January 27, 2011

Yesterday was my second time at the middle school helping with the history class. This time I got to stay the whole time so I was able to see the whole first period and part of third. They have odd and even days, alternating each day so one week I see first and third the next I see second and fourth. It is interesting to see the different classes and how with different students in each class it creates a unique environment. Also there was a sub for the co teacher in the class so I got a different perspective on how a teachers teach. I'm starting to see how each child learns in their own way and the teacher must conform to help each student. I also noticed that it helps to bring in other sources, for example the teacher had them read an article from a certain educational magazine. She read out loud stopping periodically to include the students in discussions. I am definitely starting to see the classroom from a teachers perspective.

January 20, 2011

Part 1
The other day in class Mr Fernandez came and talked to us about safety procedures in schools. He told about how every single student has to be accounted for. We got a real live experience with this yesterday. During a senior assembly the fire alarm went off. The whole senior class plus some were all in the auditorium. This caused it to be difficult for everyone to get out of the auditorium in a speedy manner. When we all did get out of the auditorium there was no way to organize us to make sure no one was missing. Students were just hanging around talking with friends waiting until we could go back inside. I have know idea how the teachers and faculty accounted for all of us.

Part 2
The speaker during the assembly was Tony, one of the guys the movie Freedom Writers was based on. He was in that class and had his own hard story. He told us about everything he went through and all the stereotyping that took place. However, he overcame his difficulties and now speaks to others encouraging them to push past stereotypes and everyone telling them they can't. Stereotyping is something everyone does. It is almost like an automatic thought for people and most don't realize they do it. In high school there are many of stereotypes, for example: dumb jocks or uncool smart kids. Overall stereotypes are not good. People must learn that stereotypes do not define them. They can be whoever they want all they have to do is work at it.

January 13, 2011

Thursday was our first day to go back to our classes. I was moved to middle school to help in a history class. However, I was unable to go to that class yesterday because the teacher was not there and had a substitute. So instead I went with the majority of the class to the elemenatry school and made sure everyone knew where to go. I ended up hanging out in the library reading. While I was in there I saw a few classes come in to check out new books. It was cool to see there excitment in finding books to read. There was also a class who came in the library to type up a report of some kind on Mac books. This integration of technology into classwork gives students a great experience. While I enjoyed reading in the library, I am extremely excited to begin with the middle school history class!

Christmas Lesson Plan

Yesterday at the elementary school was the best experience ever. I enjoyed teaching them a lesson so much, it was amazing. When I got there the teacher let me get started right away. The kids were already sitting on the carpet so I joined them and read to them, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. They sat very attentively during the whole story and seemed to like the book. When I finished the story one of the little boys mentioned how it ended, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!" which was the same way the other book they had read in class ended. The teacher and I told them that most Christmas stories end that way. After that I explain what I wanted them to do next, write their own story about a reindeer. I gave them an example of a story I wrote then sent them to their desks to get started. I walked around during this time helping the kids decide what they wanted their stories to be about. I loved seeing their creative side and the things they came up with. One little boy had a bad reindeer who wasn't allowed to pull Santa's sleigh. Another boy who is a little slower than the others was having a hard time getting started, so I sat down with him and worked with him through his whole story. It was awesome seeing what these kids could come up with. After they finished their stories I got them started on the craft. I showed them my example and told them how they have to trace around their foot and both hands to make the face and antlers. I went around helping them trace. They were all so excited about the craft and thought it looked so cool. Even the teacher was really excited about it and said she was going to clear a space outside the room to hang the reindeer and their stories. There was a problem when it came to gluing the mouth down. The pipe cleaner didn't seem to want to stay. The teacher said she would go back through after all the glue had dried to fix the mouths. But besides that it went really well and I had a blast. The kids seemed to legitimately love the craft and that was exciting for me. I had so much fun with this and would love to do it again!

Junior Achievement

On Friday my class was able to go to an elementary school to teach a junior achievement curriculum. My partner and I taught first graders about families and their jobs and how important they are. When we first got there we introduced ourselves to the teacher. It ended up that both have a connection to the teacher. My mom had taught her son in kindergarten. After we talked to the teacher we stated to set up the different posters and things in the Junior Achievement packet while they finished up their rotations. We started off by showing them a map and getting them to point out how the different people are helping out around the neighborhood. Then we gave them a JA booklet called Our Family. They added stickers which matched the questions in the booklet. We also taught them about needs and wants and what the difference between the two is. They learned about different jobs and how all of them are important to our community. Then we showed them a map and showed them how the key works with the different symbols. In the last lesson we played a game where they acted out a job and if they did a good job they got payed and got to "buy" one of the need or want posters we used to demonstrate. The students seemed to enjoy what we were teaching them and liked having us there. I would love to teach the Junior Achievement lesson again it was lots of fun!  

Teacher Website

If I hasd a class and there were laptops readily available there is so much I would be able to do. One thing in particular that would help in the subject of math is the website, Kids' Zone - Create a Graph. I would use this website for the students to make a graph and see how the process works. I would give the students a work sheet with different data sets. They would use this data to plug in and design their own graphs. This would give the students the oppurtunity to make a graph themselves.

Teacher Impact

Teachers have huge impacts on thier students. Children spend a large amount of their time at school. This is time where the teacher is the one they look to as an example. As a role model the teacher influences what the students do and how much they enjoy doing it. For a childs physical development they can encourage children to play outside when they get home and be active with them at recess. They can also tell the students stories of ways they are active outside of school. When it comes to a childs emotional and social development teachers have an impact as well. As they children work throughout the day the teacher could have them work in groups inorder to develop their comunication skills and make them work with another person. The teacher also show them they care emotionally. For example if a student is crying they could take the time to listen to them and find out what is wrong. As for cognitive development they have the most influence on these children. Their whole job is to teach their students. In order to maximize what the students learn they may take in to account the students strengths and weaknesses and the way they learn best and incorporate that into the lesson plans. This is how the teacher impacts a child's development.