Week 2- When all the fun begins

Week 2 - When all the fun begins!


Hello fellow viewers, here I am, surprising myself and actually keeping true to my word and posting another blog!

Take that New Years Resolution! HA!

Anyways, it was a nice short week in the classroom. With MLK day Monday, and having to go to a student teacher conference on Friday, I only had 3 days in the classroom with the kiddies.

Three days can make just as an impact as it can for a week, and the important lesson of this 3 day week is patience, understanding and forgiveness.

Lets start with the positives of this week:

1. I learned a lot of new things about my students. After assessing their scores on their multiple intelligence test, I was able to better understand what they enjoy doing and how I can better connect with them. This plan proved to be successful because I had many deep (at it can get in 4th grade) conversations and it "appears" as if they like me. haha.

One of the best attributes of going to a Christian University is that through all the craziness of life and school, that the school's mission statement is that we always keep our focus on God.

Let me tell you, being surrounded by my fellow student teachers and knowing that our main goal is to further the kingdom of God and sharing the love that Jesus showed us is wonderful. It truly is a gift to be working along side so many of my friends and fellow Christians that I have studied, become friends and grown with. With the world so lost and with their priorities focusing on primarily themselves, it's nice to at least surround myself with my fellow student-teachers and remind myself why I am in this job and why I love it so much. We're definitely not perfect, but I know that we are at least trying.

2. I look at each of my student's as a gift, and as a teacher themselves. They always have something new to teach me, whether it's about myself, children, education or the world around me. To know that God put them on this Earth for a reason, and perhaps I was placed in that classroom to give them that big "push" is something that it almost too amazing for me to fathom. I always think to myself "where will so and so be in the next 20 years?" -- I really consider them as my own children sometimes. :)

They also say the funniest things! One of the exclamations from a student who had to hold hands with another was "Ugh, I feel like I'm married...." -- ha!

Sorry, I love my job, next section. lol

3.The book that I chose to read this week is called "Successful Classroom Management"

This is probably the HARDEST thing for me in the classroom because coming in as a student teacher, you can't really set that "I'm nice, but you NEED to follow my rules" statement until you start teaching. They're constantly testing you to see what that CAN and CANNOT do. Well, let me tell you-- I'm learning! haha

One of the things that captured me about this week in the book is how important PRAISE is.

Think about it... without realizing it, we teachers are constantly focusing on too many of the negatives and only giving a "great job" or a "well done" to an individual student for about 10% of the day. We're not evil, we just are programmed to spot what we can improve on and this sometimes can come out as we're only calling on students for negative things.

Think about it... when you're called back to stay after class, are you thinking "OH BOY-- the teacher wants to see me!!" or "Oh no, what did I do?"

Exactly. It's usually negative.

But why don't we take the time to call students in the back of the class and congratulate them on how hard they have been working. Especially that kid that always does well, why don't we commend them by taking a little bit of time out of our day and telling them how PROUD we are of them. That we do NOTICE them, and that even though we usually spend more time on students who need help, that they don't go unnoticed.

Things like a certificate of doing well in a subject that week, or just talking to them after class goes a long way.

I can still remember when teachers did this to me.

Ms. Goin - 5th grade gave me a slip of paper congratulating me on how well I did in Social Studies the whole year. I STILL have that piece of paper.

Mrs. Shaeffer - 3rd grade -- One day she asked me to help cut out something for her while the rest of the class was out at recess. She was grading our tests on force/movement in Science. I had gotten a 100. She told me she was proud of me. I haven't forgotten.

And also, we should be finding things to praise even those little trouble makers in our class! They also are a gift, and wouldn't it be nice for a change to call them back to congratulate them on something, as opposed to what they usually hear from others? I'm sure it would make a difference in their day to tell them how proud we are of them, or how well they are improving. :)

Remember though -- Sincerity is key!

Okay the negatives (which we should always look at as learning experiences!)

1. Basically, I have learned to live with my student teacher. She really is a good woman, but there are certain things that you just have to adapt and accept as a student teacher. Like the fact that we are ALWAYS late to something. Fine arts, lunch-- the bus.... yes, that's my transition.

While waiting for a student to come out of the bathroom and talking to another teacher, she lost track of time and our class, along with the CT's class missed their busses. Yea, that didn't go down so well in the office. I could feel the glares on me as her student teacher... the AP even said some snarky remarks (which she apologized later for knowing it wasn't my fault). But yea, me and my CT had to call their parents, explain the situation, and between them asking me who I "was" and why their child missed the bus.. well, it's a good thing I have experience at GS with working with angry customers. haha Not to mention the fact that one of the student's numbers was incorrect, so we had to wait for a worried mother's phone call to the school until we were finally allowed to take some action. When the principal finally got hold of the situation, well, let me just say -- I LOVE HER. She was upset that the AP had made me and my CT call the parents, stating that it was her and the AP's job to do that, and she kindly told my teacher that she could go home and that she would handle it from there. I was able to leave at that time too. While I was a little agitated in the whole situation, I stepped into her shoes and understood how she must have felt and how embarrassed it must have been for her. So what did I do? I brought her some cookies the next day to cheer her up and to show her through my love language (gifts) that I understood and that I was not upset at her.

So... what did I learn from this?

1. Everyone is human, and that people make mistakes. I don't hold a grudge on my CT, and I look at this experience as something to learn from.

2. Who else can say that they know how to deal with this type of situation now?

3. I also got to meet some people in the office that I probably would have not met otherwise. :) lol

So yes, I'll stop there, and that concluded my 2nd week of student teaching.

I learned a lot of new cool things to implement in the classroom at the workshop and have found that my students are very group and hand-on orientated.

Thank-you for reading and I leave you with this...



P.S. Jen and I won $2500 for a Science Grant.... WOOT! SCIENCE!

First Week

Hello All!

As I have promised myself and others that follow me, I shall be "trying" to post something on my student-teaching experience.

So....week 1!

Wow...

I am LOVING IT! I'm so blessed to find a job where I have to wake myself up at 6am in the morning *cringe* and actually be excited about going into work! Super blessed!

Anyways...where to begin..

I LOVE my school. It's so open and chillax. While some of the teachers are bad examples of what a teacher should be (aka: complaining about everything and having NO common sense) the majority of them are caring people that want to make a difference and are actually trying. My only real big beef with the school is how there is little time spent in Social Studies and how Science is an elective.... really?!?

My teacher is pretty neat. She is a good person at heart, and I really appreciate that. We get along, she is very open to share new things with me and does all she can being a mother, with two children, and having to go to physical therapy due to a previous bout with breast cancer. She's a trooper!

The only things that makes me a little "off" with her is me having to "fish" for information a lot of the time. Like..what I should be doing...when I should do this... what is this, etc. She is willing to share, but it can be a little frustrating sometimes.. especially when I have to teach the whole class for 7 weeks by myself. She also does not WAIT for anyone. I literally was in the teacher's lounge talking to another teacher and she left without telling me....without saying ANYTHING. v.v ugh....

But besides from that, it's all good. My other problems are things that consist of just teaching in general as opposed to the teacher.

I read a very interesting and great book about the global achievement gap in American schools today.

The Global Achievement Gap by: Tony Wagner

It basically said that we were teaching our children wrong and that we need to focus on how to have them critically think instead of teaching to the test and just "giving" them the answer. Keep in mind, it's not really the teachers fault. We never had to teach students this way because they were either going to go home and work on the farm, some other blue-collar job or reproduce. This is the FIRST time in history where the majority of the jobs in this country depend heavily on people-skills and critically thinking. Not to mention that this is the first time in history where we are now competing with the rest of the world on a much larger scale. We have to teach our teachers how to teach completely different!

Here are the 7 "survival" skills that the books lists that we need to concentrate on as teachers.

1. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
2.Collaboration ACross Networks and Leading by Influence
3.Agility and Adaptability
4.Initiative and entrepreneurialism
5.Effective Oral and Written Communication
6.Accessing and Analyzing Information
7.Curiosity and Imagination

So, based off this list you maybe can understand why I CAN'T stand constant worksheets. That's all we do really. It's either a worksheet in reading, or a workbook page in math. Just follow directions basically and you SHOULD do well. NO, NO, NO.... gah! (can you tell I'm frustrated?) That's NOT how the real world works... le sigh.

Anyways, now to the students... LOVE THEM! I have an inclusion classroom so there are a lot of students in my class with SLD's or behavior problems, but I look at it as more of a learning opportunity and a great way to help me grow as a teacher. I'll go into more detail about them next week so I shall have something to write about. :)

One of the things I had them do was a multiple intelligence test. By analyzing how they learn best I can better understand their learning styles and it helps me prep for future lessons.

Anyways, hope this was helpful or at least enjoyable! Till next week!

Brittany :)

2 Days 2 Go

Welcome wanderers, friends and perhaps future educators,

What better way to view the progress (hopefully) of my teaching than to view the many entry blogs that I intend on writing (aka at least once a week).

I hope you gain something useful from reading these, even if it's strengthening your skill on criticizing my poor grammar or writing ability.

None the less...

The countdown begins.. I begin student teaching in a 4th grade classroom starting January 9th. Of course, the first day will consist of getting ready and I won't actually meet the students till they come back to school on January 10th.

I am excited, surprisingly not nervous, and am anxious to learn from both my cooperating teacher and students!

Some things that I would like to keep in mind as I embark on this journey are

1. To focus on the students, it's about them, not YOU

2. Take every mistake as a learning opportunity

3.Don't take everything so personally

4. Remember, everyday is another opportunity to teach and learn something new

5.You will be, forever young.

Thank-you all, and enjoy reading, and in the mean time, I will try to get into a regular sleeping schedule. A.K.A. not waking up at 1pm.