Barbara's teacher training -- I have a couple of corrections to make. I talked to her about it, just to be sure I get it right.

Last year in her senior year, Barbara took an Education 180 class, where she needed 30 hours of "observation" in the Fall quarter. Barbara became a kindergarten aide for 3-4 hours about twice a week, and actually got about 45 hours that quarter. She was supposed to learn about classroom management.

Then, on a strictly volunteer basis since she enjoyed the teacher so much, she continued to be an aide once a week for the next two quarters. There was an "art specialist" in the classroom only the last 6 months of the year, and Barbara really enjoyed being there for that. She's always enjoyed arts and crafts.

Now that she's working on her Masters in Education and California Teaching Credential, she truly is doing Student Teaching (I wasn't sure). And she actually got to stay two weeks in the kindergarten class to start. She was sad yesterday because she has an eye infection, and the only squeeze-in appointment at her doctor's office was at 9:00 this morning, so she'd have to miss part of her last day there.

So, she mostly observes and assists, and will probably present a lesson here and there. At the end of the year, she'll have two weeks where she "solo's" -- that is, runs and teaches the classroom on her own, with the master teacher observing.

I remember having a Dominican novice history teacher who was a student teacher in Sister Imelda's class in my senior year. I remember when she solo'ed. It made it really clear what a wonderful master teacher Sister Imelda was -- and I was so glad to get her back at the front of the classroom!

Barbara's started in-classroom training on Monday. She's assigned to work in two different schools with two different grades -- with 4th graders this semester (so she's with the older kids in elementary ed) -- and with kindergartners starting in January (which is the age she thinks she wants to teach after graduation).

However, since kindergartners will be very different in January than on their arrival into the classroom for the first time, they made an exception to her schedule, and had her report to the kindergarten teacher for the first week this week. Barbara had been an aide last year with a teacher in a Santa Cruz kindergarten classroom. (I think that's what it was. I think it was associated with some class she was taking, perhaps a prepartory education class. Ooh, I'm sorry that I'm so fuzzy on the details!) When Barbar had trouble finding her "new" teacher -- the "old" teacher escorted her to the room.... and gave lots of praise about her, and how lucky the other teacher was to have her.

Steve later told me that Barbara told him that Barbara was introduced to everyone as "Miss Craig". I wonder why Barbara didn't mention that to me. It must have made her feel really grown up. I remember when on my first job in Boston, and folks would refer to me as "Mrs. Craig", it felt oh-so-different!

They said that she needed to learn about "forming communities" both in the kindergarten and in the 4th-grade classroom, so she can't stay in the kindergarten too long. I don't think Sister Annene (sp?) formed "communities" when I started in first grade, nor in any other grade I attended!

So, Barbara's doing practical training for 1 week in nearby Santa Cruz kindergarten. Then she does practical training for the rest of the semester in a farther-out Santa Cruz 4th grade. Then she returns to the same nearby Santa Cruz kindergarten in January. She was just gushing over how cute the kindergartners were. She said that by comparison, the first graders seemed so old.

Maybe she's right about herself. I hope she'll make a great kindergarten teacher! She certainly seems to have passion for working with the little ones!

Barbara started Grad School.

Since I didn't really post anything for a while, I should catch up on an item or two. One is that Barbara moved into her Grad School housing at UCSC on 7/1. Steve and I followed her in, and helped her move everything from her rented storage to her new apartment bedroom in just a couple of moves. We were more effiicient because everything was already packed up -- and we could load up both cars to the gills.

Barbara didn't start classes until 7/24. Even though she seemed a little discouraged with some of the assignments and teaching style to start, we hope she'll get settled in and happy before long.

If nothing else, it's about 12-13 months of intense work that she just needs to see through to get to her Master's in Education, and her California teaching credential. We're wishing the best for her!

Barbara's got a B.A.!

Well, she'll actually get her diploma in the mail in about 7 months -- we can hardly believe that's how they'll do it! They also let anyone who's going to graduate between now and next winter be in this year's ceremony -- maybe that's why there's a delay? When Barbara's in grad school there next year, she'll still have a few months of work to finish -- but will still be in the June graduation ceremony. It just all seems funny to me..... At any rate, when she went up on the stage, they handed her a little scroll rather than the diploma itself.....

We attended the Psychology Department reception for graduates on Friday afternoon -- a really, really hot day. We did a two-car run to Barbara's storage unit and then ate dinner at Carpo's -- a hamburger type of eatery, with good milkshakes. I stayed overnight (I brought bedding and pillows and towels and a change of clothes) so that I could help Barbara pack up her dishes and kitchen items that evening, and keep her company since non-graduating students had to move out earlier that day. We then ate at a diner with local color for breakfast. Barbara had to don cap-and-gown and check in at College 8 plaza for graduation by 11:45. Steve and Mark picked me up, and we walked over to the West field at about noon.

Saturday was hot and sunny in Santa Cruz -- so the outdoor graduation ceremony was both great and trying (Mark got a sunburn because he didn't want to use the cream sunblock I had for fear of acne, Barbara's hands did, too). However, it wasn't quite as hot as on Friday, so that was a blessing! UCSC holds 11 different graduation ceremonies -- one for each of the 10 undergraduate "colleges" and I suppose one for the graduate degrees -- half on the "West" field, half on an "East" field.

Since Barbara's "College 8" is on the western side of campus, her graduation ceremony started at 1:30 and finished up close to 3:30 p.m. We all had to exit and go back to College 8's plaza for a small reception, so that the field was open and clear for the Oakes College ceremony by about 4:00. It is only now on doing a search about the college names that I found this web site that tells about College 8 graduation sign-up and info: http://eight.ucsc.edu/graduation.html

All undergraduate students, whether they live on campus or not, are affiliated with one of ten residential colleges at UC Santa Cruz. Each college provides academic support, organizes student activities, and sponsors events that enhance the intellectual and social life of the campus in addition to housing students in small-scale residential communities. Every college community includes students with diverse backgrounds and academic goals. Each provides a mandatory "core course" for incoming freshmen based on a central topic, or "theme," that is unique to each college. The college affiliation is independent of choice of major, and assignments are based upon space availability and the student's requests for affiliation. Barbara had selected College 8 because she liked the view towards the ocean.

The first 7 colleges are named after each person who donated $1million (or maybe $1.5 million) to get a college so named. The last three colleges have not had a donor step forward, and so are just named by number, College 8, College 9 and College 10.

We had just enough time after the reception to load up our two cars with stuff to go to Barbara's rented storage room -- and make it to our 6:00 dinner on the Santa Cruz Wharf just 15 minutes late. (Steve had called them to let them know we were running late). We ate at Gilbert's Seafood Restaurant -- so since Steve and Mark don't eat seafood, they selected from the few non-sea items -- Steve had Chicken Teriyaki, Mark had Fettucine Alfredo. Barbara had a mixed-seafood pasta and I had scallops.

Steve then packed into his car a few last items to come home, while Barbara and I packed up her bedding and pillows, and made a last trip to storage to get in and out before they closed up at 9:00. She'd run out of boxes, so we stopped at the grocery store and got some paper grocery bags, plus bought a package of extra-large zip-loc bags so she could move her goldfish from its little tank to bring it home. We teamed up to empty her last refrigerator items and whatever else remained in her room, and load them into her car -- and then did cleaning. We didn't get out until about 11:15 -- and she had to drive me to my parking lot at Stanford to get my car. (Steve had picked me up from work on Friday.) We didn't get home until past 1 am - and we unloaded just the refrigerables and the goldfish, and then crashed into bed.

I'm taking a half-day off this afternoon so we can drive out to UCSC for the reception that Barbara's major department is hosting this afternoon from 3:00-5:00. Steve's going to pick me up from my office at 1:00, and the three of us will drive over the Santa Cruz Mountains (about an hour or so away from the office.)

I've packed a bag (including sheets, towels and pillows) and left them in Steve's car, so that I can stay overnight with her. (One of her apartment mates is checking out today, and will leave her door unlocked for me, so I can use a bed). All non-graduating students have to be out by noon today, which is only the day after finals are over! All graduating Seniors have to be out by noon on Sunday!)

Barbara has rented a storage space for a month on a special first-month-for-$1 plus $22 startup fee plus about $10 insurance. It's space that normally rents for $77 a month, and would pro-rate the following month if she can't move into her grad school apartment in time. She's already made a few trips there. If she has enough stuff packed up, we'll all help her move more stuff after the reception. Then Steve and Mark will go home, and I'll help Barbara with more packing-up and possibly moving.

She had hoped to move into campus housing or stay where she is. They won't let her stay where she is since she's not continuing in the regular summer quarter as an undergrad. And they won't let her move into grad school housing until close to her start-up date of 7/24. She could move into specific other temporary housing for $22/day -- which didn't seem worth it. So, using storage for her many belongings (she almost has a household, since she sort of lives in an apartment now) seems cheaper than making many trips back and forth over the mountain range. She could spend $22 in gas alone on one round trip!

The graduation ceremony is outdoors tomorrow at 1:30. And it's going to be HOT, since the winds have been off-shore for the past couple of days. (If the winds were following the normal on-shore pattern, they'd be blowing in cold fog from the Pacific.) So I've packed a sun visor, sunglass clip-ons and sunscreen, too. And some water and juice.

We have a reservation for a very nice restaurant in the Santa Cruz area for dinner tomorrow to celebrate. Barbara picked the place, and Steve made the reservation a month ago, and confirmed the reservation on Monday. The whole Santa Cruz area gets busy in the summer (there's a beach, even if it's often foggy and cold; and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk amusement park) -- but it's even busier on graduation weekend.