So it's been a while since I've blogged, thank you Thanksgiving.

The latest stressor for this class has been my culture presentation. I have to admit, I was very nervous going into the presentation, which for me is unusual. I guess I was just afraid with both the elements of the project that I wasn't being thorough enough about culture. However, I felt like my class presentation went well, and it seemed like it was well received. I am glad I chose to study the event that I did because it really did have a lot of interesting things to observe from a teacher/ethnographer standpoint. I also enjoyed hearing some of the other presentations that were given. For instance, I found the culture of the hallways at the school to be particularly interesting. I never really thought about the way students relate the hallways to punishment, or even extra freedom, but it occurred to me during the presentation that when I was in middle school I always appreciated being able to walk in the hallways during class because they were quiet and I could walk at my own pace. I had definite self-esteem issues in middle school, and I recall the hallways being the type of place I got out of as fast as I possibly could. It was a place for socializing, and I didn't do a lot of socializing in middle school. I would make a bee line for my class, and get there as fast as I possibly could- head down, books clutched to my chest.
I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the culture presentations.

Observation today was a little different. My co-op teacher was a bit frazzled as she has a large research paper for one of her masters classes that she needs to write, so she is taking tomorrow off to write it. The kids were apparently complaining that she was crabby, which frustrated her. In order to help her get things done, she put myself and another intern to work filing graded papers for different classes. Though mundane, this seemed like a valuable task because it shows how much extra work there is for teachers to do all the time. There were stacks of graded papers that had to be filed for the students, and she reported that the last time she had the students file their own papers it was a disaster. I have an even better understanding now of some of the behind the scenes work that must get pushed to the wayside. It's clear that in addition to actually teaching and creating lesson plans, teachers must keep up with grading, and other tedius tasks.