Greetings!

I cannot believe how quickly time is flying by! Before I know it I’ll be student teaching, graduated, and applying for jobs…SCARY! This semester I have been placed in a classroom about fifteen minutes away from campus. I pay a visit to my fourth graders every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning and afternoon. This placement is part of the education department’s elementary methods field experience. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I have learned from my fourth graders! Typically one field experience consists of fifteen hours in a certain subject, a majority of the time is spent observing and helping the teacher with different tasks they may have. This experience also includes opportunities to teach a lesson you have created to the students while the classroom teacher observes. It may seem nerve wrecking to some, but I can say that every time I have taught a lesson I’ve had a blast! You don’t even notice the classroom teacher half of the time because the students will be sure to keep you on your toes! The best part about spending time in the classroom however is just to hear some of the students’ comments and discussions. You can’t help but laugh because they are so sincere! I’m not looking forward to the end of the semester when I have to say so long to all of my fourth graders, but until then I’ll enjoy spending time with them!

As most of you know from previous posts I am a member of the SMSU Dance Team. After break the team had been working very hard on a jazz and hip hop performance for the infamous Hawaiian weekend. I have to give each team member a lot of credit! Those couple weeks of practice were tough, it even hurt to laugh! But we pulled it off and each performance went splendidly! Our next performance is on February 17th (Country-Western Night) with a boy girl dance and we will end our 2011-2012 season with our dance camp on February 18th (Pink Zone Night)! Here are a few pictures from our hip hop routine and a link to our Jazz Performance on Facebook!

Bertina Miller
Senior-New London, MN