About three weeks ago I started student teaching! I thought that I would share a little about my experiences, as I am sure that I will want to update this on a more regular basis since my life is much more interesting. There is never a dull moment in any of my classrooms. I already have many stories that are priceless.
I am at a High School in the Special Education Department. For three hours of the day I work in Co-Teaching Classrooms (CT). This is where there are SE kids and general ed students in the same room. There is a regular classroom teacher that does the actual teaching. I am in the room to help the SE students stay focused/complete their task. (A perfect job for a task orientated person such as myself!) Three hours of my day are spent in a resource room. This is a classroom with 12-15 kids who are all SE students. I particularly enjoy these hours, for I am never quite sure what is going to happen or what the kids well say. I work with two wonderful teachers, who are teaching me a lot about teaching. I was slightly apprehensive about doing my student teaching at the high school level but time has shown me that it can be a lot of fun. (Not quite as adorable or as eager to please as the younger ones though!) Here are some things that I have learned since I have been at the high school:
1. Apparently my last name, Zauche, sounds like it could be Japanese - during the first two weeks of school students asked me if I was Japanese. Now they are getting more creative and asking me if I married someone who was Japanese.
2. Part of my job includes waking up sleeping students. I still don't like to wake people up from naps... but if you are drooling on your homework I have no problem waking you up because drooling when you are sleeping is disgusting.
3. Since I am a SE teacher I don't have one classroom that I am in all day... Therefore, I have to walk through the extremely packed hallway of high school students to get to my next classroom. I have learned the following from this experience.
- Packed hallways in a high school smell really bad.
- If I bump into someone as I am walking through the hallway and turn and say "excuse me" or "I am sorry for
bumping you" I get looked at like I am an alien speaking a different language.
- For a non-people person (like myself) walking through the hallway can at times be a very draining experience.
4. I do believe that high school boys are no different then elementary boys in that they will still at times have a crush on their teacher and try to show off.
Anyway this barely even begins to share some of my experiences. It has been enjoyable so far and each day is an adventure!!!

Look! I am like my sisters and work nights! (Well, at least one night!) Right now I am working the night shift this means that I stay up all night and take care of the babies when they wake up. So far, the babies have been very good to me and have woken up one at a time rather then all at once! And just to clarify for my two sisters...just because I am working nights does not mean that I am considering a job in the medical field.
I went to the beach the other day. It was a lot of fun. It was the first time that I remember going to a beach that had black sand. I must say it was not the most beautful beach that I have seen but it was nice to go to the ocean and write my name in the sand. :) Anyway. I hope everyone is doing well. I have just a few more days lefts in Taiwan. Take care. Jenny