1st day in field

My first day in the field was great! I am in a 1st grade classroom with 21 students. The teacher, Mrs. Martin, said she has had student teachers before and seems willing to help. The classroom looked like a typical traditional 1st grade classroom. A parent volunteer was in the room all morning helping Mrs. Martin with things that needed to be done in the classroom. I think that the parents involvement and willingness to help is fantastic. She wanted us to just observe a typical morning and is going to put Liza and I to work next Wednesday helping the kids. The morning flew by! The kids hardly seemed to notice we were in the classroom. They started their day with an independent phonics sheet and a daily oral language sentence while Mrs. Martin took roll and lunch count. Then the entire class participated in "morning meeting," including calendar, day count, and the weather. Next they did some Everyday Math using the smartboard and a handout from their Everyday math workbook. They did the work together and then independently. The teacher called on different student for answers. After math, they did reading from their reading textbook aloud by taking turns around the room. After each section they discussed what was going on and help a question/answer period and she allowed children to share experiences that related to what they just read. After reading each child had snack they brought from home and a restroom break. During this time, Mrs. Martin a literally only a few minutes to talk to us about her expectations. We exchanged emails in hopes of being to communicate that way since her morning is full with the students. I look forward to seeing Mrs. Martin's teaching style and learn as much as possible from her this semester, as well as, getting the opportunity to work with her students.

Blog 2 Goals

This semester I would like to learn more about creative ways to implement curriculum in classroom lessons. It takes a lot of work and planning to run a classroom and it feels somewhat overwhelming to think about the amount of time that must be devoted to planning and addressing state standards to meet the needs of students. I wish to build my confidence level when it comes to effectively planning my days as a teacher. I am also eager to observe different classroom management techniques. The classroom management techniques implemented in the Montessori classroom I work in are very effective, but I question if they will be as effective in a non-Montessori environment. I love to discuss with different teachers their personal teaching philosophy. Some teachers have a laid back way to their teaching, while others are more rigid. I hope to more closely hone in on my own personal teaching style before being a student teacher next spring.

636 Field Experience II, First Post

I believe it all dates back to the birth of my little sister. As soon as she came along, I saw myself as her caregiver. I can recall being told by my mother that I am not the mother. I always loved young children. I then began babysitting at a very early age and even took the Red Cross babysitter certification course and had my own "business cards" made. I was booked from middle school through high school with babysitting jobs. In high school I was never really sure what I wanted to be when I grew up and still had trouble figuring it out through college. After college I planned on going into social work, but was really put off by my internships and realized that's not where I wanted to be. Becoming a teacher had crossed my mind, but I don't think I ever seriously considered it. I have no idea why. My guess is that I needed to let some time pass, maybe grow up a little more and get to know myself first. During this time I worked in a restaurant, worked on a cruise ship in Hawaii, became a certified personal trainer. When the gym I was managing suddenly closed I was at a turning point in my life. I need to seriously figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. What was to follow was by chance and occurred almost as if it were meant to be. My best friend's mom is a principal so basically just for money I became a substitute teacher at her school. After a month, the district hired me as a teacher assistant in a special education TMP classroom. I loved working so closely with kids on a daily basis. So with this job I realized that I wanted to become a teacher. Special education was not exactaly what I had in mind, so I began working as a lower elementary (6-9 years old) Montessori teacher assistant 2 years ago. I found the ages I wanted to teach! I was not one of those people who always felt destined to be a teacher, but one who found out through the process of elimination and experience.
Over the past couple months, my desire to be an early childhood teacher has only grown. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and anticipate having my own classroom. At work I want to have more control in position and do things "my way," but realize that I am an assistant and I am not working in my own classroom. This is super frustrating to me and I feel like I'm in the passenger seat when I am ready to drive!
I have many friends who are teachers and there are a couple things that worry me about teaching in general. They are as follows: that I will not be able to get a job with all the district cutbacks, that I will not enjoy the grade level that I teach, that I will become burned out writing lesson plans, that my patience will wear down, and that I will not do a a good job. These are my ultimate fears related to the teaching profession.
The things that excite me are as follows: being a role model to students, having my own classroom that I can run as I wish, watching my students grow and learn because of me, having summers off, the feeling of accomplishment and self-worth that I will acquire, the feeling that I am bettering society one child at a time, and the feeling that I am improving a child's life and their chance at a bright future.