"I thought you were going to be a teacher?"

While being over here in Europe, many people have asked me about teaching.

"I thought you were going to be a teacher?"

"When do you plan to get a real job?"

"Are you not going to teach anymore?"

Yes, I still want to be a teacher.

Yes, I am planning to get a job when I get back to the States.

Yes, it is still my passion to teach young children.

I am still an educator, even in this season of traveling.

In fact, I have been teaching pretty much the entire time I have been in Europe.

Minus the first three weeks of travel and the time I spent at the sea with my Italian family, I have been teaching in some capacity.

First, it was the English summer camp in Italy.
{Just realized I never posted about this! Oops!}

Then, it was working with the boys in Spain.

Now, I am living in France and teaching English to two precious girls.

This is not the typical route one would take after graduating with an education degree. But for me, it's perfect. I have the chance to work with children and travel, all while being paid to do so. I love teaching and I love traveling. Not a bad set up if you ask me! Plus, when am I ever going to be in a more perfect time in my life to travel the world?!

I have learned (and am still learning) so much from each experience. I'm learning about teaching and I'm also learning a lot about myself. So much so that each place will definitely have its own post regarding what I've learned.

Teaching and working with children comes natural to me. I love getting on their level and watching them learn new things. It's so refreshing to see the world through the eyes of a child. Though there have definitely been some rough patches throughout these past months, I have never been more sure that teaching is what God has called me to do.

I am very excited to get back to America and start looking for a teaching job. Actually the thought terrifies me just a little bit. But most of me is excited. Student teaching was such a wonderful experience for me. I can't wait to have my own classroom and a group of kiddos to call my own!

Big Moment

Today is a big day! We have our commencement ceremony for the College of Education.

I can't believe graduation is actually here! The actual graduation ceremony is tomorrow night. Woohoo!

Today, I celebrate my education school accomplishments.

It has been a fun journey learning about myself as an educator.

There were definitely days (weeks, months, etc.) when I didn't think I could do this forever.

But student teaching totally restored my faith and now I'm ready to teach!

(After I gallivant through Europe, of course.)

So here's to accomplishments! Let the celebrations commence!

(pun intended)

Abducted by Aliens

Most of you know I was student teaching this semester for an awesome first grade class. And I loved every.single.minute of it. Teaching is my passion and it brings me so much joy. I love helping students and seeing little light bulbs go off in their heads. It's such a rewarding job!

Student teaching gave me many opportunities to try new things. This was like my trial period so it was okay if some of my ideas failed. That's what this process is for! Thankfully, most of my ideas worked. One of my favorites was a writing activity. I mentioned a longgg time ago that I would share about it. And the day is finally here!

I was blessed to work with three other first grade student teachers. We were all very creative and loved doing things that were a little outside the norm. Sooo we came up with this fun idea. We made a video pretending we were abducted by an alien. In order to get us back, they had to write a letter persuading the alien to let us go. Boy were these letters funny!

Here's how it all went down:
We began our writing lesson just like normal. Just a minute after we started, the secretary came on the intercom and called the first grade student teachers to the office. As soon as we walked out of the room, our teachers played the video we made. Warning: It's a little loud when Aly first starts talking to watch out :)

Most of the students freaked out when they saw this video. "We have to get them back!" "Let's write the best letters we can!" Some of them knew it was a joke and tried to play cool. (Luckily these students didn't ruin it for those that actually believed the story.) I had one student start sobbing. He thought something was going to blow up when he heard the beeps at the beginning of the video. I felt so bad when I heard this!

Our teachers texted us throughout the next hour and told us how hard the students were working. After lunch, specials, and half of recess, we walked back outside to meet our classes. The alien (a student teacher from another grade) came outside with us in her costume. At once all of the students rushed over to us and would not let us go. It was so precious!

We were so glad we did this activity because the students enjoyed it. They worked so hard and we got some great letters in the process. It just goes to show how school can be fun for kids; it doesn't have to be the same ol' boring stuff. I will definitely be doing more things like this in the future.

And now...what you've all been waiting for...some letters! All of them were hysterical but these were my favorites. I put translations under each but if you want a challenge, you should try to read them yourself.

Dear alien, I want Ms. Burton back. Because she is a nice teacher. If you eat her, I will cut you in half. And I will make a sandwich of alien.

Dear Alien, If you give Ms. Burton back I will give you a 4th grade teacher. She is a good person. She teach us a lot of stuff. She is great. She is also sweet. She is my favorite.

Dear Alien, Please bring Ms. Burton. We will do whatever you want. Because without Ms. Burton we can't do Morning Meeting. We couldn't do fun things.

And my personal favorite:

Dear Alien, I want Ms. Burton back please. If you don't give Ms. Burton back I will eat you up. Please bring her or I will fart on your face. If you don't give Ms. Burton back I will whoop you in the face. I want Ms. Burton back.

One Week Left!

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Wow. Time is moving so fast. 

I only have ONE WEEK left of student teaching!

One week!! So crazy.

I've been slowly giving responsibilities back to my teacher.

Now I'm pretty much left with nothing.
I passed both of my observations this semester with flying colors.
My supervisor had nothing but good things to say!
Praise the Lord.

It's so strange to go from teaching everything to teaching nothing.

But it's also really freeing.

I haven't had this much free time all semester!

I actually read a book this week.

Like a real chapter book.

Hunger Games if you're curious.

By the way...totally forgot how that book just sucks you in until you're finished.

So good.

This last week will be spent just enjoying my kiddos and trying to have as much fun as possible.

After next Friday, I'll be back to post about some of the fun stuff we did.

Hope y'all are enjoying your weekend so far!

What do you make?

Lately, I've been feeling a lot of criticism for teaching.

People questioning why I want to do it.

Scoffing at the little amount of money I'll be making.

Not really seeing my motivation to do something I'm so passionate about.

Well this pretty much sums it up.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Melt My Heart

I just had to share this.

One of my favorite students wrote me this note 

during writing workshop today.

So so precious.

Translation:

Dear Ms. Burton,

You are the sweetest teacher. You teach me lots of things. You are pretty and you're nice to me. And I like you. You are cute.

Sincerely,

Keysy

{Picture: Keysy says, "You are cute!" I say, "Thank you Keysy!"}

We're still working on the format of a letter. But she's getting there :)

Valentine's Day...a little late

These weeks are just flying by!

I am still LOVING my student teaching. My little first graders are so precious.

And my teacher? I can't say enough wonderful things about her.

So so blessed to be where I am.

Here's a little recap of February:

Valentine's Day is thee absolute best as a teacher.

You get loaded down with chocolates and cards and flowers.

Such a good way to put a smile on my face!

And I can't even begin to tell you the amount of sugar we had in the room.

#yummm

~part of my load~

How cute are these?!

I found the cutest Valentine's Day book at Target for $3.

It's the same type of rhyme as "Twas the Night Before Christmas".

The kids loved it.

We did some really fun activities that day as well.

You have to have Candy Hearts on Valentine's Day:

And we measured mustaches. I found this on Teachers Pay Teachers for free!

They had so much fun with this.

On a different note, I got a few new things that I'm currently obsessed with.

{I'm going to show you pictures but just know that this is weird for me.

I don't think I've ever shared selfies...not really my thing. Also excuse the blurriness. 

That's what happens when you use an iPod instead of a real camera.}

For starters, I got a pleather peplum shirt.

If that isn't awesome I don't know what is.

I also scored this dress from Old Navy for only $10!

Love it when I find cheap teacher clothes.

{yes...I refer to some clothes as teacher clothes}

I'll be back later to share the most fun activity I've ever done in school.

We're still in the process of putting up our work so I'll wait until I have good pictures.

Trust me you won't want to miss it.

It involves aliens.

Happy Sunday!

Good Things

Hey friends!

I have some exciting news to share:

1. I passed the GACE!! Which for those of you who don't know, it's the certification test for teaching in Georgia. So I'm officially a certified K-5 teacher! Now all I need is my degree.

89 days until graduation. Say what?!?!

2. I'm officially going back to Italy! I happily accepted a camp counselor position in Modena in June. I'll be going back with my friend Rachel and hopefully we'll be traveling around Europe for a few weeks before the camp. I'll keep you posted!

Rachel and me in Firenze. Eating food, of course.

So that is what's been going on with my life.

I have something else in the works that I'm super excited to share. But it will have to wait a little longer.

Anything exciting happening for y'all?

I am just now catching up on blogs from the past three weeks. Oops!

Student teaching has taken away my social/social media life.

{secretly I'm not too upset about it}

Happy Weekend!!

Faith Restored

Another week of student teaching has come and gone.

I cannot tell you how much I am enjoying it.

Before this semester, I was seriously debating 

whether I wanted to teach for the rest of my life.

If you knew me, you would know that was serious.

I have wanted to be a teacher since I could talk.

I know that sounds cliche, but it's the truth.

I just knew it was what God had called me to do.

After my past two field experiences, however,

I was seriously reconsidering my decision.

But y'all.

This semester has completely restored my faith in teaching.

You don't know how happy I am!

My mentor teacher just keeps getting better,

the other first grade student teachers are awesome,

my students are so precious,

and I'm just loving that I get to teach them everyday.

All of that to say,

week two was wonderful.

I picked up morning meeting, number corner, and reading groups

this past week.

Next week I'm picking up math.

(Ahhhhh!)

I'm a little nervous for that one.

Good news: Monday is MLK.

Which means a shorter week!

Which in turn means a longer weekend!

I get to sleep in for three days!!

(And by sleeping in, I mean waking up at 8 am. 

Apparently it's impossible for me to sleep in now 

that I'm used to getting up at 5:30. I guess I'll take it.)

Sorry about the lack of pictures on the past few posts.

I'm horrible about documenting my life with a camera.

Hopefully this week I'll have some school-related pictures to share!

Have a great weekend! Happy MLK Day!

First Week: Check!

My first week of student teaching is officially over!

I am absolutely loving my little first graders; they are so precious.

And my mentor teacher is amazing.

I'm so thankful to be placed in her class.

She is soooo awesome with the kids and I can't wait to learn from her.

So far, I have been called:

Ms. Burt

Ms. Burn

Ms. Bird

and my personal favorite, Ms. Burger.

{as you can imagine, they thought that was hysterical}

Favorite conversation so far:

Student: Do you have a mom and a dad?

Me: Yes ma'am.

Student: Still?

Me: Well yes.

Student: They're still alive?!?!

Me: Ummm yes...I'm not that old.

Oh children. They slay me.

Perks of Being a Teacher

So on Friday, we had a special guest: Kirk Cousins!

He was the quarterback for Michigan State in college and they played UGA last year in the Outback Bowl.
{sadly we lost}

He is now the back-up quarterback for the Washington Redskins.

He was in our school all week and came to talk to fourth grade yesterday morning.

I may have enjoyed it more than my kids.

It was pretty cool to hear about his life.

He is very well spoken and related life lessons to academic life.

For example, he talked about being coachable. He told the kids they needed to listen to their teachers and learn from their mistakes if they wanted to succeed.

I was definitely impressed.

Of course we had to get a picture with him after it was over.

The girls in my class were so jealous.

They even told me we were going to get married.

{Ha! I take a picture and they jump to us getting married. Perfect example of fourth grade minds for you right there.}

My kids asked him for an autograph at the end of the day. He signed his name and put "Proverbs 3:5-6" on each one. One of my girls came up and asked me what that meant. I was able to share the verse with her and explain it a little bit.

Such a perfect ending to my day.

Love it!

Pictures with NFL players is definitely a perk to being a teacher.

Success!

So I mentioned earlier that I have a student who has a major anger problem. 

She gets upset realllllly easily. Like for no reason at all.

I've been trying to get to know her personally and build a connection beyond the school walls.

During my full week of teaching (which I still haven't posted about...sorry) I made a breakthrough.

We both like One Direction!!

{Judge me. I give you permission.}

I was so excited to have something in common with her. And she was excited, too.

She brings it up almost every day.

It's amazing that something so small makes such a huge difference.

Who would have thought a boy band would unite us.

Crazy stuff.

We went on a field trip yesterday and she practically begged to sit beside me.

It was so fun talking to her outside of the classroom.

She really is such a sweet girl.

I've learned a lot this semester so far.

And I only have two weeks left (holla!!!!).

But my absolute favorite thing has been winning this girl over.

Hope y'all are having a wonderful week. It's almost the weekend!!

Making It Worthwhile

As I mentioned on Wednesday, this semester has been a challenge. I'm in a fourth grade class at a very poor school. The school itself is new and wonderful, but the most of the children live below the poverty line.

The stories I hear from these children sometimes break my heart. I see kids who are told they're ugly and some who have unsupportive parents.

Some of them are so angry. I wonder how awful their situations must be for them to harbor such anger at only nine years old.

I have never seen such disrespect towards teachers and peers. It is shocking to me that they talk back so rudely and call each other such hurtful names.

They surprise me every day. Not in good ways.

Throwing desks, ripping up papers in my face, blatantly refusing to obey.

If I did these things when I was in school, I can't imagine what would have happened.

I would never imagine talking to teachers the way they talk to us. Shocking is the only way I can describe it.

Yet even in these rough conditions, the children have a hold on my heart.

I am so grateful I get a chance to love on them each day and tell them how special I think they are.

I know that on some days, I may be the only one to tell them that.

This year has shown me that this is what I'm supposed to do. I know the Lord has called me to this profession.

While I am often frustrated, at the end of the day, I still love the kids. And I love that I have a chance to make a difference.

 They grow up in situations so different from the loving one I grew up with.

I have called my parents multiple times this semester to just thank them.

For loving me, telling me how special I am, being my biggest fan, disciplining me, and supporting me through everything.

My prayer is that I encourage them to be something. To know that they can overcome their challenges and do something great with their lives.

At the end of the day, if I help just one child, it will all be worth it.

A Week of Fourth Grade

This week has been pretty crazy for me. We are in the schools all week.

{Usually we are only there on Thursdays and Fridays.}

I'm enjoying being in the classroom everyday because it gives me a chance to see what they do each day of the week. Usually I come in at the end of a unit so I'm not able to see how they started.

I'm also teaching a lot this week. We had to plan a unit for three subjects.

I chose reading, writing, and social studies with a focus on the explorers.

I think I'm having more fun than my kids.

I absolutely love making posters, creating brochures, making up booklets, and all the other cute stuff that goes along with teaching.

{If I had to pick my dream job, it would be doing all the things teachers do without the actual teaching part. I love grading papers, decorating classrooms, making worksheets, etc. So if you're looking for someone to do that stuff, hit me up! Seriously. I'm not kidding.}

I'll share some pictures once the week is over.

The end result is *hopefully* a brochure telling about their explorer.

Will it turn out like I hope? Who knows. But I have faith!

Here's a little snapshot of an example brochure I made:

While this semester has been hard (more to come on that later this week), it has definitely confirmed to me that teaching is what I'm meant to do.

Good thing, right?

That would be horrible to decide I didn't want to teach as a senior in college.

Hope y'all are having a wonderful Wednesday!

I'm alive!

Well I did it. I survived my first day as a substitute teacher!

There were definitely some bumps. Like when my trouble-maker decided to throw a crate of library books. Or when said trouble-maker disappeared for 15 minutes. 

{I'm convinced she was trying to give me a heart attack.}

But other than that, I'd say it was a pretty good day.

Thank y'all so much for the sweet comments, tweets, and emails yesterday. And for those of you who prayed, oh my word I could feel it. So thanks!

At the end of the day, I was still alive and smiling. Really that's all that matters. It just confirmed that I'm in the right profession. Love it when that happens.

Hope y'all are having a wonderful week so far!

Am I Old Enough For This?!

Y'all. I have some big news. As of last Friday, I am officially trained to be a substitute teacher! It's crazy to think I am old enough to be in charge of a class.

I also found out last Tuesday that I will be subbing for my fourth grade class. Tomorrow. All by myself. Alone. With 20 kids.

Can you tell I'm a little nervous???

{honestly I'm freaking out inside}

The class that I'm placed in is one of the worst classes I've ever been in, behaviorally speaking. They never quit talking, even during tests. I have a few students who will refuse to do work, even going so far as to throw their books.

I am hoping that my students will be so well-behaved considering I am a new face. They see me every Thursday and Friday, but I have yet to teach an entire lesson. So far, I have just been walking around during activities and helping small groups with work. Being in charge of the class for the entire day will be a new experience for them.

I'll let y'all know how it goes. Prayers would be greatly appreciated!

School Functions

In Italian schools, each grade focuses on one thing for the year. My class, for example, focused on fruits and vegetables. This does not mean they relate everything to this topic. It is just a way for them to have a year-long theme. One way they used this theme was for a field trip.

My class, along with the other two second grade classes, took a field trip to the grandfather's gardens. The Italian name is "Gli orti degli anziani." They call it grandfather's gardens because it is run by a bunch of old men. Haha no lie.

our guide

We walked to the gardens from the school. It was about a 20 minute walk on one of the hottest days of our trip. One little girl in my class brought an umbrella to shield her from the sun. We laughed at her before we left but by the end of the day, we were all wishing we were that smart.

The gardens were beautiful. There were rows of fruits, vegetables, and herbs, each plot belonging to a different person. People would ride their bikes to the gardens and pick the food they wanted. There was a playground on one end for children. There was also a large building where they sold snacks or hosted parties.

Martina e Riccardo

One of the men took us on a tour of the gardens, stopping to name all the plants. The children were able to pick a few things to taste. At one point, we came across a plot with long-stemmed lilies. The man who owned the plot stopped our group, picked two of the flowers, and ran to give them to Giovanna and me. So sweet!

After our tour, we went inside the large building to eat lunch. They made gnocco fritto for us and man was it good. It is basically a fried ham sandwich. The bread is fried and the ham is cold. Mmmmm I'm drooling just thinking about it. So simple, yet so delicious.

The thing I love about Italian schools is that they are very in-tune with the outside world. They try to get their students out in the world as much as possible. This field trip was just a small example of this philosophy.

Another way my class used the theme of fruits and vegetables was for the school festival. Each class has to make things to sell and must also put on some sort of performance. My class made a cookbook as well as little trinkets, such as the pencils shown below.

For their performance, they sang songs about fruits and veggies. They each wore a costume of a different food and had dances for each song. At the end, each student walked to the front and introduced themselves in English. They said the food, what color they were, and their name. Unfortunately, I was not able to go to the festival because I was in Firenze. But I did get to see them practice. I have videos but they aren't working for some reason. As soon as I figure it out, I'll post them for you to see. The kids are so cute!

Seconda Classe A (Second Grade Class A)

{Warning: This is a long post. If you aren't very interested in education, it may be a little boring. Don't say I didn't warn you!}

The main point of this trip was my work in the school. I was placed in second grade and I absolutely loved my class. The kids were so sweet and were really excited I was there. There is no way you can be upset with a little child speaking Italian. It's just impossible.

welcome sign for the group at the front of the school

my welcome sign at my classroom

There were two teachers for my class: Cristina and Federica. The teachers would switch off teaching each day; one would teach in the morning and one would teach after lunch. I had 20 kids in my class, including two with special needs. One of them just had trouble remembering simple facts; the other had more of a behavior issue. Because of these students, we had an extra "teacher" in the class every day. Giovanna was there to help the students with their work and she would often pull them out of class to work with them individually.

All three teachers spoke a little bit of English. Giovanna was the best. When she was in the room, she would translate things for me if I didn't understand. If it was only Federica in the room, we would use sign language and attempt to communicate while laughing our heads off at how ridiculous we looked. Cristina did not speak to me very much. Whenever she would teach, I would just sit in the back of the room and journal.

As far as actual teaching, I did not do very much. It was a lot of observation to compare Italian and American schools. I taught the students "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and helped them with basic English. The only big thing I really got to do was help with math. The students begin to learn English in elementary school so they were already learning numbers. There were many days when I would call out math problems in English and they would have to first translate the numbers, then solve the problems.

blurry...but a poster my teacher asked me to make

Italian schools are very different from American schools in the sense that there is not a lot of group work. The students stay in their desks all day. The teacher calls out problems or tells them to write certain sentences and they do it. It is similar to the image you probably have for a pioneer school from America's early days.

my classroom (the way it was when we left during the earthquake...details here)

Our schedule was mostly the same everyday. I was in the school from 8:30-12:30 each weekday. We worked from 8:30-10:30, then had a 30 minute break until 11. The kids could eat a snack, run around outside, and just get their energy out. They worked from 11-12:30 and then it was time for lunch. I ate at school the very first day, but went home every day after that.

our classroom door and the area where the students played during break

PE with one of my teachers (Federica)

Lunch at an Italian school is amazing. They have a three course meal each day complete with pasta, meat/vegetables, and dessert. It is absolutely incredible. The responsibilities of the students are a little different for each stage of schooling. In preschool, the students set the tables, serve the meals, and clean up the trash. In elementary school, the students are served by cafeteria workers, but they must clean up the mess. I assume it is the same in the upper levels, but I'm not positive because I never witnessed it. In middle and high school, most students go home for lunch or go somewhere in the city. Elementary students can also go home for lunch, but most stay at school.

lunchroom rules

our lunchroom

Each Thursday afternoon, our group got together for our "seminars." We would talk about things we were seeing in the classrooms and different teaching styles. I won't bore you with the details, but we had some great conversations. I honestly did not expect to get a lot out of it, but every week I came away with something new. It is such a great experience to teach or observe in another country and I hope I get the chance to do it again!

If you made it all the way through this, I'm sending you a big high five. A lot of this is for me to remember so I appreciate you reading through my thoughts!

Lions, Tigers, and Bears...Oh My!

Last Tuesday I went on a field trip with my kindergarteners to Zoo Atlanta. I was a little nervous about dragging around a group of five-year-olds but I had such a great group!

This was the first time I had been back to the zoo since middle school. When I was in sixth grade, the gifted class had to do a project on one of the animals. We chose our animals out of a hat and I was stuck with the Kori Bustard. You've probably never heard of the Kori Bustard so let me just tell you about it. It's a bird that literally stands in one place all day. That's it. I wish I was joking. I remember being so jealous of the other kids who got to watch the lions or elephants or giraffes while I was stuck with a dumb, lazy bird. Guess we can't always get what we want, right?
{ps i apologize to any of you who may happen to love kori bustards}

Kori Bustard

Checking out the pandas

Does this make anyone else think of Swiss Family Robinson???

Timon

Pumba...hiding in the rocks

It was such a great day with perfect weather.
Wish I could say the same thing about this week. It's been in the upper 80s here in Athens. Just a leeetle too hot for me.

Hope everyone is having a great week so far!