Kindergarten Tales

Last week was the first full week with students.  It was interesting to say the least.  I have a very rambunctious group of students:12 boy and 8 girls.  They are all good kids they just need some guidance and aren't used to the schedule of kindergarten life yet.  I have experienced my first exposure to oppositional defiance disorder.  Before this semester I had never even heard about it, but it really does exist and in my classroom as well.  The student has done very well though and we've been working with him so things are getting better.  The first few days were questionable.  Now he only has a few moments where he shows some defiance, but it's no where near what it used to be like and I think he's learning to like school better and get more used to having a routine everyday.  My mentor teacher has given me some of the best feedback I could every ask for.  She told me that she thinks I'm cut out for kindergarten and that I'm doing a wonderful job.  My mothering personality and the care I show for the students is something that she is very fond of and she urges me to continue with the way I am going.  So far I am loving kindergarten and enjoy going back every day!

First Week of Internship

I was able to start my internship on the 13 of August along with teachers.  I really liked being able to experience exactly what the teachers do.  Some of the meetings were a bit monotonousness, but others were very informative and got me excited for the new year to begin.  The best part of starting early was being able to attend home visits with my mentor teacher and aid.  It was really eye opening to see how the children responded and what basic skills they had tucked under their belts already.  Once I observed my mentor teacher administer the surveys with some of the children, she allowed me to step in and conduct some myself.  I enjoyed having my first exposure to the students.  It taught me a lot and I know that I have even more to learn.
Once the students arrived, it was even more eye-opening.  I have 20 students, 12 of which are boys.  Some of our boys are quite a handful but I'm loving every minute of it.  The days go by so quickly and I can see the students growing each day.  I can tell that's it going to be a very educational semester not only for me but my mentor as well.  I'm ready to really begin my full time teaching so I can see what it's really like.

Inquiry Celebration Reflection

After going to the inquiry celebration, I got some really neat ideas about different strategies and games to use in math with my kindergartners next year.  Both session I went to were intern sessions and they were very beneficial to me.  Most of them focused on touch point math and different strategies to assist students when teaching math.  Math has never been my strong suit, and when I began teaching, it really terrified me.  I am very grateful that I was able to visit both sessions because I learned so much and took so much away with me that I think will be very helpful in my teaching.

Practicum Plan Reflection #2

When I look at my practicum plan I get so excited!! I can't believe how fast this semester is winding down. I have just a few more things to get done and I am currently working on them now. My goals have also been very well planned out. I am much more comfortable with teaching math and I have been able to gather data and analyze it very quickly. At the beginning of the semester, it seemed like there was so much to do, but now I can't believe that it has all gotten done and I have lived through another semester!

Characteristics of the Novice Teacher #2

For my first artifact, I chose characteristic #3: We believe that the novice teacher should recognize that teaching is a professional, moral, and ethical enterprise, should understand moral issues and ethical practices in educational environments, and should have developed ethical frameworks which facilitate effective teaching. I think that my literacy workstation project from EDUC 461 is a good example of this. I say this because throughout the project there are many modifications for students with different cultural beliefs as well as a number of resources used to teach students about different moral and ethics. Even though this project was done in a group setting, the other members and myself made sure that we incorporated a number of different ideas and activities to make sure that students were not just leaning school material, but life lessons as well.

My second artifact relates to characteristic #4: We believe the novice teacher should be a facilitator of learning for all students. My technology toolkit from SPED 360 is a good reflection of this. While doing this project, I made sure I picked activities that would give all students a chance to learn. they were all technology activities that could be modified in any way for any student with a disability. I tried to think of the project as being something that a student could do mostly on themselves with very little assistance. That way they were getting learning skills as well as acquiring technology skills. The skills that I picked would be easy for a teacher to take a group of students to a lab and be able to circulate throughout the computer lab as the students worked their way through their assignments.

Practium Plan Reflection

It is absolutely crazy how fast this semester has gone! I honestly don't even think January and February has even existed. I was looking over my practicum plan today and realized that almost half of my assignments are highlighted in green. Seeing green highlighter makes me happy because that mean those things are done. It just doesn't feel like that much time has passed and that it's almost time for spring break. I was talking with my mentor teacher today and we both realized that I don't really have that much left to do in the classroom. I just have to teach for two weeks from my plans, which I'm doing in April, and then I need to teach my learning cycle, which I'm also doing in April. I get really excited when I think about the semester being over. It's been a rough one but if I'm made it this far, I'm pretty sure I can make it through!

Characteristics of the Novice Teacher

The seminar on Friday really cleared up my questions on the characteristics of the novice teacher. All I really knew was that they were in the rubric and that during my intern year, I was going to have to do something with them.

The first artifact I have chosen to represent a characteristic is my literacy workstation project from last semester. I think it connects to characteristic four: facilitator of learning for all students and characteristic 9: diverse students. I think it connects to these two because it was made so that all students can learn from it and so diverse students can connect with what they are learning to their culture. I included several different books and materials for the diverse student so that they can feel like are part of the group and not different.

The second artifact I have chosen is a lesson that I just taught last week. It was a lesson on the Emancipation Proclamation that I used many different types of learning styles to teach and that the students absolutely loved. I had so much feedback and participation from the students! I think it connects to characteristic 6: in depth knowledge of content because my students were so engaged because I was so knowledgeable about the content and was able to inform them a great deal of the concept. I also connect it to diverse students as well because I was able to adapt the lesson for many different learning styles. I used the Elmo, an audio file, I had pictures, and I also provided a copy of what was on the audio file so that students could follow along. My fifth graders are usually pretty silent, but with this lesson they were engaged and so excited to learn more and continue on.

Looking at the ten characteristics, I see that there is still so much for me to learn about myself as a teacher. So far, I think that I'm doing a good job of becoming the best teacher that I can be, but there's still a lot to learn. Teaching is a profession that is not just learned or taught overnight. It takes tons of practice and the willingness to open yourself as a learner and become aware of yourself and your students.