My name is Kelsie Plummer and I am a graduate student at Carlow, receiving my master's degree in Early Childhood Education with my teaching certificate. I plan to graduate this August after I have completed my thesis and student teaching. I received my bachelor's degree in Child and Family Studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2010. I have since been working at Tutor Time Child Care & Learning Center for over a year now as a Pre-K teacher while attending Carlow. Although I do have experience working with children, I do not have any experience working with children in the primary grades. I am very excited about completing my thesis and student teaching as well as graduating in the Summer!
January 2, 2012
I cannot believe it has finally arrived! Tomorrow is my first day of student teaching and I'm beyond nervous! I have been in contact with my cooperating teaching over the break via e-mail and am excited to finally meet her tomorrow, especially since she is a Carlow grad herself. I will be in a classroom with 2nd graders. I have never worked with this grade level before so I am extremely anxious about writing lesson plans and interacting with children in this age group. My cooperating teacher has already informed the parents of my arrival for tomorrow and I am excited to meet everyone!
January 6, 2012
I cannot believe that my first week is already over! What an exciting but overwhelming week! I was excited to start student teaching in a 2nd grade classroom considering that I had never been in the primary grade classrooms before. My first day started with my cooperating teacher answering my millions of questions. I'm a very organized person so I had to know when she wanted me to do this, this, and this! I was excited to find out that my cooperating teacher also graduated from Carlow. She has never had a student teacher before but she had student taught herself so she knew what to expect with a student teacher. My first day was very challenging because I had no idea where to park due to parking being limited and visitors having to park on the street. I was a little late for my first day but the school was so welcoming that I forgot all about it! My cooperating teacher welcomed me with open arms and was very optimistic about having a student teacher, which was awesome. I was excited to find that she had created a small desk for me in the back of the room with my name on the front of it with lots of supplies. I felt so welcomed because the teacher had been talking to the children about my arrival this week and a lot of the children actually remembered my name! After the first day, I still had many questions about lesson plans that my cooperating teacher could not answer so thank you Ariane for the help!
The rest of the week slowly became less stressful. After the second day, my cooperating teacher started giving me homework to grade. I started walking around the room, helping the children with their seat work, and helping with transitions. I acted as a second teacher for questions and grading of papers that got turned in. It felt great to actually do something instead of just sitting and observing the whole time. Throughout the week, I told my cooperating teacher about my worries of not feeling prepared to teach at this grade level because of my lack of experience. She reassured me that I would be fine and that it would come to me as the days go by. We discussed my lesson planning for next week and she helped me come up with a great first lesson. I will be creating a lesson based around a review for the children for a social studies test as well as creating the actual test for the next day. I'm starting with social studies next week and following with math the following week until I am teaching most of the day near the end of the 8 weeks. I'm excited to get started and can't wait to get to learn new things about teaching and the children!
January 11, 2012 I taught my first lesson today! I thought my lesson went really well. It felt extremely weird teaching the class by myself without the help of my cooperating teacher. I had the children play a game that required them to work together in groups. Getting the groups together took more time than I thought and I think the next time I will go around the arranging of groups differently. The kids were so excited about playing a game that they kept chattering when I would try to give them directions. My co-op suggested using the thumbs up the next time I teach a lesson so that the children will all become silent and will therefore listen better. I gave the children prizes for the group that had the most points. I was surprised by the awesome effort to complete the study guide as thoroughly as they could. The groups seemed to work together well which is great because I will be rearranging the classroom next week with the groups that I used today. My cooperating teacher gave me some helpful points to remember for the next time and she was very encouraging; she said that it went great! I feel lucky to be able to work with such as a great 2nd grade teacher. The kids love her and you can tell by the respect that is given to her. I feel more prepared for teaching lessons in the future and can't wait to see how next week goes with picking up Math!
January 19, 2012 I can't believe that almost three weeks has gone by! This week was very challenging but yet reassuring for me. I started out with my second lesson on Tuesday. I was very nervous because I was starting a new subject (Math) and all of the children had been very talkative that day. After my lesson was over, I felt like I talked way too much. My co-op reassured me that I did fine and that I had even improved on doing the whole "thumbs up" to calm the children down when they started to get talkative. She gave me some helpful hints for teaching this week, such as going over what we were going to be doing in the lesson and what was expected of them before I actually taught the lesson.
The second graders just so happened to be taking the Dibels test for reading today (1/19). It was really great to get to see how the Dibels are done at this school. I felt like I got a good look at a different form of assessment than just the usual observations and anecdotal records taken in the classroom. Since the teachers needed to do the Dibels test for most of the day, a substitute teacher was needed for my classroom. There was a substitute in my room for the morning but for the afternoon, the school was short one substitute. I was amazed to find that my co-op trusted me to take on the responsibility of teaching the children in the afternoon. She made herself available for me right outside of the classroom but I was in complete charge for the whole afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised that the children were really good for me! I didn't have hardly any problems with behavior and the children seemed to really like the math lesson that I was teaching. We made our own clocks today, drawing our face and shoulders as the body around the clock. The clocks turned out wonderful!
This week I started my own seating chart. Inspired by my co-op, I made my own seating chart on the computer and then moved the desks in the classroom the following day (see first picture). I put the children into groups and rows purposely because I also started a behavior regulation plan for the whole class today. I made a chart (second picture) of the four groups on a poster board that says "Let's get TOGETHER!" The chart has 20 small boxes under each group. In order to get a check in the boxes, the children get opportunities throughout the day to earn "checks." The children are able to earn these checks by being the first group or row to get their things packed, to get completely quiet first, or to get things ready when told as well as many other opportunities throughout the day and week. The first group to reach 20 checks gets a earned reward. I let the children decide what their reward would be. After taking a vote, the children decided that if their group won, they would get a free homework day. One issue that came up after the voting was a breakdown by one of the children. I pulled the child to the side to talk to her individually. The child had been crying because she felt like the other children never vote or chose what she wants to do. I reassured her that the children didn't like her idea but instead just like the idea of having no homework. I told her that maybe the next time, we could look into her idea since there would be many opportunities for earning rewards.
New Classroom Set-up
"Let's get TOGETHER"
One topic that came up this week in the classroom was diversity. I had been noticing that one of the children in the classroom didn't say the Pledge of Allegiance in the mornings. After asking my co-op about this, she informed me that the religion that the childrens family follows does not say the Pledge. My co-op provided me with a lot of background information on some of the children in the classroom, which was a great way to get to know some of the children. When asking my co-op about how she supports diversity in the classroom, she told me about lesson's and discussions that formed around diversity. Since I have been in the classroom, I have never noticed any of the other children asking this child why they do not say the Pledge.
January 26, 2012
This week has been extremely busy and great! The week was a week full of FROGS! I decided to form my project plan around frogs. I even brought in my frog for my health lesson, which the kids loved! We took a trip outside to look for places and environments that frogs might live in and had a great time discussing frog stories. I was amazed by how interested and intrigued the students were when learning about frogs. The had a million questions about frogs and I was excited to get to know some of the students.
My lesson that I taught on Wednesday went better than I had thought. Of course it was based around frogs! This week was a review week for Reading so I had the children reviewing how to use the dictionary. After the review, the children made frogs out of the different parts of the dictionary. The frogs turned out great! Since I will be decorating one of the bulletin boards next week, I will be putting the frogs up on the bulletin board.
The group behavior plan has been working really well with the classroom. When I tell the students to get something ready, such as getting out a worksheet, and I notice that they are going slow or not following directions, I just say "I'm giving out a check mark" and they quickly do what was asked! Behavior has not been an issue this week during my lessons. I'm starting to feel like the students are giving me the same respect that I show them.
There are plenty of important points and different experiences that I think hold the role of the "most important" thing that I've learned thus far. One thing that I have learned and realized especially this week is how to give thorough instructions. The more structure and directions that I give, the better the outcome during my lessons. Something else that I have learned that I think is important is patience. Since I am teaching more lessons, some lessons are not going as I plan or are going over the time frame given. My co-op is constantly encouraging me to do the best that I can and that good instruction comes with time. I am a strong believer that practice makes perfect and that I can only learn through doing. With more time and experience, my lessons will be better and I will feel more confident in what I am teaching.
February 5, 2012
This past week was very challenging and stressful for me. I was very pleased by how my lessons have been turning out. My co-op even complimenting me on how well one of my lessons went. Thursday was a challenge for me because one of my lessons failed. It was my first time teaching writing. My co-op explained the directions to me for the four square project and when I did the lesson, she approached me because I was not doing it right. I was confused by what she had told me and didn't understand the directions fully so therefore my lesson did not go as planned. The students didn't even noticed that I had made a mistake and went along with what I was doing. I was a little embarrassed that I didn't understand what my co-op had explained to me. I absolutely hate to make mistakes or mess up so I wanted to bawl my eyes out! At the assembly following my lesson, I told my co-op about how I felt and how I was upset about how my lesson went. She told me not to even worry about it because she thought it went fine considering that the students knew what to do for the project. My co-op was very encouraging because she told me that everyone makes mistakes because it is the only way someone can learn. I now know how it feels to fail and will make sure to do my best to not let my lessons fail in the future!
My lessons seem to be getting better and better as the weeks go by. I feel more confident in myself and have more courage to step out of my comfort zone. The children have been great for me this week and I haven't ran into any problems with the students acting up or misbehaving. I think by the end of the 8 weeks, I will be as confident as ever and will be able to teach the whole day with no problems.
This week I put up my bulletin board which turned out great! (I will post pictures soon) I am happy with how it turned out and the children were really excited when they saw their picture hanging on the bulletin board. On Friday, my co-op was sick and had to go home. A substitute came in since I can't be in the room by myself. I taught the classroom from 9:30 until the end of the day. I was impressed by how well the students were for me. I had no problems with teaching that day and the substitute was very friendly and told me I did a great job. This opportunity really showed me that I can do anything I put my mind to. This day was a real confidence builder!
I'm really exciting for this coming weeks lessons. I have some fun lessons planned, including a lesson with skittles! I can't wait to enjoy my last couple of weeks with the kids!
February 13, 2012
Last week went extremely well for me! The skittles activity that I did with the kids went good, too. I had them doing fractions with skittles using the different colors. I told them that they were not allowed to eat them until the very end. I assured them that if they paid attention during the activity, they could eat the skittles. It worked like a charm! They all seemed to have fun and it was fun to get to eat skittles!
I really enjoyed the health lesson I did last week. I did this really neat lesson with the students about friendship. I had them all chose a name from a basket. Whosoever name they drew from the basket, they had to write four nice things or something that person does for them. The four nice things went on a frogs legs that we created with the name of the friend they chose on a set of lips. This was a great activity because the kids had a lot of fun trying to hide who they got since we are giving each child their frog for Valentine's day.
Last week I scheduled for my schools' principal to observe me. My co-op helped me to come up with a really great lesson plan and a rubric. I am hoping the day goes well, especially since not only will the principal be there but also Ariane! I am very nervous but I am glad that I chose to have the principal observe me. This could open up so many doors for me in the future.
Today was a great start to my week already! It was my first day teaching all of the subjects and everything went smoothly! There were no bumps in the road and my co-op even said how well everything went. I am starting to feel a lot more comfortable with teaching my lesson's and being observed. I was really nervous to be having someone watch me all the time but I think that I am finally becoming more comfortable. I cannot believe that this is my last full week in the classroom. Next week will be a short week because there is no school on Monday and Friday is a half day. I am hoping to plan something nice for the kids next week, including eating lunch with them all. I look forward to what this week brings, especially since tomorrow is Valentine's Day!
February 20, 2012
Last week was such a great week for me!! As I mentioned above, the principal came to observe me. The observation went extremely well. I got a lot of positive feedback from the principal and she filled out a form stating all the positives that she saw during the observation. The only thing that she suggested that needed improvement was how I talk to the children. I use a lot of "yeah" and "you guys" while I talk. She told me not to worry considering that this would come only with time. I never took into consideration how I talked to the children until she mentioned it. It is definitely something to think about.
The children were really hyper by the time Valentine's Day rolled around last week. The Valentine's Day party that we had planned was a lot of fun. I was really surprised by how many parents came to help (5 parents). One of the children made me a special gift; this made me feel really special! The party was a lot of fun and I enjoyed getting to meet all of the parents.
Last week, one of the groups earned all 20 check marks and received a free homework pass from my behavior modification plan. The children were so excited about finally earning all of their checks. This group worked really hard to try and get the checks. On Friday, I rearranged the classroom so that the children will be working in different groups. I'm interested in how well these groups will work together because I really switched around the groups.
There was no school today because of President's Day so I was happy to have a day off. This week will be very sad and fun! I have some fun lessons planned for this week including eating lunch with them and making fruit and yogurt parfaits. I'm sad about having to leave after only a short amount of time. Eight weeks went by so fast and I can't believe that I made it out alive with only a few breakdowns!! I'm excited to see how this week goes! I'm also really excited about coming back and visiting the children in May.
Today I got in contact with my second placement. I am meeting with the director tomorrow and I am really excited and nervous for my next placement since it will be here in no time!
February 27, 2012
I can hardly believe that my first placement is over!! My last week was very exciting with the children. All week I reminded them that I would be leaving on Friday. The week was filled with a lot of hugs and love! All week, I reminded the students that I would be choosing to sit with some students at lunch. On Thursday, I chose two students to sit by. The students were really excited about having me eat lunch with them. They had so many great stories to share with me and I also got to know a lot of them more.
On Friday, I was so surprised by what the children had gotten me! The class made a book for me. All of the children wrote me something nice and also drew a picture. Inside of the book, my co-op wrote me a short letter and also took a picture of the whole classroom. I was pleasantly surprised and wanted to cry when they gave me the gift! One of my students also got me a frog (since my lessons were based around frogs) and some other small items. What a great finish to my week!
One of the most important things that I have learned throughout this placement is to never give up. There were many times that I wanted to break down and cry (which I did sometimes outside of the school!) but I kept it together and was able to pull through. I found it very inspirational to have my co-op constantly reassuring me that I was doing great. At first, she came off as very quiet and more reserved but as the weeks went on, I found her to be very helpful, encouraging, and more of a friend. She helped me through so much throughout this placement and I will never forget my first time teaching in a primary setting with her class!
Something else that I have learned through this experience is to have patience, as I mentioned above. Although I may have planned some of my lessons thoroughly, a lot of my lessons did not turn out the way I wanted. Some of the students wouldn't understand what was being taught or I wouldn't teach the lesson the way it was supposed to be intended. With some patience and more planning, I was able to get my lessons through to the students and honestly felt like I taught the students what they needed to learn. I've learned that no matter how bad a lesson may turn out, as long as it is fun and learning is taken away, my job is complete! It feels great knowing that I was able to help others learn and I think that is why I really want to be a teacher. Being enthusiastic and showing that I care really helps with students' learning and I am glad I was a part of these students' learning process!
Although it was a very fun week, it was also stressful. I met with my second placement and was not happy with where I was going to be placed. After discussing it over with my supervisor, I found it best to be placed somewhere else. It is Monday and I have yet to know where I will be placed and it is extremely stressful for me. I have faith that everything will work out in the end but I can't wait to get started with my second placement. I'm hoping to have as great of an experience as I did at my first placement!
"Miss Kelsie" Second Placement: 2 & 3 year olds
March 5, 2012
Today was my first day at my second placement. I was very shocked whenever I came into a two and three year-old classroom! Since I have worked in a child care center before, I have worked with virtually every age group. My first day was very stressful because I was not sure if I was supposed to be in this classroom or if I was supposed to be with older, pre-k children. I come to find that Dr. Schomburg thinks that being with this age group will help with the formation of my thesis since I will be focusing on Play. The children were very sweet and although my co-op was not there due to family issues, I was happy to work with energetic assistants. It was an interesting first day with one child trying to bite me and another screaming all day but hey, who doesn't have a bad day every once in a while?! I am excited to work out the kinks tomorrow and get started with my observations of these young boys and girls.
March 11, 2012
What a very interesting first week of my second placement! The week started off with getting to know the teachers and parents of the children. My lead co-op teacher is very reserved and really didn't talk too much but is very sweet and calming with the children. The parents were very welcoming and so were most of the children. Even though I was just observing for the first week, I found myself most of the time having to deal with issues with the children fighting over toys. Sitting back and just observing seemed very strange to me and I was basically emmersed in the classroom by the second day.
The week was a little crazy because all of the Carlow students were on spring break and that is where this center receives a lot of their staffing. Also, the shooting downtown put a lot of our parents into panic which caused a lot of chaos in the building. By the end of the week, I was becoming a bit frustrated by one of the children. The child was constantly hitting me in the face whenever I would tell her to do something, even if it was something small. Even though I would try to use the techniques that the other teachers were using to get her to stop, she would not stop hitting me. I found the other teachers to be helpful whenever intervening with this child to let the child know that it is not okay to hit other children or teachers. I was a bit overwhelmed by how I was not able to get this child to stop hitting me and how the other teachers needed to keep stepping in. I am hoping that I will be able to handle the situation a little bit better as the weeks go on as well as not having the other teachers step in. I can tell classroom management with 2 and 3 year olds will be one of my biggest challenges!
March 18, 2012
I cannot believe that my first lesson is already complete! I thought that my first lesson went well. Although the lesson did not go as planned because it was supposed to rain on that day, I thought that the children responded well to going through a small obstacle course inside.I felt like I was able to handle conflicts and fights, too. I talked to my co-op on Friday about my progress and what I should improve and she said that she thought I was doing great with how I talk to the children and respect them. It is nice to know that what I am doing and how I am handling situations is the right way!
Last week seemed to go a lot smoother than my first week did, which was expected. I did not experience being hit or abused this week which was great!! I feel like I am starting to make some great connections with the students, which is really important with this age group. A lot of the children know me by name and a lot of the parents have been talking to me and being very friendly. I feel a lot more welcomed this week overall.
This coming week I will be reading stories in the mornings to the children every day. I am excited about reading the stories because I love to read out loud. Although I will not be at the school on Wednesday due to going to the Job Fair, I am hoping that my lesson on Tuesday will go as planned and I cannot wait for what this week may bring!
March 25, 2012
One thing that I like about this placement is my free choice of lessons. My co-op is very open to anything and every lesson that I have presented to her, she has been open to. My co-op was not at school on Friday due to an emergency so I did not get to go over my lessons with her. I'm really excited about my lessons for this week, though. I am planning to have the students make owls from water painting and then painting on the walls with water later in the week. I'm hoping to come up with some creative lessons for the following week as I take on more responsibilities. One thing that I have decided with my co-op is that I will be evaluating the science, small manipulatives, and art center for my chosen play center. I am hoping to get the students to play more in the center because it seems to be one of the centers that is not used as often during the times that I am there. After a few observations, I cannot wait to change some of the things in the center to see how the children react. I think that they will respond well to change but we will have to see. I am excited about what this coming week has to bring. I cannot believe that time is going by so fast!! I am really starting to enjoy this age group as the time goes on, which I did not expect. I have worked with this age group before but I can honestly say that it makes a huge difference when you work with people that are caring and want to be there. What a fun and interesting group of children!
Before changing play center
After making changes
April 2, 2012 Last week was a pretty exciting week because I did one of my first complete lessons with the children. I was surprised by how well the owls turned out that we made out of water painting. Even though we weren't allowed to use googly eyes, the owls look nice sitting around the tree in the classroom. The children really seemed to like water painting and I was excited that I was able to get all of the children but one to paint.As the weeks go by, I am noticing that the children are being more respectful and there seems to be less problems in the room. The children seem to listen to me like they would any of the other teachers and I feel more and more welcomed each week.
This week will be a short week for me. I was really sick last night into this morning so I did not get to go to school. The school will be closed on Thursday and Friday so I only have two days with the children. Tomorrow, I will be reading a book about planting seeds. My lesson will involve the children planting their own seeds into a Styrofoam cup. I am hoping that the lesson goes well since I have never done this lesson with this young of an age group. On Wednesday, I plan to have the children painting with plastic eggs. Plastic Easter eggs have holes on the ends of them so I am going to stick paint in the eggs and let the children paint a sheet of paper. Happy Easter Week, Everyone!!
Fun with egg painting
Final egg paintings
April 7, 2012
Last week was extremely short with only two days of lesson plans. Tuesday, I read the children a book about planting seeds. After we were outside for a little while, I did my lesson plan with planting flowers. I had the children use a Styrofoam cup with holes in the bottom to put soil into. They each got to plant two seeds as well as add the soil and water to the cup. I was excited to find that all of the children wanted to plant the seeds! After we planted the seeds, I placed the cups on the dock outside of the school where they could get a lot of sunlight. I am hoping that the seeds make it through the cold nights. On Wednesday, I had the children use plastic eggs to paint with. This lesson went extremely well because all of the children really wanted to get involved in the activity. The next time I do this lesson, I would want to put more water in with with the paint because the paint seemed to be really clumpy in some of the eggs.
One of the things that I really like about being at this school is the amount of diversity within the classroom. There are a few children that speak two languages and one child that only speaks a little bit of English. About two weeks ago, the child that only speaks a little bit of English had his birthday. His parents wanted to do something special for him so my co-op decided to make cupcakes for the whole classroom as well as have the parents come in to celebrate. Before the children ate the cupcakes, this child's mother read some books to the classroom in Spanish. The children were really interested in her speaking Spanish the whole time and were very attentive. I found this to be a great way to incorporate diversity into the classroom. Bringing different cultures into the classroom helps with letting the children learn about different backgrounds and families around the world. This child was so excited to have his parents there and have his mom read; it was great to see him so excited!
April 10, 2012
I was really disappointed with this coming week when I came to find that my plants that we had planted last week had gotten destroyed by the wind over Easter break! Sine the children really seemed to enjoy planting flowers, I am hoping to incorporate a lesson next week on growing lima beans. This kind of ruined my one lesson for this week on making observations on our plants. I hope to still take down some observations with the beans, especially since they grow fairly quick. I really want to do a lesson that I can keep reflecting on each week.
April 15, 2012
This past week was a lot of fun for my classroom. We started off the week with focusing on the letter "Q." I had the children making ducks from cotton balls and Q-tip painting. The ducks came out really well and look really cool hanging on the windows. This week, we also made some robin's out of feathers and decorations. I thought the lesson went really good because I was able to get most of the children to do it and all of them seemed to be really interested in the project. The week ended with a race outside on race cars.
This coming week will be the last full week for me. I cannot believe how quickly my time with these children has passed! This week, we will be focusing on the letter "S" with a lot of fun activities, including shaving cream feet and jello painting. I will also be adding the weekly calendar to my jobs. I'm excited for my last full week of lessons with the children and cannot wait to see how they react to the shaving cream feet!
My name is Kelsie Plummer and I am a graduate student at Carlow, receiving my master's degree in Early Childhood Education with my teaching certificate. I plan to graduate this August after I have completed my thesis and student teaching. I received my bachelor's degree in Child and Family Studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2010. I have since been working at Tutor Time Child Care & Learning Center for over a year now as a Pre-K teacher while attending Carlow. Although I do have experience working with children, I do not have any experience working with children in the primary grades. I am very excited about completing my thesis and student teaching as well as graduating in the Summer!
January 2, 2012
I cannot believe it has finally arrived! Tomorrow is my first day of student teaching and I'm beyond nervous! I have been in contact with my cooperating teaching over the break via e-mail and am excited to finally meet her tomorrow, especially since she is a Carlow grad herself. I will be in a classroom with 2nd graders. I have never worked with this grade level before so I am extremely anxious about writing lesson plans and interacting with children in this age group. My cooperating teacher has already informed the parents of my arrival for tomorrow and I am excited to meet everyone!
January 6, 2012
I cannot believe that my first week is already over! What an exciting but overwhelming week!
I was excited to start student teaching in a 2nd grade classroom considering that I had never been in the primary grade classrooms before. My first day started with my cooperating teacher answering my millions of questions. I'm a very organized person so I had to know when she wanted me to do this, this, and this! I was excited to find out that my cooperating teacher also graduated from Carlow. She has never had a student teacher before but she had student taught herself so she knew what to expect with a student teacher. My first day was very challenging because I had no idea where to park due to parking being limited and visitors having to park on the street. I was a little late for my first day but the school was so welcoming that I forgot all about it! My cooperating teacher welcomed me with open arms and was very optimistic about having a student teacher, which was awesome. I was excited to find that she had created a small desk for me in the back of the room with my name on the front of it with lots of supplies. I felt so welcomed because the teacher had been talking to the children about my arrival this week and a lot of the children actually remembered my name! After the first day, I still had many questions about lesson plans that my cooperating teacher could not answer so thank you Ariane for the help!
The rest of the week slowly became less stressful. After the second day, my cooperating teacher started giving me homework to grade. I started walking around the room, helping the children with their seat work, and helping with transitions. I acted as a second teacher for questions and grading of papers that got turned in. It felt great to actually do something instead of just sitting and observing the whole time. Throughout the week, I told my cooperating teacher about my worries of not feeling prepared to teach at this grade level because of my lack of experience. She reassured me that I would be fine and that it would come to me as the days go by. We discussed my lesson planning for next week and she helped me come up with a great first lesson. I will be creating a lesson based around a review for the children for a social studies test as well as creating the actual test for the next day. I'm starting with social studies next week and following with math the following week until I am teaching most of the day near the end of the 8 weeks. I'm excited to get started and can't wait to get to learn new things about teaching and the children!
January 11, 2012
I taught my first lesson today! I thought my lesson went really well. It felt extremely weird teaching the class by myself without the help of my cooperating teacher. I had the children play a game that required them to work together in groups. Getting the groups together took more time than I thought and I think the next time I will go around the arranging of groups differently. The kids were so excited about playing a game that they kept chattering when I would try to give them directions. My co-op suggested using the thumbs up the next time I teach a lesson so that the children will all become silent and will therefore listen better. I gave the children prizes for the group that had the most points. I was surprised by the awesome effort to complete the study guide as thoroughly as they could. The groups seemed to work together well which is great because I will be rearranging the classroom next week with the groups that I used today. My cooperating teacher gave me some helpful points to remember for the next time and she was very encouraging; she said that it went great! I feel lucky to be able to work with such as a great 2nd grade teacher. The kids love her and you can tell by the respect that is given to her.
I feel more prepared for teaching lessons in the future and can't wait to see how next week goes with picking up Math!
January 19, 2012
I can't believe that almost three weeks has gone by! This week was very challenging but yet reassuring for me. I started out with my second lesson on Tuesday. I was very nervous because I was starting a new subject (Math) and all of the children had been very talkative that day. After my lesson was over, I felt like I talked way too much. My co-op reassured me that I did fine and that I had even improved on doing the whole "thumbs up" to calm the children down when they started to get talkative. She gave me some helpful hints for teaching this week, such as going over what we were going to be doing in the lesson and what was expected of them before I actually taught the lesson.
The second graders just so happened to be taking the Dibels test for reading today (1/19). It was really great to get to see how the Dibels are done at this school. I felt like I got a good look at a different form of assessment than just the usual observations and anecdotal records taken in the classroom. Since the teachers needed to do the Dibels test for most of the day, a substitute teacher was needed for my classroom. There was a substitute in my room for the morning but for the afternoon, the school was short one substitute. I was amazed to find that my co-op trusted me to take on the responsibility of teaching the children in the afternoon. She made herself available for me right outside of the classroom but I was in complete charge for the whole afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised that the children were really good for me! I didn't have hardly any problems with behavior and the children seemed to really like the math lesson that I was teaching. We made our own clocks today, drawing our face and shoulders as the body around the clock. The clocks turned out wonderful!
This week I started my own seating chart. Inspired by my co-op, I made my own seating chart on the computer and then moved the desks in the classroom the following day (see first picture). I put the children into groups and rows purposely because I also started a behavior regulation plan for the whole class today. I made a chart (second picture) of the four groups on a poster board that says "Let's get TOGETHER!" The chart has 20 small boxes under each group. In order to get a check in the boxes, the children get opportunities throughout the day to earn "checks." The children are able to earn these checks by being the first group or row to get their things packed, to get completely quiet first, or to get things ready when told as well as many other opportunities throughout the day and week. The first group to reach 20 checks gets a earned reward. I let the children decide what their reward would be. After taking a vote, the children decided that if their group won, they would get a free homework day. One issue that came up after the voting was a breakdown by one of the children. I pulled the child to the side to talk to her individually. The child had been crying because she felt like the other children never vote or chose what she wants to do. I reassured her that the children didn't like her idea but instead just like the idea of having no homework. I told her that maybe the next time, we could look into her idea since there would be many opportunities for earning rewards.
One topic that came up this week in the classroom was diversity. I had been noticing that one of the children in the classroom didn't say the Pledge of Allegiance in the mornings. After asking my co-op about this, she informed me that the religion that the childrens family follows does not say the Pledge. My co-op provided me with a lot of background information on some of the children in the classroom, which was a great way to get to know some of the children. When asking my co-op about how she supports diversity in the classroom, she told me about lesson's and discussions that formed around diversity. Since I have been in the classroom, I have never noticed any of the other children asking this child why they do not say the Pledge.
January 26, 2012
This week has been extremely busy and great! The week was a week full of FROGS! I decided to form my project plan around frogs. I even brought in my frog for my health lesson, which the kids loved! We took a trip outside to look for places and environments that frogs might live in and had a great time discussing frog stories. I was amazed by how interested and intrigued the students were when learning about frogs. The had a million questions about frogs and I was excited to get to know some of the students.
My lesson that I taught on Wednesday went better than I had thought. Of course it was based around frogs! This week was a review week for Reading so I had the children reviewing how to use the dictionary. After the review, the children made frogs out of the different parts of the dictionary. The frogs turned out great! Since I will be decorating one of the bulletin boards next week, I will be putting the frogs up on the bulletin board.
The group behavior plan has been working really well with the classroom. When I tell the students to get something ready, such as getting out a worksheet, and I notice that they are going slow or not following directions, I just say "I'm giving out a check mark" and they quickly do what was asked! Behavior has not been an issue this week during my lessons. I'm starting to feel like the students are giving me the same respect that I show them.
There are plenty of important points and different experiences that I think hold the role of the "most important" thing that I've learned thus far. One thing that I have learned and realized especially this week is how to give thorough instructions. The more structure and directions that I give, the better the outcome during my lessons. Something else that I have learned that I think is important is patience. Since I am teaching more lessons, some lessons are not going as I plan or are going over the time frame given. My co-op is constantly encouraging me to do the best that I can and that good instruction comes with time. I am a strong believer that practice makes perfect and that I can only learn through doing. With more time and experience, my lessons will be better and I will feel more confident in what I am teaching.
February 5, 2012
This past week was very challenging and stressful for me. I was very pleased by how my lessons have been turning out. My co-op even complimenting me on how well one of my lessons went. Thursday was a challenge for me because one of my lessons failed. It was my first time teaching writing. My co-op explained the directions to me for the four square project and when I did the lesson, she approached me because I was not doing it right. I was confused by what she had told me and didn't understand the directions fully so therefore my lesson did not go as planned. The students didn't even noticed that I had made a mistake and went along with what I was doing. I was a little embarrassed that I didn't understand what my co-op had explained to me. I absolutely hate to make mistakes or mess up so I wanted to bawl my eyes out! At the assembly following my lesson, I told my co-op about how I felt and how I was upset about how my lesson went. She told me not to even worry about it because she thought it went fine considering that the students knew what to do for the project. My co-op was very encouraging because she told me that everyone makes mistakes because it is the only way someone can learn. I now know how it feels to fail and will make sure to do my best to not let my lessons fail in the future!
My lessons seem to be getting better and better as the weeks go by. I feel more confident in myself and have more courage to step out of my comfort zone. The children have been great for me this week and I haven't ran into any problems with the students acting up or misbehaving. I think by the end of the 8 weeks, I will be as confident as ever and will be able to teach the whole day with no problems.
This week I put up my bulletin board which turned out great! (I will post pictures soon) I am happy with how it turned out and the children were really excited when they saw their picture hanging on the bulletin board. On Friday, my co-op was sick and had to go home. A substitute came in since I can't be in the room by myself. I taught the classroom from 9:30 until the end of the day. I was impressed by how well the students were for me. I had no problems with teaching that day and the substitute was very friendly and told me I did a great job. This opportunity really showed me that I can do anything I put my mind to. This day was a real confidence builder!
I'm really exciting for this coming weeks lessons. I have some fun lessons planned, including a lesson with skittles! I can't wait to enjoy my last couple of weeks with the kids!
February 13, 2012
Last week went extremely well for me! The skittles activity that I did with the kids went good, too. I had them doing fractions with skittles using the different colors. I told them that they were not allowed to eat them until the very end. I assured them that if they paid attention during the activity, they could eat the skittles. It worked like a charm! They all seemed to have fun and it was fun to get to eat skittles!
I really enjoyed the health lesson I did last week. I did this really neat lesson with the students about friendship. I had them all chose a name from a basket. Whosoever name they drew from the basket, they had to write four nice things or something that person does for them. The four nice things went on a frogs legs that we created with the name of the friend they chose on a set of lips. This was a great activity because the kids had a lot of fun trying to hide who they got since we are giving each child their frog for Valentine's day.
Last week I scheduled for my schools' principal to observe me. My co-op helped me to come up with a really great lesson plan and a rubric. I am hoping the day goes well, especially since not only will the principal be there but also Ariane! I am very nervous but I am glad that I chose to have the principal observe me. This could open up so many doors for me in the future.
Today was a great start to my week already! It was my first day teaching all of the subjects and everything went smoothly! There were no bumps in the road and my co-op even said how well everything went. I am starting to feel a lot more comfortable with teaching my lesson's and being observed. I was really nervous to be having someone watch me all the time but I think that I am finally becoming more comfortable. I cannot believe that this is my last full week in the classroom. Next week will be a short week because there is no school on Monday and Friday is a half day. I am hoping to plan something nice for the kids next week, including eating lunch with them all. I look forward to what this week brings, especially since tomorrow is Valentine's Day!
February 20, 2012
Last week was such a great week for me!! As I mentioned above, the principal came to observe me. The observation went extremely well. I got a lot of positive feedback from the principal and she filled out a form stating all the positives that she saw during the observation. The only thing that she suggested that needed improvement was how I talk to the children. I use a lot of "yeah" and "you guys" while I talk. She told me not to worry considering that this would come only with time. I never took into consideration how I talked to the children until she mentioned it. It is definitely something to think about.
The children were really hyper by the time Valentine's Day rolled around last week. The Valentine's Day party that we had planned was a lot of fun. I was really surprised by how many parents came to help (5 parents). One of the children made me a special gift; this made me feel really special! The party was a lot of fun and I enjoyed getting to meet all of the parents.
Last week, one of the groups earned all 20 check marks and received a free homework pass from my behavior modification plan. The children were so excited about finally earning all of their checks. This group worked really hard to try and get the checks. On Friday, I rearranged the classroom so that the children will be working in different groups. I'm interested in how well these groups will work together because I really switched around the groups.
There was no school today because of President's Day so I was happy to have a day off. This week will be very sad and fun! I have some fun lessons planned for this week including eating lunch with them and making fruit and yogurt parfaits. I'm sad about having to leave after only a short amount of time. Eight weeks went by so fast and I can't believe that I made it out alive with only a few breakdowns!! I'm excited to see how this week goes! I'm also really excited about coming back and visiting the children in May.
Today I got in contact with my second placement. I am meeting with the director tomorrow and I am really excited and nervous for my next placement since it will be here in no time!
February 27, 2012
I can hardly believe that my first placement is over!!
My last week was very exciting with the children. All week I reminded them that I would be leaving on Friday. The week was filled with a lot of hugs and love! All week, I reminded the students that I would be choosing to sit with some students at lunch. On Thursday, I chose two students to sit by. The students were really excited about having me eat lunch with them. They had so many great stories to share with me and I also got to know a lot of them more.
On Friday, I was so surprised by what the children had gotten me! The class made a book for me. All of the children wrote me something nice and also drew a picture. Inside of the book, my co-op wrote me a short letter and also took a picture of the whole classroom. I was pleasantly surprised and wanted to cry when they gave me the gift! One of my students also got me a frog (since my lessons were based around frogs) and some other small items. What a great finish to my week!
One of the most important things that I have learned throughout this placement is to never give up. There were many times that I wanted to break down and cry (which I did sometimes outside of the school!) but I kept it together and was able to pull through. I found it very inspirational to have my co-op constantly reassuring me that I was doing great. At first, she came off as very quiet and more reserved but as the weeks went on, I found her to be very helpful, encouraging, and more of a friend. She helped me through so much throughout this placement and I will never forget my first time teaching in a primary setting with her class!
Something else that I have learned through this experience is to have patience, as I mentioned above. Although I may have planned some of my lessons thoroughly, a lot of my lessons did not turn out the way I wanted. Some of the students wouldn't understand what was being taught or I wouldn't teach the lesson the way it was supposed to be intended. With some patience and more planning, I was able to get my lessons through to the students and honestly felt like I taught the students what they needed to learn. I've learned that no matter how bad a lesson may turn out, as long as it is fun and learning is taken away, my job is complete! It feels great knowing that I was able to help others learn and I think that is why I really want to be a teacher. Being enthusiastic and showing that I care really helps with students' learning and I am glad I was a part of these students' learning process!
Although it was a very fun week, it was also stressful. I met with my second placement and was not happy with where I was going to be placed. After discussing it over with my supervisor, I found it best to be placed somewhere else. It is Monday and I have yet to know where I will be placed and it is extremely stressful for me. I have faith that everything will work out in the end but I can't wait to get started with my second placement. I'm hoping to have as great of an experience as I did at my first placement!
"Miss Kelsie"
Second Placement: 2 & 3 year olds
March 5, 2012
Today was my first day at my second placement. I was very shocked whenever I came into a two and three year-old classroom! Since I have worked in a child care center before, I have worked with virtually every age group. My first day was very stressful because I was not sure if I was supposed to be in this classroom or if I was supposed to be with older, pre-k children. I come to find that Dr. Schomburg thinks that being with this age group will help with the formation of my thesis since I will be focusing on Play. The children were very sweet and although my co-op was not there due to family issues, I was happy to work with energetic assistants. It was an interesting first day with one child trying to bite me and another screaming all day but hey, who doesn't have a bad day every once in a while?! I am excited to work out the kinks tomorrow and get started with my observations of these young boys and girls.
March 11, 2012
What a very interesting first week of my second placement! The week started off with getting to know the teachers and parents of the children. My lead co-op teacher is very reserved and really didn't talk too much but is very sweet and calming with the children. The parents were very welcoming and so were most of the children. Even though I was just observing for the first week, I found myself most of the time having to deal with issues with the children fighting over toys. Sitting back and just observing seemed very strange to me and I was basically emmersed in the classroom by the second day.
The week was a little crazy because all of the Carlow students were on spring break and that is where this center receives a lot of their staffing. Also, the shooting downtown put a lot of our parents into panic which caused a lot of chaos in the building. By the end of the week, I was becoming a bit frustrated by one of the children. The child was constantly hitting me in the face whenever I would tell her to do something, even if it was something small. Even though I would try to use the techniques that the other teachers were using to get her to stop, she would not stop hitting me. I found the other teachers to be helpful whenever intervening with this child to let the child know that it is not okay to hit other children or teachers. I was a bit overwhelmed by how I was not able to get this child to stop hitting me and how the other teachers needed to keep stepping in. I am hoping that I will be able to handle the situation a little bit better as the weeks go on as well as not having the other teachers step in. I can tell classroom management with 2 and 3 year olds will be one of my biggest challenges!
March 18, 2012
I cannot believe that my first lesson is already complete! I thought that my first lesson went well. Although the lesson did not go as planned because it was supposed to rain on that day, I thought that the children responded well to going through a small obstacle course inside.I felt like I was able to handle conflicts and fights, too. I talked to my co-op on Friday about my progress and what I should improve and she said that she thought I was doing great with how I talk to the children and respect them. It is nice to know that what I am doing and how I am handling situations is the right way!
Last week seemed to go a lot smoother than my first week did, which was expected. I did not experience being hit or abused this week which was great!! I feel like I am starting to make some great connections with the students, which is really important with this age group. A lot of the children know me by name and a lot of the parents have been talking to me and being very friendly. I feel a lot more welcomed this week overall.
This coming week I will be reading stories in the mornings to the children every day. I am excited about reading the stories because I love to read out loud. Although I will not be at the school on Wednesday due to going to the Job Fair, I am hoping that my lesson on Tuesday will go as planned and I cannot wait for what this week may bring!
March 25, 2012
One thing that I like about this placement is my free choice of lessons. My co-op is very open to anything and every lesson that I have presented to her, she has been open to. My co-op was not at school on Friday due to an emergency so I did not get to go over my lessons with her. I'm really excited about my lessons for this week, though. I am planning to have the students make owls from water painting and then painting on the walls with water later in the week. I'm hoping to come up with some creative lessons for the following week as I take on more responsibilities.
One thing that I have decided with my co-op is that I will be evaluating the science, small manipulatives, and art center for my chosen play center. I am hoping to get the students to play more in the center because it seems to be one of the centers that is not used as often during the times that I am there. After a few observations, I cannot wait to change some of the things in the center to see how the children react. I think that they will respond well to change but we will have to see.
I am excited about what this coming week has to bring. I cannot believe that time is going by so fast!! I am really starting to enjoy this age group as the time goes on, which I did not expect. I have worked with this age group before but I can honestly say that it makes a huge difference when you work with people that are caring and want to be there. What a fun and interesting group of children!
April 2, 2012
Last week was a pretty exciting week because I did one of my first complete lessons with the children. I was surprised by how well the owls turned out that we made out of water painting. Even though we weren't allowed to use googly eyes, the owls look nice sitting around the tree in the classroom. The children really seemed to like water painting and I was excited that I was able to get all of the children but one to paint.As the weeks go by, I am noticing that the children are being more respectful and there seems to be less problems in the room. The children seem to listen to me like they would any of the other teachers and I feel more and more welcomed each week.
This week will be a short week for me. I was really sick last night into this morning so I did not get to go to school. The school will be closed on Thursday and Friday so I only have two days with the children. Tomorrow, I will be reading a book about planting seeds. My lesson will involve the children planting their own seeds into a Styrofoam cup. I am hoping that the lesson goes well since I have never done this lesson with this young of an age group. On Wednesday, I plan to have the children painting with plastic eggs. Plastic Easter eggs have holes on the ends of them so I am going to stick paint in the eggs and let the children paint a sheet of paper.
Happy Easter Week, Everyone!!
April 7, 2012
Last week was extremely short with only two days of lesson plans. Tuesday, I read the children a book about planting seeds. After we were outside for a little while, I did my lesson plan with planting flowers. I had the children use a Styrofoam cup with holes in the bottom to put soil into. They each got to plant two seeds as well as add the soil and water to the cup. I was excited to find that all of the children wanted to plant the seeds! After we planted the seeds, I placed the cups on the dock outside of the school where they could get a lot of sunlight. I am hoping that the seeds make it through the cold nights.
On Wednesday, I had the children use plastic eggs to paint with. This lesson went extremely well because all of the children really wanted to get involved in the activity. The next time I do this lesson, I would want to put more water in with with the paint because the paint seemed to be really clumpy in some of the eggs.
One of the things that I really like about being at this school is the amount of diversity within the classroom. There are a few children that speak two languages and one child that only speaks a little bit of English. About two weeks ago, the child that only speaks a little bit of English had his birthday. His parents wanted to do something special for him so my co-op decided to make cupcakes for the whole classroom as well as have the parents come in to celebrate. Before the children ate the cupcakes, this child's mother read some books to the classroom in Spanish. The children were really interested in her speaking Spanish the whole time and were very attentive. I found this to be a great way to incorporate diversity into the classroom. Bringing different cultures into the classroom helps with letting the children learn about different backgrounds and families around the world. This child was so excited to have his parents there and have his mom read; it was great to see him so excited!
April 10, 2012
I was really disappointed with this coming week when I came to find that my plants that we had planted last week had gotten destroyed by the wind over Easter break! Sine the children really seemed to enjoy planting flowers, I am hoping to incorporate a lesson next week on growing lima beans. This kind of ruined my one lesson for this week on making observations on our plants. I hope to still take down some observations with the beans, especially since they grow fairly quick. I really want to do a lesson that I can keep reflecting on each week.
April 15, 2012
This past week was a lot of fun for my classroom. We started off the week with focusing on the letter "Q." I had the children making ducks from cotton balls and Q-tip painting. The ducks came out really well and look really cool hanging on the windows. This week, we also made some robin's out of feathers and decorations. I thought the lesson went really good because I was able to get most of the children to do it and all of them seemed to be really interested in the project. The week ended with a race outside on race cars.
This coming week will be the last full week for me. I cannot believe how quickly my time with these children has passed! This week, we will be focusing on the letter "S" with a lot of fun activities, including shaving cream feet and jello painting. I will also be adding the weekly calendar to my jobs. I'm excited for my last full week of lessons with the children and cannot wait to see how they react to the shaving cream feet!