Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

I did it! I made it through my first day as a full-time student teacher! I was so nervous about today and I can't believe it is finally over and I have a chance to share a great recipe with you!

I got to school today at 7:30, parked in the wrong lot, ran into another student teacher who told me where to go, and made it to the office by 7:35...not too shabby.  Except for the fact, that I got totally lost on the way to the office.  I figured it out eventually and got there with plenty of time to start the day.

After a bit of a confusing morning, it was nice to spend the first part of first block in a study hall. Every teacher needs to spend a certain amount of time at a study hall being available to help students.  Today was the first day of the new semester and so no one needed help.  Instead, I got to go over the geometry lesson plan with my cooperating teacher.  After our study hall, we had about 30 minutes to prepare for second block.

Second block was my big moment: I started teaching the geometry class!  I started off with a group juggle activity to learn some names and then I dove in! We worked through two lessons during the 95 minute block and learned the triangle congruency theorems.  I struggled a bit when it came to names or using the SMART board, but overall the class period flowed fairly well and the students were great.  I can't wait to teach them again on Thursday!  That might have sounded weird...let me explain: with this "block" scheduling, students have classes every other day.  So, geometry happens on A and C days.  On B and D days students have the other half of their classes.  I'm still figuring this out as I go and basically all I know is how A days work right now.

After geometry, we got some time to each lunch and then it was back to class for Pre-Calc.  My cooperating teacher is going to teach this one until I am more comfortable and then I am going to help co-teach.  Today, I led the group juggle activity and then circulated the classroom answering student questions.  We ended class with a guest speaker on teamwork and working together on projects in school and outside of school.  It was an interesting talk and perfect for this class as the students have to work with teams all the time.

For the last block of the day, my cooperating teacher does work with service based learning so I went to an algebra class to help out.  This class was much different as it was full of freshmen, and then sophomores through seniors who have failed the class in the past.  It was a much different class and great to see.  I got to help out students and in the future I may help co-teach or lead warm-ups and other activities.  I had a super full day at high school and by the end of hte day I couldn't wait to sit down and breathe!

However, I still had to drive over to another building to get my ID and then I convinced myself to stop by the work-out facility on the way back and run 4 miles.  Yeah, I can't really believe I did that either...

Now, I am home, showered, and getting my thoughts together before I have to work on planning for the rest of the week.  Tomorrow is another full day and it is a B day so it's sort of like another "first day" all over.  I am excited to see what honors algebra 2 has in store for me!

Now, onto that new recipe I am so pumped to share.  Tamara and I felt like baking the other night and so we whipped out a recipe for peanut butter cup stuffed cookies.  I found a great recipe on Joy of Baking and then adapted it slightly to use whole wheat flour and dark brown sugar.  These cookies were super yummy and you should all make them right now.  In fact, I might go eat a few...I think I deserve it!

Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
48 miniature peanut butter cups

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a mini muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined.  Mix in the vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Pour into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.  Drop a tablespoon of cookie dough into each mini muffin hole.  Bake for 8 minutes.
4. Unwrap the reeses and after 8 minutes. Press 1 candy into each muffin hole.  Place cookies back in the oven and bake for another 3 minutes.  Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then let cool on a wire rack completely.

Enjoy :)