Read alouds

The first book we hear was the Wonkey Donkey by Craig Smith. This book would be so much fun to read in the younger grades because they would think it was so funny. It used so many funny words and pictures. The kids could get involved in repeating the words and you could also get them to guess what is going to happen next. It is a book that would really keep the kids entertained.

 

The second book that was read was an excerpt from Teaching Hope: Stories From the Freedom Writer Teachers. We heard the part that Mrs. Jakcson wrote. It was very interesting to hear about the first days of school from a teachers perspective. It shows that teachers put on so much work to get their rooms ready for school but when the first day comes the students don’t notice it. It is just like any other classroom to them, but to the teachers, it is very important.

Learning Experiences

This week we talked about different cooperative learning strategies. It was interesting to see how many different ways that teachers can get the students involved in the learning. The one that I liked the most was “I have, who has?”. It was good because it forced the whole class to listen when someone was reading. It would work best in a fifth-grade class when they are learning about certain events and people in history. It would also keep them involved and quiet.

Current Event

https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2019-01-04/study-contradicts-betsy-devos-reason-for-eliminating-school-discipline-guidance

This article talked about how now that Trump is president they are rolling back on Obama-era principles for the classroom. It is saying that in a new study it shows that schools that expel and suspend students rather than giving out many warnings or detentions make it feel like a “safer” environment. I can see why people may say they feel safer but using suspension as the first defense isn’t always good. In some cases, the students who act out may not have parents that care about them very much, so when you suspend them you are just letting them stay at home and miss school. When they miss school they are farther behind and they most likely will not catch up.

Quote of the Week

I really liked this quote because to me it says, that a teacher can just tell their students what they are doing wrong, but when they encourage them to do better they will actually learn the information and learn from their mistakes. Teachers should always try to be encouraging because different subjects and topics are more difficult for other students.

Observations

This week my mom had someone from the district office come in and observe her math lesson. She knew she was coming beforehand so it was very interesting to see how all the teachers were acting. It was almost like she was about to take a test. Her lesson went very well and the woman was happy with her. It was just almost funny to see the adults freak out over something similar to an exam like students do.

Reflection

I am becoming so lazy with school work. I think it is because I have been accepted to all my schools, and I am just ready to be done. I am going to be better about doing assignments second semester. I really want to end the year with good grades. I am very excited to go to college but at the same time, I don’t want to leave my friends and family.

There we no read alouds this week

Learning Experiences

This week we did a “walk in my shoes” activity where there were different stations that had items to really show us what it was like to live with different disabilities. It was very hard to do easy everyday tasks like flip to a book page or copy down what someone was saying because to someone with muffled hearing or someone who is blind they are very hard things to do. The hardest thing for me was the wheelchair. It was so challenging to get up the ramp in the hallway and coming down was hard too because you didn’t want to go too fast. Going to the bathroom was extremely hard, it was hard to turn the corners and get into the stall, and it was even harder to get out of the stall. It was very eye-opening to see how people with these disabilities and barriers go through their everyday life, and I could understand how they would affect them in school.

Current Event

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/06/nyregion/parent-school-lunch-ban.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Feducation&action=click&contentCollection=education&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront

This article was really good and it discussed how some schools are not allowing parents to eat lunch in the cafeteria with their kids. Some parents are getting really upset about this because they may work nights and their kids aren’t home in the day or they have full-time jobs and then the students have after-school activities so time with them is rare. I can understand why parents may be upset about this but I can also see what the principles are saying about it. Not only can it be a potential safety problem but during the first elementary years the kids are learning to be somewhat independent and making their own friends and figuring out a day by themselves. So when a parent comes and hangouts with them some a chunk o the day they may become reliant on their mom or dad being at school with them.

Quote of the Week

 

When you truly have a passion for teaching the kids will be able to tell. You will want to teach them the information in a fun engaging way. You will try and make the classroom as inclusive as possible. If you do not love teaching the kids will not want to come to your class and neither will you. They will just be told information and never taught it. To truly be the best teacher and get the information to all students you have to have a strong passion.

Observations

I noticed at BES they are adopting kids rather than a whole family you just pick a kid off of the tree, but what I really noticed was they the tree still had most of the kids on it. It made me so sad to think that a child may not have a Christmas this year because every kid deserves one not matter the state their family is in. My mom adopted two girls, they asked or some leggings, shirts, and jewelry to match so we got them the cutest outfits and it felt so good.

Reflections

When we wrapped the gifts for our family it was such a fun class. It made me really glad to be apart of this program. I am excited to go out to the classroom and use everthing I have learned. I have become close with some poeple I may not have necessarily become friends with. I am very grateful to be in this class.

Read Alouds

One of my favorite books that was read was The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone. It is such a cute book where Grover is warning the reader over and over again to not flip the pages because there is a monster at the end of the book. When you get to the end you see that Grover was the monster and that there was nothing to be afraid of. A good English lesson to do would be to have the kids write some onomatopoeia words and draw pictures to go along with it. An art lesson you could do is have the kids draw themselves as monsters

Learning Experiences

Watching the video on teenagers was so informative. I think that is was very good for us to see some studies around teenagers, and how we have always been the same even that many years ago. I think it would be very good for parents to watch that video because maybe the would understand us a little bit more. They would see why we do the things that we do and why we behave a certain way. We also id our Lifeline project and it was very fun to look at pictures of myself when I was little and read about the different stages I went through and how I grew.

Current Event

https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2018-11-07/voters-ok-more-funds-for-security-after-school-shooting

This article is so important because we need school safety across all states. Due to how easy it is to have access to a gun we need to make schools safer these days. A school shooting could happen at any school at any time and every school needs to be prepared. Maybe if more states see how others are taking action then they will follow.

Quote of the Week

 

A lot of teachers just tell the information to the students or read it from a book and then give their students worksheets to work on. That is how they expect them to learn but they will not learn that way they will just memorize. A good teacher really gets their students excited about learning and makes coming to class enjoyable, something they look forward to doing.

Observations

It is very interesting to see all the special needs kids at BES and how they act verse the students at Dutch Fork and how they act.  The kids at BES are much louder and have much less self-control. It is cool to see how even though their brains work differently than ours, we all grow and develop in our own ways.

Reflection

This past week has been a hard one for me. I missed half of the day on Tuesday because I was feeling very sick, on Wednesday my mom was not at her school so I had to basically teach the class because the sub did not know how to talk to the kids, on Thursday I work up with an infected eye and I went to the doctor and it turns out that I have a Sinus infection so that stinks, and lastly I went on a college tour on Friday which was very hard to do not feeling well. I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving break and resting a little.

Read alouds

This week it was my turn to read a book to the class. I picked a really cute book called How to Catch a Monster by Andy Elkerton and Adam Wallace. It is a good book to read around Halloween to really get the kids excited about the holiday. You could do many lessons with this book one is for English you can have kids write their own story on how to catch a monster. To tie another lesson into that for art the kids could draw monsters to go along with their books.

The second book that I enjoyed was The Halloween House by Erica Silverman. It was such a cute book about all the monsters and spooky things that live in the house on Halloween but after it passes they are gone. In the book, the number of spooky characters goes down. A good math lesson to do would be having the kids practice counting down from ten. Another good math lesson would be to print off different numbers of ghosts, skeletons, bats, and witches and have the kids make up their own word problems.

Learning Experiences

This week we did something in class called a “book in a day.” It was a very interesting idea to get us all to read different parts of the book. It really enjoyed it. My chapter was on stress and the effect it has on rushing children. The book talked about how when both of the parents are super busy and they ask younger kids to help out more it puts more stress on the children. It makes the children feel like it is their job to take care of certain parts of the house that they shouldn’t be worried about. It was interesting to see how some parts of the book connected to my life.

Current Event

https://www.edutopia.org/article/multiple-intelligences-theory-widely-used-yet-misunderstood

This was a good article to read. I think many teachers should read it to understand the importance of teaching to the different learning styles and multiple intelligences. It talked about how some people do not believe the theory that all children learn differently an need to be taught differently. That was interesting to me because if teachers made a lesson that helped provide information to many learning styles then they would see much more improvement in the classroom.

Quote of the Week

This is a really good quote because it can mean many different things to many different people. To me is really relates to being a student. Teachers can stand in the front of the classroom all day telling us information but until we decide we want to learn and make a difference in our education we will not learn anything.

Observations

This week was Halloween. It was so sweet to see all the little kids in their costumes. I was in my mom’s classroom the day after Halloween and that morning before school all the First-grade teachers were talking about how wild the kids were going to be and we were all not looking forward to it. When the kids came into the class we were all surprised to see they were all so calm. The kids were so tired and grumpy because they had stayed out so late. They were all so mean my mom had to write up 3 different children. It was a very different day than what we expected.

Reflection

I have now been accepted to three out of the five schools I have applied to which is really good. Even though I have been accepted I need to remember that I still have to try hard and do all my school work. I can just let my grades slip because they may not want me if my final transcript is bad. I am going to try really hard to finish my senior year with all As and Bs.

Read Alouds

One of the books we read was “Once Apon an Ordinary School Day” by Collin McNaughton. It was such a good book about how teachers can help and inspire students. An art lesson would be to have the kids color in black and white coloring pages to the music they are listening to. A music lesson would be to have the kids make a beat to the emotion they are feeling. Due to the music and colors in this book, you can really incorporate many of the different learning styles.

Another one of the books was “Is There Really a Human Race” by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell. It was such a good book, it really encourages kids to be their own person and do things at their own pace. A good PE lesson would be to have kids run through an obstacle course. In Science, kids could learn about the Earth and the sun. A history lesson would be to study the kid’s ancestors.

Learning Experiences

This week we taught a lesson on the different stages of moral development. The lesson went really well I thought. The class seemed to stay involved. The copied notes from the power point and at the end they took a survey to see the different kinds of morals they have. It was really cool to see everyone’s responses at the end and discuss it as a class.

Current Events

Schools in North Carolina Reevaluate Laptops in the Classroom

Schools in Mooresville, NC are known for their amazing test scores after introducing computers in the classroom. A year later the schools’ scores showed that the test scores went up about 73% from the year before. A study now shows that the laptops have not had a huge effect five years later. This is a lot like our school district because we give computers to all middle schoolers and high schoolers. That also leaves the question standing do the laptops have any real benefit.

Quote of the Week

You not only want to teach your students good lessons to help grow their mind but you also want to teach them how to be good people. If they have good hearts they can use their knowledge to go on and help others and build a good community.

Observations

This week in my classroom of first graders we switched from learning addition to subtraction. It was interesting to see that the ones who were doing so well with addition were having such a hard time understanding the subtraction. They were still trying to add the numbers and we showed them how to subtract and draw pictures to help them. Grasping the new concept was very hard for them so that is defiantly what we will be working on in class this week.

Reflections

This week has been very productive for me. I submitted all of my applications to college and I got accepted to Coastal Carolina. I am getting more and more ready to graduate, I have gotten so lazy and not wanting to do any school work. I am trying really hard to keep my grades up though because I want to finish my senior year strong. I am just very ready to be done with high school, and at the same time, I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can.

Read alouds

The first book that was read was called How ´Bout Them Dawgs by Vince Dooley. This book is all about the University of Georgia and its football team. It takes you through the campus on game day and it is just a really good book. Younger kids would especially like this because of how fun and colorful it is. Every school has a mascot and the kids could use this book as an example and make a book just like it for their school no matter if it is high school or elementary school.

We also read Courage by Bernard Waber. This book was such a good choice to read! It would fit so well in any classroom and any age. It gives off such a good message that you have to be courageous no matter if it is something small or large. This book would be great in English having them write a short story about a time they had to use a lot of courage. It would also fit into a PE class because they could play baseball like it is mentioned in the book.

Next was The Koala who could by Rachael Bright and JimField. This book was very similar to the book Courage with the message it gives off. The illustrations in this book would definitely keep the kid’s attention. It was so colorful and the animals were so cute. It could be used in a science class to talk about and research the different animals in the book and where they live. It could also be used in English to talk about why the kids are proud of themselves, and why they have confidence.

Lastly was Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown. I think that this book would be great in a classroom because you could use it to explain to kids that they don’t have to be like everyone else. They can be their own person and that is okay. After Mr. Tiger becomes different other animals do too. That will really show the kids to be their own person. It could be used in Science to talk about every animal in the book and where they live. Also could be used in English to talk about all the action words and onomatopoeia.

Learning Experiences

This week we learned about the different learning styles and 9 multiple intelligences. We also watched The Ron Clark Story. It was such a good movie but it also demonstrated those learning styles we learned about. He would use songs to help them remember things, and he used cards to help show them math. He also used the visual appeal by making posters and art and hanging it all across the walls. He really tried to find many different ways to help the kids learn rather than just standing up and talking.

Current Event

Charter School in Georgia Initiates Paddling

My current event was very odd to me. It was about a charter school in Georgia sending home a consent form about parents letting the children get paddled as a form of discipline. It was very strange to me because of the fact that it isn’t normally a topic discussed due to the fact of how outdated that form of discipline is. All thought it was shocking that the school wanted parents to agree to it what surprised me more was that about 1/3 of parents said that is was okay to paddle their children.

Quote of the Week

I firmly believe teachers must love their students. Every student has their problems, and sometimes teachers do not know what is going on at home. I personally think that the most important part of being a teacher would be having those strong personal connections with students, because if the children are connected to you then they will be more connected in their learning.

Observations

In my mom’s first grade class, I have noticed that they are very smart. They can do their work very well and quickly. The ones who struggle with reading are some of the best at math. I realized that it is because they have a very low self-confidence when it comes to something they have difficulty with.  So the goal for their school year to put them in a small group for reading to show them some reading strategies. Once they feel comfortable using those strategies their reading level will soar up higher. It really shows you how a low self-esteem and low confidence can affect you at any age.

Reflection

I have been working on writing my essay and personal statement for college applications and it has been very stressful. It has mostly been hard because those admissions officers have never met me and they will only get to know me as not only a student through my application but also my essay. They get to know you through your grades and your writing and I think it should be different. In an ideal world, you would get to meet the applicant before you decide to accept or deny them. Although that is not how it works it would make applying to college a little less stressful for me.

 Read-alouds

Our first book was Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. This is one of my all-time favorite books. It is so sweet, the message is amazing, and the illustrations are fabulous. This is another book that touches on self-esteem. Chrysanthemum loved her name until the other students made fun of her, but when their favorite teacher tells them shes also named after a lower their opinions change. You can use this book in writing to have the kids spell out their names just like she did, you could also do it in music where they can make their own name song, and in math, they can count the student’s pictures to see how many are in the class.

The second book we heard was called I’m Gonna Like Me by Jamie Lee Curtis. It was another book that touched on Self-Esteem. Promoting a strong sense of self-esteem is such an important thing to start at such a young age. This book could also be used in math to count their teeth and also to show measuring when it talks about a ten-inch ruler. You could also do a PE lesson where the kids pick teams, and it could also be geography because the main character goes around town.

Our final book of the week was called How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills. It was such a cute book that showed the importance of wanting to learn and become a better student. You could do a writing and art lesson combined by making them write a story about the words in the book and make the pictures to go with it. You could also use this in science to talk about the seasons and how they change because they change in the book.

Learning Experiences

This week we finished up our puppet show. It was such a fun experience and a great way to teach a lesson. I got to work with new people that I didn’t know all that well and it was really fun. My favorite part had to be seeing what the other group created. It was so cool to see all the different ideas everyone came up with even though we were all discussing the same subject. As a teacher, it would be such a fun project to get little kids to do this because they would stay active and involved in this project because it was so fun.

Current Event

Does Teacher Diversity Matter? The short answer is yes. Studies have shown that boys especially learn and perform better when their teacher shares that same gender or race. Most teachers are white women so this could have an effect on children of a different race. This article will hopefully make more people want to be teachers other than white women. In the article, it says that African  American students who had an African American teacher 3-5 grade were three times less likely to drop out of school.

Quote of the week

This quote couldn’t be truer in relation to teaching. To be an amazing teacher you much really love what you do. You have to want to stand out in a child’s life. A teacher should care for all her students like they are their own. If a teacher is truly passionate about what they do it will come through in their lessons and the way they hold themselves in the classroom. If you have a strong teacher heart then you will inspire so many students.

Reflection

During the week of the hurricane, my mom brother and I went to do help the district hand out food. We went to Irmo high to make breakfast and lunch for the students the district provides food for. It was such a fun experience because we got to make the food but we also got to go o9ut and see all the children we were helping. I would defiantly do it again if I was given the chance.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton