Extracurricular Write up #1:

I was very excited to participate my first Poudre PLC, and English

Department meeting on Thursday, September 10th. I was nervous because this
was the day I would be meeting my match up teacher, but I was also nervous
about attending the meeting because it seemed so, private and professional.
When I got to Poudre I filed into the Event Center with the rest of the
professional development students, and staff. It was intimidating and
exhilarating. What this meeting was about was honoring 3 Dean List students
for their hard work and achievements. It was really awesome to see teachers,
students, and parents come together for these recognitions.
After this meeting, the PDS divided into their content areas and went to
their departments. This was my first department meeting, and again I felt like
an intruder in some respects. But it was fascinating to see what went on in
these meetings. This meeting focused on the re-norming of their goals for this
school year. They discussed the increased class sizes, their intent with the MYP
classes, and overall articulation and smoothness for juniors and seniors.
Seeing the entire department come together was an awesome thing for me to
witness and to anticipate with my student teaching.

Extracurricular Write up #2:

The next extracurricular event I participated in was Poudres Got
Talent, on September 28th. This was absolutely awesome to go see because it
gave me a better sense of who some of the students were at Poudre, even
though none of the performers were my students. I expected a greater turn out
because there were close to 20 performers. But it was a smaller scale and
barely took up the auditorium.
What I was impressed most about was diversity. There was a student that
got up there and did a stunning, traditional Indian dance, a student who did
stand-up comedy, a student who rapped, a few that did opera, and then some
that played instruments expertly. There was a young man who did a 6 minute
mashup of pop songs on the piano, and then two boys that closed the show
with a drum battle. It was absolutely awesome and I am so happy that I was
able to go and support these kids.
This made me think about bringing a talent show to wherever I teach,
which was something my dad piloted at every school he taught at. I think its
important for students to showcase who they are, on a school wide level and
sometimes at just the classroom level. My high school did an event called
Dancing with the Teachers where students would vote for which pairing did
the best dance. I think its fun to get the teachers involved also and humanize
them some.