Week Three

Week Three

Observations: What I have noticed about this class is that every body gets along so well. I was expecting in an elementary school class that there would be frequent arguments and bickering but I have yet to see that. It must be a combination of the level of children and the discipline stype that Mr. A and the school inforce. The students are respectuful of one another as well as their authroty. I also think that Oak Pointe Elementary has made an effort to create a sense of cummunity so that all kids treat eachother fairly. I tis amazing to see how well everything flows at this school.

Learning Expereinces: When Mr. A teaches and explains things its more like he is letting the students share what they know to help clarify for others. The kids will go up to the board to work the warm up math questions or when Mr. A goes up to expalin a problem he really lets the kids tell him step by step what to do to keep them involved. I have learned that these techniques keep the kids engaged and excited for math. Whenever I go up to the board I now know to use the same technique because that is what works best. Afterall Mr. A is the "Math Daddy".

Reflections: School has been so different now that I am not able to see my fellow teacher cadets everyday. It is bitter sweet becuase I do not get to see them but the sweet part is being able to be in an elementary class every other day. School is starting to feel almost over with the preparation for AP exams, recieving our graduation supplies, and the upcoming spring break!

Stories:  This past Thrusday was Pi day in Mr. A's class! He gave me an awesome Pi Day shirt to wear so that I would be matching the entire class as well as him. He incorportated pie into his lesson and tought the kids about finding the circumfrance, radius and, diameter and afterwards they got to have a slice. I read "Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi"to the kids. It was a fun way to to fimiliarize the kids with the terminology.

Week Two

Week Two

Observations: From seeing how the students and Mr. A have to interact with the special ed student made me realize that sometimes you just have to ignore these type kids when they are disrupting because I have noticed that when the other students lash back at this child they are only making things worse. I have noticed that all of the kids seem comfortable in this class and are not shy nor timid. I realized it was because the way Mr. A interacts with them and takes to time to answer every question and solve all the problems that they need help with. I feel like his willingness to help the kids have made them feel comfortable in a math learning environment where often this is one of the most disliked classes by students.

Learning Experiences:  Most of the time I am in Mr. A's class it is when he is teaching math, but this past late Wednesday I was able to see what they do for science. It was the coolest thing, each group had a 2 L coke bottle cut in half, the top filled with dirt, grass and crickets fitting inside the bottom half that was filled with water, 2 fish, snails, and a type of water plant. They keep a log in their journals and record the changes in the plant growth as well as the animal life (and in many cases death). I was having so much fun going around and looking at all of them so you can imagine how exciting it is for the kids! By seeing this first hand it really helps them learn and understand the material.

Reflections: Being able to go to field experience every other day is a breath of fresh air for highschool. With AP tests coming up, prepartaion for college next year, and seniorits school has been pretty dreadful. Being able to see the kids who eagerly await you puts a smile right back on your face and gets you looking forward to at least a portion of the school day.

Stories: Every Friday morning Oak Pointe has this gathering called Morning Meeting. It was crazy, the entire school comes together in the middle of the school as Kidz Bop is blaring and sits on the ground while the principle begins to kick off the day. They get the students involved, hand out awards, and get excited for the weekend. I think it is awesome that the administrators make the effort to be a presence in the students time at school, the kids enjoy it tremendously.

First Week Field Experience!

First Week Field Experience!

Observations: From the first day I became a part of Mr. A's class I knew it was going to be a fun and engaging experience just based off of his personality. He moves around the classroom and is always engaging the kids whether he is teaching or checking answers. He is encouraging towards the kids and ensures that everyone is understanding the lesson. 

Learning Experiences: For the first week I began to see how their class works and what Mr. A does to make things work for his class. From the get go he was already giving me tips- when making foldables for their math notes give all the kids the same color construction paper so that you as the teacher can refer back to it easily-that would be a helpful tool I would not even think about! The kids got to learn about CMS and what it will be like as a 6th grader next year. CMS came for a short period of time and started to get them ready for the transition to middle school. All the kids were excited as they got to learn about the new changes when being in middle school, some positive such as lockers while other not so much like shorter recess. 

Reflections: The first thing that connected with what I learned in the classroom with my field experience was one of the students in Mr. A's class that has aspergers. Mr. A told me what I had already learned, that they try and keep the special needs kids integrated with normal kids as much as possible. I think its great that this particular child gets to be in normal class like everyone else and receive the same benefits as other kids in these AGP classes.

Stories: As we are going over homework I start to hear Mr. A start signing and then the kids start to get out of their chairs and sit on their desks. Before I know it they are all sings harmoniously about the different types of triangles  It was like out of a scene of High School Musical (Elementary School Musical rather..ha) except they were actually learning and able to use these songs to help them with math. It took me by surprise but it was too cute.

Blog 10

Blog 10

Learning Experiences: We have started preparing for field experience! We finished presenting all of our lessons and the time to leave is drawing near. It has been really great to finally see all the model lessons. By generally recapping the positive and negatives it provided us with an idea of how to improve once we enter the classroom.

Current Events: The article I read discussed alternative ways to asses a student's comprehension of a book than the mundane book report. The suggestions were all intended to strike creativity such as write a diary entry of one of the characters. The ten alternative methods made reading more exiting and interesting and tested their knowledge at a higher level.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/book-report-alternatives-elena-aguilar

Quote of the Week: "There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning." I like this quote because it describes school as just the beginning of an entire life of learning and without it life would be quite dull.

Observations: Getting to watch one another present was helpful so that once it is our time to teach a lesson to our own class we are already aware of what works best and what we should avoid. Field experience was awesome! Getting to see different schools, grades, and teachers first-hand was the best way for me to figure where I wanted to do my field experience  The fourth grade class at Oak Point is what sold me on either 4th or 5th grade. The students were old enough to carry a conversation with you while not getting too distracted. Oak Pointe was just as fabulous as the kids that go there and hopefully I will get that same awesome experience when we go out into the field!

Reflection: If it were not for the field experience that we have coming up I would be absolutely ready to graduate now! I am too excited for College now as well as everything I have planned for the summer it is making it difficult to keep focused on the rest of the school year. Hopefully having field experience to change things up a bit will make the rest of the year more bearable. I can't wait to find out my placement!

Blog 9

Read Alouds: Teaching Hope-Stories from the Freedom Writer Teacher. This portion of the book that we were able to listen to gave a lot of insight to us students. Not having any field experience yet made this a perfect book to learn from since teachers with all sorts of backgrounds were giving their own insight. It would be good for new teachers to hear how other new teachers dealt with problem situations that provide inspiration and ideas when things are not going as planned. I also thought it was soo awesome that Mrs. Jackson had her writing published in the book. I think its a valuable book to any teachers or aspiring teachers because you feel like you can relate to the Freedom Writer Teachers through their writing.

Learning Experiences:  As we near the classroom period of the class we have been preparing for field work in class. We have been reviewing teaching skills and methods and how to make learning more engaging for the students. Most recently we have been preparing our lessons which requires us to apply all of our knowledge about teaching to this one lesson we will present to the class. It has been beneficial to be present for the lessons. By watching it helps to see what works, what is interesting, and what engages the students the most.

Current Event: In a middle school there has been recent concern with the lacking civic and government classes for kids of this age. The concern is that students will not have had enough classes about the government and will not be as knowledgeable of the system. They feel that the one required class in high school is not enough to prepare them to understand the real world problems in government today. Nothing has yet to be done about this concern but they hope to encourage an increase in civic courses. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2012/10/civic_education_assessments_fo.html

Quote of the Week:

"Every child should have a caring adult in their lives. And that's not always the biological parent or family member. It may be a friend of a neighbor. Often times a teacher." I really like this quote because the power of a teacher is incredible especially for a student who feels neglected at home. I have seen the impact a compassionate teacher has on a student how how much the student begins to feel empowered just because someone has taken the time to be there for them.
Observations: Through our presentations I have taken note of what teaching styles are most effective and what students respond to the most. After noticing this in TC class I have noticed that I began to pick up on this in my other classes. I notice what things the teacher does that excites or interests the students as well as what bores them. I have been applying what I have learned about teaching styles in the classroom because I often find myself saying what makes this activity so interesting or boring.

Reflection: I am getting excited for the field experience that is coming up. I am already starting to think about what grade and school I want to be at. I am looking forward to the field trip Monday because it'll make field experience seem that much closer. Being in a classroom will be an awesome new experience to help with the monotonous feeling school has started to get.

Blog 8

Learning Experiences: I really enjoyed the guest speaker Jenna Hallman. Her lesson was so engaging and really interesting. She presented us with a ton of great techniques shush as using the colors red and yellow to help students remember the material learned. The brain based learning that Jenna presented to us gave a fresh insight to learning that I would not have thought about before. I thought it was awesome when we did the little test to see if we were auditory or visual learners! By being able to mix auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning I was truly engaged and learned a lot from her presentation. In the class room we learned about the different learning styles and techniques as well as the best way to present your test to students: start with easier questions, be grammatically correct, and have consistency in your answer choices.

Current Event: In Maine all school faculty are required to attend a teaching, administrative, and technology conference in order to better prepare the staff for the classroom. I think this is a positive implication while many teachers who are required to do so are not happy about the additional meetings to attend. In these conferences they allow new ideas and techniques from other schools to be presented in order to create the best learning experience for their kids in the classroom.
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/10/11/news/midcoast/school-district-sending-entire-staff-to-technology-conference/

Quote of the Week:
" The best teacher gives you something to think about at home besides homework." I like this quote because if teachers were not so focused of doing the most amount of worksheets then they would be able to take more time to communicate and share meaningful ideas with their students.

Observations: From the presentation that the guest speaker shared with us as well as the activities we have done in class I noticed that teachers and students both benefit from interactive and engaging lessons. The students are more willing to learn and listen and the teacher does not have to fight to keep the students engaged. This technique could be useful in a lot of my classes right now since seniors are starting to get senioritis and are becoming more interested with the upcoming months than what is going on in the classroom.

Reflections:  I can already tell that I am getting senioritis. Every week I am doing something to prepare for my upcoming year at CofC. I am still itching to hear back from the Honors College but until then I am getting my housing and everything ready for next year. I have already even found a roommate. I am beyond ready to graduate.

Blog Six

Read-alouds: With the holidays and our busy classes we only had a chance to read two read alouds. The first one was "Big Book of Families" by Catherine and Laurence Anholt 978-0763603236. It would be a really good book to introduce kids to the idea of a family tree. They could make their own family tree in class and share it with the other students. Also it would be great to teach kids about cultural diversity and how there are so many different families with different values. This would be really helpful because there are students with different cultural backgrounds throughout all classrooms, and it would help them understand where they all come from. They next book was "The Halloween Class" by Peter Maloney 10: 0439395194 was a seasonal appropriate book and was fun to listen to since Halloween was just around the corner. It is a great book for kids who are just beginning chapter books. It still is engaging like a picture book but it prepares the kids for more challenging books to come. It introduces them to the concept of breaking up a book into chapters, and they could even write their own story with chapters to enforce concept division in books.
"The Perks of Being a Wall Flower" by Stephen Chbosky  9781419387241was a book that modeled student teacher relationships in a positive way and kids could respond to this book by writing a letter of appreciation to one of their teacher. "Just be Nice to your Little Friends" by Caroline Kenneth 0307101002 was a book that could support a lot of creative writing ideas such as having kids rewrite the story in the perceptive of the bees and butterflies and show how they felt. We also read "13 Reasons Why" by Jay Summary 1595141880 would be a great book to teach in freshman success classes about the harms that come from bullying. Teachers could get kids to understand the consequences and also have the bullied kids open up about their struggles.
Learning Experiences: It was really great to be able to reach eachother's barrier books. It really helped me understand some of the barriers better, therefore it would have been nice to read the books before the test. None the less I was able to comprehend and better understand some barriers to learning that I had never thought were a big issue in the first place. Also one day in class Mrs. Dowd from Newberry College came to speak with our class and she had a lot of helpful information that she presented to us. She offered some advice that would be helpful even if we don't end up choosing to attend Newberry. I was nervous about entering college not knowing exactly what I wanted to do, but she explained how there are a large number of students that switch majors at least 3 times which made me feel a lot more reassured. I also liked listening to each groups presentations. They were very informative and fun. I feel like the way they were presented has helped me better understand the material.
Current Event: The article I read mostly talked about the similarities between Obama's and Romney's plans for education. The part I was most interested in was their approaches to evaluating teachers and ensuring that capable educators are entering our schools. They both want to make it more challenging for educators to enter schools because they want the quality of teachers to expand. I agree with their goals because sure anyone can set out and earn a teaching degree and teach a class but only a small group of those with teaching degrees actuallly know how to teach and engage their students.
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8740947228598430290#editor/target=post;postID=8814276956254565966
Quote of the Week:  "Experience is the teacher of all things" I really like this quote because it is a useful motto for the classroom. After the teacher has provided the students with the information it should be common practice for the class to engage in a hands on activity to reinforce the information they just learned because nothing helps me learn more than a hands on approach to learning.
Observations: I've been noticing lately that one of my teachers tends to be putting kids down unintentionally when asked a question. This teacher will often react to the question and the student asking it like they are thinking are you seriously asking this, you should know this what a dumb question. Clearly this is not a good model of a helpful and understanding teacher. This type of reaction shuts down students and discourages them from learning because they are no longer comfortable asking questions about things they don't understand. I am glad that most teachers are not like this because this is one trait that immediately hinders a student's ability to learn.
Reflections: These past few days I have applied to what I believe is my last college! I still have  a few more additional tasks to complete for two of my schools like finalizing my honors college essay for CofC, I can't wait until everything has been sent in and I will just be waiting for those acceptance letters! I',m extremely ready for college, over the weekend I went to CofC's open house and it made me even more excited to graduate. I am so glad we are about to go on Thanksgiving break because school has gotten stressful. Hopefully the few days we have off will be enough to recover.