Surprise, surprise. It's been two weeks or so since I last blogged. I could make excuses. B-mod midterm last week, stats midterm this week. Let's be real, blogging is sometimes less of a priority. But to continue with the updates:
Things are going well. I've been pretty busy but not in a bad way, not at all. I am enjoying everything, and (other than the midterms) it's not been too stressful. I've decided to do a research apprenticeship rather than a Master's thesis. It was a tough decision...having my Master's could give me an edge for internships, but once I have my doctorate, it won't matter at all. So, apprenticeship it is. Here's to hoping that things like my application and interview can make me stand out enough.
I tried Thai food for the first time ever. Who knew it was so delicious? Obviously not me, though to be fair there are NO Thai restaurants where I grew up. I pretty much loved it, and I think I prefer it to Chinese. If my parents are unable to come visit me and try some, I'll probably have to bring some home to them.
I've been running regularly. Hooray? I'm registered for a 5 mile race on Thanksgiving, so I'm working on making sure I can actually run, you know, 5 miles. This past Saturday I ran 6, so I think I'll be ok. I might even try to shorten my mile time, if I'm really motivated. Sometimes running seems like the only real escape I have--not that I need to escape all the time. I just don't have much else to do (nor do I know many people) outside the program. And I cannot always be concentrated on the program.
Today is one of those "blah" days. I'm just not in a very good mood, and I'm kind of crabby. I had my stats midterm today, and I felt like it went well...until I was looking over it later and realized I made a typo somewhere. I may have done the work right, but my numbers were wrong. Well, here's to hoping I get some pity points. I'm also supposed to be getting the results of my b-mod midterm today. I was planning on never opening them, at least not for a few weeks. But if today already sucks, maybe I should just open them today and get all the negative stuff out before the day ends. I guess it depends on if I get them tonight, and if I feel like opening them. I will be going to bingo again tonight, at a local pizza place. It's free to play, and you get awesome prizes like pizza. I'm sure they make tons of money from people buying drinks--it's a clever set-up, and I really like it. Who doesn't want to get out of their apartment once in a while? Or every Tuesday... I'll take it, especially since I'll be meeting up with my only friend that ISN'T in the school psych program. Plus, last week he won a certificate for free pizza, so guess who is getting free pizza tonight? That's right, me. It has to make today a TINY bit better, doesn't it?
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Moments :)
I was kind of crabby today, but ended up having a pretty good day. Let's start at the beginning of the week.
Monday & Tuesday I had a small migraine that still lingered onto this morning. I was less than pleased, seeing as how I wanted to start studying for my upcoming midterm. It's hard to do when you are in pain, and it made me feel sick. We did go out for dinner on Tuesday, at La Gondola. All-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner for about $4. It was pretty good, but I felt so sick I could hardly eat.
Today, I had intended to get up and run this morning, but since my head still hurt, I opted to sleep for another hour. I'm not sure that it helped, and I ended up getting up to start reviewing notes for my midterm. I attended an IEP meeting at a local school (not the school where I do my fieldwork) and that was interesting. I've been having a hard time getting ahold of my local school psychologist, so the program director offered me the opportunity to visit another school. It was a little awkward, and I think I'd definitely prefer to attend a meeting where I at least had met the child...or teacher...or psychologist.
Then, I had my supervision meeting. Those usually go well, although I tend to feel like my supervisor is doubting me. No, I'm not taking on more than I can handle. I've been running my life very successfully for the past 22 years. I understand, however, that he's just looking out for me.
I had a really good experience at Headstart today. I think the kids were better behaved than usual, especially some of them in particular.They were all pretty excited to see me, and I tried to play with a bunch of different kids rather than just a few. There are a few who just love to play with me, though, and it's hard to say no. There were a few things today that went really well. 1) I gave the Second Step lesson to the kids. They had a hard time focusing in the end, but overall they did a great job sitting still and answering my questions. It was great to say "So-and-so is doing such a great job, he/she has just earned a heart for all of us."(The idea being that if they behave well and earn all 5 hearts, they get some reward at the end [be it a high-five, stickers, etc]). 2) One of the kids who is normally a bit of a crybaby behaved so well today. I made a point of mentioning it several times. Near the end of the day, they were all standing in line to leave, and this student was standing so nicely and quietly, while the others were messing around, quarreling, trying to run outside, etc. I said to all of them, "Look how [student] is standing SO nicely. He's quiet and keeping his hands to himself. It makes me so happy when people stand in line like that!" and he had the BIGGEST smile on his face when he said "Thank you, Miss Lexie!" And then, one of the other students who normally has a hard time listening to directions said, "I'm going to stand like [student]!" which made that student feel even better (plus then there were more students behaving. Sometimes those simple things are so nice. Sometimes all a child needs is a little praise to feel so great about him or herself.
And, that was my day. I came home and ran 4 miles. Yay me. Then I filled out a log, sent some e-mails, half-heartedly studied for B-Mod, and watched the Brewers lose...again. Off to bed I go--I'll be teaching Second Step in a kindergarten classroom tomorrow, and visiting an early learning classroom at my field placement. I also have class, a meeting, and I'll be observing an intervention group in the afternoon. Busy, busy day!
Monday & Tuesday I had a small migraine that still lingered onto this morning. I was less than pleased, seeing as how I wanted to start studying for my upcoming midterm. It's hard to do when you are in pain, and it made me feel sick. We did go out for dinner on Tuesday, at La Gondola. All-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner for about $4. It was pretty good, but I felt so sick I could hardly eat.
Today, I had intended to get up and run this morning, but since my head still hurt, I opted to sleep for another hour. I'm not sure that it helped, and I ended up getting up to start reviewing notes for my midterm. I attended an IEP meeting at a local school (not the school where I do my fieldwork) and that was interesting. I've been having a hard time getting ahold of my local school psychologist, so the program director offered me the opportunity to visit another school. It was a little awkward, and I think I'd definitely prefer to attend a meeting where I at least had met the child...or teacher...or psychologist.
Then, I had my supervision meeting. Those usually go well, although I tend to feel like my supervisor is doubting me. No, I'm not taking on more than I can handle. I've been running my life very successfully for the past 22 years. I understand, however, that he's just looking out for me.
I had a really good experience at Headstart today. I think the kids were better behaved than usual, especially some of them in particular.They were all pretty excited to see me, and I tried to play with a bunch of different kids rather than just a few. There are a few who just love to play with me, though, and it's hard to say no. There were a few things today that went really well. 1) I gave the Second Step lesson to the kids. They had a hard time focusing in the end, but overall they did a great job sitting still and answering my questions. It was great to say "So-and-so is doing such a great job, he/she has just earned a heart for all of us."(The idea being that if they behave well and earn all 5 hearts, they get some reward at the end [be it a high-five, stickers, etc]). 2) One of the kids who is normally a bit of a crybaby behaved so well today. I made a point of mentioning it several times. Near the end of the day, they were all standing in line to leave, and this student was standing so nicely and quietly, while the others were messing around, quarreling, trying to run outside, etc. I said to all of them, "Look how [student] is standing SO nicely. He's quiet and keeping his hands to himself. It makes me so happy when people stand in line like that!" and he had the BIGGEST smile on his face when he said "Thank you, Miss Lexie!" And then, one of the other students who normally has a hard time listening to directions said, "I'm going to stand like [student]!" which made that student feel even better (plus then there were more students behaving. Sometimes those simple things are so nice. Sometimes all a child needs is a little praise to feel so great about him or herself.
And, that was my day. I came home and ran 4 miles. Yay me. Then I filled out a log, sent some e-mails, half-heartedly studied for B-Mod, and watched the Brewers lose...again. Off to bed I go--I'll be teaching Second Step in a kindergarten classroom tomorrow, and visiting an early learning classroom at my field placement. I also have class, a meeting, and I'll be observing an intervention group in the afternoon. Busy, busy day!
Friday, October 7, 2011
Kittens, apple orchards, and visits home!
I have no idea how I managed to avoid blogging for the last week. There has been some exciting stuff going on.
Friday after class, Christine, Claire, Natalie, Lynda, and I went to Tanner's Apple Orchard in Peoria. It was SO much fun. We were a little late getting there, as we stopped to let Sophie out and then to meet Lynda's mom. Thus, the U-Pick area was closed...so we didn't really get to explore in the actual apple orchard. But there was a really big gift shop, a petting zoo, and a playground, which we did not hesitate to play on. We played tetherball, rolled down the hill, swung on the swings, and jumped on bales of hay. It was really nice to get out of Normal, and to do something that didn't involve school psychology. We did end up talking about the program for a while, but it was relaxing. I had a really good time...and then I bought some caramel apples, apple cider, and a mini apple pie.
On the way back from the apple orchard, the vet called to tell me that I could pick out a kitten on Saturday. Christine went with me on Saturday, and I picked out one of the adorable kittens. I named her Binet (so we have another famous psychologist kitty). She is dark grey with stripes, and so precious. She's still a little shy, since we was just rescued last Wednesday. She had been living outside with her siblings. After just a week, she is getting much braver. She wanted to play with Adler more than Natalie or I, since she is more familiar with cats than people...but Adler wanted nothing to do with her for the first few days. Poor Adler. Two weeks of being an only kitty, and she did not want another kitten in the household. It was a little stressful, but they are friends now. And Binet has warmed up to people--she loves to be held (but only when she comes up to me and meows first). It's silly :)
This past week went by fast. Honestly, I don't think anything all that exciting happened. I had fun at my fieldwork--I visited a fourth-grade classroom, and helped them with their journals. They wrote about the kind of person that they did and did not want to be. It was pretty amusing, especially with what they didn't want to be (e.g. serious [because serious people talk about boring things like their jobs], gullible, or a hobo). I was asked to come back to that classroom once a week to work with the kids on playing word games. Seeing as I love word games...this won't be a problem!
I worked pretty hard this week to get most of my work done so that I could come home this weekend! And, as I write this, I am sitting in De Soto. It's pretty exciting--I still need to do some homework, since I have a presentation on Monday that I went to do well on. But I do plan on relaxing :) I'm going to watch my brother's football game tonight, which is exciting. And tomorrow there is a chicken q, which is even more exciting (except that nobody from IL even knows what that is...weirdos). I love being home...Wisconsin in fall is so gorgeous. And it's nice to hang out with my family...even my sister is coming home tonight! It's going to be a good weekend :)
Friday after class, Christine, Claire, Natalie, Lynda, and I went to Tanner's Apple Orchard in Peoria. It was SO much fun. We were a little late getting there, as we stopped to let Sophie out and then to meet Lynda's mom. Thus, the U-Pick area was closed...so we didn't really get to explore in the actual apple orchard. But there was a really big gift shop, a petting zoo, and a playground, which we did not hesitate to play on. We played tetherball, rolled down the hill, swung on the swings, and jumped on bales of hay. It was really nice to get out of Normal, and to do something that didn't involve school psychology. We did end up talking about the program for a while, but it was relaxing. I had a really good time...and then I bought some caramel apples, apple cider, and a mini apple pie.
On the way back from the apple orchard, the vet called to tell me that I could pick out a kitten on Saturday. Christine went with me on Saturday, and I picked out one of the adorable kittens. I named her Binet (so we have another famous psychologist kitty). She is dark grey with stripes, and so precious. She's still a little shy, since we was just rescued last Wednesday. She had been living outside with her siblings. After just a week, she is getting much braver. She wanted to play with Adler more than Natalie or I, since she is more familiar with cats than people...but Adler wanted nothing to do with her for the first few days. Poor Adler. Two weeks of being an only kitty, and she did not want another kitten in the household. It was a little stressful, but they are friends now. And Binet has warmed up to people--she loves to be held (but only when she comes up to me and meows first). It's silly :)
This past week went by fast. Honestly, I don't think anything all that exciting happened. I had fun at my fieldwork--I visited a fourth-grade classroom, and helped them with their journals. They wrote about the kind of person that they did and did not want to be. It was pretty amusing, especially with what they didn't want to be (e.g. serious [because serious people talk about boring things like their jobs], gullible, or a hobo). I was asked to come back to that classroom once a week to work with the kids on playing word games. Seeing as I love word games...this won't be a problem!
I worked pretty hard this week to get most of my work done so that I could come home this weekend! And, as I write this, I am sitting in De Soto. It's pretty exciting--I still need to do some homework, since I have a presentation on Monday that I went to do well on. But I do plan on relaxing :) I'm going to watch my brother's football game tonight, which is exciting. And tomorrow there is a chicken q, which is even more exciting (except that nobody from IL even knows what that is...weirdos). I love being home...Wisconsin in fall is so gorgeous. And it's nice to hang out with my family...even my sister is coming home tonight! It's going to be a good weekend :)
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