As the year comes to an end, so did my literature circle group this year. We explored using technology and really got to delve in to some controversial and meaningful conversation about Maniac Magee. It was a blessing to be able to go through this with this particular group of students and I am excited to see where we are going from here. One book that they are asking me to read with them in Percy Jackson because I read it a similar group last year. I want to keep with the theme of challenging there thinking and I am not sure that Percy Jackson can accomplish this. I am contemplating having a lunch time book club. Where is if they read the book and we read it together then they can eat lunch and talk about the book. Then I could use a different book for my enrichment group. I have a few ideas. I would like to do Hoot because it challenges students to think about the environment. Another that I would love to do is Wonder, this is a book that I haven’t read but have heard great things about. Another topic that I would love to discuss with them is perspective. We touched on it in Maniac Magee but I would like to really look at how one character( or person) views something one way and another character interprets it completely differently. I am unaware of any book that I can use to accomplish this, or maybe some kind of text. If you have and suggestions I would love to hear them!
For a few weeks I have been working on my resume. The thought of this freaks me out every time I think about it. I have always felt that all I would have to show for it was my hours logged through the UTRPP. Which definitely is not a small feat but not as impressive as what some of my peers have accomplished. When it came to actually sitting there and writing what I have accomplished I got to see that I do have a lots to be proud. What I am most proud of is my teaching philosophy. I wrote it and rewrote it many times. I feel as though it captures exactly how I feel as a teacher, and what I want my classroom to look like. I think that my experience could use more work but I have time to work on that. I would love any and all feedback that I can get on this. I really want it to be something that I am proud of and that I can truely show off in the months to come.
In my teaching science course we got to participate in an inquiry project. We got the opportunity to explore mealworms and learn about them. After this we were asked to think of our own question and conduct an investigation to find the answer. Out of all of the inquiries we had through the course this one was my favorite. I felt for one of the first times at least in a very long time I was the main participant in my own learning. I was able to find what truly interested me and then conduct an investigation to find my own answers. I got to go through the process of inquiry to really get a better understanding of how it works, for both the teacher and the student. This type of open ended inquiry is completely feasible to do in an elementary classroom as long as the students have been exposed to the investigation process. This is an example of how I would like science to go in my classroom. I want everyone of my students to feel exactly how I felt.
Something I have struggled with is homework. Is it necessary? Is it relevant? I feel as though sometimes it can be busy work and not really what every student needs. Other times it is a great resource to ensure students are gaining the extra practice that they need.
Last week I talked with parent for a while about the fact that her daughter had too much homework. I thought at first this was crazy, they have one assignment for ELA and one Assignment for Math/Science. The parent expressed that when it came time to actually do the homework it was a struggle every day. She wasn’t able to help her daughter because she didn’t understand the new math methods. This frustrated her and in turn frustrated the student. I began to wonder how I can take the frustration away with out taking the homework it self away. The first thing I communicated to the parent was my expectation as a teacher. Its not the number of correct answer the student gets that determines their grade, but rather that they tried their best. It is the incorrect answers that help us understand where the student is at and how best to support them. It’s not just the frustration levels that are bothering me about homework, its also the lack of homework turned in. there are days when half of the class doesn’t both turning it in. I feel as though we have made our expectations very high, we have tried disciplining and rewarding. It doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. I think one thing that would really help would be a homework contract. Just like we have a contract for how the students are with in the class, why not have one for them out side of the class. On top of the contract ensure that students have the weekly and daily homework written in their planners. This will allow them to clearly see what is due. I think that when it comes to next year I will take the information with in the this article and provided it to my parents and apply it to my classroom. Great American Teach In
Through the Great American Teach-in I feel like I learned a lot. I learned what it takes for Young Life counselors to recruit high school and middle school students; they have to raise over $250,000 in a year in order to make sure his students are able to attend. I got to meet the head chef at a New Tampa restaurant and learned that what he goes way beyond cooking. My friend Cassandra came in to talk about he work within the field of Geology. We got a visit from two puppies and learned that caring for these animals is not just fun and games. A lawyer came in and we got to see the case of the stolen candy bar go through a none jury trial, where I was Judge Baker! Finally we got to see that firefighters don’t just put out public fires, these firefights work at airports, work on navy ships, work for airports. Beyond learning about there jobs I feel like I learned a lot for what the kids took out of each presentation. I worked very closely with my friend when she came in. I was able to speak with her and make sure the presentation she was going to give not only interested the children but also was something they would understand. In order to do this I came into her lab, I saw her workspace and she walked me through what she does. Let me tell you when I say what she does is above my head I am not kidding. I think this worked out much better for me though, because of this I was basically coming in with almost the same content knowledge that my students would have. As she told me about what she did I wrote down all of the questions buzzing through my head, we then took these questions and geared her presentation to addressing them, because it was likely the students would have the same questions. When it came to presenting, I knew exactly what she was doing and where she was going. When the students asked her questions I was able to help her answer closer to the students level. Compare this to another presenter where I didn’t know that they were doing or where they were going, and even simply I didn’t even know about there career. It just made it a better experience for everyone involved. It was easier on Cassandra because she was able to present comfortably to the students, easier on the students because it was aligned with their level, and also easier for me because it was no problem jumping in and helping her out. When it comes my time to do this next year I hope that all of my presenters can meet with me and we can go over what they will be presenting. It will make it so much more meaningful for the students. |
AuthorTeacher in Training Archives
April 2015
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