Blog Posting Totals

I have submitted 12 original posts and 11 responses to my peer's blogs as of 12/6/09.

Final Posting Response

Am I feeling more prepared to be a teacher? My answer would be absolutely! I feel more prepared than at the beginning of the semester, but I am still overwhelmed with the thought of how much more I need to learn. This semester really opened up my eyes to things that I took advantage of on a daily basis working in the classroom. I now analyze the student's lessons, abilities, interactions, and their questions more critically. I feel as if I am more aware of effective learning strategies. I also feel more confident in my abilities to eventually run a classroom of my own.
Next semester I plan to focus on curriculum, instruction, and assessment. I loved learning how to perform a spelling assessment in literacy and look forward to learning how to perform assessments throughout all subject areas. I think that the scary part of becoming a teacher is wondering what will I be teaching and how will I teach it. That is where my phobia lies. How will I get there? The only honest answer I can give is that I will attend my courses, ask questions when they arise, and hope that everything will fall into place!

"I can't read"

While at work last week, I was allowing a couple of my first graders test out one of my activities I had made for my Math and Science learning center. I gave the two girls the printed directions and the folder containing the materials. Immediately student A replies, speaking of the directions, "I can't read" and passing them to student B. Next student A says, "Well I can't read very good." I was shocked. Student A is a struggling reader and writer, but I had no clue that she would ever say those words! I immediately told that what she said is absolutely not true and that she can read. She gave me a hesitant look. I then place the directions in front of her and told her that she can read this and told her that we would read it together. I was really caught off guard by her words and cannot stand that a child feels this way. I work one-on-one with this student on a daily basis and with this experience, I am even more motivated to help this student build her reading skills.

Go with the flow lesson plan

While teaching my spelling lesson plan to one of my students, it made me realize that just because you prepare step by step procedures they are not set in stone. I was prepared. The child joined me at a table. The step by step procedures immediately went out the window. The student saw the pictures and words I had piled up for a sh and ch digraph word sort and immediately grabbed them and began her sort! I prompted her to say the words and what the picture was of while she sorted, but she took matter into her own hand. I let her guide the lesson! She was doing everything correctly and made no mistakes so I feel this allowed me to " go with the flow." This proves that no matter how much planning is prepared for any lesson or activity, it is highly likely that there will be modifications made by you, the teacher, or the student them self.

Time Managment

I would like to share one of my experiences from this past Friday (the day before Halloween). The teacher I work with was out on this day and I was alone (without a sub). For those of you who are used to traditional classroom, this would seem to not be an issue, but in a Montessori classroom there is a constant flow of children asking questions (more explanation will have to wait for another blog entry!). Since it was the Friday before Halloween, I had a fun day planned with word searches, word scrambles, color by number, crossword puzzles, pumpkin activities, and, finally, a activity involving corn starch and water. Those of you who are in Math and Science know exactly what I am talking about. At the end of the day, after building this super fun activity up all day, I had everything all set up. I stated the rules, grouped the kids, poured a pile of corn starch on the table, and lastly gradually added water to the pile of corn starch. Wow! The kids loved it! I knew this would be messy, but had no idea it would be THIS MESSY! What proved to be the main challenge was my time management for this activity. I allowed the last 40 minutes of the day for this. After allowing them to play and get their hands dirty (literally) it was near impossible to get them to clean up because they were having so much fun. After providing each table with a trashcan and paper towels, I realized that I needed to implement another form of motivation if we were going to get cleaned up and packed up before the bus pulled out of the parking lot. Luckily one of my parent sent in some organic cookies for Halloween. I told the table who cleaned their table and area first would be the first to receive a cookie. Thank goodness for the cookies! I know it was wrong to offer this type of motivation to the children, but if I had not, the kids would have run out of the room white, covered in starch and leaving me with an hours worth of cleaning. Point being, sometimes when you think you have enough time to complete an activity, you don't. Always give yourself extra time. Also, always have a backup activity or plan in case a lesson or activity is completed early.

Teaching a Reading Lesson

I am using the classroom that I work in for my observations. Today I taught a reading lesson to my five first graders and I want to reflect on some of my strengths and weakness that I noticed. A strength that I noticed was how great the brainstorming idea that involved the students discussing things that make them feel happy and sad. The kids were very willing to share and came up with some really great ideas and examples of why someone would feel happy or sad. I believe it really put them in the proper mindset because the book discussed why children were having a bad day and what made them feel better. A second strength I noted was illustrated by the student’s interest in the book itself. They liked the topic and really fought over who got to read first and who got to read for a second time. They illustrated cooperation in the small group and were willing to help the classmates who struggled with reading words.
A weakness I saw is somewhat linked to my second strength. Not all students were able to read more than one page each, which caused some disagreement. I actually allowed the entire group to read the last page simultaneously. They all wanted to read more. Next time I would choose a longer book and a book that is at a higher reading level. Hugs was a bit too easy for all the students involved in this particular lesson. Another weakness I noticed was that while I was teaching my lesson I wish I had placed more emphasis on the cause and the effect. I would have liked to go deeper into explanation of causal relationships and I would have liked to use real life examples, not just examples from the book we had just read. I will certainly take all of these considerations in effect when using this lesson plan in the future.

Case Study 7, Question #3

There are several ways Dalia involves families in the new Library construction project. One of the is by merely sparking the children's interest in the project. This caused the children to reflect and express their interests in the project at home by telling their parents. Another way the families were involved is by sending home permission slips for the field trip and asking for parent volunteers to help her assist her to keep the children safe during the trip. Dalia also sent home a letter to parents letting them know about the new Library construction project. In this letter she explained how she plans to approach the project, she indicates how the study of digging equipment has emerges, and, also, asks for input of their children's interests about construction. Many of the parent talk to Dalia about their child's excitement about the topic and some bring books to share in class. Dalia actively involved the parents in their child's learning and even asked for their input, allowing them to feel included in their child's learning. One parent felt open enough to ask her how they can continue their child's interest at home and provided feedback telling her that their child has shown interest in her brother's trucks at home, when previously did not. Finally, Dalia encouraged parent involvement by inviting them to the library open house on afternoon.

Toddler Observation #2

The other 4 hours of my toddler observation was conducted at The Montessori Community School of Charleston. I observed a primary classroom, which is composed of 3, 4, and 5 year olds. I am quite familiar with the Montessori method, but mostly by working with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders. It was really great to be able to see where the children in my classroom are coming from. What fascinated my the most was how the children naturally were drawn to doing their choice of work. With all of the young children, I was under the impression that they would need persistent guidance and supervision, but they all went from doing one work to doing another with minimal delay. They were not distracted by the other students presence, even when some were noisily socializing. They reminded and corrected their classmates in what they needed to be doing. It is so cool to see how the classroom seems to run itself with children so young!

Toddler Observation #1

For 4 of my 8 hours of toddler observations I visited ECDC. I thought that the observation rooms were fantastic! It was great to watch without disturbing/distracting the children. What I found interesting among all of the age groups that I watched was the sense of child independence. The work that they did in their classroom was chosen by each individual student. I am sure that there are group work and activities, but I neglected to witness them. The children seemed very self-sufficient in choosing the things they wanted to do and were very independent. I was some children were reading, while some painted, others were playing instruments, while some were doing puzzles. They each had their little "cliques" of students who followed each other around and worked together. I suppose I was expecting more of a structured, teacher-centered environment.

Case 17, Question 5 Response

First Question 5: Why do you think Cassandra decided to move Cory rather then Brent to another classroom?I think that Cassandra decided to move Cory to another classroom instead of moving his twin brother, Brent, because Brent is the physically aggressive brother. Cassandra is already familiar with Brent's behavior and has been taking notes on the occurrences. I think that she is well-equipped and has a plan of action for how to deal with his behavior problems. If she sent Brent to another class, he may last out even more violently because of the move as well. The classroom that Brent is currently in is most likely already used to his behavior and if he were moved into another classroom he may cause a massive disruption in the already established, new classroom.
Second Question 5: Considering the later outcome for the twins, do you believe the decision to move Brent out of Cassandra's classroom was best for him in the long-run or not? I do not think that it made a difference that Brent was moved out of Cassandra's classroom after all. I think that when the early intervention specialist observed the boys, whose ever class they were in, they would have noticed a need for intervention with both of them. The end result benefited both boys regardless of whose classroom they were in before they were taken to the school for children with special needs.

Case 5, Question 2 Response

This case study discusses how the classroom intern, Helen, goes about getting 2 year olds to put rain boots on their feet. Question 2: What strategies did Helen use to gain cooperation from the children? Were they effective? Why or why not? Helen goes down to the child's level by sitting on the floor to gain cooperation. She also engages each child by singing a song with each one while she puts the boots on their feet. The children seem to love it because Helen has made a game out of putting their boots on. I think that Helen's tactics were effective. The only glitch was when Aubrey was initially asked to come put her boots on. She ignored Helen and Helen responded to her lack of response by telling her to "put the baby where she is safe and warm." Aubry lost her turn to put boots on which caused her to not get the color boots she wanted, resulting in a temper tantrum. I think that Aubry's tantrum will help her realize that next time she chooses to ignore the intern, she may not get the boots that she wants and come with initially asked.

CFDC Observation

Today I observed 3 year olds at CFDC. When I first arrived the students were very happy to see me and wanted to know my name. They finished eating their snack, then went to circle for story time. It was interesting to watch the teacher try to keep them each on their name (piece of tape on the floor) while trying to read the book. The students kept blurting out of turn while she was reading and moving all over the carpet. At times they seemed more interested in me than the story. When they watched me act out the story they were reading along with the teacher, they became more involved. They were so tiny (I'm used to working with 1st through 3rd graders). After reading a story in circle, we went outside for recess where they joined the 4th grade class. They wanted to interact with "the new lady" and kept asking to show me things or wanted to follow me around. There were a couple kids in particular that were fascinated with my presence, asking my name, asking if I was a teacher, etc... All of the students were very friendly.
The biggest challenges that I saw were trying to keep them still, in line, walking in a line, and to keep them from speaking out of turn. It was a bit chaotic, even with only 13 students present today (there are 16 total). The teacher tried to keep them engaged and kept reminding them of the rules: sit ready, mouth quiet, take turns, etc... The hard part seemed to not become overwhelmed with all of the students wanting to talk, run around, the lack of sharing, the fighting, and all needing to use the restroom at the same time. I think that it would take several weeks to just become accustomed to all of the movement and noise with such a young age group. I was worn out just from watching the teacher and assistant keep up with them and remain calm and collected. After they came inside, they went back to circle, washed their hands, and got ready for lunch, which they served family style. It was neat to watch the kids serve themselves with minimal assistance. They were all sad when I said my goodbyes and I felt bad for leaving! Overall it was a great observation experience, especially I have never had an experience with 3 year olds in a classroom setting. I don't know if teaching 3 year olds is for me, but I am glad to have the experience in order for me to know this.

Why I chose early childhood education...

I chose early childhood education because my experiences with children throughout my life has been very full-filling and rewarding. It began while babysitting as a young teenager. I knew for certain after becoming a teacher assistant for Charleston County several years ago that I wanted to teach the "little ones." I am hoping to gain an overall understanding of what life will be like and what to expect when running my own classroom one day. I am eager to learn different teaching techniques, as well as, classroom management techniques.