressed guy." I am happy to be known for something rather than the other two student teachers who I do not think have showed up to the school yet.

The moral of the story is that you should definitely follow Mrs. Cohourtney K-Ballz lead and find out from your cooperating teacher what the dress code is on the first day of meeting.

School starts on Tuesday. I get the Freshman for like 10 minutes before they head off to orientation. I do not know why, but this whole student teaching thing is scaring the crap out of me. I am sure I will get over it as soon as I get used to the surroundings, but as always I seem to be putting a ridiculous amount of pressure on myself to be the best student teacher ever.

Hope everybody kicks ass this week!
I hope that we all regularly update this page as I bet a lot of really amusing things are going to go down this semester.

Mrs. K-Ballz returns to Brighton

It's weird, at times I felt like this summer was moving way too slowly, but looking back on it, it went too fast! Wasn't I supposed to learn Spanish and re-learn chemistry? Oops...

I had my first meeting with my cooperating teacher last week. Those of you that were at Overland Trail last year met him- he's a really cool teacher. He already seems like an awesome mentor- providing me with all kinds of resources and opportunities (although he already has me nervous about meeting parents on back to school night!). He just got all this training on working with ELL's, which is awesome- that's his big priority this semester- turning around his teaching style to reach them better. Sometimes our program feels so theoretical/fluffy that it will be nice to finally get out and teach- ya know what I mean?  

Teacher prep week in 27-J starts Monday. Is it sad that I'm excited to decorate the classroom any way I want? Gus told me to wear shorts and flip flops. No one tell Kanesha, K?  :-) 

-Mrs. K-Ballz

1 week till go time...

This is going to be a super lame post, seeing as it's relatively late for those of us in summer school, but I wanted to put my thoughts on this summer schedule out there...

It's not cool that summer classes end the Friday before student teaching begins.  I'm pretty excited to have 2 days off this summer... but I'm going to use them wisely - camping trip in the Sand Dunes? I think so.

I hope everyone's having an amazing summer, and I can't wait to hear how student teaching starts up!

xoxo

Teren

Halfway home....

Hello fellow cohortions. Today is July 7th, or 7/7 if your down with not using words. I don't know about everyone else, but I have less than a month left until I have to report to the Valley for my indoctrination into all things social studies. I don't know if it is just me, but I am so unbelievably excited to start teaching like every day. I do not think that I have ever talked about anything as much as I have talked about teaching. This includes Matt Holliday (my baseball hero), zombies, candy, magic bronco shoes, my man room and the word "hello." I could go the rest of my life never saying anything about teaching ever again and I think I would be ok. You all know me, so you know that is not going to happen, but it is a nice thought. I am so excited to go and do. I might go down in flames or I might be riding a fiery chariot across the sky, but I won't be "reacting" to an article. It is going to rock. I look forward to the possibility of sucking as much as I look forward to hopefully not sucking. I look forward to returning to campus a changed man. I might even grow a soul patch.
Also, in case anybody is curious, here is an update on my summer:
-I turned 25. (that is a long time to survive natural selection)
-My wife turned 25
-The Apex Blazers (my track team) continues to dominate the state at being awesome and running really fast.
-The Arvada Bulldogs (my high school Cross Country team) are fighting a daily battle to meet me at 6:30 in the morning with their over zealous coach instead of succumbing to the pillow monster.
-The Rockies record when I go watch is Ben Hershelman-0. Otherwise they are not mashing as expected.
-I banished my cats from the man room. Now I have a glorious cat-free sanctuary.
-Watched seasons 1-3 of the office.
-Convinced three 8th grade girls that they are not cool enough to be different.
-Screamed "Friendship always wins" at opposing track teams as their runners pass by.
-Wrote this blog.
-Wondered what everybody else is up to.

Just One Word

Hey Cohort... So I don't know how the language and literacy across the universe monday night class is going for you english types, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that the SS/SCI/Math people totally rocked the roundtable discussion tonight. I love this cohort. I have one word for everyones badass teacherieness:

praxis day!

happy being done with the praxis! just one more hurdle cleared on the way to unleashing the cohort onto the public school system. i felt as though it was slightly harder than i predicted, but that isn't a bad thing. it made me actually think during the two hours where i couldn't drink whiskey (but vodka was okay!) and couldn't read anything which wasn't either printed in the test booklet or on the inside of my eyelids. but the proctors, oh, the proctors didn't have to follow the rules...
also, i find that i am chomping at the bit to be back in class. because, seriously, lets do this shit. i think that some of the books will be interesting, i think that the experiences will be good, and i'm sick of only having the fall semester about which to think.
other things concerning today:
2 bloody marys at the buff was one too many. what the hell am i supposed to do now?
having the internet in one's own home is an amazing luxury.
saint james hotel!
i need to run into people later
either way
!!!

2008!

It's January 1st and I'm pretty excited about it.

My two best friends and I concocted what MIGHT be the best dessert ever eaten. We devised a way to create dessert sushi out of mangoes, kiwi, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, fruit rollups, rice krispie treats, pomegranate, and those little sugar crystal things (we chose orange so that it would make a good substitute-Tobiko).

It looked like this:
http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v166/19/31/46302884/n46302884_30972904_987.jpg

http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v166/19/31/46302884/n46302884_30972908_2008.jpg

Tasty, right? I thought so.

Today we're having stuffed cabbage and black-eyed peas, because apparently they're good luck on New Year's Day.


Two more days in New York, then back to Boulder!

like an old man easing into a warm bath

happy holidays! holy like wow! i'm a really big christmas fan, and so i've been loving the past week. i've made christmas cookies, gone shopping, listened to cats meow "silent night" (along with over 15 other christmas classics!)... i think the snow helps. frontloading also helped, now with only a presentation tomorrow and the oral final next week, i can turn my attention towards happier things. like sleigh bells.
so, i took kringla to work and sold it today. i wasn't sure how it was going to work out, but i made $20 selling two and a half dozen cookies. i'm going to call it a pretty decent success. because, i mean, that more than covers ingredients, and i enjoyed the time in the kitchen, so i don't really count that as labor... so, you know, profit!
anyway, only two more class periods to go. then it will be tomorrow. and then it will be tomorrow afternoon...and that will be awesome. dances will be danced. songs will be sung. shots will be chased.
i really hope jeff's surgery went well. worst time to get injured ever.
also, holiday party at Keri's. huzzah. but will there be eggnog? do people actually enjoy eggnog, or is it just tradition, like haggis? i mean, generally i have about a cup and a half of eggnog every year. while drinking the first cup i think to myself "man, i really enjoy this. why don't we have this all year?" however, when i go back for the refill, about two sips in it hits me. "oh, that's why..." and then i set it down and go and feel kinda queasy for a couple hours. and this happens seemingly every year, without fail. you'd think i would have figured it out by now, but no.
and i'm off!
marko

Hooray!

For getting an extension on Kevin's paper!!!!
Up Next: An Extension on my sanity!
After that: The amazing story of how Mark Olofson became Marko... where did the "O" come from? My best guess: He stole it from chuck nrris or a zmbie or the entire state of Clorado. Also possible it came from a Vlcano.

In Class 2.0

If anyone told me six months ago that I would watch a Hi-C chugging contest during class one day I would have called that person a liar. I feel that this was a really rich experience in enhancing the power of my transparent facilitation as well as the pedagogical epistemology behind my lens. Bacon and Shinko Maki.

P.S. Brandon won because Jeff can't handle the fact that you cannot substitute kissing noises for the sound of an empty Hi-C container.

in class

lets face it, i couldn't resist. i'm blogging during class. because we're talking about technology. because, i mean, its subversive. and stuff. okay, i've had my fun. but now alison is talking about how laptops make people look busy, and so i'm looking busy. huzzah.

i feel a little like a puppy on speed...

assuming this is what a puppy on speed would feel like. My brain is bouncing all over the place and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before it all comes crashing down. I feel super wide awake, and I can't sit still, but the whole time there's this little voice in the back of my head going, "Hey you... you know this is all fake, right? Just wait a bit. It'll go away in a minute."

Oy.

1.5 hours left here, then off to TKD! Then the best night sleep ever. I'm sure of it.

So, I think its time to get back to work

Every year on thanksgiving I like to take a little bit of time to reflect on things, think about what I am thankful for and tell lots of people how much they mean to me. Then, the next day, Buy Nothing Day as I like to call it I generally get bored as all get-out. Today was no exception. There were a few high points today. I emailed the Denver Post's pop music editor about what to do when the songs that you thought were going to be the theme song to the revolution when you were 15 are now being played on Alice 105.9, the lame middle aged divorced person trying to relate to their kids station. I wonder, are we now lame? Also, I am nearly done with my plep, my adolescent case study and my third practicum journal. I have hit a total road block with Kevin's paper. I don't even know where to start researching.
Those were the positive things I did today, lets take a look at the stuff I did this week that might make an outside observer think "Ben, what the hell." The first shameful think I did was watch 4 episodes of "My Super Sweet 16" on MTV. If you have not watched it before dont start, there are literally millions of better ways to pend your time. Every episode features some wealthy 15 year old girl who has spent most of her life being convinced that she is special by her parents. She whines for the first ten minutes before she inevitable presents her parents with some kind of ultimatum where her main threat is being really sad. She wins, new car, the end.
Besides that, tonight I spent the greater part of two hours sending Melanie pirate bombs on facebook. I totally kicked her ass. One time she attempted to dig up treasure to go and buy bombs but then I threw a bomb at her and stole 2000 gold coins with one bomb. If you are not a facebook pirate you should know, that is an assload of coins. Typically one bomb nets you about 50-100 pirate coins.
I also watched the CU-Nebraska game. That was super. While watching the game at my parents house I ate leftover thanksgiving food and hung out with my niece. I taught her that Cher is a Robot and Uncle Ben is a ninja. I have been working on these concepts with her for months. She is 2, so she will forget and have to be taught again that people who are her grandmas age do not have psychotically perky fisheye breasts, and they are not supposed to look surprised all the time. Also, Cher's neck kind of looks like Fat Bastards at the end of Goldmember where he pointed out that it looks like a certain lady part.
I also managed to get in trouble at the library today. I was listening to Guns N Roses while I was Plepping and I accidentally pulled my heaphone cord out of my laptop in the middle of one of the SHA NA NA NA KNEES during welcome to the jungle. The old hag who pushes the cart around with the books on tape gave me a dirty look and then proceeded to shoosh the crap out of me.
When I got home tonight I watched the end of Shrek the Third, 12 minutes of WWF wrestling, and about 30 minutes of Rocky IV before watching the Singing Bee with my Sister in Law. I did not know that the WWF has become the WWE. I googled it and found out that the World Wildlife Fund sued the WWF and made them change their name. I think it sounds stupid. Also, Rocky IV is the bomb. I still get upset every time Ivan Drako kills Apollo Creed in the ring and then try not to yack when Rocky gets upset and it goes back to the montage of Rocky and Apollo training on the beach in tighty whities or whatever. A little too homoerotic to me.
That was my night, what did you guys do today?

the fourth thursday of november...

holy crap its thanksgiving. i'm ever so joyful. i really do love the day. also, its 5:30 in the morning and i am wide awake. is that fair? no. but its the truth. so...
i have drafts of two of the three major papers out. i went ahead and sent them to professors in an effort to get notes. then i emailed kevin, asking him if i could use experiences outside of brighton, and he emailed me back asking what topics i was planning on using. in a way, this was calling my bluff, because i still don't know, damn it, but i don' want to tell him that. i should have been keeping up with the intermediary deadlines, but instead i've been ignoring it.
but the real question: why blog post? and why now? boredom. lack of large balloons on the tv. its too early to start cooking. i wonder if i can fall asleep again. i'm going ot give it a go.
anyway
i hope everyone has a super fantastical amazingly wondiferous thanksgiving. peace on earth, and all that
marko

flashbacks and fall breaks

Done!

... for a little bit. Let's see, 240 minutes of teaching on Tuesday, 75 minutes of presenting on Thursday, and 63 minutes of presenting on Friday. Over all of this I determined that I am much more comfortable standing in front of a classroom or wandering around talking to students table to table than I am sitting in a circle and talking. The latter brings me back to 10th grade honors English where Ms. Humphrey had us read our book reports from our seats that were nicely placed in a circle. The girl sitting next to me decided right in the middle of the presentation was a good time to blurt out an emphatic, "Hey! You're really red and your neck's breaking out in hives!" It's amazing what our mind can do to our body when we're nervous.

Anyway, it's officially Thanksgiving break and that feels good. I'll be off to New York on Monday, where I will battle the crowds pouring in to see the Macy's T-Day Parade (which I will hopefully be attending. woo!). Whatever shall I do with myself when I can't see all of your shining faces at 8 am (or earlier) every day?!

Last night was fun. Do we have plans for tonight yet?

So... Thanksgiving break

Before I start writing I think I should let you all know that right now I am listening to Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie. It replaced Tiny Dancer by Elton John in my head about 20 minutes ago. I am pretty excited about that.

I feel particularly fortunate this thanksgiving for many actual reasons and a few stupid ones. One in particular I am really excited about. Since my parents house is ten minutes from my house and my in-laws house is only seven minutes away I have a ton of time to kill this thanksgiving break. So, instead of writing my paper for Kevin's class, I am going to do something totally dumb and revive my hobby from last summer. While tutoring a kid last summer I discovered you can write letters to professional athletes asking for autographs on sports cards. At first I wrote really serious letters and then I got bored and started telling various american league outfielders how much I love chocolate milk. Overall, I mailed 114 different athletes over two months. While I am not going to do that much ever again. I want somebody to think I am cool at some point, I am planning on writing letters to the colorado avalanche. After a week of paper writing and presentation planning I am so ready to just sit down with my wife, put in a dvd, pop open a beer, and proceed to tell Joe Sakic what I am having for dinner, Milan Hejduk that I need a haircut and Jose Theodore will be hearing about how stupid my cats are. Seriously, they are retarded. I am looking forward to letting my mind going a little fallow this week. Who needs a brain when you can have autographs.

So, now that I have outed myself as the worlds dorkiest 13 year old, is anyone else looking forward to doing something totally stupid and mindless over break?

Now listening to Glamorous by Fergie.

Hersh Out

Ah, the blog...

This is my very first blog posting ever. I must say that I love knowing that I can write to everyone AND Ben cannot throw any pirate bombs for me. I also love that so many people came out tonight. We still need a whole cohort get drunk and rowdy type party but tonight was a nice change of pace from the like five or six of us that usually go out.

I wish I could partake of the festivities tomorrow night at happy hour but alas I must go and celebrate my friends' graduation. Apparently, they don't even get a real graduation ceremony because they are finishing in the Fall so I'm going to a graduation toast. Honestly, what is a graduation toast? Are we all gonna just stand around and make up toasts for the graduates? I do get free champagne and hors d'oeuvres ( and yes, I had to look up that spelling), which is some consolation for missing out on the cohort get together. Plus they're moving to craptastic Washington DC the day after Thanksgiving and I will hear about it forever if I don't see them before they leave. So try not to have too much fun without me.

I hope everyone is prepared to tell me what I'm going to analyze about my case study tomorrow cause I have no idea what I'm doing. I typed up the transcript and wrote about the observation...other than that, nada.

Debbie's class and rap

Hey Guys,
So this Zola guy is coming out of retirement to come and do a scored discussion for our class. I am wondering if this is going to be as great as when Jay-Z came back 2 years after dropping the Black Album and the song 99 problems? Jay came back with Kingdom come in 2006 and made a budweiser commercial depicting both his new song and the notion that Budweiser is not just for white people. Or is this like when Michael Jordan came back after playing minor league baseball wearing the number 45 and led the bulls to more championships? I guess we would have to consider how Zola left teaching. Jay and MJ stepped out in their prime only to come back later and blow us all away. Are we about to be blown away? Are we about to win an NBA championship? Are we about to win some sort of mythical galactic teaching championship led by Zola? Am I missing the point completely? Is their another famous retirement this is comparable to? If nobody comes up with anything I will assume the galactic teaching championship is ours.

I am going to go get that dirt of my shoulder.

p-primes aren't worth all this prep.

I've determined that my facilitation for tomorrow's class is not that exciting. Not to mention I have not met with Will since our original meeting with Laura (he missed the 2nd one I had with her) so this should be interesting.

Oh well. I know my part. ::shrug::

Marko - thanks for the confidence booster. Ben - it could be worse. Thanks for making me laugh during class, drawing way more attention than necessary to me. Punk.

Anxiously waiting on Brandon's usage of Shinko Maki,

Teren