So as I promised, I am here with a real update, first off here is a picture of myself and my classmates enjoying a post-semester drink at the bar on campus. So much fun!
Those are just a few of my awesome classmates, I'll be seeing a couple of them this summer, and all of them in the fall :)
This summer I am taking an Education Technology class. I'm a little nervous because this will be my very first class taken exclusively online. I decided to take it to save on gas and it turns out I'll be saving on books as well! This class starts on May 19th and will last until August. I'm excited to share what I will learn, I've heard the class is fun.
My second class begins in June and will last until the end of July, this is another core class for my program and is called Foundations of Secondary Education.
So much more fun stuff, but first I need to tell you all about the fun stuff that has already happened!
I was thinking of splitting this semester's adventures into a few different posts. This post is going to detail my fieldwork and what I learned while in an actual classroom.
I also wanted to share some really awesome organizational tools that I have been using to keep my life in order.
Let's talk about those first.
So every Saturday and Sunday, I begin planning my week. My week usually begins on Monday and ends on Sunday. I have two organizers that I use, one is for meal planning and the other is more of a to-do list.
This is the link to the weekly planner I use, she has A LOT of other amazing organizers, I recommend you check out more of her site.
http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/2013/01/home-management-binder-weekly-calendar.html
Here is a link to the menu planner, I use the second one that does not have a shopping list. I've gone through plenty of weekly menu planners but this is one I really like and have used for the past few weeks.
http://www.delish-blog.com/2012/01/free-printable-menu-planners/
Those are great tools and if you need organization to keep you sane, definitely check them out.
Now! On to some adventures in teachery!
Field work is a very important part of the pre-service program. It allows us to get into a classroom and observe some amazing teachers, we also may get a chance to work with some students, which is an awesome opportunity.
I did my fieldwork at the Fairfax Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) and George Washington Middle School (GW).
My partner, Bridget, and I observed Mrs. Christy's 6th grade classroom at GW. This was a lot of fun. The first few days, we just observed her two morning honors classes. The kids were reading a book called "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson. Most of them seemed into it.
Mrs. Christy was an amazing teacher, she was very engaging and the students seemed to enjoy the class. They began each day with a warm-up and then moved right into the activity of the day. The first day we were there, they were instructed to transform a scene from their book into a script and then prepare to act it out.
When I was in school any assignment that involved getting up in front of the class and acting terrified me and a majority of my classmates. These kids were so excited!
We walked around the room while the kids were working on this assignment and asked them questions about the book and their assignment and offered help when it was needed.
The next week, Bridget and I decided to stick around for the entire school day. We saw the morning honors classes again and then we were introduced to the "bad classes". Mrs. Christy's 5th and 6th period classes were ELL (English Language Learners) and SpEd (special education) inclusion classes. They were general language arts classes and she had an ELL teacher in the room with her.
We noticed a change in atmosphere very quickly. These kids were very rowdy and noisy. They were disruptive and off-task. We could see that they drove Mrs. Christy crazy. She had asked us to observe and give her any ideas that would help get them under control.
One of the first things we noticed was the fact that the activities they were doing were pretty boring. They were told to read articles out of a science magazine and then answer some questions. Many of the kids did not bother reading and only a few participated and actually answered the questions.
I noticed that Mrs. Christy did not use her "popsicle sticks" in either of her inclusion classes, but she used them in her honors classes. These popsicle sticks were color coded by class and had all of the students names written on them. To make sure everyone participated, she would randomly choose a stick and have that student answer the question being posed.
I suggested that they she use the popsicle sticks in her inclusion classes. This will keep the students on their toes, because they don't know when they will be called on and it may keep them from slacking off.
We were delighted to see that Mrs. Christy had taken our suggestion when we visited her one last time. The students did seem to be a bit more alert, even though once again, they were doing a boring read and respond activity. They attempted a game, but 5th period couldn't focus. 6th period was a little bit better, but it still took them a while to get the game going and keep it going.
I had plenty of fun one on one time with students in her classes, in her first period honors, Bridget and I both worked with a student that was was assigned an aid to keep him on task. We were bothered by how much the aid DIDN'T do. He scolded more than he actually helped with work. We made it a priority to help out this student. I even managed to get him to focus on the writing activity of the day and his case worker was very pleased that he wrote more than a sentence. He even managed to use some of the literary terms of the day.
Another student I worked with one on one was with a girl with special needs, I helped her write her journal entry. She was in the troublesome 5th period class. She was awesome. We talked about what it would be like to live in a rain forest and talked about the animals we would find.
Being in Mrs. Christy's classroom, was fun and I learned so much from her and her students. I definitely plan on "CASE-ing" many things (CASE = Copy and steal EVERYTHING *more on this concept later*).
Now let's move on to the JDC. My experiences at this place really taught me what it means to be a teacher. I am so grateful I was given this opportunity and the results we got there were outstanding.
Professor Zenkov, my methods professor (and my advisor), asked us in class one day, if we would like to join him at the JDC. He had been working on a project with the male students there and thought it would be fun if we came along to help.
The boys were all high school age and they were working on a Slam Poetry project. Professor Zenkov and his colleague Professor Pellegrino had already been working with the students as a class, but they wanted us to come in and work with them one on one.
Being there was a little daunting, the principal sat down with us and warned us about taking anything in with us and to make sure we leave with EVERYTHING we came in with. He said that the kids in the center ranged from bank robbers to murderers. Everything the Adult Center had, they had in there, just the junior version.
After his speech we went in to meet with the boys. We were told that we would work with one of the boys and interview them. We were going to ask them questions about the photographs they had taken the week before.
Each of the groups was given a laptop, we were then supposed to transcribe what our student was saying in response to our questions.
My student was tough, he was an eleventh grader and he didn't want to have anything to do with this project. I had a really hard time getting any good responses from him. I felt like a complete failure when I left that day, because my classmates had worked with students that were very responsive. I suddenly began to doubt myself.
I went back a few days later. I was determined to get this kid to talk. I had typed up the notes from the previous meeting and they were sent to him to read. He was supposed to have a poem ready for me to read and help him edit today.
I was disheartened when I saw his name on the "not finished/needs work" list. When I sat with him on this day he was like a completely different kid. He smiled, he joked around with his teachers and most importantly, he had finished his poem. What he handed me did need some work grammatically but the words were very powerful.
He wrote about how he just wished people would let him be himself and that the world would stop being a terrible place.
The poem brought tears to my eyes when I read it.
We worked on the poem for the next hour or so and we had so much fun. He was such a funny guy. After that session, I was so excited to come back for their presentations later in the week, I was so proud of the work we had done that day.
Excitement was in the air on presentation day. The professors brought in treats and pizza. The podium and the projector were all set up. The boys seemed nervous. We were practicing with them, while we waited for some of their other teachers to show up. A few of them went off with a teacher to read a "surprise" poem. None of us were sure what they were talking about.
Soon the presentations began, each boy got up and recited their poems. They were all very powerful and personal. My student got up and recited his and I was so proud. Then at the very end, all of the boys got up and each of them read a line of the "surprise" poem they wrote as a class. The poem thanked all of us for helping them.
I remember looking at Rachael and Bridget, we all had tears in our eyes, the poem was beautiful and now that I think about it... Zenkov never gave us a copy! I must ask him about that.
After their poem, one of the students got up and thanked us. His teachers were very surprised because he was a student that was very withdrawn and quiet.
It was awesome. They were awesome. Working with them taught me what it means to be a teacher and it taught me to never give up.
Each day is a fresh start, this is something I will need to remember for the future.
Well, this has been a REALLY long post. I apologize for any bad grammar or run on sentences. I'm at the end of my first 12 hour shift of the weekend and I only got about four hours of sleep last night.
I hope some of this was interesting. I'll be sure to share more fun stuff I've learned!
-Laura
No comments:
Post a Comment