What did I learn from my Field Experience?

What did I learn from my Field Experience?

I know in order to be a good teacher it means always becoming a better teacher. One of the most powerful ways to do this is to observe other teachers. Learning from experienced teachers and also learning from teachers with less-than-perfect practice, and from other new teachers. I learned something from each and every classroom I visited during this Field Experience assignment.

I was surprised at how easy it was to schedule these observations. I just made a couple of calls and it was set. I was also relieved to see how happy and welcoming all the teachers were to pass on their knowledge and experience of teaching. Most of them already had a Lesson Plan waiting for me when I arrived, the other two teachers I asked and they emailed one to me within a couple of days.

I used this practice of observation to learn more about particular instructional styles, class types and students. I found examples of lessons with group work. I was able to observe students ranging from problem trouble makers to accelerated eager learners. There was even one example of dealing with problems outside of the classroom, a.k.a. the death of the elementary school teacher.

I am new teaching and have no real classroom experience so the most benefit of this for me was helping to relieve some of my fear. Its one thing to read about classroom lessons in books and it is another to experience them first hand.

Overall, I benefited tremendously from these teachers insight and their examples into how to employ solid classroom management, all the while being able to track actively the progress of every student. For this, I am deeply thankful.

Student-Led Parents Night

Student-Led Parent Nights

What's the Purpose?

• To promote parental involvement by allowing students to talk one-on-one with their parents about their successes and their shortcomings.
• To encourage students to become more comfortable in their presentation and planning skills by conducting the student/parent conferences by themselves. 
• To promote creativity, responsibility and ownership within the students and their work.
• To increase parent and student interaction as students “show” parents a true sample of what it is like to be in Junior High as walk through their classes of the day.
• To be a fun and interactive way to help break down any walls that may have been hindering communication between student and parent.

 What, When & Where?

Students will plan, prepare and conduct their own Student-Led Parent Nights in lieu of a Parent/Teacher conference. These Parent Nights will take place one evening from 4pm-8pm on a come-and-go basis. They will be held every nine weeks around report card time. The student will take their parent to each of their classes in order that they go each day giving them a synopsis of their assignment portfolio, learning accomplishments, classroom rules, class projects and learning tools used in each class. Parents will have an opportunity to speak to the teacher as well.

How are Students & Parents involved in the plan?

Each student will be responsible for collecting completed assignments, journal entries, projects and teacher comments from their classroom file (all approved by the teacher). They will present this to their parents going over each one in detail. The students will show their parents around their room; noting the teaching tools and resources in that classroom, introducing them to their teachers, going over 9-weeks grades and going over their syllabus for the next quarter. The parent will have an opportunity to speak with any of the teachers if they so choose, but only after the student has finished with their presentation. Then the student will take their parent to their next class to do the same thing again, repeating each process with their next class of the day.

How will you get the word out?

Students will create individualized invitations giving parents an agenda of classes they will be visiting along with things they will be covering during the meeting. Parents will RSVP to the teacher. These invitations will be supplemented with the daily school announcement emails sent out and on the school marquis in front of the school. It will also appear more in depth in the monthly newsletter that is sent home with students.

Discover a Dandelion's Habitat Outdoor Adventure

Discover a Dandelion’s Habitat for 5th Grade Life Science

This adventure will take place during an overnight stay at Devils Den State Park (50 miles from Greenwood Schools) in or around the month of May when Dandelion’s are in most likely to be in bloom.

This Adventure is a Fun, Engaging Activity for All Students.

A habitat is a place where an animal or plant lives. Some habitats are better suited than others for a particular organism. The habitat includes physical factors such as the soil and lighting, as well as other living things in the area.

In this activity, children play the role of an ecologist and take surveys of different areas to discover the best habitat for dandelions. They will set out quadrants, or a sample area in which to measure the abundance of a species, just as ecologists do, so that they can take a population count of the dandelions.

Materials Needed for Activity:
Printable Dandelion Data Sheets
Meter ruler
Paper
Pencil or pen
Four sticks to act as corner pegs
String

Step by Step Instructions for Students:

1. Choose four or five different areas in which to conduct a survey of the number of dandelions. Make sure the areas chosen are different. Examples might be a sunny place, a shady place, an area with sandy soil, an area with clay soil, a well-drained area or a waterlogged area.
2. After finding your area, mark out a 50 cm x 50 cm area. Put the pegs at each corner and then run a string around the pegs to make the border of your quadrant.
3. Now, fill in the data in your Dandelion Data Sheet.
4. When you are finished with one quadrant, go on to the next one.
5. When you have collected all of your data, take a look at what you've found. Which quadrant had the most dandelions? The least? What elements contributed to the differences between quadrants? What habitat is best suited for dandelions?

To clearly see which habitat is best suited for dandelions, show your data on a bar chart with the number of dandelions on the y-axis and a bar for each area along the x-axis. Compare with other students to determine accuracy and discuss results with everyone.

Dandelion Data Sheet

Student Name: ­­______________________

Quadrant #: _______

Date and Time: ___________________________

How much sunlight does the area get?

__________________________________________________________________

Where is the area ( i.e near the water, on a hillside, in the woods )?

__________________________________________________________________

Describe the soil. Is it sandy, clay, or loam? Does the area get a lot of water, or a little?

__________________________________________________________________

Mention a few of the other plants that you find in this quadrant:

__________________________________________________________________

Count the number of dandelions in this quadrant and record:

__________________________________________________________________

The Secret Keeper Book Review

The Secret Keeper
by Gloria Whelan
Genre: Mystery
Age: Young Adult

"I love the Larimers dearly but I have to tell you they have no business bringing Matt to the Beaches. It's selfish and it's terribly dangerous for Matt." (pg. 54) The main character, Anne is spending her summer as a keeper for her neighbor's grandchild, Matt. Anne's summer starts when she is invited to the Beaches to be Matt's keeper.

At the Beaches every child had to have a keeper to give the adults a break. The Beaches has many cabins, not tiny cabins but more like mansions. There is wildlife and many beautiful flowers and vegetation. Anne is told to keep a close eye on Matt and is told that it was a matter of life and death that he was not to see his dad. Besides that Matt still takes sailing lessons and tennis lessons.

One day when Anne and Matt were taking a leisurely walk around the Beaches, Anne spots a man on the top of a sand dune. Matt runs up to the man and Anne knows it is Matt's dad. She tries to stop Matt but then thinks that it would be okay if Matt and his dad spend a little time together. Then she starts relaying messages back and forth because she was not told that she couldn't relay messages. Matt's dad shows Anne a beautiful bog buthe as ks her not to tell anyone about the bog because the people at the Beaches like Earl Beamish would fill the bog in to make it so that he could sell the land to build a house and make money. Matt's father did not want the bog to be destroyed because it had very rare and beautiful plants like the orchids. Poor Matt has no father nor mother because his mother was some how killed but to find out how I suggest that you read the book.

The Outsiders Book Review

The Outsiders
Author: S.E. Hinton
Genre: Drama
Age: Young Adult

This book, first published in 1967, has become a classic for teens across the nation. S.E. Hinton successfully shows how stereotypes and cliques can permanently alter and greatly affect people's lives.
The book focuses on Ponyboy, who has been labeled all his life as a 'greaser'. The greaser's opposing group is the 'socs', kids who have lots of money and can break any rules without getting in trouble. As the novel develops, S.E. Hinton allows the reader to see exactly how these labels affect teens in both the greaser and the soc group.

If you've ever watched the movie The Outsiders, this story may sound familiar, as the movie was based on the book. S.E. Hinton worked with director Francis Coppola and talented actors such as Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, and Matt Dillon to adapt the story into a movie. If you liked the movie, you'll probably really love the book. The Outsiders gives teens a look into life in the '50s and '60s, offering timeless lessons that still apply to today's youth.

Helpful Literacy Stratages....

Today, we learned about several Literacy Strategies I am anxious to use in my own classroom. Here's a quick list of my favorites for reference...
To help develop vocabulary:Mind Mapping, Story Impressions, Word Family Trees, Using Morphemic Analysis to Define Words
To help with brainstorming:
Alphabet Chart, Anticipation Guide, Charachter Quotes, K-W-L Charts
To help with collaborative learning:
Connect Two, Different Perspectives, Paired Reviews
To help with promoting discussions:
B/D/A Questioning Chards, Discussion Web, Follow the Characters
To help with personal responses:
Author Says/I Say, Double-entry Diaries, First Person Reading
To help encourage writing:
Proposition/Support Outlines, Power Notes, Quick Writes
To help with representing graphically:
Analogy Charting, Concept/Definition Maps, Pyramid Diagram
To help with building study skills:
Chapter Tours, Magnet Summaries, Question-Answer Relationship

Adaline Falling Star Booktalk

Adaline Falling Star by Mary Pope Osbourne

Summary:

This story follows the adventures of 11 year-old Adaline Falling Star Carson, daughter of famous scout Kit Carson and an Arapaho Native American. After the death of her mother, Adaline goes to live with her father’s relatives who treat her harshly because of her half-Native American heritage. While there she pretends to be a mute and only befriends the family’s female slave.

Adaline eventually runs away when she believes her father is never going to come back for her. The novel takes a turn as Adaline leans heavily on both her Native American customs and her Christian spirituality to help her on her journey. She eventually meets a companion who surprisingly saves her life.

My Opinion:

This story was very well told and is full of imagery. The tone is dark yet hopeful. The author takes the true elements of a piece of history and transforms it into a gripping tale of what possibly could have been.

This story would work well for middle school students. It contains themes of racism, slavery, agriculture, spirituality, etc. Readers of this book may be interested in learning more about Kit Carson, a famous scout in the Old West, since the book centers on his real-life daughter.

The book can be discussed with students to show what life was like in those times for Indians like the Arapaho, and for white settlers in the area. Students might want to research the Arapaho to find out more about how they lived and what they believed.

I would recommend this book to be used while teaching these areas of Social Studies: Native Americans, Determination and Perseverance, Discovery and Learning, Runaways, Westward Expansion, Families and Social Structures