I did absolutely nothing today. I watched Band of Brothers for like eight hours straight with Eric. We also picked up some, what we like to call, Flava Flavs, and were completely lazy all day. It was one of the best days in a long, long time.

Note: THESE are Flava Flavs. You may know them as ice pops, push up pops, whatever. All I know is they are delish. Go get some if you don’t believe me.

So, I’ve been here in Omaha for about a week, and Eric’s mom told us all aboutWicked visiting the downtown Civic center. There’s not a ton to do here, besides go on bike rides, go shopping, and relax and hang out, so we all thought it would be fun to go and see a show together.

FYI: Wicked- the story of the wicked witch of the West and why she is the way she is. The story is of the two witches, Glenda, the Good Witch of the North, and the Wicked Witch ofthe West; they were both friends before dorothy ever dropped into the scene, and how they turned into who they are.

Today Eric’s mother, he and I went to downtown Omaha to see if we could buy tickets forWicked. I have never seen Wicked, but everyone always talks about how great it is. I’m not much of a musicals person, because randomly bursting out in singing and dancing isn’t necessarily my thing, but I wanted to see what all the hype was about.

There were weekly showings, but we were hoping to see a Sunday afternoon show. We drove all the way downtown to purchase the tickets, but they were all sold out!! I was pretty excited about them, too. I was willing to give Wicked a chance. But I guess, sadly, Wicked will have to wait.

Instead of going to Wicked, however, all of us went to see Angels and Demons, the movie. I am still not quite sure how to react to it. It was good, but far too graphic for my taste. Being Catholic, it was a little hard to watch men portraying holy figures in the church being burned alive and whatnot. I think that will stay on my list of “only watch once in a blue moon,” list. So I feel I won’t be adding that movie to my collection anytime soon. I thought the movie would be more like Da Vinci Code, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I thought it would be full of mystery and puzzles, but . . . it wasn’t. Rather, it seemed like a gruesome race for lives. Tom Hanks was wonderful, as usual, and the other actors and actresses in the movie were great, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
 

Until next time,
TV sitcoms will have to do,
Seanna

So, I finalized my plans for student teaching: 8 weeks in Omaha, 8 weeks in Puerto Rico. 

The way Student Teaching works at Iowa State for Early Childhood Education majors iswe have seven semester of classes, including child development classes, general education requirements in mathematics, social sciences, physical sciences, and reading and english language. We then have labs and child development classes associated with programming curriculum for ages birth to 3 years and 3 to 8 years. We also have an included endorsement for special education for mild to moderate disabilities. After all of these, we begin our curriculum classes that teach us pedagogy, or basically “how to teach,” so we have one methods class per subject we are required to teach, i.e. reading/writing, mathematics, social studies, and science. After that, we go into the field and spending two separate rotations student teaching. We work with a cooperating teacher to basically teach and take over that class for a semester [or half of a year, since they don't call them semesters!] and then after that, we graduate with a pending teacher license once we have passed all required tests and evaluations!

So student teaching is a HUGE deal.

We are basically responsible for an entire class. There is a required amount of time the student teacher is to be independent in the classroom, i.e. the regular teacher leaves the classroom and does not come back sometimes then entire day. It is so important to have this experience before going into the field of teaching- it’s the equivalent of an internship, except we affect young children’s lives and their love of learning with our internship. Chya, no pressure, right?

So it’s pretty difficult to study abroad as an ECE [Early Childhood Education] major, because our classes are pretty much laid out for us, in a four year plan, semester by semester, and there is not a lot of wiggle room to fail a class or fall behind in your schedule. Many classes have to be taken together as part of what is called a “methods block,” because the classes are all intertwined in what we are learning, and we have practicums, or mini-student teaching experiences in classrooms around the Ames and surrounding cities to fulfill requirements for the class, including lesson plans, specialized behavior reports, and even behavioral or academic interventions. It’s intense, but oh so much fun. I became so attached to my last practicum placement. It was very sad to leave them, and I had altogether been with them for only eight full days of class [Monday and Wednesday for four weeks]!

I just finished finalizing my degree audit, which is basically your schedule of classes at Iowa State, with my academic advisor, and once I apply for student teaching next fall [for next spring] I think I will have a pretty awesome chance of getting the placements I want for student teaching!

We have two separate rotations for two separate reasons: we basically have four requirements, in two rotations. 

1. We must teach in an exclusively special education room.
2. We must teach in an inclusive general education classroom.
3. We must teach children in either PreK or Kindergarten.
4. We must teach children in a grade from 1st through 3rd grade.

So, it works out that one of your rotations, whether it is your PreK/K or 1st/3rd grade rotation will be special education, and the other will not. You have your choice as to which one you would like to assign to each. Since I want to study abroad for the second eight weeks in Puerto Rico, I must first teach in the states for eight weeks, pass my competency in evaluations, and finish my special education requirements here in the US, since other countries structure that type of thing differently. Then I can choose from a variety of locations for ECE majors, including Rome, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, and more [depending on the semester planning to student teach]! I chose Puerto Rico because it is close enough to the states, I don’t need to speak Spanish to go there, and another good friend of mine, Kassi, who is an ECE I have known my entire college experience, will be going, too! I would go on my own, but I am pretty excited to go with another person!

The school in Puerto Rico is a private, international school that speaks both Englishand Spanish, but classes are taught in English, so there is no foreign language requirement to student teach there. I’ve talked with the headmaster when he visited Iowa State for an informational session, and he is a wonderful administrator! I am so psyched! Now, I just need to scrape up the money, which really isn’t too bad when I start to plan for it. It is about $1,400.00 to study abroad and student teach in Puerto Rico, but any student student teaching abroad automatically receives $800.00 worth of scholarships for doing so, so it won’t be too bad. Between saving and planning, and applying for other available scholarship from the College of Human Sciences, I should be able to pull it off!

My first weeks, you ask? I want to stay with Eric’s parents in Omaha, NE [one of the out of state options for student teaching: sadly, Dallas was not an option, and I don't know Houston well enough to go there, even though it was the Texas option]. This would help me save on rent and other money issues while trying to save for graduation and afterwards. Also, since Eric’s brother is leaving for Greece this August and won’t return until next June, I get to use his car, so I’m pretty excited for that, too! [I always wanted Rob to get the internship in Greece, but this is just a perk!]

Whew, I know this was a long post, but it was definitely worth it.

Are you interested in a major concerning education? Questions about student teaching? Or any questions I didn’t answer in this post? Feel free to email me! seanna@lonestarcyclone.com!

Until next time,
Seanna

So, I’m pretty sure I should shave this title quote into the top of my head.
So everyone around me would continually watch for me “resting my eyes.”

Yep, you guess it.
I’m studying for finals. I’ve got almost six posts waiting to be upload onto this blog.

To all my loyal readers, please forgive me. I’m cram-packed with homework, finals, studying, events, duty logs, moving out of my residence hall, coordinating Eric’s new internship, helping him study . . . it’s enough to make me go gray, I swear. Come Friday, I will be uploading SEVERAL new posts, and I do apologize for the delay, but it’s college, and it’s finals week, which can be summed up in two words: sleep deprivation.

Enjoy this picture. I’m pretty sure since I’ve asked for a different type of coffee at the coffee shop here where I study, I’ve tried them all, so this is probably what they will tell me next . . . .

Until next time,
I will be caffeine addicted and happy,
Seanna

YAY! MY FINALS SCHEDULE!

You will never, ever hear a college student say that unless it was like my last semester and I was finished on Monday, and then just intravenously injected Dr Pepper for the rest of the week while fulfilling my House, M.D. void, laying on my futon, laughing as others were studying all night and my biggest decision was whether or not to hit the snooze the next morning.

Long sentence. Lots of sentiment. Whew.

Anyways! My finals schedule looks a tad like this:

Monday: Science Methods Lesson Modification Part #3 Due
Math Final 2:15-4:15pm
Hall Desk 4:00-6:00pm
HDFS 343 Review
Start Celebration of Learning #2
Finish Family Learning Project

Tuesday: Send Mother’s Day Card [yes, I remembered!]
Turn in Family Learning Project
2pm: Band Staff Meeting with Mr. Smith
Hall Desk 4-6pm

Wednesday: SpEd 455 Final 9:45-11:45am
CI 439 [Science Methods] Final: 2:15-4:15pm
Honoring Our Graduates Ceremony [Ushering]: 4:15-7:00pm
Band Staff Dinner at Old Chicago: 8:00pm
Finish Celebration of Learning #2

Thursday: Hall Desk 10:00am-2:00pm
Work on HDFS 343 Review
Email Celebration of Learning #2
HDFS 343 Final: 2:15-4:15pm
Hall Desk 5:00-8:00pm

Friday: Work in the Lab School from 9:00-11:30am
Pack and Clean

WAIT

Work the Hall Desk all. day. long.

Saturday: I am chained to the hall desk checking residents out.

So as you can see, my Finals Week is actually pretty busy. It’s intense.

Part Two of my Dead Week/Finals Week Finals from Hell Extravaganza!
PSYCHOLOGY: Based on your degree of knowledge of their works, evaluate the motional stability, degree o f adjustment, and repressed frustrations of each of the following: Alexander of Aphrodisas, Rameses II, Gregory of Nicea, Hammurabi. Support your evaluations with quotations from each man’s work, making appropriate references. It is not necessary to translate.

SOCIOLOGY: Estimate the sociological problems which might acompany the end of the world. Construct an experiment to test your theory.

MANAGEMENT SCIENCE: Define management. Define science. How do they relate? why? Create a generalized algorithm to optimize all managerial decisions. Assuming an 1130 CPU supporting 50 terminals, each terminal to activate your algorithm; design the communications interface and all necessary control programs.

ENGINEERING: The disassembled parts of a high-powered rifle have been placed in a box on your desk. You will also find an instruction manual, printed in Swahili. In ten minutes a hungry Bengal tiger will be admitted to the room. Take whatever action you feel is appropriate. Be prepared to justify your decision.

ECONOMICS: Develop a realistic plan for refinancing the national debt. Trace the possible effects of your plan in the following areas: Cubism, the Donatist controversy, the wave theory of light. Outline a method for preventing these effects. Criticize this method from all possible points of view. Point out the deficiencies in your point of view, as demonstrated in your answer to the last question.

Enjoy! As soon as I survive Dead Week and finals Week, I will too!

Until next time,
Seanna

Gah! So I will share with you an intimate struggle between a girl, a boy, and college. Oh, and life. Oh, and money, Oh and internships. Oh, and relationships.

Complicated enough for you?

So, my boyfriend just a two semester internship in Dallas Ft. Worth. Awesome, right?

You’d be right, about 3/4 right. About 1/4 of that is life changing decisions, here!

We were both scheduled to graduate next spring, May of 2010, and then we were planning on being together and moving somewhere where he could find a job and I could find grad school. Yay! Yippy skippy. Things were falling together in an awesome way. And then what I call a “life fart.” You know, where everything is going your way, you’re confident, smooth, assured, and then a life fart happens and things are shifted. At first you don’t realize what a big impact it will have, but as time goes on, it’s more apparent that that shift just won’t dissipate, and you’ll have to face reality sooner than later.

Yes, I know that was a random association but it works. You’re thinking now, aren’t you?

So, now Eric is looking at taking a two semester internship in Dallas Fort Worth, which is great for me because he gets to know my parents better, he has a great opportunity to work with a HUGE company [Parker Hannifin] and it might even lead to a job offer! It also kinda stinks because in order to go for two semester to this co-op, or two semester internship, he pushes back graduation to December of 2010, so that means the two of us will be in Ames for at least another year.

But then as I’m looking into Occupational Therapy grad school, it’s more and more apparent I need more prerequisites under my belt before I can apply, so I calm myself by reassuring myself that I can go to school next fall, substitute teach, work at Starbucks for health benefits [because Lord knows I need those, hah!] and everything will be fine.

So I feel like I just used this writing to think through all of this. It actually worked out pretty well.
Decisions, decisions. I’m growing up way too fast. Decisions a year from now are starting to creep up on me now. How is this happening!?

Life hits you out of the blue. Like that random hockey puck at the Dallas Stars game in 7th grade.

Yeah don’t ask. Just know it was really random. And didn’t feel too awesome at first. =]

Until next time,
Stop to smell the roses before you turn around and you’re in the real world,
So basically enjoy college while you’re in it,
I am, as always,
Seanna

Wow. Long signature. Intense.

So this is my schedule for Fall 2008, 17 credits, and band staff.

I was just going to take 14 credits, including band, BUT since I’ve changed my future career goals to be an Occupational Therapist, and I’m looking into graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis, I need to take some more prerequisites, such as Statistics and Medical Terminology [the VPath 401] class.

So yeah, that’s it! I’m excited! It’ll be a lot of work, but I’m still psyched for my last semester of classes. It seems like just yesterday I was arriving on campus for Destination Iowa State . . . meeting with my academic advisor . . . and registering for my FIRST semester of classes. When I look back on my transcript, I feel like I JUST took those classes, but it’s been six semesters ago! Whew! Time flies in college, man.

So until next time,
Seanna

So, when you get to college, at Iowa State University [of course] there is a special time each semester where you feel vindicated. A time where it pays to be a stuent and final get rid of those fourteen pound books that become another permanent appendage, at least until you pass the class and can peace out: time to sell your books back to the bookstore and make some MONEY!

I had a friend who recently decided to try to cheat the system and rebel against formalized education.

Yes, that’s right. She sold her books to Bob Buys Books.

She also learned a valuable lesson.
Bob Rips off Buyers.

Don’t ever, ever sell your books to Bob.
He’s not an innocent as his common name makes him appear. She received less than 25% of her buying price, whereas the UBS [University Book Store] was buying her book back for 86% of her buying cost [well, technically, her parents' buying cost, so she was actually making profit, but shhhh, don't tell]. 

So, lesson learned. Don’t go to Bob for your buying needs.

Until next time,
You’ll find me in line at the UBS,
Seanna

So, don’t laugh.

No, really. 

Seriously.

Don’t laugh.

I haven’t had a TON of time to workout lately, so a friend of mine loaned me TurboJam, a home workout system that’s fun and interesting compared to other workout DVDs. The music is great, the moves and the programs are all based on 11 moves, Capoiera [brazilian dance fighting] and toning. I LOVE it. I know, I know, it sounds corny, but I’ve been using it for a week and I’ve lost 6 lbs., and almost eight inches in combination of my arms, waist, hips, chest, etc.

A lot of people have questions about staying fit in college, between the food, sitting in class, and the change of lifestyle you encounter. I’ve been running and working out, and that not only helps me feel better [since endorphins are natural mood boosters] but it also helps me stay more organized and focused when it comes to working on homework and scheduling “me time,” which is essential for college success. Being fit and feeling good is the basis of a good body image and confidence, so when it comes to working out, make sure that when you get to college, you don’t give that up! If you feel good about yourself, you will be more confident and successful in the long run!

We’ll see how it goes! I’ll keep you posted, hah! Meanwhile, check it out! It works!

Until next time,
Seanna