Last week in my blog, I discussed my first observation in a kindergarten class about how joyful my experience was and how I knew that I was supposed to be teaching kindergarten.
This week we observed in a middle school and I learned so much from being there. Probably even more than I learned from being in the elementary school. One of the main things that the middle school taught me was that I'm really supposed to be teaching elementary school. I always knew that's what I wanted, but I felt like I needed the confirmation in that I was headed toward the right age group and the middle school was my confirmation.
I enjoy all kids, but to me it felt like 6th graders were mini adults and that was a little bit intimidating to me. I'm not good at leading other people close to my age. I've noticed through the years that my strong point is teaching and leading smaller children because they don't know any better and they rely on you to point them in the right direction. The 6th graders in the class I sat in on were very opinionated and didn't think twice about saying exactly what they thought in that exact moment. While small children are the same in the fact that they blurt out whatever they think, it's a different context I feel. Children know different things than children in middle school do. Middle schoolers are old enough to be aware of things going on around them and they are old enough to form opinions on various topics going on in the world.
Also, I feel as a kindergarten teacher I can ensure that my students are starting off on the right path. I enjoyed the middle school visit because it showed me what I need to prepare my students for in their future. Learning in class that it takes 3 years for a student to recover from a bad teacher makes me want to ensure that that doesn't happen to my students the first year of their schooling career.
The middle school visit was rewarding to me because I did learn so much about my future career and where I want to go with it. It was confirmation to me that I'm headed down the right path and I look forward to seeing what connections I make during the high school visit.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Observing for the First Time
My takeaway from this week's class was our observation in an elementary school. I had the privilege of being able to observe a kindergarten class and it was reassuring to me that I was supposed to be teaching. I felt so comfortable in the room and I couldn't wait until I was the teacher.
Some things that I took away from it was that when you have kindergartners, like I plan to have, it's important to have them focused at all times. During my observation, the students were doing literacy centers and I noticed the one center where the students were supposed to be working on puzzles, was actually being used as a lot of down time for the kids where they were losing their focus. The teacher was busy leading another center, so her attention couldn't be on the puzzle group the whole time. This was understandable, but I feel that it could be prevented by providing the students with an activity that wouldn't cause them to lose interest so quickly.
Also, I want to make sure that in my future classroom that I over plan for the day. I have noticed in past experiences and in the kindergarten class that it's better to have more planned for students to do and not get to that than have not enough planned and the students have a lot of down time where they are doing whatever they want.
I feel like these experiences have a lot of relation to NCTCS because it gives us real life situations that we will be faced with on a daily basis. It helps us see how we can teach certain material and ideas on how we can run our classroom.
I read an article that touched on many questions about literacy centers in kindergarten and how the centers can be successful and keep the students engaged and willing to learn. I thought this was a great website and would be helpful to others who are looking into teaching at the elementary level. I listed the website below.
http://www.kindergartenworks.com/kindergarten-teaching-ideas/back-to-school/smart-literacy-centers/
Some things that I took away from it was that when you have kindergartners, like I plan to have, it's important to have them focused at all times. During my observation, the students were doing literacy centers and I noticed the one center where the students were supposed to be working on puzzles, was actually being used as a lot of down time for the kids where they were losing their focus. The teacher was busy leading another center, so her attention couldn't be on the puzzle group the whole time. This was understandable, but I feel that it could be prevented by providing the students with an activity that wouldn't cause them to lose interest so quickly.
Also, I want to make sure that in my future classroom that I over plan for the day. I have noticed in past experiences and in the kindergarten class that it's better to have more planned for students to do and not get to that than have not enough planned and the students have a lot of down time where they are doing whatever they want.
I feel like these experiences have a lot of relation to NCTCS because it gives us real life situations that we will be faced with on a daily basis. It helps us see how we can teach certain material and ideas on how we can run our classroom.
I read an article that touched on many questions about literacy centers in kindergarten and how the centers can be successful and keep the students engaged and willing to learn. I thought this was a great website and would be helpful to others who are looking into teaching at the elementary level. I listed the website below.
http://www.kindergartenworks.com/kindergarten-teaching-ideas/back-to-school/smart-literacy-centers/
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Drafting Our Philosophy
When we were first introduced to the idea of making an infomercial to discuss a philosophy in our future classroom, my partner and I immediately thought of the commercials you used to always see on tv where the person is way too excited about a product that is way too expensive. That was the approach we took when we discussed behaviorism in our infomercial. Behaviorism is a strategy that can be used in the classroom where students are rewarded for good behavior. The student wants the reward, so he/she will behave well. It also has an effect on students with bad behavior because those who behave poorly don't get the reward, which in turn should make that student want to start behaving better.
I researched sources that talked about those who incorporated behaviorism in the classroom and it adds a research method to the classroom because it gives you an aspect of observing and collecting data.
Learning about a part of a philosophy of education was very important to us because our future principles will be looking at our philosophy when they are making the decision to hire us. I feel that going in deep on one specific aspect of a philosophy helped us because it made us feel good about our aspect, but it also made us see the importance in all the other aspects because we know all the work that was put in to make the infomercials.
I learned from this week that our philosophies will change over time, as we continue throughout the school of education. I also made the connection while writing it that it was actually something that our future employers will read and that made everything real for me. It was a moment where I knew that our future careers are right around the corner.
In my future classroom, I will try my best to hit every aspect I listed in my philosophy. I don't see these as just goals that I hope I reach and if I don't, then it's okay. I want my students to feel important in every aspect of their learning and I want them to always feel comfortable in knowing that I will always be there for them. I feel that our philosophies are one of the most important things we have done so far!
I researched sources that talked about those who incorporated behaviorism in the classroom and it adds a research method to the classroom because it gives you an aspect of observing and collecting data.
Learning about a part of a philosophy of education was very important to us because our future principles will be looking at our philosophy when they are making the decision to hire us. I feel that going in deep on one specific aspect of a philosophy helped us because it made us feel good about our aspect, but it also made us see the importance in all the other aspects because we know all the work that was put in to make the infomercials.
I learned from this week that our philosophies will change over time, as we continue throughout the school of education. I also made the connection while writing it that it was actually something that our future employers will read and that made everything real for me. It was a moment where I knew that our future careers are right around the corner.
In my future classroom, I will try my best to hit every aspect I listed in my philosophy. I don't see these as just goals that I hope I reach and if I don't, then it's okay. I want my students to feel important in every aspect of their learning and I want them to always feel comfortable in knowing that I will always be there for them. I feel that our philosophies are one of the most important things we have done so far!
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Drafting My First Lesson Plan!
For my second blog post, I wanted to reflect on my experiences with drafting my very first lesson plan. You might be thinking, "A lesson plan in your first education course?!" Yes, it sounds crazy, but I did it and it has been so beneficial!
Using the standard we unpacked last week, we were told to draft a lesson plan teaching that standard to our class. I wondered why we would be writing a lesson plan the third week in our first education course, but I soon made the connections that this first lesson plan we drafted will look sort of rough. It will have holes in it that will need to be filled before we actually stood in front of a class to teach it. Starting this process this early will allow us to get plenty of feedback from our professors throughout the rest of the years in our time in the school of education so that way when we get to our own classroom in the near future we can be fully confident in the lesson plan we have prepared for our students that it will send them away having new information in their little heads.
The thing I loved about the six-point lesson plan was that it had each point and what needs to be accomplished for each point to make the lesson successful. Also, it's not as crucial to go in that particular order. Every lesson taught will be different and the different aspects of each lesson may be delivered at different times depending on the material being taught.
Learning how to complete a successful lesson plan is so important to the NCTCS because it is required of us to show that we can collect ideas and data to form a successful instructional plan. Learning how to plan a successful lesson plan already will build confidence in our ability to perform when we are evaluated.
I researched other teachers who have used the six-point lesson plan and the majority of what I read was restating what we learned from class discussion and from the podcast. When forming this lesson, all the points don't need to be met for every lesson we teach. The main goal is to make sure that the students are engaged and learning and having the students provide us with feedback that assures us that they have taken something away from the lesson.
In conclusion, for my future classroom, I can feel confident that I will be fully prepared to teach material to my students while learning right beside them. I don't have to sweat it when I don't get to every activity I planned for. It's important to keep the students engaged and if they need to spend a few extra minutes on an activity that I planned to only last 5 minutes then that's okay. The whole goal in this is that the students can recall the information taught to them and they had fun doing so.
Using the standard we unpacked last week, we were told to draft a lesson plan teaching that standard to our class. I wondered why we would be writing a lesson plan the third week in our first education course, but I soon made the connections that this first lesson plan we drafted will look sort of rough. It will have holes in it that will need to be filled before we actually stood in front of a class to teach it. Starting this process this early will allow us to get plenty of feedback from our professors throughout the rest of the years in our time in the school of education so that way when we get to our own classroom in the near future we can be fully confident in the lesson plan we have prepared for our students that it will send them away having new information in their little heads.
The thing I loved about the six-point lesson plan was that it had each point and what needs to be accomplished for each point to make the lesson successful. Also, it's not as crucial to go in that particular order. Every lesson taught will be different and the different aspects of each lesson may be delivered at different times depending on the material being taught.
Learning how to complete a successful lesson plan is so important to the NCTCS because it is required of us to show that we can collect ideas and data to form a successful instructional plan. Learning how to plan a successful lesson plan already will build confidence in our ability to perform when we are evaluated.
I researched other teachers who have used the six-point lesson plan and the majority of what I read was restating what we learned from class discussion and from the podcast. When forming this lesson, all the points don't need to be met for every lesson we teach. The main goal is to make sure that the students are engaged and learning and having the students provide us with feedback that assures us that they have taken something away from the lesson.
In conclusion, for my future classroom, I can feel confident that I will be fully prepared to teach material to my students while learning right beside them. I don't have to sweat it when I don't get to every activity I planned for. It's important to keep the students engaged and if they need to spend a few extra minutes on an activity that I planned to only last 5 minutes then that's okay. The whole goal in this is that the students can recall the information taught to them and they had fun doing so.
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