Last day at Westwood-semester 1

I was nervous at the beginning on how my hand made lesson would turn out with the class. As soon as I got into the lesson the children were way into it and wanted to do everything perfectly. They wanted to show me how well they could participate and make the craft. As I walked around the room while they worked on the craft, all of them kept asking me if they could do this or they could do that. It was cool to be able to tell them they could do whatever they want and have fun with this craft. Their eyes lit up when I would compliment their work and as they began to finish their craft they could not wait to show it to me and their classmates. Towards the end of class, the teacher had the children make Christmas cards for me as a gift for working with them the past semester. I almost cried when they began to ask me how to spell "I love you" so they could put it on the cards for me. To know I had had that much of an impact on the kids was amazing. As I left the classroom with 20 handmade cards and a new book they all signed I felt I had really made a difference with those kids and my time was actually helpful.

11-22-10

I had the oppurtunity to teach a class of 1st graders a Junior Achievement curriculum for a day. The curriculum included 5 lessons that were to be taught throughout the day. We had use this curriculum given in a booklet to teach the class the lessons in a timely manner and a way they would remember it. It was amazing to see the children interact and comprehend the lessons. We taught the 1st graders "Our Families" lessons. These included neighborhoods, jobs, and the people connected to them. We had a picture of a neighborhood put up in the classroom and had the children point out good deeds going on and actions that were taking place. Through this J.A. activity the children were able to see how a neighborhood works and certain jobs that go on inside neighborhoods just like their own. Later we put a big map on the floor, given to us in the J.A. booklet, and had the children recognize symbols, keys, and buildings in relation to streets. The children were then given their own smaller version of the map and stickers that represented the buildings on the bigger map. They were excited to be able to put the buildings where they wanted to on the map and be a part of that decision.

Nov 15, 2010

Website Ideas.
 I would use the wordle.net website to help the kids read the words they are learning that week. It is a wesbite where you can write in different words and it puts them all into one box. The box would be full of the words they are working on that week. I would say a word for the students and then ask them to point it out for me in the box of words. I would contiue this until they found every word and could reference to each word. This would be up on an ACTIVboard or projector screen so all the students couod see it and could go and point.
Another website I could use would be meegenius.com. It has lots of childrens books that are classroom favorites. The books are right on the website and are very large, making it easy to read the words and see the pictures. This could be used on the projector screen or ACTIVboard as well. The books can also be personalized, the characters names can be changed if you wanted to make it special to your class's students. This could help the students get involved in the reading and excited about reading books.

November 12, 2010

A teacher can impact a child's development through many ways, including physical, social/emotional, and cognitive. A teacher can help with daily exercise with the students. They can teach them about healthy eating habits that can help the students grow and learn properly. The teacher can be nice to children and almost be their friend in a way, so the students will want to come and learn and be happy while they are at school. This will increase the learning ability of the students and help them achieve more. The teacher can set up group projects and partner work so the students work together and create friendships in the classroom. This will help further their want for learning and coming to school if the have friends that will be there as well. Teachers are their to help the students learn information and grasp the concepts so they can carry them on to learn more stuff as the years of education go on. They can do this through projects or class activities as well as writing the stuff they learn down and drawing. To remember the information the teacher should go over it daily and often in a way the students will remember it, may that be through flashcards or some type of game.

10-28-10

One of the little girls that I work with seperately every week was not wanting to pay attention this week. She was lying on the floor while she was supposed to be sitting up, closing her eyes, and not answering any questions I was asking her. It was difficult to interact with her and get her to actually pay attention long enough to attain the information.  I felt defeated as I had not gotten her to learn anything yet and pay attention. After a while, I decided to amp up the excitment and make her excited to learn and pay attention. She eventually warmed up to me and my efforts and gave some effort in return. Although we did not get as far as we should have, I felt I had resolved the conflict the best I could do to the situation. And now I know how to assess the situation and attack it the next time something like this happens.

Teacher Interview about Communication

The Teacher at Westwood answered a few questions about how she communicates with the students and parents. She said one of the most important things to do is work with the parents when their child is misbehaving in class. You should win the parents over in a way in order to work hand in hand with them. When a parent asks about their child's progress in the classroom, she said she answeres honestly about the child. This is neccesary and a must if you want to get anywhere with the child and parent in order to reach the students full potential. These days the teacher I work with uses E-mail, phone calls, and daily conduct sheets to communicate directly with the parents. A daily conduct sheet is sent home each day with each child explaining their progress and how well they did that day, as the child's behavior wil change from day to day you must send something home everyday. If a child is bad at school, a note will be sent home regarding their behavior and they must bring it back signed the next day by their parent in order to show that the parent is seeing what is going on at school. Communication is key in a classroom, especially in a Kindergarten classroom where the learning they are doing is essential and behaviors change from day to day.

4th Blog

Yesterday was our 4th day at Westwood and a successful one at that. The teacher has a high level of accountability because they are responsible for their class and what the children learn that day. The teacher I have been with has a special connection with the students because they know they are being taken care of and learning the information well. This is fair because the children are the ones with the teacher and connecting with her. To be "child centered" means for the teacher to be there for the child and not for the money, also to do everything it takes to help the children improve and do tasks needed to become successful. This is important for a teacher because in order to fully teach the children what they need to know and work the classsroom they must be child centered. If I was going to be a teacher in a classroom, I would want an ACTIVboard. They are very useful and can help the children as a whole learn together and see the "big" picture of the lesson. They are many different charts and tools that are helpful and handy, I think, for teachers these days. Communication is very important as the students and teachers must work together to accomplish their work, if a student is not willing to work together they will not get as far. Some ways to promote communication among teachers, school, and parents would be sending home letters of each students progress each week(or more often if needed), have meetings through staff and parent conferences to manage the students and teachers progress in the classroom. This experience at Westwood has been amazing and just increased my want of being a teacher in the future. It has given me great experience and I know it will continue in the right direction.

Another Day at Westwood

Yesterday was another amazing day working with the Kindgarteners. I got to take three kids aside and work with them specifically on their alphabet. It was exciting to know I was a part of their learning experience. The children wanted to work as long as they could with me and did not want me to leave. As I walked around the room while the children worked at stations they kept showing me their progress and what they were working on. They wanted to tell me all about their work and lives, it was exciting to be so loved while in the classroom.

Third Day of Teaching

Yesterday, I got to actually work with the children and help them with their work. The children went to stations for the second part of the time I was there. While at stations, I helped them read the examples and then transfer them onto their paper. It was amazing to see how they work and be able to interact with them to help them figure out the stations. The children didn't want me to leave, which made going that much more worth it. One of the children barely does any work, and while I was there he tried to do as much as he could so he could show me. It was so cute to see his face light up when he actualy finished his work and wanted to show me. Kindgarten is getting better and better every week I go.

Second Day Teaching

Yesterday we went back to Westwood to help the teachers in their classes again. It was so amazing to get to see how the classroom works and see everything in action. The children are really great and attentive. Next week the teacher said that I get to help actually teach a few of the kids with letters and words! I am so excited for next week!

Teaching!

Teaching is great! I love it so much!

teacher in training

The first day going to Westwood Elementary School was amazing. It made me even more excited about becoming a teacher in the future. The students were all attentive and ready to learn from the teacher. It was exciting to watch them get into the activities and interact with the lessons. Although I was only there for under an hour, the classroom put me in awe and got my brain thinking on what I can do ass a teacher.