Reflecting on this past semester

Woo Hoo I am so happy that this semester is almost over! I am very happy that my classes are over, but I am really sad that I have to switch from my Pre-K placement. I truthfully feel like most of what I learned this semester I learned from my mentor teacher. Katie Berry is amazing and she really took the time to observe me, discuss what I could have done differently, described why she behaved in various situations, and really let me take the reigns in the classroom. Usually I would feel like I was just a guest in my mentor teacher's classroom, but this semester I really feel like I am a part of the classroom and a true teacher. I consider the students to me "mine" rather than just my mentor teachers. I connected so much with the students and I really feel like I learned about their personalities, behavioral norms, and interests. This placement was especially close to my heart because I want to be a Pre-K teacher. I see that it is A LOT of work, but the best part of my week is when I get to spend time with my students. Isn't that what teaching is all about? I am so ready to just graduate, move away, and start my life as a teacher. I hope I can make it these next three semesters without losing my mind. It will be a challenge, but it is a challenge I really want to just get through, succeed at, and move on to bigger and better things in my life. Is it Christmas break yet?

p.s.- I still don't like the practicum plan, but I see that it does have some uses for students. I can see that it could keep people on track with their assignments and that your mentor teacher can also know when all of your assignments are due.

Practicum Plan

Well, the truth finally comes out..... I do not use my Practium Plan. I put it in my folder weeks ago and have not looked at it since. Last year I felt that the Practicum Plan (PP) was just basically extra work for us to do and I feel the same this year. I will admit that the formatting was less rigid this year, but I still do not like doing it. I keep a list of homework assignments on the home screen of my computer and that is how I stay on track with my school work. I can't even remember what my learning goals were, but I feel in general that I am most definitely growing as a teacher. I am so confident teaching and my behavioral management skills have gotten so much better. I absolutely love teaching and I especially love being a pre-school teacher. I mentally know what I have to work on and I feel like I didn't need to write it down and have the paper signed to choose those goals. I hope that I am not being too harsh!!! This year has shown me what I will most likely be choosing to focus on for the big research project Intern year. Benefits of art integration in the classroom.... this is what I am most passionate about and I struggle to create lessons that are not in some way arts related or involve some aspect of hands on learning. I hope that you aren't mad at me for disliking the PP, Michelle!!!

Wiki

I can't believe that November 11 is so soon! I feel that my group of North Elementary participants has really worked well together to get all of the information together, but I will admit that it is difficult to work around five peoples schedules! All of the teachers at North have been really willing to work with us and have provided us with a lot of valuable information for our wiki. The two main ideas that we chose to focus on were diversity and commmunity. North elementary has such a diverse background and we wanted to know how this diversity helped North be a better PDS. With community, we also discussed the North elementary garden. We felt that the garden helped bring the students, staff, and parents together! On Monday, we will be taking our Wiki ( which is still a work in progress) to our coordinator, Laura VanHorn, and getting her input on what we need to add or change. Hopefully there isn't too much work left to do! How has your Wiki gone so far Jason??

Blogging Reflection

After looking back at my blog postings, I can see that my views of blogging have basically stayed the same. I think that blogging is a useful tool for reflection because it is simple to use, free, and fast. It is easy to stay organized with my blog postings, rather than keeping a journal. I think that blogging is a way to connect students or educators together and allow them the opportunity to address each others problems, comment on stories, and offer an easy way for communication. I have really enjoyed having one blog partner throughout this semester    ( yay Jason!) because we have read each others reflections and views as we have experienced our different classrooms this semester. Although at this point we only create a blog posting every few weeks, it will be interesting to look back at all of my posting throughout my tutor, participant, and intern years to see how much I have grown as a teacher. I have enjoyed reading and commenting on Jason's posts and seeing how his experiences at his school or similar or different from mine. So Jason, what do you like best about having a blog partner? :) :)

Progress Report

I think that I have followed my Practicum Plan pretty well so far over the course of this semester. My main goal for this semester was to become more confident in teaching ESL students. I was very, very unsure of myself when this semester began because I had never been around students who are not fluent in English. I was not sure what they were capable of and what types of learning strategies help them succeed. I have tried my hardest to dive into the lessons, but I still feel like at times the students have no idea what I am talking about. I need to learn how to use simpler words when I explain activities. My mentor teacher has explained to me that they students learn best through acting out words and drawing pictures. I have been trying out those methods over the last couple of weeks. I already taught my small group lesson and I hope that I actually did it correctly. I taught a multicultural lesson involving counting money. I have been lucky because my PDS is very close to my house and I haven't experienced any snow days so far ( crossing my fingers!). I know I will continue to learn more and more about ESL classroom because I still feel like I have so many more aspects of the program to figure out!

Digital Story

Hello Jason! I am at a very unique PDS placement this semester where I am working with English Language Learners. It is just a small group of students, about three to six students, which is already very different from the typical PDS classroom. The students come from countries all over the world like Egypt, Mexico, and Africa and they all speak so many different languages. Some students were even translating from English to Arabic and back to English for my mentor teacher to understand. I thought that was very interesting to watch. 

I thought that this would be an interesting topic for my digital story. I could focus on all the unique and foreign places that my students come from and the methods that they are using to become fluent in English. I think using pictures, scanned work samples, and digital recordings would be a great way to show the progress that my ELL students make throughout the semester. I have only been to my classroom once so far so I am sure I will gather more ideas as I spend more time with my students!