Blog 5 - Potentially the last blog

Well, this is my last required blog. I originally said I would discuss my presentation in this last blog so I will.

First I'd like to say that everyone did really well in the presentations/portfolios. I was really impressed with them all and I found them really interesting and I liked a lot of the annotative activities.

Right now I am working on my grant proposal and evaluation. I am really stressed out, to say the least - I don't know if I'm doing anything right, but I am trying my best.

Part of what is required of me in my proposal is to write a two-page CV. I heard this was a type of resume but I still dont' really understand, does anyone have an example of one, or know where I could look at an example of one? Also by two pages does that usually mean double spaced? I don't know who really reads this but if anyone happens to see this and know the answers to these questions that'd be great, because right now I am just making educated guesses.

I've been particularly stressed out because as Senta said my project was really end of semester heavy so I'm afraid my quality is suffering in order to finish the quantity.

However, I am pleased with my presentation. I was a little nervous and I think I was talking fast, but I was overall happy with it. I wish I had had more pictures and stuff, but there wasn't really anything I could have shown that wouldn't have taken up extra time that I wanted to dedicate to the presentation. I think I answered the questions well, and all in all I was pleased with how it turned out. 

When I am completely done with and have turned in everything for this class I will be extremely relieved. It was a real challenge for me, so when I have finished I am going to feel like I've accomplished something. Already I feel like I have done something important with my time by being a part of this project with Angelika. I hope I can do more with the program next year.

Though I am extremely stressed out right now, I think the class was good for me - I feel like it has prepared me for what is to come once I graduate and start my student teaching, so I am glad for this experience.

I'd like to especially thank Senta for excepting me into her class and for helping me through it and I'd like to thank the class as well for excepting me into what I saw as an already formed community, as you all knew each other as fellow TAs. So thanks for putting up with me this semester and I wish you all the best of luck in the rest of your future studies!

Es war total schoen, vielen Dank!

Teachers are gone, evaluation ensues.

The end of the teacher exchange program has come - the teachers flew back to Tueringen on Sunday, the 19th. 

To address Senta's last comment on my last blog, no I didn't get the chance to actually observe them. We did most of our communicating informally by email. I decided against observing them, mainly to avoid stepping on their toes. I was confirmed of this especially during Senta's class when she told the story in class "apparently Germans are adults." I felt my presence in a classroom might be resented and misinterpreted, so instead I opted to email them and asking them if they had any questions or experiences they'd like to share. 

I also spent time with two of them at World Languages Day. I basically just caught up with them, and asked them how their time had been and if they were enjoying WLD. They were given an evaluation form to fill out but I have not yet received them, however, I am interested to read them, because when I mentioned the evaluation form they seemed...eager to voice their opinions, as if they felt the program had obvious faults. So we will see. I am hoping I receive this information soon enough to include it in my presentation on Monday. I am also considering asking Angelika if she feels the families that hosted the teachers would be interested in evaluating their part in the program. Does anyone else see this as potentially useful information? 

That's my update, hopefully the next one is describing the success of my presentation on Monday.

-Jaymee

Newness

I haven't blogged in a while. Basically, it's because I completely abandoned my German for Kids proposal and have been straightening out my new one. 

Now I am working with the visiting teachers from Tueringen (spelling?), Germany. They are here observing in elementary schools (Red Cedar, Marble, and Montessori Children's House of Lansing), and I have proposed the need for a cultural interpreter - that is, to answer any questions they might have about cultural miscommunications or even to anticipate cultural miscommunications. This is to enhance their experience and to make sure they get the most of it. 

They arrived on the 27th of March and on the 29th Angelika set up a brunch to welcome them where their host families joined. I gave them an introduction to the U.S. education system. Beforehand we did an activity where the native Germans wrote down on index cards facts they knew or thought they knew about U.S. education or the U.S. in general and the Americans did the same thing for the Germans. I shared some of those idea before the presentation, which was both fun and enlightening. 

I don't want to give away too much, as I am to be presenting a lot of this info in class. So far it is going well. I have even emailed to check up on them and they seem to be enjoying themselves. One mentioned she'd like to work in an intercity school, but Angelika (my community partner) and I decided that it was too late to make this happen, so I am going to consider that in my evaluation as maybe something to add for next year if MSU does the exchange again.

That's all for now!

-Jaymee