Week 15- Came to the Edge and I flew

This is my LAST blog post for this semester, I want to take some time to reflect upon my experiences so far this semester.  It was a long journey of trials and tribulations to get to this point in the semester.  At one point I didnt know if i was going to be able to pull through and get everything done by week 15.  However, here I am, completely FINISHED with one more thing to do.  Submit my final online portfolio!  I have never met more inspiring and motivated individuals who have a similar passion like myself.  It was a honor to learn and grow next to all of these individuals I met this year in block I.  I knew when times got tough I had all of my classmates to lean on and they knew they could do the same.  This past Monday was my last observation in my host classroom and looking back on the overall experience, it was was one the most valuable, inspiring and best experience I've had so far at The State University in New York at Cortland. I could express to you how close I got with each one of my students and the amount of academic and social development I was able to witness in 8 weeks was amazing and can say I'm proud to have been apart of it! At first when I was given my placement, I was a little shocked I was placed with first graders! I ideally wanted 3-4th grade but I have to admit observing in a first grade classroom was quite an amazing experience! I learned that 1st grade deals more with the learning of the social curriculum rather than the academic curriculum.  Now that the observations are over, I feel like I feel in love with the first grade curriculum, however, I still feel like I would be more successful as a teacher in the the second grade. 


This final week I have polished my skills using e- Tasksteam after spending countless hours updating and incorporating all of the artifacts that I felt meet the ACEI standards! I strongly feel that everything in that portfolio reflects who I am and my ideologies and methodologies of how I will teach to meet the needs of all students.

I was challenged to come to the edge this semester and now I can proudly say that I FLEW! Thank you for keeping up with my blog I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences as much I enjoyed living them! 

Week 14

Week 14:

Field Observation: For these weeks field observations, I will focus on some of the content students learned.  In math this week, students learned the exchange system of singles to rods, to flats and cubes.  Students were given manipulatives to work with while solving two and three digit mathematics problems.  During the writing workshop, they worked on adding details into their stories and learned how to make revisions and corrections on previous assignments. Throughout the day students were a little wired and there were a good amount of behavioral problems during the day. 

Technology: This week we have been working on creating a Voice thread that can used as a teaching tool in the classroom. A voice thread will promote the learning of students who are visual and auditory learners. 

Week 13

Observation reflection week 13: During my participatory observation hours this week at Parker, I analyzed the way my teacher used her classroom space and looked at the organization of her classroom. Immediately to the right after you walk into the classroom is a spot for the kids to hang up their coats and jackets.  Above the coats and jackets are each students “hopes and goals” for the year! I feel the coat hangers are in a good spot because it allows for students to hang up their coats immediately after entering the classroom.  It provides a smooth transition when entering the classroom.  The hopes and goals are a constant reminder to the students of things that wish to accomplish throughout the year.  I think it is in a good place because it acts as a motivator to the students and reminds them they are here to learn. 

Weekly Reading: This week I reflected on Paul Kluths book Access to Academics for ALL students.  Academics for All Students, offers a progressive ideology that academically, socially, emotionally, and intellectually stimulate and engage ALL learners. These authors have created new pedagogy that encourages and promotes social justice teaching, authentic instruction, service learning and the integration of inclusive practice across all social and academic areas in the school systems. They offer practical suggestions for those educators who are struggling to provide appropriate educational experience for the diverse population of learners in schools today. After reading Access to Academics for ALL Students, I’ve been inspired as a pre service teacher, to promote inclusive schooling, set and withhold high expectations stimulate and challenge all of my students, create a classroom/ school culture that strives to meet than surpass excellence, use a teaching style that is built around meeting the diverse needs of all students and understanding that all students learn differently, therefore, providing differentiated instruction to meet EVERYONES needs. 

Week 12

Week 12:

Field Observation: I took running notes and typed them up for my professional use in the years to come.  For my weekly field observation post this week I show you how the P.E teacher incorporated physical activities into his lesson that was Thanksgiving themed.

 Special Area Class (Physical Education)

Content taught:                                     Subject matter/ Topics

·         Sharing                                       Thanksgiving

·         Running

·         Hand eye coordination

·         Teamwork for a common goal

·         Listening skills

·         Attention to details

Mini Lessons: 

1.    Instant Activity:

When my first grade class entered physical education they were asked to read their “instant activity” for the day which consisted of directions asking them to run around the marked off cones to the tempo of the music. Students learned different moves the previous class and were taught how to jog, shuffle, back pedal, skip, and hop and karaoke.

A.    Content taught: This activity promotes students to pay close attention to detail and engage in a form of movement that is in tempo of a song. 

B.    Teacher’s role: During this activity the Physical Education teacher is off to the side of the gym observing making sure students are staying within the restricted boundaries.  In addition, he is regulating the music so students know when to move and when not to move.  He uses proximity to assure students that he is indeed observing their behavior which I noticed does increase good behavior during the activity.

2.    The “Gourd” game:

The next activity or mini lesson that my students actively participated in was the “gourd” game which consisted of three designated taggers who chased their fellow students around the gym and try to tag them.  Once students are tagged they become a gourd and must take a seat on the floor and wait to be tagged by a fellow classmate (who is not the tagger) before they can run around again.

     

A.    Content taught: During this game students are actively running around, working on their hand eye coordination skills when tagging students, and using teamwork to be successful runners.

B.    Teachers Role: Before this game, the teacher models expected behaviors to the class.  He lays out the rules and expectations of all students.  He showed each student the proper way to tag students, he showed how to sit and how not to sit if tagged.  While the game was in progression he used proximity to assure that the students were all actively participating, following the rules, and behaving. The teacher is walking around as well during this activity pacing up and down the gym to make sure all students are on task.  Often during this activity the teacher made statements such as “show me how to sit if you are tagged”, or “should you tag a runner in the face or below the face?” Simple questions like these I found keep the kids on task! 

3.    “Stuff the Turkey” game

For this activity the teacher sets up two large circular piped 2D goals that have netting around the perimeter.  Surrounding the nets are a series of cones which act as a crease where students must stand behind.  Four students are picked to stand in each of the goals and block the “stuffing” from entering the goals.  The blockers are allowed to pick up and throw back the stuffing out from the goals.  The other students are taking the stuffing  (light weight, soft weight material stringy balls) one at a time and standing behind the cones and throwing it into the goals.

A.    Content taught: during this activity students are working together for a common goal to completely stuff the turkey.  The blockers and working together to unstuff and block the stuffing from enter the turkey (goal).  The students are working on throwing, communication, hand eye coordination and endurance.

B.    Teachers Role:  During this activity the teacher clearly states the rules and models expectations, how to block, how to throw, and talks of the importance of teamwork. During the activity he monitors the students while they play the game and look for students who are not behaving or following the rules.  He uses proximity to help with classroom management. Some techniques 

Week 11

Field Observation: In this weeks field observations I took a look at all materials, posters, projects that were done by students.  This picture consists of classroom work that was done during class time.  It consists of illustrations and writing that correlates to ways students can be a great friend to others.  This is a great way to integrate student’s artwork in the classroom.  It is not only decorative but also promotes lifelong lessons students can integrate into their own lives outside of school!

This next photo is a picture of the classroom rules that both the students and teacher came up with at the beginning of the year.  The classroom rules board states the five class rules and expectations that students are expected to follow.  At the bottom all students have signed their name to show they have agreed to and will follow the rules. This is a great idea by having the students sign because if they do act up in class and break a rule the teacher and refer back to the poster!

Week 10

Week 10:

Field Observation: In this week’s field observations I looked at the technology in my host classroom that my host teacher can use as resources in their classrooms. In each classroom teachers also have the option to integrate the use of an over head projector and a TV into their daily lessons if need be.  These are great resources for students who learn best by visualizing materials.  The TV also the teacher the freedom incorporates movies and videos into their lessons and or just for a fun free time activity.

In addition, the T.V it is a good way of integrating videos and technology into the classroom.  Another piece of technology equipment that can be seen in this picture is a overhead projector.  I feel this is a good technological tool to use that will help visual learners better comprehend information. 

Technical skill: In this weeks P.E class my students got to engage in a series of technology integrated activites that promoted students to work on hand eye coordination, body movements, strength and endurance, patience.  The gym teacher set up a series of video games from 3 different systems.  He used Wii, Xbox 360, and Play Station 2.  The games he incorporated were dance dance revolution, wii Dance, and a baseball game for X box!  I've never seen this done in a class before and I enjoyed watching my students as much as they enjoyed doing! 

Week 9

Week 9:

Field Observation: Parker school offers both students and teachers with an ample amount of resources that can be found in the classroom and throughout the schools that inhibit learning.  I’ve incorporated a series of photos will allow you to check out some of the resources that are available for learning in Parker School. 

This is a picture of the Parker school computer lab where both students and teachers have access to the World Wide Web.  This computer lab has about 30 computers that are fully equipped with the internet, Microsoft Office programs that consist of PowerPoint, word, excel and one note.  This computer lab is a great way for teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum. The computers provide students with an unlimited amount of resources that promotes them to further their education while using up to date technology!

 This next picture is of the Alton B. Parker school library.  This library is fully equipped with an exorbitant amount of reading materials that include but are not limited to magazines, narratives, poems, novels, and picture books that consists of genres such as short stories, mystery, adventure, fables,! The Parker school library is a great way for students to access an ample amount of books that are all age/grade separated.  The Library offers students access to these books to take home after their weekly library special.  Students if they are up to date in the system by returning all previously checked out books are eligible to take out one book a week. This library allows teachers to take out books for read alouds and etc. so it benefits not just students but teachers as well.

Technical Skills: This week I worked on, finished and really enjoyed creating the iMovie. At first, I thought this project was going to be very difficult. But once my group and I figured out what our topic was going to be on, putting the movie together came easy. We decided that we were going to do our movie based on ELA so we came up with a script that followed that. Once we came up with our script, we were able to film our movie very quickly. After that was completed, we came back to the classroom and edited the movie on the computer. It was a lot of fun to see all the different ways the movie could be put together. There was a wide range of music, cover pages and credit pages to choose from. Once we selected all of the things we needed, we were able to put our movie together completely. We came up with a title that suited our film completely then posted it on youtube.

I think using the iMovie is a great way to get students involved because it allows the students to be able to demonstrate their knowledge on a topic. First, the teacher would choose the topic the movie would be on, whether it be math, english or science is up to the teacher. Then the students would create the script they wanted to use for the movie. Once the students agreed on their script, the teacher would film the movie. The teacher would of course be the only one using the video camera, for obvious reasons. Then the whole class would edit the movie together and put any features they wanted in the movie. I think it's a great way to have the class get together and demonstrate their knowledge in an entertaining way. I truly believe this was be a very effective way for an informal assessment on students.