Week Twelve Post

This is my final blog, well at least my final one for the class. I really plan on continuing my blogging, this was my first blog and I've actually enjoyed doing it. I think my having us blog about our experiences and readings we are really forced to take some time and step back and evaluate what we are learning. In so many classes we sit and are lectured to and the information goes in one ear and out the other, throughout this class, my journaling and blogging I am able to go back and remember specific things I learned and carry those with me in the future. It's hard learning so much at one time because when we all have our own classrooms over a year from now we will be dying to try and remember something from these classes. I always enjoy knowing that I will have something to go back and look at to recall things I learned. I have throughly enjoyed this class and truly believe the articles and lectures will all come in handy when I someday have my own class. Thank you Linda for being such an amazing teacher!

Week Eleven Post

With the semester quickly wrapping up, I'm beginning to reflect on this first cluster and field experience as a whole. I was disappointed with my field placement and the lack of experience I gained from it; I was expecting some sort of opportunity to teach a lesson or get in front of the classroom instead of just observing. I am hoping that before I am student teaching I will get to accomplish some real time teaching a class some sort of lesson or activity. I have definitely enjoyed the classes in this first cluster though. I think the material we have learned in information that will be extremely useful in my future classroom. It has made me excited about what is to come in the future semesters as far as material and books I will carry with my after I graduate. I thought the textbooks our teachers selected were excellent and I will probably be keeping most of them to have in my classroom. I enjoyed learning about writer's notebooks and how much they can contribute to a student's writing craft and to a classroom as a whole, I know that will be one thing I will do with my students no matter what grade I end up teaching.

Week Ten Post

During today's field placement I mainly observed. I wanted to reflect on last week's class where we presented our MGRP. I really really enjoyed getting to hear everyone's presentations and thought it seemed like everyone put in a lot of work, time, and effort. I DEFINITELY plan on having my class do this project. I think it taught me to push the limit and really explore my chosen subject beyond what all the other researchers out there had done. I also thought it was interesting because it showed me I was able to produce so many different genres of writing. I never thought I would be able to write an obituary, or a president's speech, or even a caption for a photo but this project allowed me to step into any role I wanted. I really enjoyed it and I thought everyone did an amazing job!!

Week Nine Post

For field placement, we have been assigned a kidwatching student. My student is a sixth grade girl who seems to be more interested in her looks, and boy than school. She is so extremely smart, but while interviewing her I learned that both her parents are farmers and they expect her to carry on that family tradition. Her parents seem she think she is overly smart for her age, when in reality she is a little behind for the gifted and talented class. It is hard to explain to her parents who both only graduated form high school that she is actually struggling to keep up with the other gifted students her age.
I was sad to hear during our interview that she had NEVER written an actual letter nor had she gotten one in the mail. She kept referring to e-mails when I would ask about letter writing. I guess it's just a new age and different era. So many things that we grew up with our students will never even know or experience.

Week Eight Post

The semester is flying by! Now that we have started working on our multi genre research papers I am beginning to realize how research papers can be more fun. The students in my 6th grade field placement class are writing research papers and they seem quite bored with them. I remember always being bored with research papers as well, but the idea of creating new genres of work make it way more exciting. I am not sure if I will end up teaching in a grade high enough to be working on research papers, but I think you could apply the idea of creating multiple genres from one type of work to things other than just research papers. Students could find a journal entry, or any type of paper they have written and create a new piece from it. I think when you take some time away from a piece of writing you've done and them come back and look at it, you always have a new perspective on it and new great ideas!

Week Seven Post

I was unable to attend my field placement this past week because I was sick, but even being gone one day I feel that I missed a lot. We are starting to work on our "kidwatching" assignments and are being assigned one student to watch and begin gathering information for. I have no met my student yet, but hopefully it will be one that I get along with and who feels comfortable talking and working with me.
I have noticed that when I walk around some of the students are more hesitant than others to talk much or continue working because they seem shy or embarrassed about me standing over their shoulder. I try and talk to these students about something other than what they're working on first so they get to feel a little more relaxed and comfortable. I remember being a student and always being a little on edge when someone new was in our classroom, I always felt like they were "studying" me and what I was doing like some sort of experiment so I try and ease the students worries as much as possible.
I am finding more and more that there are things that come up in the classroom that I all of a sudden remember doing or feeling when I was a student. I think it's important as a teacher to remember the experiences you had as a student and stick with what worked and what you liked but change the things that you didn't enjoy or that made you feel uncomfortable.
Overall, I just really can't wait till I have my own classroom!! I am learning so many things and I know I still have a lot to learn but I just want to jump right into it all right now. Every time I get a new field placement I get to experience something new and learn a new technique for handling situations so I know that once I am a teacher I will learn new things each year, each day actually.

Week Six Post

It is hard to reflect on myself as a teacher of writing because during my time in the classroom at University Elementary on Wednesday mornings I do not actually TEACH any writing, I am more of a supporter/facilitator. The students in my class are in the middle of a Ancient Greece unit and they are currently working on writing research papers. The students amaze me more and more every week with how intelligent they are, and only in sixth grade! So far, they have completed outlines with a topic, subtopics, and guiding questions. Now, they are starting their research using their outlines as a way to stay on track and be sure they are only researching relevant information that will pertain to their paper. As I walk around, I realize that when I am writing a paper I do not start with an outline and I end up researching any and every thing there is relating to my topic. It is interesting to see how I am learning from my students as well as them learning from me.
While I walk around and conference with the students I find myself trying to leave each group with a praise (something they are doing very well so far) and also a suggestion of something they need to work on. It seems to be working well so far, I will keep you all updated on how the projects are coming! I am anxious to actually read some of the papers!!

Week Five Post

During this post, we are supposed to reflect on your teaching field placement. I am working in a 6th grade gifted and talented classroom at University Elementary and so far I am really enjoying my experience. I had never worked in a classroom above third grade so this is definitely taking some getting used to, but I'm adjusting quickly. It is odd to be in a classroom where the teacher isn't constantly telling students to sit down, wipe their nose, stop talking, or finish their assignment; these students seem extremely mature and are capable to following instructions and taking care of themselves on their own.
It sounds weird, but I actually have a fear that some of the students are way smarter than me. The things they are learning about seem so advanced for 6th graders and just their everyday speech is extremely mature. So far, I've just been observing and walking around conferencing with small groups but next week I will be given an individual student to observe and follow. The teacher I am working with is wonderful and is offering a lot of great, helpful advice. I am nervous about the fact that it is our junior year and we have yet to get up in front of a full classroom and teach a lesson so I am hoping we get to do something close to that during this semester. It's so exciting!!

Week Four Post

Today was our first conference with our partner for our Writer's Notebooks, and I think the meetings are going to be very useful. Sometimes it helps to hear other people comment on your work because they notice things you don't, and I actually surprised myself by saying somethings out loud that I didn't even realize were floating through my head.
I randomly decided to write about reading the other day in my notebook, I started to wonder when the love and passion most children have for reading fades into the hatred of lack of time most college students have. I didn't have much to write about, instead I just jotted down a few reasons/ideas I had for why college-aged people aren't as passionate about the idea of curling up with a good book as elementary aged students seemed to be. Then, today in my field placement I noticed so many things on this subject! It's like once you write about something in your notebook, then you begin to notice that same idea all around you way more than usual. I guess my ears were just more open to the idea and my eyes were noticing things I would have otherwise looked over. Very cool!
Class today went well. I am already in love with the Craft Lesson textbook and know that I will be using that in my future classroom. My mother (who is a teacher) is already "stealing" ideas from it! It was very interesting to hear how quickly our classmates altered their lessons since they chose the same one to quickly make them into two completely different tasks. I am sure them when we are actually in a classroom full-time we will have to become very accustomed with quickly changing plans when they don't run as smoothly as we'd like.
I love all the things we are doing with children's books. I am keeping a running list of all the book titles we discuss, or Linda reads to us, just so later I can remember them. I try and write down what each story relates to as well, so with just a quick glance I am remember the story and how we tied it into class. Hope everyone has a great weekend! Go Hoosiers!!!

Week Three

I really enjoyed class today.... and not only because we got out early! Haha!! I thought it was interesting to learn about the concept on "noticing" how some authors write and how we can take those tricks and apply them in our own writing. It's all about reading like a writer, paying attention to the way writers arrange words, the words they choose, and what can happen when you take time to word your thoughts/feelings/emotions in a specific way.
It was very interesting to hear how many things we noticed just from the short passages we read. I really liked the whole "show don't tell" idea. I think this is something we could teach our students to add to their writing and it would make a big difference in their level of writing! Using mini lessons will be a great way to quickly pick into students' brains and teach big ideas in a short period of time. I enjoy mini lessons because I think students tend to learn more because they don't have to be paying attention for long periods of time. Mini lessons can be completed anywhere around the room, on the carpet, at desks, or even outside; using short lessons is a great way to get students up and out of the typical classroom environment but still be teaching them important information.
In my field placement today, I noticed that the students had a reader's notebook. I thought this was interesting because we've been talking so much about writer's notebooks, but I think having a reader's notebook is a great idea too. They use this notebook to write down techniques that can help them while reading, or while taking notes. They seemed to refer to them quite often, so obviously they are a tool that not just the teacher, but the students find useful too!

Week Two Post

I really enjoyed today's class. I am actually getting excited about going to classes now that we are learning such useful information that I KNOW I will use in my own classroom someday.
I really enjoyed reading through the sample passages and trying to critique the spelling; it was interesting to see that we all clung to the negative and what was wrong but we struggled to find what the student had done right. I think that is something I am going to try really hard to remember: Always start with the positive and see what the student already knows. Even as a student I remember having teachers who always pointed out the negative and pointed out my mistakes to the point where my paper was covered in red ink... not a good feeling for the student, and definitely a little disappointing and depressing as a teacher. Concentrating on the strength of the student will help us as teachers realize what we've taught correctly and what we need to spend more time teaching.
I am excited to start our field placement and begin to apply what we're learning to an actual classroom setting, and I'm also ready to find situations that I do not know how to handle and then bring them into our class and discuss the solutions so that I know for the next time. Teaching is definitely a career that take some trial and error; we will never actually know how to handle certain situations or what will come up in the classroom until we start our time in the classroom.

Week One Post

I have never blogged before, but I am very excited about starting one. I've always kept a journal and I really enjoy writing, but I think learning how to blog and gaining some experience in doing so will be very helpful with my future students. The students I will be teaching will be used to technology and most of them will probably be more accustomed to blogging than to journaling. I really enjoyed the activity we did today in class with the name article; after reading the article I was able to think more clearly about my own name and really enjoyed writing down some of my thoughts. I think it's important to start reading like a writer and writing like a reader. I wrote my name article in a way that would be interesting to readers, I think this is definitely a skill students need to learn at a young age. I am really looking forward to this semester and all the things we will be learning in this class, but most of all I am glad we are being "required" to write weekly!  A little bit of "me time" is always nice!! =)