Looking Back at 2016-2017

A video to wrap up my second year in the Education and Training Program, my internship at W.A. Porter Elementary School with Mrs. Grass, my TAFE/Ed Rising Competitions, and my fourth and final year of high school!

Absences Add Up

I have missed school due to illness, vacation, extenuating circumstances, and because I just needed a day off. I don't usually get behind on my work and I make up my work pretty easily and quickly.

A way to prevent absences in our schools is to contact parents if their child is absent. A lot of the time, parents don't know that their child isn't at school and if they knew, they could provide discipline at home.
Another way is to make school more fun to be in. Our school has a lot of dress-up days and in-school events that makes it necessary to attend school to be involved.
One last way schools already provide incentives to coming to school is by giving the opportunity to be exempt from exams. These are based entirely on grades and absences. This helps because exams come with a lot of stress and work and to be exempt could save you from a lot of long nights and frustrations.

This blog was in response to the prompt posted on Mrs. Kallas's blog.

Semester Exam

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Habits of Mind

Teachers Go Beyond the Call of Duty -- What's Your Calling?

I recently competed in the TAFE Region XI Competition in Crowley, TX. I chose to compete in Portfolio, Job Interview, and Breakout Session competition.

I chose to do these events for a couple of different reasons:

I did Portfolio because I already had the gist of it completed due to the fact that it was a grade for my class last year. All I had to do was update with things I've done this year and practice presenting it. This was an individual competition, but all of the Year II's worked together to make sure we each had all of the elements to make our portfolio the best it could be. Each of the competitors in my chapter advanced to state for their portfolios.



I chose to do Job Interview because I felt the need to redeem myself. I competed in this event last year, and didn't even advance to Round 2 at Region. I really needed to work on my interview skills along with my social skills. Since my resume, cover letter, cover page, and references were already finished, laminated, and bound, all I had to do was practice my interview. I felt very confident during my interview. I had an answer to every question and answered swiftly and clearly. On my scoring sheets. each of the six judges left very encouraging comments about how well I did. I advanced to State for my interview and won 1st place! I am very proud of myself for how far I've come since competition last year.



I also competed in the Breakout Session competition along with my fellow Year II's. We decided to do a STEM activity with a lesson for each element. I taught the Engineering portion and went with a gumdrop and toothpick activity where you had to build 3 different structures to see which could hold the weight of a text book. Our group advanced to state along with only two other groups. If I could change anything about doing this competition is that we should have started working on it earlier so we could find more time to get together to work on it. Either way, I am proud of my group for getting it done, competing, and advancing.


I am excited to compete in all three of my events at the State Competition in Arlington, TX in February. I am so happy to say I was 3 for 3 for my competitions and am so eager to see how I do in the state competition and if I advance to Nationals for Job Interview!

This was in response to the prompt posted on Mrs. Kallas's blog.

My First Week as an Intern!

This week, I had the privilege of interning at W.A. Porter Elementary again.

I am working with Mrs. Grass again since we worked so well together last year and she is a wonderful mentor teacher.

Mrs. Grass teaches 1st grade reading and writing and sometimes gets to math while I am there.

This week was all about getting comfortable again in her classroom and working with her and the kids. I observed mostly, her new schedule and new students. I did some small activities like writing underneath the document camera while Mrs. Grass taught the lesson, and taking the kids to the bathroom and pulling out number cubes for Panther Paws.

I am looking forward to getting to know all of the students and being able to work with them throughout the year!!!


This blog is in response to the prompt posted on Mrs. Kallas's Wiki.

My Plan of Attack!

For this year's Ed Rising/TAFE Competition, I want to compete in Job Interview, Portfolio, and Breakout Sessions.

Last year, I also competed in Job Interview at Region, but did not advance to state. This year I will start by updating my resume. Since I already have the majority of the paperwork done, I can spend more time with my interviewing skills. The judges last year said I had the job on paper, but being the awkward and uncomfortable Maddie last year, I didn't advance. I will try to work on appropriate answers to general interview questions, and try to present myself as confident and professional.

I also want to compete in the Portfolio Competition. Since we had to create our portfolio for a grade last year in EAT, I already have it done. All I will need to do is update it with the things I have done since last year, and then work on presenting it! Click here to see my portfolio.

In addition to the two individual events, I will also be doing the group Break Out Session Competition with my fellow officers, Rose Baum and Lindsey Zimmer. Once TAFE posts the guidelines and rubric for this competition, we will get starting with planning and attacking.

I'm really excited to start with my competition events and eventually competing in Region and State, and hopefully Nationals!

This blog is in response to the blog posted on Mrs. Kallas's Wiki.