Week Four

Observations: I have noticed that the kids are finally understanding my schedule. I think they have noticed the pattern and made sense of that more so than my countless attempts at an explanation. They can not relate to A or B days so they have no clue what I am talking about. But now whenever I leave, the ones that have caught on always say see you....insert next day I come. They are such smart sweet kids. I love being able to go to the class every other day.
Learning Experiences: This week I had a few more opportunities than normal to experience what it is like as a teacher besides interacting and teaching the kids. While the kids were map testing I helped Mr. A with organizing papers to prepare for a math club he does after school. I also graded papers and checked homework. I really enjoy the variation of work Mr. A has me do. I feel like Mr. A is giving me a great opportunity to see what all different aspects of being a teacher is like.
Reflections: Being in a class where one of the students has autism is extremely eye-opening. I have never had to deal with something like that before, it gets me thinking a lot. This child's father comes in everyday to check on his son. It makes me sad when this student does not follow directions or do his work because it makes his father so concerned. His father's desire for him to do well is inspirational  But this child is so lucky to have a dad dedicated to his success. I don't see how to handles it, I know I would not be able to.
Stories: One little girl in the class came up to me and asked me when my birthday was. When I told her it was January 18th a huge smile light up her face and she squealed  "Oh my gosh Ms. S has the same birthday as me!" I'm not positive if  we indeed share the same birthday or not but regardless it was too cute.

Week Three

Week Three

Observations: I have gotten to know the kids and their unique personalities fully now. It's interesting to observe how their personalities reflect what they are good at and how they interact with the class. For example their is one very mature girl who loves to talk and share stories and be very social. It is clear now that she is stronger in the humanities and always says she dislikes math because it is harder for her. It is funny to see which kids take out their books once math lesson starts since they much rather prefer language arts. But as soon as they take out their books Mr. A realizes this and inconspicuously calls on them to get their attention to let them know that they should be paying attention.

Learning Experiences: This week was a good week for learning about and observing engaging ways to learning math. I was introduced to a club called Math Olympia that the kids play in order to win fake money to buy prizes all while practicing their math skills. It was such a cool idea because it actually got kids excited to solve math problems and it seemed like a lot of fun. They also have math board games that they play. This past week has showed me different ways to make a widely unpopular subject such as math much more interactive and engaging.

Reflections:  Being in Mr. A's class is so awesome. Its unpredictable and fun to be a part of. I love watching him teach as well as taking my own part in it. The kids are all so sweet, it has been great to be apart of their class and get to know them. Its funny to think back to the time when I was their age and how every little thing was so exciting. They are a hoot and sometimes make me want to be ten years old again.

Stories: There was a little argument between kids in the class one day. They were arguing over a pencil and would not stop. It was so nice to see one boy in particular stand up and help resolve the issue. That takes a lot for a 5th grader to stand up against his peers and this boy did. He was the mediator and obviously was respected by his fellow students enough that they both stopped their bickering.

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.