...I won't miss you!
This was th-e most unbearably complicated session I've ever had to go through in my entire academic experience at WWU! I give a triple kudos to Cohort 32, because in addition to what I'm taking, they had to go through an excruciating session in math. I've sat in class sessions where I listened to my cohort describe the difficulties they had while in elem ed math. I'm not so sure if I'll be ready for the elem. ed. math cycle, but at least I now know what to expect.
Instead of math, I was placed in Elem. Ed. Special Ed, a class that I'm required to take because I didn't take it in the beginning of fall 2009. My cohort already had that course. I am a little behind my cohort (I think I might've mentioned that awhile ago) thanks to my math placement tests (ugh!). Now that I'm done with Special Ed in Elem. Eucation, I have math plus elem. ed. psychology to take. This really puts me out of the loop to graduate with my post-bac comrades, but I know I'll get there. They will graduate this spring in 2011, while I have to wait until 2012. The advantage is that I have a lot of time to study for the WEST-E exam -- it's a board exam for teachers -- and I get the inside scoop as to what's on the test. Maybe.
Despite a tough session, and as of yesterday 12/15/2010, I have received straight A's in all five of my classes. Yaaay! Another session of straight A's. I can't say it enough -- it was well worth the ride to go through a horribly difficult session.
On top of my academic difficulties, there were also a lot of personal issues I had to deal with during the semester. To say the least, despite these life challenges, I was able to successfully maintain my grades, my family...my life. All it took was perseverance, patience, and tolerance. Heard of the saying, "With each step towards success comes tougher obstacles"? That's me. This holiday season has been the toughest, but I'm just gonna roll with the punches, take deep breaths, and swim against the current to reach my goal. I may sound like a pessimist right now, but I have a feeling it might get worse next session. I am, however, aware that teaching is in my heart. And as long as I know I have that strength in me to fight what's right, I will continue to look forward and keep moving.
Happy holidays to those who have been keeping up with my blog -- stay warm, be safe, and enjoy your loved ones :)
I am.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Chapter XXXI: Forward and Onward...Success!
I am proud to announce that my practicum supervisor loved my lesson and explained that I improved dramatically from the last time she observed me (85% from 67% a few months ago). Behavioral management was positive, lesson planning as always is easy for me, executing the lesson plan was a success. There was only one HUGE problem: I taught THREE lessons in 30 minutes! Another problem: it was a lesson totally and completely foreign to the kids. They learned how to spell real words for the first time in their lives. We went from phonics straight to spelling to phonic identification through word sorts in a short amount of time. I think I broke the world record on teaching children how to spell this early in 30 minutes, using three lessons.
What I loved most about my presentation is the behavioral management. They were very engaged and attentive! I almost lost them at the very end -- sitting down for an entire half hour is a long time for five and six year olds. It was at this point that I improvised my lesson at the very last minute and went off track on my lesson plan. The great news is that my practicum supervisor loved the change! I was tremendously relieved when she told me that it was okay to improvise "...because teachers do it all the time..." especially when they feel it's necessary. And it was: the kids were getting antsy.
In its entirety, my practicum supervisor feels that everything I did seem to come naturally to me (yay!). Itt was a positive lesson and I had fun doing today's lesson. In looking back at my videos, which I do review at home, I become more and more aware of how I teach. I think this has allowed me to become a better teacher. I'm glad that I've been recording my lessons because I can now see the difference between the frist time I posted my presentation until now. Just so you know...there is still room for improvement. Little tweaks here and there would make this a perfect lesson.
I did do a video of the PM class. It was a bit more relaxed because my practicum supervisor was already gone (whew! bless her heart -- I love her -- but it was really tense in AM kindergarten. I think the children felt it, too!). I did improvise the lesson at the end and found out that it was too short, but that's okay. I had them add more details to their work just to occupy time.
I apologize for the muffled sound, but if you turn up the volume you might be able to hear the lesson a little clearly. Also...that thing sticking out of my back pocket? That's my pen. I carry it around as a stress reliever (don't ask, lol!)
AM Kindergarten: Practicum Supervisor's observation (you can't see her -- she's in the back of the classroom with her clipboard in hand):
PM Kindergarten lesson...slightly different and a little longer. No practicum supervisor as you can tell by my relaxed demeanor :)
Soon after this was done, I picked up my son, who goes to the same school and worked on more homework that was done today. I made it in time to turn in my practicum experiences. By 30 minutes. Now that I have all those nitty gritty assignments taken care of, I can now concentrate on more (easy, less work) assignments.
What I loved most about my presentation is the behavioral management. They were very engaged and attentive! I almost lost them at the very end -- sitting down for an entire half hour is a long time for five and six year olds. It was at this point that I improvised my lesson at the very last minute and went off track on my lesson plan. The great news is that my practicum supervisor loved the change! I was tremendously relieved when she told me that it was okay to improvise "...because teachers do it all the time..." especially when they feel it's necessary. And it was: the kids were getting antsy.
In its entirety, my practicum supervisor feels that everything I did seem to come naturally to me (yay!). Itt was a positive lesson and I had fun doing today's lesson. In looking back at my videos, which I do review at home, I become more and more aware of how I teach. I think this has allowed me to become a better teacher. I'm glad that I've been recording my lessons because I can now see the difference between the frist time I posted my presentation until now. Just so you know...there is still room for improvement. Little tweaks here and there would make this a perfect lesson.
I did do a video of the PM class. It was a bit more relaxed because my practicum supervisor was already gone (whew! bless her heart -- I love her -- but it was really tense in AM kindergarten. I think the children felt it, too!). I did improvise the lesson at the end and found out that it was too short, but that's okay. I had them add more details to their work just to occupy time.
I apologize for the muffled sound, but if you turn up the volume you might be able to hear the lesson a little clearly. Also...that thing sticking out of my back pocket? That's my pen. I carry it around as a stress reliever (don't ask, lol!)
AM Kindergarten: Practicum Supervisor's observation (you can't see her -- she's in the back of the classroom with her clipboard in hand):
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Chapter XXX: Improvement!
(Sroll down to the video if you so choose)
Happy day. My lesson was a success. I've met more than 85% of my criteria during evaluations. The person who evaluated me is also a teacher who came from Western Washington University. She's a substititute teacher but she knows her stuff as well as much as my host teacher. My host teacher was busy evaluating students in preparation for conferences, hence, the substitute teacher.
I did not fumble through this lesson. Classroom management was much -- waaaay better than the last one. Alhough you may see children's heads moving around, they were still very attentive and answered questions because in the beginning I talked about keeping their eyes and ears on me while I'm talking. You can hear children going in and out of the bathroom. This is typical during a transition. Transition times are always the hardest for any teacher. In layman's terms: chaos usually happens when switching from one activity to another. In my case, the classroom teacher and I switched places; that in itself, is a (minor) transition, but resulted in some chaos. It wasn't as chaotic as it was before -- it doesn't look as bad as it sounds/looks -- but the teacher and I managed to keep the class under control after too many children decided to excuse themselves to go to the restroom.
There were two things that I did not include during this lesson, which was part of the criteria: praising positive behavior and checking for understanding. This lesson occurred during the morning part of kindergarten (i.e. AM Kindergarten). After my first evaluation by the teacher, I read it and took note of those missing items. So, the second time around was much better -- way better as I became aware of what I needed to do. The substitute teacher evaluated both sessions and told me that there was a significant difference between the two. I met 98% of the presenation's criteria the second time. I wish I could have recorded that session, but I was low on batteries by the time I wanted to record my second presentation. I utilized the same presentation in both sessions
What I love about both sessions is the way I handled behavioral management. Because I was able to control both classes through wait-time, "do as I do" games, and choral responses, the children were attentive and engaged. I was tickled pink at the end of the day. It was a successful teaching experience. I can't wait until this Thursday when my practicum supervisor comes in to observe me. :)
Happy day. My lesson was a success. I've met more than 85% of my criteria during evaluations. The person who evaluated me is also a teacher who came from Western Washington University. She's a substititute teacher but she knows her stuff as well as much as my host teacher. My host teacher was busy evaluating students in preparation for conferences, hence, the substitute teacher.
I did not fumble through this lesson. Classroom management was much -- waaaay better than the last one. Alhough you may see children's heads moving around, they were still very attentive and answered questions because in the beginning I talked about keeping their eyes and ears on me while I'm talking. You can hear children going in and out of the bathroom. This is typical during a transition. Transition times are always the hardest for any teacher. In layman's terms: chaos usually happens when switching from one activity to another. In my case, the classroom teacher and I switched places; that in itself, is a (minor) transition, but resulted in some chaos. It wasn't as chaotic as it was before -- it doesn't look as bad as it sounds/looks -- but the teacher and I managed to keep the class under control after too many children decided to excuse themselves to go to the restroom.
There were two things that I did not include during this lesson, which was part of the criteria: praising positive behavior and checking for understanding. This lesson occurred during the morning part of kindergarten (i.e. AM Kindergarten). After my first evaluation by the teacher, I read it and took note of those missing items. So, the second time around was much better -- way better as I became aware of what I needed to do. The substitute teacher evaluated both sessions and told me that there was a significant difference between the two. I met 98% of the presenation's criteria the second time. I wish I could have recorded that session, but I was low on batteries by the time I wanted to record my second presentation. I utilized the same presentation in both sessions
What I love about both sessions is the way I handled behavioral management. Because I was able to control both classes through wait-time, "do as I do" games, and choral responses, the children were attentive and engaged. I was tickled pink at the end of the day. It was a successful teaching experience. I can't wait until this Thursday when my practicum supervisor comes in to observe me. :)
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Chapter XXIX: Classroom Behavioral Mgm't. Vs. Lesson Quality
Note: Pre-certs = pre-certified teachers; teachers-in-training; student teachers; practicum students and interns
Here, you will see that I have already lost some of the children during this lesson as I was in tuned on presenting a quality lesson than being attentive to problem behaviors. There were many "blurt outs" or "shout outs", children using the restroom (you can hear the door open/close), and there was a child in the front row who couldn't stop playing with the velcro on his shoes (you can't see/hear it). A few children started wandering and not really paying attention. Had I not been oblivious to their behaviors and nipped it in the bud, then they would have been more alert on the lesson. The person's voice you hear at the very beginning is my supervising teacher or "host" teacher. A little sidenote: the video is "mirrored" or reversed. I apologize for this silly error. Teachers: I'm still working on the summative assessment (thumbs up/down). Overall, this lesson went okay. It could have been better.
And on the other end of the spectrum...behavioral management was perfect. At the very beginning, transition -- in this case from the teacher to myself -- was a challenge as there were children being dismissed during "specialist" time. It was a bit disruptive because prior to the specialists walking in unannounced, the children were already settled and ready to learn. Right away, I caught a couple of children who were being disruptive -- there was a child who took too long washing her hands, and the teacher caught it, too, so she managed to help out with that part. As soon as I gave my little schpiel on why they should be listening, I had their 100% attention throughout the entire lesson. In this video, you will see that I fumbled through my lesson because I was keeping an eye out on specific children who might be disruptive. They were, in fact, disruptive, but only for a very short time because I caught their behaviors right away and called them on it.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Chapter XXVIII: Assessment Drives Instruction
About last chapter. I was angry and I'm leaving that post as is. It's part of my life and part of my challenge in going through this program. Everything is fine now -- or is it. But I am gonna keep on going and not let anyone or anything stop me. Teaching inside a classroom has always been a dream of mine. ..By quitting, I am showing my children to give up when the going gets tough. Right now, I'm showing them that when the going gets tough, get tougher and you will succeed.
So...back to the subject at stake: my practicum...
I am trying something different. This is much easier to do. Pardon the delay -- it must be a blogging-thing.
So...back to the subject at stake: my practicum...
I am trying something different. This is much easier to do. Pardon the delay -- it must be a blogging-thing.
I did not record the children as planned due to photo restrictions. Here's how my day went:
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Chapter XXVII: School Fall 2010
With my heart set on becoming a teacher and my tenacity to get what I want -- that certificate -- I can't describe the bittersweet feeling of going through a program which requires a lot of dedication, sacrifice, and practice. Practice. What an odd word to stick into a sentence for a teacher-in-training. In my younger days, I played the piano, and with lots of practice, I perfected the skill to recognize music and play it. I'm not a professional at the art, but I know that in due time, with lots of practice I could play the long version of Moonlight Sonata without any effort (I'm at intermediate level, by the way). Just like teaching. Have you come across a teacher and he became your "favorite" teacher? Now I know why: that teacher had a lot of practice and eventually became good at what he does. I want that feeling to come from my students.
This is what the program does: it gives you 2-3 years to practice, over and over again at every session, the skills that are taught inside WWU's TEOP, until you are comfortable doing it. The skill must be perfected due to an important reason and one reason only: we must NOT LEAVE ANY CHILD BEHIND. With Washington's requirement to hire highly qualified teachers (HQT as it is solely nicknamed), it is the University's responsibility -- as well as any Educational Program -- to ensure that we meet the needs of every child inside a classroom. Every single one of them. And that means a lot of practice.
The pressure in school has been a tremendous weight on every one of us in Cohort 32 that it was difficult to figure which way was up and which way was down. It's the very reason I didn't update my blog: I felt the pressure, too. In looking over my syllabi for Special Education, PE, Literacy I, and my practicum, there was too much to sink in. That was on the week of Sept 20th - the week school started. I'm still trying to sink it all in. BUT...and I say this with a big BUT...after doing my homework for these classes, it wasn't all that bad. Just trying to take that first step forward was difficult; but afterwards, it was okay. The amount of work seems to have tripled this session.
I am writing this blog only because I am done with all of my homework. It's amazing how much I can get done in between breaks with housework, kids, and errands on a weekend. I am still feeling a bit overwhelmed, but as long as I keep up with the assignments -- I hate procrastinating -- I think I'll do fine this session. As for my teachers, I have one online class whose class I missed at the start of the ELED cycle; she has been kind enough to accept me inside her classroom. I have one teacher who we had two sessions ago. Her enthusiasm about teaching is contagious and she makes learning engaging and fun. She's my Literacy (Part I) teacher.
Then there is my PE teacher. I was never a huge fan of PE because of my young mind's stereotype on jocks. Jocks loved PE -- they always WIN at everything. Why did I hate it? I got picked on and harassed by some of the boys in my high school PE class which made my high school experience a nightmare. I won't go into details. This teacher, however, delved into the educational part of physical education, hence, the word "education" after "physical. What a tremendous difference he's made on my view about PE. He's made me understand what PE is and SHOULD be all about: teamwork. I never had that experience growing up in my PE classes. Old school, I guess. There are a lot of activities and ideas that he's giving us to practice so we can use them in our classrooms. Many of them are teamwork-type of activities, many are self-challenges (I'm currently working on learning how to juggle -- extra 5 points if I can do it!). None of the games/activities allow a child or group of children to say "neener-neener-neener, in your face!" to another child/group. This teacher is good -- really good. He gives physical education a whole new perspective and it makes everyone feel good about it. I can't wait to use the games we practiced in school.
My other class -- my practicum -- will be at my son's school: View Ridge Elementary. It has been my "dream" school for a long time and I'm officially they're practicum student there. I have met with Mr. "L" (he is really called by that name because his last name is difficult to pronounce) and is hoping that I get to be their intern, too. If you have kept up with my blogs...I was an art docent at View Ridge when my son was in kindergarten (he's now in the 2nd grade). The tremendous PTA support was overwhelming that during meeting times, there is standing room only in their library. I'm not joining the PTA this year for obvious reasons. Anyway, my practicum supervisor, or overseer, will observe me in my practicum classroom again. I will be working under "Cynthia" who is an AM/PM kindergarten teacher. Starting Tuesday, my homework will pile up a little more as I am to write and document observations for the entire school day!
But...I won't think about it right now. I have other obligations as we speak and it's time to put my fingers to rest (for now).
Keep you posted...
This is what the program does: it gives you 2-3 years to practice, over and over again at every session, the skills that are taught inside WWU's TEOP, until you are comfortable doing it. The skill must be perfected due to an important reason and one reason only: we must NOT LEAVE ANY CHILD BEHIND. With Washington's requirement to hire highly qualified teachers (HQT as it is solely nicknamed), it is the University's responsibility -- as well as any Educational Program -- to ensure that we meet the needs of every child inside a classroom. Every single one of them. And that means a lot of practice.
The pressure in school has been a tremendous weight on every one of us in Cohort 32 that it was difficult to figure which way was up and which way was down. It's the very reason I didn't update my blog: I felt the pressure, too. In looking over my syllabi for Special Education, PE, Literacy I, and my practicum, there was too much to sink in. That was on the week of Sept 20th - the week school started. I'm still trying to sink it all in. BUT...and I say this with a big BUT...after doing my homework for these classes, it wasn't all that bad. Just trying to take that first step forward was difficult; but afterwards, it was okay. The amount of work seems to have tripled this session.
I am writing this blog only because I am done with all of my homework. It's amazing how much I can get done in between breaks with housework, kids, and errands on a weekend. I am still feeling a bit overwhelmed, but as long as I keep up with the assignments -- I hate procrastinating -- I think I'll do fine this session. As for my teachers, I have one online class whose class I missed at the start of the ELED cycle; she has been kind enough to accept me inside her classroom. I have one teacher who we had two sessions ago. Her enthusiasm about teaching is contagious and she makes learning engaging and fun. She's my Literacy (Part I) teacher.
Then there is my PE teacher. I was never a huge fan of PE because of my young mind's stereotype on jocks. Jocks loved PE -- they always WIN at everything. Why did I hate it? I got picked on and harassed by some of the boys in my high school PE class which made my high school experience a nightmare. I won't go into details. This teacher, however, delved into the educational part of physical education, hence, the word "education" after "physical. What a tremendous difference he's made on my view about PE. He's made me understand what PE is and SHOULD be all about: teamwork. I never had that experience growing up in my PE classes. Old school, I guess. There are a lot of activities and ideas that he's giving us to practice so we can use them in our classrooms. Many of them are teamwork-type of activities, many are self-challenges (I'm currently working on learning how to juggle -- extra 5 points if I can do it!). None of the games/activities allow a child or group of children to say "neener-neener-neener, in your face!" to another child/group. This teacher is good -- really good. He gives physical education a whole new perspective and it makes everyone feel good about it. I can't wait to use the games we practiced in school.
My other class -- my practicum -- will be at my son's school: View Ridge Elementary. It has been my "dream" school for a long time and I'm officially they're practicum student there. I have met with Mr. "L" (he is really called by that name because his last name is difficult to pronounce) and is hoping that I get to be their intern, too. If you have kept up with my blogs...I was an art docent at View Ridge when my son was in kindergarten (he's now in the 2nd grade). The tremendous PTA support was overwhelming that during meeting times, there is standing room only in their library. I'm not joining the PTA this year for obvious reasons. Anyway, my practicum supervisor, or overseer, will observe me in my practicum classroom again. I will be working under "Cynthia" who is an AM/PM kindergarten teacher. Starting Tuesday, my homework will pile up a little more as I am to write and document observations for the entire school day!
But...I won't think about it right now. I have other obligations as we speak and it's time to put my fingers to rest (for now).
Keep you posted...
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Chapter XXVI: The TEACH Grant
I just received an email which turned me down for a TEACH grant -- a grant that I depended on financially for when I graduate. It claimed that the institution I attend -- Western Washington University -- does not participate in the program. I just visited TEACH's website and it DOES list WWU as one of its participants. I will call WWU this Monday and demand clarification.
I can not believe the complete turmoil I have gotten myself into in this program. I have maintained a 4.0 GPA ever since Fall 2009 and it's still difficult to become a public school teacher in this state. If there is such a high demand for highly qualified teachers, why is it difficult for those who possess exemplary academics skills to become one? This program is more than I bargained for, but I am not giving up. By far -- and for reasons I have not explained it in my blog thus far -- there were far too many obstacles preventing me from successfully completing the program. And by far, I've beaten them. Every....single...one....of...them. I will not give up and I don't care what others say. I've come this far and although there are others who question "Why?" there are people who double those numbers that have said, "Just do it!" I have listened to the latter -- my "cheerleaders", my TRUE friends, my supporters ever since I STARTED TO APPLY AT WWU.
So...come Monday, I hope to hear something positive from WWU and that I am given a (financial) chance to continue to train as a highly qualified teacher. For those who have already heard about this other tiny obstacle regarding the TEACH program -- we'll see and I'll keep you posted.
Sept. 01, 2010
I contacted the office and evidently, they can alter the exceptions at their discretion. They said that they do not accept Post-Bacs into the TEACH program. I am in total disbelief. What a great way to discourage highly qualified teachers into the program -- or are they looking at those who are upper middle class? Who knows. I don't know where to go from here except to apply for scholarships like mad.
I can not believe the complete turmoil I have gotten myself into in this program. I have maintained a 4.0 GPA ever since Fall 2009 and it's still difficult to become a public school teacher in this state. If there is such a high demand for highly qualified teachers, why is it difficult for those who possess exemplary academics skills to become one? This program is more than I bargained for, but I am not giving up. By far -- and for reasons I have not explained it in my blog thus far -- there were far too many obstacles preventing me from successfully completing the program. And by far, I've beaten them. Every....single...one....of...them. I will not give up and I don't care what others say. I've come this far and although there are others who question "Why?" there are people who double those numbers that have said, "Just do it!" I have listened to the latter -- my "cheerleaders", my TRUE friends, my supporters ever since I STARTED TO APPLY AT WWU.
So...come Monday, I hope to hear something positive from WWU and that I am given a (financial) chance to continue to train as a highly qualified teacher. For those who have already heard about this other tiny obstacle regarding the TEACH program -- we'll see and I'll keep you posted.
Sept. 01, 2010
I contacted the office and evidently, they can alter the exceptions at their discretion. They said that they do not accept Post-Bacs into the TEACH program. I am in total disbelief. What a great way to discourage highly qualified teachers into the program -- or are they looking at those who are upper middle class? Who knows. I don't know where to go from here except to apply for scholarships like mad.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Chapter XXV: Beating the Economic Slump
I've been contemplating whether I should have written about my hunt for a job within the past few months, but decided not to -- I'm superstitious. Our economy has taken a downfall in the last year or so and of course, if you've been following my blog, I so happen to be one of those laid-off victims (maybe it wasn't a layoff, but I digress...). Ever since then, I've been looking for job after job after job. I was either over-qualified or I did not have the skills they're looking for. I tried everything in my usual charismatic power to convince employers that I could do the job to no avail. Just for kicks, and to satisfy the ones who dared me, I even tried McDonald's! Yikes! Tried temp agencies, like Volt -- nada. Tried dep't stores -- didn't want me: "Ma'am we're afraid you could get bored with the skills and education you posses." She sounded like she was joking, but...Hello?! They'd rather hire someone who is shallow? One of my friends told me that they're probably intimidated by my experience and are afraid that I'm going to take over their company and run for president. She also suggested that it's probably because I'm a "little" headstrong and too ambitious. Really? hmmm...I'm gonna have to do a personality-check on that.
Even as I am experienced inside a preschool classroom, I will not dare touch a lead position again. It seriously took a lot out of me physically and emotionally. When I observed and helped out in my son's classroom and at Roosevelt Elem., there was a tremendous difference in the kind of work that was done. It was mostly administrative and that's more my forte'. I love to write and talk , or in this case, teach. Once in a while there will be hands-on projects, but at least with older children - even kindergartners - they are much more self-sufficient and natural problem-solvers. All I have to do is teach. I know I'm glamourizing elementary teaching, but it's exactly how I feel when working with older children. Someone told me, "You've passed the baby-hunger stage because your kids are older." I think she may be right.
Having said that, I decided to look under "education" in Craigslist to see if there were any openings in a teaching field involving K-6th grade children. I was a bit disappointed at first as there were a lot of listings in childcare. It's typical because the turn over rate is really high. I think, too, that the pay isn't attractive: to be physically/emotionally overworked is probably not worth it to most. It's intimidating. One ad caught my eye in which they were seeking elementary school teachers, and it was way at the bottom. This ad listed the part-time hours, and the pay. It was just right. Only problem is, it's a 30-40 min. drive from where I live. It's actually not bad. The pay's even pretty good. Everything I saw on there fits my needs perfectly. So I jumped on the wagon and applied. Hoping that it is NOT childcare -- babysitting older children, I took a deep breath and sent off my resume/cover letter.
Within two weeks, I get a call from "Mary Gerald". She was impressed with my experience (finally!) and wanted to meet with me; so I rushed and got dressed and got there within one hour after she called. The area literally looks like a summer camp for kids; in fact, summer camp was in session when I arrived. I met her right away at the front door and she invited me to sit in her office.
She reminds me so much of my advisor at WWU -- she seems "motherly" and very down to earth. After a few minutes of small talk, I offered her to view my portfolio that I brought with me. The portfolio gives detailed accounts of my past and present experience in working with K-6th graders. A lot of it were lesson plans and my in-class experience from the last two sessions. As I love photography, there were pictures that I included in my port. She was really impressed to the point that she wanted to keep it with her to look over and give her and her staff ideas on building a portfolio. I, personaly, did not feel comfortable with that. Private information is not something I wanted to expose to complete and total strangers, such as my SS# which is included on my transcripts. I politely told her that I needed to look over my portfolio to take out certain items and that I could give it to her at a later time. She agreed.
After being with her for almost 45 minutes, she hired me on the spot. My heart practically leaped. She also gave me an orientation around the school (camp) grounds. I think this is going to be interesting. Their environment is rich in vegetation and foliage. It's definitely the epitome of the Emerald State. There are pine trees everywhere, ferns, alders, etc. And the air - so fresh! I am a little worried about what this place is like during the winter months. I think it might be tough. Then I remembered: I'll be working with older kids -- they DO NOT have to play outside. When I was in childcare, the little ones were required to go outside, rain, snow, or shine just to get their energy out. It was never my favorite part as Washington state has extreme weather patterns. The toughest part was putting on/taking off thick winter coats from the children because they do not how to do it themselves. Obviously, with older children, I'd expect them to do these things by themselves.
After I got home, my phone rings. Mary just got a hold of all three of my references and told me that she really liked what they told her. One of my colleagues called and she panicked thinking that she thought she didn't do well on that call. I reassured her that if she didn't do well, I wouldn't have been hired. Right when I said those words, she screamed with delight. I'm so fortunate to have such good friends from school.
I have been assigned to work with the 1st and 2nd graders with another teacher starting Sept 1. Because this is only an assistant job (I'm not qualified to legitimately teach older children, yet), I will not be doing any planning :(. One thing that Mary noticed about my personality is that I am indeed a leader - that's why she paired me up with someone who is very experienced than the other one who is new (certified teacher) to the program. I knew what she meant so I assured her that I'm there to pick up more techniques from a (lead) teacher and not step on anyone's toes. This will be a whole new learning experience for me. I hope that I will walk out of there with more tricks up my sleeve when working with school-aged children. I think this will be fun.
So not only did I get hired into a position that I wanted, but it took me practically seven months to find a job that will help me (and my kids) be financially stable. And that's what's much more important.
Even as I am experienced inside a preschool classroom, I will not dare touch a lead position again. It seriously took a lot out of me physically and emotionally. When I observed and helped out in my son's classroom and at Roosevelt Elem., there was a tremendous difference in the kind of work that was done. It was mostly administrative and that's more my forte'. I love to write and talk , or in this case, teach. Once in a while there will be hands-on projects, but at least with older children - even kindergartners - they are much more self-sufficient and natural problem-solvers. All I have to do is teach. I know I'm glamourizing elementary teaching, but it's exactly how I feel when working with older children. Someone told me, "You've passed the baby-hunger stage because your kids are older." I think she may be right.
Having said that, I decided to look under "education" in Craigslist to see if there were any openings in a teaching field involving K-6th grade children. I was a bit disappointed at first as there were a lot of listings in childcare. It's typical because the turn over rate is really high. I think, too, that the pay isn't attractive: to be physically/emotionally overworked is probably not worth it to most. It's intimidating. One ad caught my eye in which they were seeking elementary school teachers, and it was way at the bottom. This ad listed the part-time hours, and the pay. It was just right. Only problem is, it's a 30-40 min. drive from where I live. It's actually not bad. The pay's even pretty good. Everything I saw on there fits my needs perfectly. So I jumped on the wagon and applied. Hoping that it is NOT childcare -- babysitting older children, I took a deep breath and sent off my resume/cover letter.
Within two weeks, I get a call from "Mary Gerald". She was impressed with my experience (finally!) and wanted to meet with me; so I rushed and got dressed and got there within one hour after she called. The area literally looks like a summer camp for kids; in fact, summer camp was in session when I arrived. I met her right away at the front door and she invited me to sit in her office.
She reminds me so much of my advisor at WWU -- she seems "motherly" and very down to earth. After a few minutes of small talk, I offered her to view my portfolio that I brought with me. The portfolio gives detailed accounts of my past and present experience in working with K-6th graders. A lot of it were lesson plans and my in-class experience from the last two sessions. As I love photography, there were pictures that I included in my port. She was really impressed to the point that she wanted to keep it with her to look over and give her and her staff ideas on building a portfolio. I, personaly, did not feel comfortable with that. Private information is not something I wanted to expose to complete and total strangers, such as my SS# which is included on my transcripts. I politely told her that I needed to look over my portfolio to take out certain items and that I could give it to her at a later time. She agreed.
After being with her for almost 45 minutes, she hired me on the spot. My heart practically leaped. She also gave me an orientation around the school (camp) grounds. I think this is going to be interesting. Their environment is rich in vegetation and foliage. It's definitely the epitome of the Emerald State. There are pine trees everywhere, ferns, alders, etc. And the air - so fresh! I am a little worried about what this place is like during the winter months. I think it might be tough. Then I remembered: I'll be working with older kids -- they DO NOT have to play outside. When I was in childcare, the little ones were required to go outside, rain, snow, or shine just to get their energy out. It was never my favorite part as Washington state has extreme weather patterns. The toughest part was putting on/taking off thick winter coats from the children because they do not how to do it themselves. Obviously, with older children, I'd expect them to do these things by themselves.
After I got home, my phone rings. Mary just got a hold of all three of my references and told me that she really liked what they told her. One of my colleagues called and she panicked thinking that she thought she didn't do well on that call. I reassured her that if she didn't do well, I wouldn't have been hired. Right when I said those words, she screamed with delight. I'm so fortunate to have such good friends from school.
I have been assigned to work with the 1st and 2nd graders with another teacher starting Sept 1. Because this is only an assistant job (I'm not qualified to legitimately teach older children, yet), I will not be doing any planning :(. One thing that Mary noticed about my personality is that I am indeed a leader - that's why she paired me up with someone who is very experienced than the other one who is new (certified teacher) to the program. I knew what she meant so I assured her that I'm there to pick up more techniques from a (lead) teacher and not step on anyone's toes. This will be a whole new learning experience for me. I hope that I will walk out of there with more tricks up my sleeve when working with school-aged children. I think this will be fun.
So not only did I get hired into a position that I wanted, but it took me practically seven months to find a job that will help me (and my kids) be financially stable. And that's what's much more important.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Chapter XXIV: Mid-Summer...
One class down two more to go and I'm done for the summer. Classes aren't as tough as expected, but there is a lot of projects more than paperwork. That's good...I love using the right side of my brain once in a while. In IT class -- we've been learning to use programs such as Inspiration (graphic organizer) which is really cool, but we're only allowed to use it for free for 30 days. That program cost approximately $800. Then there's a video project; fun, but super time consuming. The assignment calls for using pictures on the web and crediting them at the end. Voila! I got pictures -- tons of them -- and they're my personal ones that I used for my project. It's simple, but heart warming in my opinion. If interpretation is needed, it is about seeing the world in different colors, both literally and metaphorically. (Oh...that reminds me...I have another blog connected to this one: it's just for testing my stuff.) It took me a lot longer to figure out how to post it on here than creating the video. But eventually -- and obviously, I figured it out.
(Note: I removed the video for safety reasons. I will post a different one up later)
This is rather a short posting. Nothing really exciting happening in any of my classes except for projects and lesson plans. If I was inside a classroom with children and working with them, that would be a different story -- I'd be super chatty. But lucky you -- who ever's eyes are here -- it'll be easy on your eyes.
I hope you enjoyed the video as much as I enjoyed making it.
==================================
August 2, 2010
I am adding a tid bit here. That above video? Not due until the end of the quarter. I'm quietly doing cartwheels in my head -- I am DONE with it! Dr. J saw it and approves of it. Lucky me, he told me that I may stay for only half of his class next Monday (woohoo!!).
Remember how I said above that there's really nothing going on, hence, my short posting? Well....heehee....last night in class, I got to do an impromptu presentation in front of my cohort. Per Dr. J's request for a demo on Second Life, I showed my classmates what it's like to be in-world. I was hoping and praying that there would be no stupid idiot -- aka "griefer" -- pop up on the screen naked with anything resembling phallicious objects which happens occasionally. I spoke briefly about what to find inside this virtual world and also the pros and cons (see "ITT Article Reviews"). Because I've been on it for three years, I really had no idea where to start on a professiona/educational level. Well...I tried. There's just too much to discuss about what goes on in SL. If anyone wants to know, download the program, and you will experience something that may be worthwhile (or not).
Anyway, I was so glad that at least one person registered on SL. I hope Lindsey will friend me on there and we can explore the world together. I am preparing my Second Life land as a learning environment for teachers worldwide. It is a small piece of land that I purchased on the game, but right now it's more for couples to dance on. I also put up some vendor stalls to rent for potential designers; however, because I'm hardly active on there (darn PC -- need an upgrade), I'm unable to bring in any business. I'm not sure, yet, but I may have to destruct my stalls and just use the land for leisurely and educational purposes.
(Note: I removed the video for safety reasons. I will post a different one up later)
This is rather a short posting. Nothing really exciting happening in any of my classes except for projects and lesson plans. If I was inside a classroom with children and working with them, that would be a different story -- I'd be super chatty. But lucky you -- who ever's eyes are here -- it'll be easy on your eyes.
I hope you enjoyed the video as much as I enjoyed making it.
==================================
August 2, 2010
I am adding a tid bit here. That above video? Not due until the end of the quarter. I'm quietly doing cartwheels in my head -- I am DONE with it! Dr. J saw it and approves of it. Lucky me, he told me that I may stay for only half of his class next Monday (woohoo!!).
Remember how I said above that there's really nothing going on, hence, my short posting? Well....heehee....last night in class, I got to do an impromptu presentation in front of my cohort. Per Dr. J's request for a demo on Second Life, I showed my classmates what it's like to be in-world. I was hoping and praying that there would be no stupid idiot -- aka "griefer" -- pop up on the screen naked with anything resembling phallicious objects which happens occasionally. I spoke briefly about what to find inside this virtual world and also the pros and cons (see "ITT Article Reviews"). Because I've been on it for three years, I really had no idea where to start on a professiona/educational level. Well...I tried. There's just too much to discuss about what goes on in SL. If anyone wants to know, download the program, and you will experience something that may be worthwhile (or not).
Anyway, I was so glad that at least one person registered on SL. I hope Lindsey will friend me on there and we can explore the world together. I am preparing my Second Life land as a learning environment for teachers worldwide. It is a small piece of land that I purchased on the game, but right now it's more for couples to dance on. I also put up some vendor stalls to rent for potential designers; however, because I'm hardly active on there (darn PC -- need an upgrade), I'm unable to bring in any business. I'm not sure, yet, but I may have to destruct my stalls and just use the land for leisurely and educational purposes.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Chapter XXIII: Summer Session
The pizza party was on the 22nd of June and I actually did a pretty good job at hiding my emotions. The entire class touched me with a booklet of thank you cards. Prior to that day, I received thank you notes from each of my son's classmates for being their parent volunteer. That's two in one week. The students, teachers, and staff have been superbly supportive of my training and I can't wait to utilize it as a professional educator in a public school. But first, my internship. This is where the nitty-gritty is at and I certainly can't wait to experience that one. I am hoping that my "residence" will be at a school where I've always wanted to train at -- and hopefully, eventually work there as a teacher. Unfortunately, that won't be until 2012.
This is a superbly tough program and it's not easy to become a "real" teacher. Even though I feel ready to tackle my skills inside a classroom, I still have to wait. There are so many things to wait for in life and it takes a lot of patience and perseverance to get there. This so happens to be one of those things. I hope I don't sound discouraging. This is a long program if you're not prepared for basic educational skills. Like Intermediate Algebra. I don't want to go there because I'm still heartbroken by it. There are options and whenever I hear "options", I go for it. For now, I do intend to wait for my residency. And that's fine by me.
I started my summer session classes and as always, they seem to be easy. There's Instructional Technology part II, Assessment part II, and Social Studies. These are classes that will teach me HOW to teach technology and Social Studies. Assessment teaches me how to test, assess, and evaluate students. The entire session runs through August and then we get about a month off until Fall session. By then, we will have completed a year's worth of our studies. Whew!
My classes have been fun and interesting (as always). I enjoy learning about how to build a rubric in Assessment class, how to use Inspiration in technology, and that Social Studies parallels Assessment and Essentials of Teaching classes (my poor teacher!). In Technology, we are to create a blog; I am thinking of linking it to this one because they both deal with Education anyway.
July 3, 2010
Yes...I've posted this later than the actual date. It has been an emotionally exhausting week and I'm still trying to recover. I will not go there as it DOES NOT pertain to education. But I do have to say this: I have just started a research blog linked to this blog. I am really excited to share what I know in that other one and do more educational research in relation to technology.
I was so excited that I already started it without my teacher's green light (Dr. J, if you're reading this, I'm terribly sorry! I had itchy fingers). I am a blogger and love, love, love to write :). I guess the assignment hit me hard in my weakest spot, so I couldn't keep my fingers off the keyboard. I haven't looked over the entire syllabus, because if I ever find "photography" on there, I'll be headed there FIRST (just kidding, Dr. J!). Promise, I'll listen this time.
Anyway, the first blogging assignment I chose was on Second Life. And guess what? I am an active member on that virtual world. So I haaaaaad to do it. I take that back -- I waaaaanted to do it. If you want to read up on it, I wrote a brief summary on my other blog.
I am ready to post now.
Til then.
This is a superbly tough program and it's not easy to become a "real" teacher. Even though I feel ready to tackle my skills inside a classroom, I still have to wait. There are so many things to wait for in life and it takes a lot of patience and perseverance to get there. This so happens to be one of those things. I hope I don't sound discouraging. This is a long program if you're not prepared for basic educational skills. Like Intermediate Algebra. I don't want to go there because I'm still heartbroken by it. There are options and whenever I hear "options", I go for it. For now, I do intend to wait for my residency. And that's fine by me.
I started my summer session classes and as always, they seem to be easy. There's Instructional Technology part II, Assessment part II, and Social Studies. These are classes that will teach me HOW to teach technology and Social Studies. Assessment teaches me how to test, assess, and evaluate students. The entire session runs through August and then we get about a month off until Fall session. By then, we will have completed a year's worth of our studies. Whew!
My classes have been fun and interesting (as always). I enjoy learning about how to build a rubric in Assessment class, how to use Inspiration in technology, and that Social Studies parallels Assessment and Essentials of Teaching classes (my poor teacher!). In Technology, we are to create a blog; I am thinking of linking it to this one because they both deal with Education anyway.
July 3, 2010
Yes...I've posted this later than the actual date. It has been an emotionally exhausting week and I'm still trying to recover. I will not go there as it DOES NOT pertain to education. But I do have to say this: I have just started a research blog linked to this blog. I am really excited to share what I know in that other one and do more educational research in relation to technology.
I was so excited that I already started it without my teacher's green light (Dr. J, if you're reading this, I'm terribly sorry! I had itchy fingers). I am a blogger and love, love, love to write :). I guess the assignment hit me hard in my weakest spot, so I couldn't keep my fingers off the keyboard. I haven't looked over the entire syllabus, because if I ever find "photography" on there, I'll be headed there FIRST (just kidding, Dr. J!). Promise, I'll listen this time.
Anyway, the first blogging assignment I chose was on Second Life. And guess what? I am an active member on that virtual world. So I haaaaaad to do it. I take that back -- I waaaaanted to do it. If you want to read up on it, I wrote a brief summary on my other blog.
I am ready to post now.
Til then.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Non-Chapter: Update
It has been a long time since I posted on here. With so many life changing experiences, school being one of them, I prioritized my and my family's needs over my wants. Blogging has been a want, so I set myself back for a bit to prioritize my responsibilities.
I love to write and it's a favorite past time of mine (can you tell?). I used to be my high school's newspaper writer and photographer. The latter is something I do as well. On sunny days, or even dry days, I take my Sony DSLR with me and click away. I actually improved on my skills and have geared my heart toward photography art, albeit abstract or camera "painting".
As an educator, I would love to invest in simple point and shoot cameras to hand out to children and have a go at it. Although I use a DSLR camera, point and shoots work just fine and it is very easy to do something like what I just did on the above example. Ssshhh...that's a TV commercial -- upside down. I call it "Valley Rain". Photography has been my latest hobby and I've been lugging my camera around with me -- even to my classes -- to catch any opportunity regarding education. I would post pictures of my classmates and other children on here -- they are quite beautiful -- but because this is public domain, I would rather not.
I love to write and it's a favorite past time of mine (can you tell?). I used to be my high school's newspaper writer and photographer. The latter is something I do as well. On sunny days, or even dry days, I take my Sony DSLR with me and click away. I actually improved on my skills and have geared my heart toward photography art, albeit abstract or camera "painting".
As an educator, I would love to invest in simple point and shoot cameras to hand out to children and have a go at it. Although I use a DSLR camera, point and shoots work just fine and it is very easy to do something like what I just did on the above example. Ssshhh...that's a TV commercial -- upside down. I call it "Valley Rain". Photography has been my latest hobby and I've been lugging my camera around with me -- even to my classes -- to catch any opportunity regarding education. I would post pictures of my classmates and other children on here -- they are quite beautiful -- but because this is public domain, I would rather not.
So...school's out for summer. At least for the time being. I won't return until June 21st for the summer session. Spring session has been quite a ride for me. Loaded with classes and more visits to my practicum site AND to my son's school, I completely feel optimistic about my future as a teacher. Only time (and experience!) will tell. The most exciting part about Spring Session 2010 was my unit on the butterflies. I co-taught one lesson with Mrs. Dearly and did a unit presentation with Cohort 32. When I did the presentation, I passed out live Painted Lady caterpillars to each one. I kept the extra ones at home and passed those out to my children. Watching the transformation was the most incredible and exciting thing to observe! It was also nice to hear about what's been happening to my cohorts' caterpillars. My favorite part was when they -- my cohort and children -- asked questions and I had the (pre) knowledge to answer them all! Perfect teaching moments for me. And I cherished every second of it.
Another exciting moment for me was when my Practicum Supervisor (PS) came in to observe me. I so needed a professional opinion on how I did as a teacher. Although the lesson took about 40 minutes, the evaluation took about one and half hours. She noted that I can be oblivious to those who need behavior intervention. Blame it on my preschool mode. I've been used to children walking/running around the classroom and having "free choice" to anything in the classroom. So when two boys continuously drank out of the water fountain (there is one in the classroom), I didn't do anything about it. My PS was very concerned about how "...when a teacher speaks, those are very important teaching/learning moments...." and that I must have every child's undivided attention (unless they desparately need to go to the restroom/healthroom). So, yes...duly noted and will practice at next session. My PS really liked how the children got along really well with me. She was also impressed at how many students were actually paying attention and very engrossed in the lesson and activitites I provided. I did tell her that these are very smart/bright and motivated kids.
I will miss this class when I move on to my internship come fall 2010. But that's for my Advisors to decide. Something about my math exam that I had to re-take. I won't go there -- it was quite a traumatic experience and now I'm ready to face the consequences. Nontheless, I am going to finish this program no matter what obstacles -- either academic, personal, or business -- will come my way.
On a brighter note -- public schools are getting ready to end the school year loaded with field trips, field-day, field-whatever. As a little treat to end the year, Mrs. Dearly and her class will be going to The Pacific Science Center in Seattle tomorrow. She invited me to go and I can't wait. It's not about the PSC -- I want to see how a field trip is handled, especially one that's far away and out of their school district. Another observation, but probably my last (yay!). The next time I'm with a class, hence, my internship, I will be doing the "actual" teacher-responsibilities. Anyway, one step at a time.
What the class do not know, except Mrs. Dearly, is that toward the last day of school, I will provide a pizza party for the class :). What a great way to end the year. My cohorts have already ended theirs when the last Elementary Ed. class was in session. I think I'm the only one finishing off the school year with my practice-site. I wanted to. It's my choice. I was in the class ever since the beginning of the Winter session, now I'm gonna end it with them. And pizza that is.
More to come...
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Chapter XXII: Practicum Preparation
The last two weeks was all about preparation. We, teachers, can never get enough it. For pre-certs, like myself, sometimes two weeks of preparation isn't enough, most especially after it was PLANNED. I write really well, my ideas are creative, and I was ready to present it; but when it comes to the actual event -- teaching -- things do not always go as planned.
Bless my teachers' hearts -- theyve been very helpful in educating us what to expect out there. They spend countless hours each week teaching us one thing: preparation. But when it comes down to it, they haven't taught us that no matter how prepared we are, plans can go flat, kaput, zilch.
I know that right now I sound extremely bleak. but in reality, I am not. I feel just the opposite. Because what I planned, what I prepared for, went uphill and the practice was a success. Let me explain:
The unit that my Mrs. Dearly's working on with the children is on butterflies -- painted lady butterflies to be exact. In the unit there are chapters -- aka pre-written lessons -- that we can pull out of this binder and talk about with the children. I decided to do it on how and why a caterpillar makes silk. Simple protocol for this practicum is to put that lesson into Western Washington University's template, called "WWU Instructional Plan". I had to "translate" everything in there into a language that public school educators would understand: the curriculum context and long/short term objectives, the assessment plans, instructional sequence (it's like a script that I made up to which I must follow to the tee), and management expectations/instructions. It's tedious work, but it was one thing I was really good at -- planning on paper.
What I love about the planning process is that it's totally and completely my idea. They're exactly what I want to see work inside MY classroom in MY own way. I have total control. This does not mean that I'm treating students like puppets. If you have kept up with my blog until now, you would understand that in my most recent career, I was a puppet and told what and how to teach things. It was not my comfort zone. The reality is this -- put your kids in school and teachers teach what they want to teach and how to teach it as long as it meets district/state standards. We are held accountable to not leave a child behind.
So goes the subject at hand -- making sure that I do not leave any information out to ensure that every second grader in that classroom is learning something new and interesting. And that it's something that they will carry onto their next grade level or higher.
To my surprise, even though things did not go as planned -- per my lesson plan -- the presentation and lesson was a success! What I did not expect was the time...there is NOT ENOUGH time to teach an entire lesson. I had too many ideas on paper and mis-calculated the time limit on my presentation. It initially was 40 minutes tops. I had no idea that with students' questions, transitions, and behavior management, all of that was important info to ADD in my lesson plan -- something I did not consider!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Chapter XXI: A Teary Reminder
Today is volunteer-day in TJ's first grade classroom. The children's smiles are so welcoming. I think I've grown attached to every single one of them. My son quickly picks this up and is always smiling with pride whenever any of his classmates gives me a hug or greets me with a smile. When I first volunteered in his classroom, I became wary of how I treat each one because I know my son is watching. I wasn't sure how he would react if he saw another child hug me, so I prevented that from happening. But that was in the beginning of the school year. He gleams when he sees any of his classmates playing with me or tend to a crying child.
Nothing breaks my heart more than a child who gets emotionally hurt and my son knows this (he does know when I know a fake, too).
The children look forward to games that I play with them. I guess it's a good break away for them from monotony -- although it is absolutely never monotonous in Mrs. Windell's classroom. She has an aura about her that children love. I hope to emulate that when I head on over to my intern next quarter or work in a school district.
Even though we are playing board games in the back of the classroom, they are LEARNING games that are very educational -- mostly reading and spelling -- and it also teaches social skills. I'm there to guide them and explain the rules to them.
Mrs. Windell chose a group of kids to work with me on a board game, which involves spelling. This is a group of kids that I have never worked with since I started to volunteer in TJ's classroom. One child, in particular, who I will call "Ariel", had been begging Mrs. Windell for th-e longest time to play with me. She finally got her wish, ran up to me, and gave me the biggest hug I ever received from a child in this class.
I didn't have my coffee this morning nor did I have any breakfast, so I felt pretty groggy as if I just got out of bed even though I'm professionally dressed to the nines. We were seated in the back of the classroom and all four children took their seats getting ready to play. One of the children in the group got a bit chatty and explained the rules without waiting for me. Thinking that the kids got it down pat, we started the game.
In the middle of the board there's a wheel with a plastic spinner in the middle of it. The children's job is to take turns spinning the spinner and doing what it says: "Draw 1, Draw 2, Draw 3, Camel, and Steal". (I will not go into details about how each one is played.) Ariel was first to spin and she worked on spelling on her word. It's the next child's turn to spin -- the spinner stopped at "STEAL". She reached out over to Ariel's pile and took a letter. She spelled her word.
In less than a minute, Ariel, who was sitting next to me, was quietly sobbing. I had no idea that the game affected her. AND DUMMY ME....FORGOT TO GO OVER THE GAME WITH THE GROUP! It's a supposed automatic thing with students. As a teacher my responsibility is to 1) explain 2)have children repeat back or do the activity with me and 3) verbally review and ask if there are any questions. I did not do steps 2 and 3. I felt sooooo bad for Ariel, and mentally kicked my butt for not doing it.
After apologizing to the group -- most especially to Ariel -- for not thoroughly explaining the rules I decided to improvise a little bit. Anytime the arrow points to "steal", the person who got stolen from gets to pick TWO more letters from the letter pile. Now everyone is hoping they get stolen from.
I'm glad that this was a minor mistake on my part. It was a good lesson learned. It also taught me to think quick on my feet when I make a mistake. I know that other places that I should not name, I'd get written up for something like that: if it seems that a childcaregiver is under a lot of stress, she gets written up. I remembered being frazzled when I went looking for a thermometer for a child who is running a fever. There wasn't one in my classroom but I found one in my purse. My write up was when I went searching for a thermometer, even though there were other childcareworkers there. These women had positions under me, so I told them to stay put with the children. But it was the STRESS, the part where I didn't ask the other workers to look for it (i.e. lacking in leadership) was what really got to them.
Being under stress got me in trouble.
In this newfound career at least....
...the reality is: ALL TEACHERS GO UNDER STRESS -- EVERYDAY. And as long as they're law abiding citizens and the children are meeting district and state standards, the teacher still gets an "A" for being a TEACHER.
It was okay that a seven year old child was crying. It felt good that she gave me another big hug after I apologized to her. The stress was especially relieved when Mrs. Windell looked at me, smiled, and said, "Teachers make mistakes all the time. We're not perfect."
TJ gave me a thumbsup and (secretly) blew me a kiss as I left the classroom.
test
Nothing breaks my heart more than a child who gets emotionally hurt and my son knows this (he does know when I know a fake, too).
The children look forward to games that I play with them. I guess it's a good break away for them from monotony -- although it is absolutely never monotonous in Mrs. Windell's classroom. She has an aura about her that children love. I hope to emulate that when I head on over to my intern next quarter or work in a school district.
Even though we are playing board games in the back of the classroom, they are LEARNING games that are very educational -- mostly reading and spelling -- and it also teaches social skills. I'm there to guide them and explain the rules to them.
Mrs. Windell chose a group of kids to work with me on a board game, which involves spelling. This is a group of kids that I have never worked with since I started to volunteer in TJ's classroom. One child, in particular, who I will call "Ariel", had been begging Mrs. Windell for th-e longest time to play with me. She finally got her wish, ran up to me, and gave me the biggest hug I ever received from a child in this class.
I didn't have my coffee this morning nor did I have any breakfast, so I felt pretty groggy as if I just got out of bed even though I'm professionally dressed to the nines. We were seated in the back of the classroom and all four children took their seats getting ready to play. One of the children in the group got a bit chatty and explained the rules without waiting for me. Thinking that the kids got it down pat, we started the game.
In the middle of the board there's a wheel with a plastic spinner in the middle of it. The children's job is to take turns spinning the spinner and doing what it says: "Draw 1, Draw 2, Draw 3, Camel, and Steal". (I will not go into details about how each one is played.) Ariel was first to spin and she worked on spelling on her word. It's the next child's turn to spin -- the spinner stopped at "STEAL". She reached out over to Ariel's pile and took a letter. She spelled her word.
In less than a minute, Ariel, who was sitting next to me, was quietly sobbing. I had no idea that the game affected her. AND DUMMY ME....FORGOT TO GO OVER THE GAME WITH THE GROUP! It's a supposed automatic thing with students. As a teacher my responsibility is to 1) explain 2)have children repeat back or do the activity with me and 3) verbally review and ask if there are any questions. I did not do steps 2 and 3. I felt sooooo bad for Ariel, and mentally kicked my butt for not doing it.
After apologizing to the group -- most especially to Ariel -- for not thoroughly explaining the rules I decided to improvise a little bit. Anytime the arrow points to "steal", the person who got stolen from gets to pick TWO more letters from the letter pile. Now everyone is hoping they get stolen from.
I'm glad that this was a minor mistake on my part. It was a good lesson learned. It also taught me to think quick on my feet when I make a mistake. I know that other places that I should not name, I'd get written up for something like that: if it seems that a childcaregiver is under a lot of stress, she gets written up. I remembered being frazzled when I went looking for a thermometer for a child who is running a fever. There wasn't one in my classroom but I found one in my purse. My write up was when I went searching for a thermometer, even though there were other childcareworkers there. These women had positions under me, so I told them to stay put with the children. But it was the STRESS, the part where I didn't ask the other workers to look for it (i.e. lacking in leadership) was what really got to them.
Being under stress got me in trouble.
In this newfound career at least....
...the reality is: ALL TEACHERS GO UNDER STRESS -- EVERYDAY. And as long as they're law abiding citizens and the children are meeting district and state standards, the teacher still gets an "A" for being a TEACHER.
It was okay that a seven year old child was crying. It felt good that she gave me another big hug after I apologized to her. The stress was especially relieved when Mrs. Windell looked at me, smiled, and said, "Teachers make mistakes all the time. We're not perfect."
TJ gave me a thumbsup and (secretly) blew me a kiss as I left the classroom.
test
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Chapter XX: Spring 2010 -- The Beginnings
School has started about a couple weeks ago and I'm still trying to settle in. Our schedules are quite different this quarter. Two classes for the first and second weeks, which were music, Essentials of Teaching (part 3, with a different instructor), and a class on lesson planning. Art will be added later on. Starting this week I will have three classes for the next three weeks; four classes for two weeks. I won't go into my entire schedule but you get the picture. If I were to color code each of my classes, it'll look a maze for the next 2 1/2 months.
I'm not complaining - it's just that it's different than what we've been through for the last two sessions. The reason being that many of the teachers felt that it was "too much" for us because many of us work and/or have families. I have observed that many of us would walk into our classes looking like zombies, but as far as what we know, we're the "best" cohort out of 5 cohorts. Guess our "zombie" looks indicated that we worked harder than the others; therefore, the teachers thought it best to stagger our classes this session. I am curious to see how this is going to pan out for us.
It seems that the main theme for teachers to get certified through Western Washington University is "diversity" (e.g. cultural, physical/mental abilities, gender, etc.). This is my third quarter with WWU and, so far, all of my classes have discussed managing our lessons according to diversity. For example, my music class: if there is a child with special needs (physical), then the teacher's lesson will ensure that the child is included in every activity that his classmates are doing. In other words, this child will not be left behind. Another perfect example is culture. If there is a child who is not allowed to be touched on the head -- and there are certain cultures that sees this as taboo -- then it is the teacher's responsibility to make sure that her lessons DO NOT include touching a person's head. The teacher, herself, has to be sure not to pat the child's head.
All of this does sound tedious, that is why we are going through rigorous training in our school. I am not sure about the other schools, like University of Washington, or Seattle Pacific University; but as far as I have heard and researched, Western Wash. Univ. is a tough school. And I am experiencing it firsthand. My GPA did go from a 4.0 to 3.7. I missed a beat by not being thorough in my written classroom observations. I certainly had no idea, nor was there a criteria mentioned on how detailed we should be. Now I know, and I get to do it again.
I will be doing my practicum, part II, with Mrs. Dearly's class again this session, which I am ecstatic about. She has been so supportive and has made my experience a very positive one. Being that she's a WWU grad herself, it's easy to relate to her about my studies; however, she mentioned that there's more work than before. Tedious work. And I most certainly agree with her.
I will also be doing two whole class lessons where she will observe one and my Supervising Practicum Advisor will observe the other. Two different lesson plans. They are difficult to do and very time consuming, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it (I got an "A" for it last quarter).
Another hard core assignment I will be doing is building my own classroom rules/management (YAY!!!!) and creating a curriculum unit. I have decided to do bees and butterflies -- thanks to Spring time. This will be a compilation of math, reading, writing, and science lessons to be demonstrated in front of my cohort. The great thing about this is that we will be sharing so many ideas that with 19 students -- total -- we will have a year's worth of units. I'm really excited about that!
As far as classroom rules and behavioral management, I feel like I'm on cloud nine with that assignment. As long as it (sensibly) meets our state's standards, we have the freedom to create an environment according to what WE believe in when it comes to rules. I have so many ideas up my sleeve that I think I'm ready to burst them out here on this post, but I will not do that. As long as classroom rules are reasonable and does not disrupt learning, then this should be easy to build.
So here comes another session full of excitement and adventure. Public schools resume session tomorrow. Everything will be back to normal. I will be volunteering in my son -- TJ's class -- Monday mornings. Tuesdays , and maybe even on Thursdays, I will be in Mrs. Dearly's class in the afternoons. I will be doing more hands-on inside these classrooms, more so than just teacher-guidance by Mrs. Dearly and Mrs.Windell. More experience and a step closer to my dream of being a classroom teacher.
I'm not complaining - it's just that it's different than what we've been through for the last two sessions. The reason being that many of the teachers felt that it was "too much" for us because many of us work and/or have families. I have observed that many of us would walk into our classes looking like zombies, but as far as what we know, we're the "best" cohort out of 5 cohorts. Guess our "zombie" looks indicated that we worked harder than the others; therefore, the teachers thought it best to stagger our classes this session. I am curious to see how this is going to pan out for us.
It seems that the main theme for teachers to get certified through Western Washington University is "diversity" (e.g. cultural, physical/mental abilities, gender, etc.). This is my third quarter with WWU and, so far, all of my classes have discussed managing our lessons according to diversity. For example, my music class: if there is a child with special needs (physical), then the teacher's lesson will ensure that the child is included in every activity that his classmates are doing. In other words, this child will not be left behind. Another perfect example is culture. If there is a child who is not allowed to be touched on the head -- and there are certain cultures that sees this as taboo -- then it is the teacher's responsibility to make sure that her lessons DO NOT include touching a person's head. The teacher, herself, has to be sure not to pat the child's head.
All of this does sound tedious, that is why we are going through rigorous training in our school. I am not sure about the other schools, like University of Washington, or Seattle Pacific University; but as far as I have heard and researched, Western Wash. Univ. is a tough school. And I am experiencing it firsthand. My GPA did go from a 4.0 to 3.7. I missed a beat by not being thorough in my written classroom observations. I certainly had no idea, nor was there a criteria mentioned on how detailed we should be. Now I know, and I get to do it again.
I will be doing my practicum, part II, with Mrs. Dearly's class again this session, which I am ecstatic about. She has been so supportive and has made my experience a very positive one. Being that she's a WWU grad herself, it's easy to relate to her about my studies; however, she mentioned that there's more work than before. Tedious work. And I most certainly agree with her.
I will also be doing two whole class lessons where she will observe one and my Supervising Practicum Advisor will observe the other. Two different lesson plans. They are difficult to do and very time consuming, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it (I got an "A" for it last quarter).
Another hard core assignment I will be doing is building my own classroom rules/management (YAY!!!!) and creating a curriculum unit. I have decided to do bees and butterflies -- thanks to Spring time. This will be a compilation of math, reading, writing, and science lessons to be demonstrated in front of my cohort. The great thing about this is that we will be sharing so many ideas that with 19 students -- total -- we will have a year's worth of units. I'm really excited about that!
As far as classroom rules and behavioral management, I feel like I'm on cloud nine with that assignment. As long as it (sensibly) meets our state's standards, we have the freedom to create an environment according to what WE believe in when it comes to rules. I have so many ideas up my sleeve that I think I'm ready to burst them out here on this post, but I will not do that. As long as classroom rules are reasonable and does not disrupt learning, then this should be easy to build.
So here comes another session full of excitement and adventure. Public schools resume session tomorrow. Everything will be back to normal. I will be volunteering in my son -- TJ's class -- Monday mornings. Tuesdays , and maybe even on Thursdays, I will be in Mrs. Dearly's class in the afternoons. I will be doing more hands-on inside these classrooms, more so than just teacher-guidance by Mrs. Dearly and Mrs.Windell. More experience and a step closer to my dream of being a classroom teacher.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Chapter XIV: Conference and English Languae Learners (ELL)
Conference week. A week that parents meet with their child's teachers and talk about their accomplishment, goals, and goals to accomplish. I met with my host teacher, Mrs. Dearly, for this eventful day. She invited me to one of the conferences which involved: a translator, a student, and the student's mother. Mrs. Dearly's student is an ELL (English Language Learner) and is quite a bright young girl.
(I walked in a little late thanks to a very minor incident at home: my boy is still in a cast so he needed potty-help which put me back by a few minutes.)
It was a very short and sweet conference. What I found most intriguing was the translation between the parties. This is ELL at work. The student, "Yasmin", was busily having some snack while her mom and Mrs. Dearly had their conference. I have found out a lot of interesting things with an ELL child. It may be typical and it may be true. In one of my classes, it has been founded that ELL children's reading/writing scores are lower than those who are not an ELL student. BUT....their scores in other areas are high. Yasmin's reading/writing scores were a little low; her math is impressively high.
In my spring classes, I remembered that we talked about "gifted" children. During my time 70's-80's -- gifted meant someone who had a high IQ. Now, the term "gifted" is being used loosely. In fact, a gifted child may now belong to a sub-group. My 10 year old daughter would probably fit in many areas: art, writing, reading, (and just recently) math (but we're watching that closely -- math's her weakness).
Having said that, Yasmin could be considered to be gifted in the math area. She's really good and her math scores are very high. Due to her minimum English speaking skills, her reading/writing scores are unsurprisingly low. It's sad but true that this very fact affect many of our kids in Title I schools, hence, the low reading/writing scores.
Due to high immigration everywhere, our nation has been affected with reading and writing. BUT...and I say this with a big BUT...if you were to score children from MY generation -- that's right, ME -- we were very, very, very low in all academic areas. In my Social Order class, we watched a film on "American Public Education" and an interviewer asked a high school kid (from the mid 80's) who was the first man who landed on the moon. This kid answered with a ??? look on his face that said "Someone landed on the moon?" Another kid was asked if she can name at least one president that was assassinated. She didn't get it right. Funny? More like embarassing. I grew up in that era -- that generation. I can attest to so many things that today many professionals say about our failing schools, most especially during that time. It has been founded that we are actually doing a lot better than ever before, but our nation's leaders say it is not enough.
(I walked in a little late thanks to a very minor incident at home: my boy is still in a cast so he needed potty-help which put me back by a few minutes.)
It was a very short and sweet conference. What I found most intriguing was the translation between the parties. This is ELL at work. The student, "Yasmin", was busily having some snack while her mom and Mrs. Dearly had their conference. I have found out a lot of interesting things with an ELL child. It may be typical and it may be true. In one of my classes, it has been founded that ELL children's reading/writing scores are lower than those who are not an ELL student. BUT....their scores in other areas are high. Yasmin's reading/writing scores were a little low; her math is impressively high.
In my spring classes, I remembered that we talked about "gifted" children. During my time 70's-80's -- gifted meant someone who had a high IQ. Now, the term "gifted" is being used loosely. In fact, a gifted child may now belong to a sub-group. My 10 year old daughter would probably fit in many areas: art, writing, reading, (and just recently) math (but we're watching that closely -- math's her weakness).
Having said that, Yasmin could be considered to be gifted in the math area. She's really good and her math scores are very high. Due to her minimum English speaking skills, her reading/writing scores are unsurprisingly low. It's sad but true that this very fact affect many of our kids in Title I schools, hence, the low reading/writing scores.
Due to high immigration everywhere, our nation has been affected with reading and writing. BUT...and I say this with a big BUT...if you were to score children from MY generation -- that's right, ME -- we were very, very, very low in all academic areas. In my Social Order class, we watched a film on "American Public Education" and an interviewer asked a high school kid (from the mid 80's) who was the first man who landed on the moon. This kid answered with a ??? look on his face that said "Someone landed on the moon?" Another kid was asked if she can name at least one president that was assassinated. She didn't get it right. Funny? More like embarassing. I grew up in that era -- that generation. I can attest to so many things that today many professionals say about our failing schools, most especially during that time. It has been founded that we are actually doing a lot better than ever before, but our nation's leaders say it is not enough.
We are going through another cyclical increase in immigration (the first was pre WWII) which means overcrowded classrooms. This results in discipline problems, low classroom parental involvement (for many reasons: two jobs, dual working parents, language barriers, etc.), and inexperienced teachers, just to name a few. Although this has been a controversial issue, over the last two decades or so, immigrants still come to America to gain a better life and/or a better education for their children. Of course, this eats up our economy and we feel that we, Americans, are being taken advantage of, but teachers of today still have to face these realities, accept them and conform to the changes.
As I sat there observing Mrs. Dearly having a conference with Yasmin's mother (via translator), Yasmin's face lit up whenever Mrs. Dearly spoke of how well she does which is way beyond expectations in comparison to her peers. Yasmin, is mathematically "talented". I can see this child succeeding in perhaps, engineering. Forget her reading/writing level. She'll "get it" in time. Like most parents who immigrated from another country, Yasmin's parents are helping to preserve their culture through language. As I have seen with many, many ELL children from my previous job, their parents DO try to speak our nation's language -- American English. Because of the minimal and limited skills they have in English, their children will certainly pick up grammatical and spelling errors. It is inside our classrooms where we -- the teachers -- provide the necessary lessons to help these children succeed in areas such as reading and writing.
I believe -- with time -- Yasmin will soon catch up to her American peers. After I left Mrs. Dearly's classroom, I felt a sense of optimism because Yasmin is very fortunate to have so many people help her succeed academically. She has the resources and most of all, she has a lot of caring people who will give her the chance to become successful on American soil.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Chapter XVIII: End of Spring Qtr. 2010
WHEW!!! I am at the last week of this quarter. It's been quite a ride, and a positive ride that is. Last week, I officially taught a small group of second graders at Roosevelt Elementary. My host teacher has been such a splendid model for me that when I took over for only 20minutes, the children were engrossed in what we were talking about. Yes, that's me in the picture and the back of their heads. I've marked this day my first official day of formal instruction. We were reading about fossils and a little bit about parts of a book (content, index, etc.). My initial intention was to spell out the word FOSSIL, in a vertical fashion, on that white board you see on my left. The students were to come up with different words that relate to the book starting with each of those letters.
The lesson DID NOT turn out as planned. The children did like the pictures and some of the words they've never heard of before (paleontologist, museum, etc.), but they were more interested in the parts of the book. One of the children actually stood up, took one of the books from behind the shelf (behind me) and started to dissect the parts of the book for me. I was really impressed! This is the first time the group has read the book, so I thought that we were going to talk about the book a little more. To go further into the parts of the book lesson, they started looking at the page numbers in the Contents-area and in the Index as well. They had fun doing that as an activity. We were so engrossed in what we were doing, that I lost track of time -- my host teacher kept glancing at the clock, so I knew that it was time. I went 10 minutes over! Wow.
It was quite a pivotal moment for me. Last chapter, which briefly talked about my practice lesson in front of my adult classmates, was totally and completely different. Nothing like the real thing that beats anything like that. Because it was a mock lesson, it was difficult to emulate a real classroom. When I taught the second graders, they were really engaged and full of questions (and answers). In our class-mock-presentations, it wasn't engaging at all. I felt like I was trying to make a speech rather than teach. But not to say that it wasn't worth it! It was well-worth it to practice. I think the next time I practice, I will assume that the real presenation-time (in front of children) will be doubled. It was one thing I was very worried about when I presented in front of the second graders.
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Last week was my last week of IT (technology) and Social Order classes. I think I'm gonna have a hard time detaching myself from my Social Order class. In reading my past postings here, it seems that that has been my favorite class. There is one comment that one of my classmates made -- to which I agreed to -- that it doesn't seem like we needed it. I think for some, they may not, but for others they do. It has just made us more aware of the realities of what goes on inside a classroom and in our public school system -- social-wise. It has come to my attention that there are so many things in our nation that needs to be fixed.
The other night after dinner with my family, we stopped by Borders. I was browsing through the magazines when something huge caught my eye. It was by Time's magazine and on it was a big fat red letter "F". Guess anyone smart would know what that is. That's right, our public education -- more like an F for teachers. It was an embarassment. I wanted to hide under Border's stairwell. An F for teachers?! Can't say that's not true. Because, it is.
It has come to my attention, a former high school classmate of mine is experiencing this type of letter-grade for her son's teacher. The teacher so happens to be one of those ignorant so-called professionals that her sole intention is to teach only those who are "smart" and leave the others behind deliberately to other "specialists". Yes, I know, I know. There are specialists out there, but they can have only a certain amount of kids under their care; the schools are limited with these specialists. So what happened? Her son took an ADHD child under his wing. The child with learning disabilities all of a sudden thrived inside his own classroom without being pulled out.
One more thing about the school this child is in -- teachers there do not stay past 2:45pm! Isn't that what our taxpayer monies go to? I know that we don't earn as much as doctors or lawyers, but the commitment to be in this profession is huge. My professors reminded us time and time again -- "You didn't become a teacher to be out when the children are out. You're becoming one to BE a teacher, not an elementary student." That little statement encompasses everything that's included in this "teacher-package". I found it to be true at Roosevelt -- my host teacher along with the entire school, do not leave the school grounds until an hour after the students leave; they're also there at least an hour before school starts. Added up, it's like a regular 40 hour week. So, imagine my shock when my friend told me that her child's teacher and the teachers in that school are in when the bell rings and out by the time the students are out.
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I'm so glad to be in this program. I've never been as exposed to our public education as ever before. It's no wonder Time's magazine rated our teachers with an "F". It's no wonder my cohort and I are going through an intensive program. It's no wonder why Western Washington's education program is very picky about their future teachers. We need to turn this nation into an "A". We are the ones to do it.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Chapter XVII: Almost there
Things have settled around here at home, at least for the time being. My son is pretty much back to normal, but with a cast on his arm. He is adjusting quite nicely and he likes that he's not as immobile as he was before. No pain. Just itching inside the cast. That's a good sign. It means that his arm is healing.
In the past couple weeks, my classes and practicum are becoming more and more hands on and surreal to being a teacher. For my Essentials of Teaching class, we delved more into lesson planning and prepared for our 10 minutes presentations. For my Teaching and the Social Order class, I'm becoming more and more aware of classroom cultural diversity (and of my skin color; I'll explain later). Lastly, for my IT class (Instructional Technical skill), we are learning to make charts and forms that you normally would find inside classrooms (such as attendance sheets, data base, etc.).
My practicum is becoming very routine and I'm fully prepared to present formal lessons in front of second graders. Thanks to tonight's presentation in my (adult) EOT class, I feel ready to stand in front of a classroom full of real second graders.
Prior to my pres., I practiced it on my three children. It helped -- a little bit. When I first practiced on them, they laughed and acted like very naughty little children. Then after making a few observations on classroom behavioral management at my practicum site, I tried those techniques on my own kids while practicing my presentation on them. It worked. As long as I kept putting my foot down on their smart-aleck remarks, they kept quiet, listened, and participated. It was all in good fun; so, in a way, it was seriously-fun.
The subject I taught was on "brainstorming". When it was time to present to my EOT class, I was semi-prepared. I thought I brought my dry-erase marker with me, so I ended up using the school's. The darn thing barely worked, so I made do with what I got. Then at the end of my presentation, I realized I forgot to do a couple of things with the class. I was complimented by many of my classmates, but I felt that it wasn't good enough and I know that I could've done better.
My Social Order class in the last couple weeks was very interesting. It deals with multi cultural controversial issues facing American schools today. It is hard to fathom the idea that it still exist...and it still does. I'm not talking about African Americans. The controversy exist among children of immigrants, American-minorities, gender-differences, and those with sexual "preferences". I have looked at myself and others in a whole new different way than ever before. I always grew up never thinking, or being conscious, about my ethnicity. Things that were brought up in class are now beginning to surface that I've never noticed before. I told my professor that I never have experienced any kind of prejudice. Now that I think about it, I did, but it was done in a subtle way that no one has ever noticed it in class.
------------------------------
I had this one math teacher in high school. She was of a different Asiatic group, which I will not mention to prevent stereotypes. What I DID NOT notice was that I was the only Filipino in my math class...everyone else was this other Asian-group. I failed that class. It was the only math class I failed in high school. I've always wondered why she looked at me like she was going to eat me alive. I seriously thought that it was her fluctuating hormones. I tried everything to impress her: studied hard, raised my hand in class to volunteer answers (she has never called me; she'll call me when I didn't know the answer), and even hung out with those who she favored in class.
This is the grand-salami that made me now realize that she was prejudice: there was this one kid -- class clown -- in my class who said something in a Filipino accent (i.e. he was making fun of Filipino accents), when he did that, my teacher laughed. Next thing I knew, the entire class started making jokes about Filipinos and my teacher stopped her lesson mid-way to join them. Dummy me thought it was funny, too, as it was the norm in Hawaii to joke around about other Asian ethnic groups. What really bothers me, though, in this present time, is that she's someone who preferred a quiet class that stayed on task. This was the first time she stopped in the middle of the lesson to listen to and be involved in jokes. When this same boy joked around about other things, she immediately stopped him. She did not stop him when he made fun of Filipinos.
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Looking back, I now know why I got that bad grade and why she gave me dirty looks (she always smiled at her "other " Asian-counterparts). She graded me according to the color of my skin. Although I had a lot of answers right -- and HOW can you get math problems wrong if you have a 50-50 chance -- my papers would always come back with comments such as "can't understand your handwriting", "write clearly", (for Algebra theories) "this doesn't make sense", "your 1's look like 7's" (wtf? I wrote my 7s like a backwards "F" to indicate CLEARLY that it was a seven), etc. The right answers rarely counted. She merely wrote her comments in bright red ink and whenever she returned my paper to me, she would give me this look. Seriously, a look like she was -- oh, I don't know -- it seemed like she was threatened by me.
So what happened? I got sent home a note to my parents about my bad grades. Because I saw how unfair her grading was, I was really pissed off, and ended up forging my father's name on the note. Yes, I got caught -- she called my father to see if he received it. She never told him WHY I got that (final) grade, "D". She was just checking to see if I gave him that note. My father had the reputation of coming down hard on his kids when it pertains to education; my teacher knew this and she used it against me. I know it is some serious accusation, but when a teacher stops midway in her lesson to make fun of Filipinos, then it was a strong indicator that she was (and probably still is) a bigot. Again, she's not white. She is Asian.
By the way, I was the only full-blooded Filipino in that high-math class level. I guess she never thought, in her years of teaching, that someone like me would end up "there".
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That was my story share-time here on this blog. In my classes we always share stories and we learn from them. Our ideas on what is really out there, what we must face is a reality. It would help our society -- a multi culturual society to start seeing that although we are different, we are all Americans.
Teachers of Cohort 32...we are almost ready.
In the past couple weeks, my classes and practicum are becoming more and more hands on and surreal to being a teacher. For my Essentials of Teaching class, we delved more into lesson planning and prepared for our 10 minutes presentations. For my Teaching and the Social Order class, I'm becoming more and more aware of classroom cultural diversity (and of my skin color; I'll explain later). Lastly, for my IT class (Instructional Technical skill), we are learning to make charts and forms that you normally would find inside classrooms (such as attendance sheets, data base, etc.).
My practicum is becoming very routine and I'm fully prepared to present formal lessons in front of second graders. Thanks to tonight's presentation in my (adult) EOT class, I feel ready to stand in front of a classroom full of real second graders.
Prior to my pres., I practiced it on my three children. It helped -- a little bit. When I first practiced on them, they laughed and acted like very naughty little children. Then after making a few observations on classroom behavioral management at my practicum site, I tried those techniques on my own kids while practicing my presentation on them. It worked. As long as I kept putting my foot down on their smart-aleck remarks, they kept quiet, listened, and participated. It was all in good fun; so, in a way, it was seriously-fun.
The subject I taught was on "brainstorming". When it was time to present to my EOT class, I was semi-prepared. I thought I brought my dry-erase marker with me, so I ended up using the school's. The darn thing barely worked, so I made do with what I got. Then at the end of my presentation, I realized I forgot to do a couple of things with the class. I was complimented by many of my classmates, but I felt that it wasn't good enough and I know that I could've done better.
My Social Order class in the last couple weeks was very interesting. It deals with multi cultural controversial issues facing American schools today. It is hard to fathom the idea that it still exist...and it still does. I'm not talking about African Americans. The controversy exist among children of immigrants, American-minorities, gender-differences, and those with sexual "preferences". I have looked at myself and others in a whole new different way than ever before. I always grew up never thinking, or being conscious, about my ethnicity. Things that were brought up in class are now beginning to surface that I've never noticed before. I told my professor that I never have experienced any kind of prejudice. Now that I think about it, I did, but it was done in a subtle way that no one has ever noticed it in class.
------------------------------
I had this one math teacher in high school. She was of a different Asiatic group, which I will not mention to prevent stereotypes. What I DID NOT notice was that I was the only Filipino in my math class...everyone else was this other Asian-group. I failed that class. It was the only math class I failed in high school. I've always wondered why she looked at me like she was going to eat me alive. I seriously thought that it was her fluctuating hormones. I tried everything to impress her: studied hard, raised my hand in class to volunteer answers (she has never called me; she'll call me when I didn't know the answer), and even hung out with those who she favored in class.
This is the grand-salami that made me now realize that she was prejudice: there was this one kid -- class clown -- in my class who said something in a Filipino accent (i.e. he was making fun of Filipino accents), when he did that, my teacher laughed. Next thing I knew, the entire class started making jokes about Filipinos and my teacher stopped her lesson mid-way to join them. Dummy me thought it was funny, too, as it was the norm in Hawaii to joke around about other Asian ethnic groups. What really bothers me, though, in this present time, is that she's someone who preferred a quiet class that stayed on task. This was the first time she stopped in the middle of the lesson to listen to and be involved in jokes. When this same boy joked around about other things, she immediately stopped him. She did not stop him when he made fun of Filipinos.
------------------------------------------
Looking back, I now know why I got that bad grade and why she gave me dirty looks (she always smiled at her "other " Asian-counterparts). She graded me according to the color of my skin. Although I had a lot of answers right -- and HOW can you get math problems wrong if you have a 50-50 chance -- my papers would always come back with comments such as "can't understand your handwriting", "write clearly", (for Algebra theories) "this doesn't make sense", "your 1's look like 7's" (wtf? I wrote my 7s like a backwards "F" to indicate CLEARLY that it was a seven), etc. The right answers rarely counted. She merely wrote her comments in bright red ink and whenever she returned my paper to me, she would give me this look. Seriously, a look like she was -- oh, I don't know -- it seemed like she was threatened by me.
So what happened? I got sent home a note to my parents about my bad grades. Because I saw how unfair her grading was, I was really pissed off, and ended up forging my father's name on the note. Yes, I got caught -- she called my father to see if he received it. She never told him WHY I got that (final) grade, "D". She was just checking to see if I gave him that note. My father had the reputation of coming down hard on his kids when it pertains to education; my teacher knew this and she used it against me. I know it is some serious accusation, but when a teacher stops midway in her lesson to make fun of Filipinos, then it was a strong indicator that she was (and probably still is) a bigot. Again, she's not white. She is Asian.
By the way, I was the only full-blooded Filipino in that high-math class level. I guess she never thought, in her years of teaching, that someone like me would end up "there".
------------------------------
That was my story share-time here on this blog. In my classes we always share stories and we learn from them. Our ideas on what is really out there, what we must face is a reality. It would help our society -- a multi culturual society to start seeing that although we are different, we are all Americans.
Teachers of Cohort 32...we are almost ready.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Chapter XVI: Elephant Thigh
It is rare that I will talk about my children on here not pertaining to education; but this one is a special issue. First, I want to thank my teachers and my classmates for their understanding and their support. I know with papers and presentations due, there will be a slight delay in my academic studies for now. I will catch up, and I promise you (my group), I will definitely keep contributing through emails/phone calls. :)
My son got into a serious arm injury on the 13th, day before Valentine's Day. He fell off a chair, at his cousins, not more than 1.5 feet high, and fractured his right (dominant) arm. It has been a long week and the pain is much worse at night when he's sleeping next to me. I feel like I've been walking through a nightmare with him going from one doctor after another.
............................................................
His dad took him to the emergency and I met them there. We all know how that is -- it takes FOREVER to see someone. X-ray was taken; dad saw it, I didn't. TJ was on my lap. So all I had was a verbal explanation. To me, it didn't sound too bad. But when they cut off his long sleeve shirt and I looked at his arm it was almost as thick as an elephant's thigh! His dad, Ray, made sure that I didn't react in front him (I shoulda known better as I used to work with preschoolers). They put a splint on TJ and doubled it, called (let me see if I can get this right) "sugar tone" to lessen mobilization while he waits to see an orthopedic.
The dr. at the ER recommended that we take TJ to the orthopedic as soon as we can get him in, which is in our neighborhood at one of the clinics that we usually go to whenever any of us have a fracture (we all had fractures at one time or another). Good, I thought, maybe they can actually do something about it. The bad thing was we had to wait until Tuesday. I mean, okay, I understand that the swelling needed to go down, but to wait that long? TJ was prescribed oxycodone for the pain. It's small, about 5 mg, but I hate giving drugs to children that young.
So, the next couple nights seemed like forever. Poor TJ whimpered with pain everytime he moved his arm. It hurt me more than it hurt him, so I gave him the (stupid) drug. He was fine after that -- just more talkative than usual. I also gave him acetominophen when the pain is less severe. At night when he's asleep, I'm being mother bear. Everytime he moved, I made sure he doesn't move in a way that he might hurt himself. This is an active 7 year old, even when he's asleep, which means that I'm up pretty much most of the night preventing himself from more harm.
On the 16th, we finally get to see an orthopedic, but a PA, not a doctor. They looked at the xray that was taken at the emergency and suggested he goes to see a pediatric ortho at Children's Hospital. They called and wrote down that he's to be seen by the pediatric orthopedic surgeon on the 17th. Just great. I thought he was going to have surgery TODAY, but on the other hand, a pediatric surgeon is better. The PA suggested that TJ not eat or drink after midnight as he is more than likely going to receive surgery right there.
Another night of tossing and turning and whimpering because of the pain; another night of oxycodone.
We get to Children's on the 17th. Right when we checked in at the reception, they noticed that there was a discrepancy -- TJ's appointment was YESTERDAY! He was marked as a "no show". His dad and I were absolutely, undoubtedly LIVID! The ortho PA wrote down the wrong date! I was about to be in tears at this point. My son suffered for four days! I'm pretty sure readers at this point are saying to themselves, "Now, why can't he take it like a little man?" Put ANY 7 year old kid -- whether it's a boy or a girl -- and given the extent* of his injury, it would hurt like a huge boulder's been smashing his over and over again. (I had not idea how bad his injury was until later...read on...)
Because of our reaction -- and it was very loud and clear (we made the other orthopedics -- NOT Children's -- look very, very bad) -- the receptionist was able to squeeze TJ in later on in the afternoon to see the pediatric ortho surgeon. When asked if he can have lunch, the receptionist thought that because the previous ortho suggested he doesn't eat, TJ was allowed to eat a handful amount of food....just in case he needs to go into surgery. We hung around Children's for four hours.
We FINALLY got to see Dr. Song. And I finally saw the x-ray. My heart just about dropped. There was a 7mm size bone that chipped off his humerus bone (right elbow). I know the feeling because I fractured my elbow a couple years back while roller skating; although it was only a hairline fracture, it was gawd-awful painful! I could only imagine what TJ was going through. No wonder he was absolutely frightened and adamant about even touching his elbow. The darn thing hurt! And because of the extent of his injury, he was in pain!! My poor baby was in pain for four days.
The other orthopedc put a splint on him, but it was obviously tight -- his fingers were swelling and had a deep red color to it. Even after returning to the clinic to get it re-done, his fingers were still swollen. He elevated his arm up for four days before seeing Dr. Song, but it did not help to no avail. His pain was added on due to the splint's constriction. He had a splint on and it was too tight for four days. :(
Anyway...back to Dr. Song. He wasn't too happy that this went on for a long time. He seemed very sympathetic and was super gentle with TJ -- something that the OTHER ortho and xray technicians at the emergency didn't consider. I couldn't stop staring at the x-ray. Underneath the splint and bandage is my little boy's arm that's probably thicker than an elephant's thigh by now. His fingers were very swollen.
There was even more bad news that Dr. Song gave us -- he couldn't see TJ that day, the 17th. Because we were at Children's Hospital, they prioritize their patients. There's a little girl that he has to do spinal surgery on. Completely understandable; at this point, I felt very fortunate for TJ's injury.
I saw the little girl, and boy, was she a trooper. I'm very sensitive to children and practically get teary-eyed when something moves me whether it's heartbreaking or if it makes me feel angry. She's paraplegic and bi-lingual. Her parents can't speak a word of English, but this little girl can. She was in the next room and I heard a bit of their conversation. At this age -- she seemed to be about 11 years old --it's really hard to fathom the idea that she has to translate her own prognosis to her parents. I can only imagine what the parents are going through. This little girl, though, talks like she's talking with a smile. As if to say and comfort her parents, "It's okay, I'll be alright."
He really wants to take TJ in asap -- and sounded rather sincere about it --, but he will more than likely be in surgery for nine hours on the little girl.
Let's see.....he broke his arm on the 13th, saw an ortho on the 16th, visited Children's on the 17th, and will be seen on the 18th. Five days of painful suffering.
We got a call the next morning (the 18th) and it was actually good-bad news. There's a possibility that TJ can be seen earlier, but there's also a possibility that he may be the last to be seen or not at all until the next day. So, we starved him yet again. We were able to take anything at this point. He needs to have surgery. Last night was very painful for him.
So we went in, and his dad and I practically did cartwheels....the receptionist said that he'll be taken in at 3:30pm.
The surgery went well, and was put in a half-cast to allow for swelling for a couple days. It was painful, but to us, it was good pain. Dr. Song moved the bone back in place and had pins put into his chipped bone to prevent further damage. Because of his age, bones will naturally and quickly weld together as it heals.
I will stop writing about this chapter, because it is now, realistically March 1 and I have tons of catching up to do with homework and my practicum.
TJ is doing really well and is now in a full cast. The cast will be removed on the 17th and his bones will have healed by then. :)
My son got into a serious arm injury on the 13th, day before Valentine's Day. He fell off a chair, at his cousins, not more than 1.5 feet high, and fractured his right (dominant) arm. It has been a long week and the pain is much worse at night when he's sleeping next to me. I feel like I've been walking through a nightmare with him going from one doctor after another.
............................................................
His dad took him to the emergency and I met them there. We all know how that is -- it takes FOREVER to see someone. X-ray was taken; dad saw it, I didn't. TJ was on my lap. So all I had was a verbal explanation. To me, it didn't sound too bad. But when they cut off his long sleeve shirt and I looked at his arm it was almost as thick as an elephant's thigh! His dad, Ray, made sure that I didn't react in front him (I shoulda known better as I used to work with preschoolers). They put a splint on TJ and doubled it, called (let me see if I can get this right) "sugar tone" to lessen mobilization while he waits to see an orthopedic.
The dr. at the ER recommended that we take TJ to the orthopedic as soon as we can get him in, which is in our neighborhood at one of the clinics that we usually go to whenever any of us have a fracture (we all had fractures at one time or another). Good, I thought, maybe they can actually do something about it. The bad thing was we had to wait until Tuesday. I mean, okay, I understand that the swelling needed to go down, but to wait that long? TJ was prescribed oxycodone for the pain. It's small, about 5 mg, but I hate giving drugs to children that young.
So, the next couple nights seemed like forever. Poor TJ whimpered with pain everytime he moved his arm. It hurt me more than it hurt him, so I gave him the (stupid) drug. He was fine after that -- just more talkative than usual. I also gave him acetominophen when the pain is less severe. At night when he's asleep, I'm being mother bear. Everytime he moved, I made sure he doesn't move in a way that he might hurt himself. This is an active 7 year old, even when he's asleep, which means that I'm up pretty much most of the night preventing himself from more harm.
On the 16th, we finally get to see an orthopedic, but a PA, not a doctor. They looked at the xray that was taken at the emergency and suggested he goes to see a pediatric ortho at Children's Hospital. They called and wrote down that he's to be seen by the pediatric orthopedic surgeon on the 17th. Just great. I thought he was going to have surgery TODAY, but on the other hand, a pediatric surgeon is better. The PA suggested that TJ not eat or drink after midnight as he is more than likely going to receive surgery right there.
Another night of tossing and turning and whimpering because of the pain; another night of oxycodone.
We get to Children's on the 17th. Right when we checked in at the reception, they noticed that there was a discrepancy -- TJ's appointment was YESTERDAY! He was marked as a "no show". His dad and I were absolutely, undoubtedly LIVID! The ortho PA wrote down the wrong date! I was about to be in tears at this point. My son suffered for four days! I'm pretty sure readers at this point are saying to themselves, "Now, why can't he take it like a little man?" Put ANY 7 year old kid -- whether it's a boy or a girl -- and given the extent* of his injury, it would hurt like a huge boulder's been smashing his over and over again. (I had not idea how bad his injury was until later...read on...)
Because of our reaction -- and it was very loud and clear (we made the other orthopedics -- NOT Children's -- look very, very bad) -- the receptionist was able to squeeze TJ in later on in the afternoon to see the pediatric ortho surgeon. When asked if he can have lunch, the receptionist thought that because the previous ortho suggested he doesn't eat, TJ was allowed to eat a handful amount of food....just in case he needs to go into surgery. We hung around Children's for four hours.
We FINALLY got to see Dr. Song. And I finally saw the x-ray. My heart just about dropped. There was a 7mm size bone that chipped off his humerus bone (right elbow). I know the feeling because I fractured my elbow a couple years back while roller skating; although it was only a hairline fracture, it was gawd-awful painful! I could only imagine what TJ was going through. No wonder he was absolutely frightened and adamant about even touching his elbow. The darn thing hurt! And because of the extent of his injury, he was in pain!! My poor baby was in pain for four days.
The other orthopedc put a splint on him, but it was obviously tight -- his fingers were swelling and had a deep red color to it. Even after returning to the clinic to get it re-done, his fingers were still swollen. He elevated his arm up for four days before seeing Dr. Song, but it did not help to no avail. His pain was added on due to the splint's constriction. He had a splint on and it was too tight for four days. :(
Anyway...back to Dr. Song. He wasn't too happy that this went on for a long time. He seemed very sympathetic and was super gentle with TJ -- something that the OTHER ortho and xray technicians at the emergency didn't consider. I couldn't stop staring at the x-ray. Underneath the splint and bandage is my little boy's arm that's probably thicker than an elephant's thigh by now. His fingers were very swollen.
There was even more bad news that Dr. Song gave us -- he couldn't see TJ that day, the 17th. Because we were at Children's Hospital, they prioritize their patients. There's a little girl that he has to do spinal surgery on. Completely understandable; at this point, I felt very fortunate for TJ's injury.
I saw the little girl, and boy, was she a trooper. I'm very sensitive to children and practically get teary-eyed when something moves me whether it's heartbreaking or if it makes me feel angry. She's paraplegic and bi-lingual. Her parents can't speak a word of English, but this little girl can. She was in the next room and I heard a bit of their conversation. At this age -- she seemed to be about 11 years old --it's really hard to fathom the idea that she has to translate her own prognosis to her parents. I can only imagine what the parents are going through. This little girl, though, talks like she's talking with a smile. As if to say and comfort her parents, "It's okay, I'll be alright."
He really wants to take TJ in asap -- and sounded rather sincere about it --, but he will more than likely be in surgery for nine hours on the little girl.
Let's see.....he broke his arm on the 13th, saw an ortho on the 16th, visited Children's on the 17th, and will be seen on the 18th. Five days of painful suffering.
We got a call the next morning (the 18th) and it was actually good-bad news. There's a possibility that TJ can be seen earlier, but there's also a possibility that he may be the last to be seen or not at all until the next day. So, we starved him yet again. We were able to take anything at this point. He needs to have surgery. Last night was very painful for him.
So we went in, and his dad and I practically did cartwheels....the receptionist said that he'll be taken in at 3:30pm.
The surgery went well, and was put in a half-cast to allow for swelling for a couple days. It was painful, but to us, it was good pain. Dr. Song moved the bone back in place and had pins put into his chipped bone to prevent further damage. Because of his age, bones will naturally and quickly weld together as it heals.
I will stop writing about this chapter, because it is now, realistically March 1 and I have tons of catching up to do with homework and my practicum.
TJ is doing really well and is now in a full cast. The cast will be removed on the 17th and his bones will have healed by then. :)
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Chapter XV: Rush
It's been a hard week. Let's see if I can sum up each day without writing a novel in one chapter:
February 8, 2010, Monday
Monday: Volunteer @ Oaks Elementary (my son's school)
I tutored two children who enjoy playing reading learning games with me. That was fun and I can't be more proud of these kids. They're coming along.
Did the final touches for two papers due tonight. Although my papers are relatively easy to do, organizing my ideas and putting them into thoughts that I want to convey to my readers is another story. I got that done...finally!
Prepared for my practicum supervisor's visit by putting together a notebook. It's only a few pages, but I think I have it down pat.
Monday night: Essentials of Teaching Class
My EOT class seems to be getting progressively difficult. I love this class because of the group discussions we get into. It is definitely more in-depth and more about the technicalities of teaching, hence the difficulty. I do find it most enjoyable and satisfying learning more and more about what goes on inside a (insert any word: fabulous, great, winning)teacher's head. This is what we're being trained for. It has a lot to do with making sure our children do not fall behind.
Tuesday, February 9 2010: Practicum @ Roosevelt and Practicum Supervisor Visit
Went in to Roosevelt feeling nervous about my meeting with my program supervisor. Mrs. Dearly's anxious about this week herself. On top of meeting with me and my prac. sup., the thought of Winter Break starting this Friday can be quite overwhelming. I admire how she's able to stay on top of things considering a hectic week. The vibe inside the classroom is quite eventful. The activity level seems to be a bit higher than previous visits. No, the children were not out of control. It's just that everything seems to be rushed because we need to get things done. Even for myself.
My prac. sup.'s visit was a positive one. Boy, she couldn't have come at a better time -- I'm being sarcastic here. Due to the energy level in the classroom (and in the building, too!), imagine my stress when the children lined up during transition-time AND my prac. sup. was standing in the hallway next to me. Mrs. Dearly was still inside the classroom while I was up at the front of the line. The students typically wait for her until she comes to the front. Somehow, one of the kids thought that it would be funny that he start the line by moving himself by a few inches. Next thing I knew, the line started to move WITHOUT their teacher. The boy up front saw my expression and gave me this big smile. Yeah, I wasn't too happy. I wasn't going to yell at him -- it's not in my nature to yell. I simply walked up to him, looked at him quite sternly, and told him in a low voice to stop and wait for Mrs. Dearly in a very serious tone.
Mrs. Dearly was right: nip it right in the bud or things will start to fall apart. Even though my prac. sup. is not familiar with the routine -- whether the lined-up children were allowed to move with or without their teacher -- I knew that she knew I did the right thing when she squeezed and patted my shoulder and gave me an encouraging smile. It felt good to be positively acknowledged. My meeting with my sup. went really well. She did remind me a few times that she will be up for a visit when I do an actual lesson in front Mrs. Dearly's class.
February 10, 2010 IT Class
Ew. I love this class but it's very -- what should I say -- detail-oriented. One little mistake on an assignment and you have to re-do the entire thing. There were two re-dos that I had to fix up, which puts me behind the rest of the class. We are allowed to resubmit our assignments during class. Because this is done electronically, things can go wrong. And LUCKY ME, I so happen to be one of those where things got messed up -- totally not my fault. I was pulling my hair off trying to figure out why my submissions kept saying "resubmit" after doing do-overs. It was finally solved and thank goodness, it's not my fault. My teacher gave me the okay to go ahead and continue with what I've got.
February 8, 2010, Monday
Monday: Volunteer @ Oaks Elementary (my son's school)
I tutored two children who enjoy playing reading learning games with me. That was fun and I can't be more proud of these kids. They're coming along.
Did the final touches for two papers due tonight. Although my papers are relatively easy to do, organizing my ideas and putting them into thoughts that I want to convey to my readers is another story. I got that done...finally!
Prepared for my practicum supervisor's visit by putting together a notebook. It's only a few pages, but I think I have it down pat.
Monday night: Essentials of Teaching Class
My EOT class seems to be getting progressively difficult. I love this class because of the group discussions we get into. It is definitely more in-depth and more about the technicalities of teaching, hence the difficulty. I do find it most enjoyable and satisfying learning more and more about what goes on inside a (insert any word: fabulous, great, winning)teacher's head. This is what we're being trained for. It has a lot to do with making sure our children do not fall behind.
Tuesday, February 9 2010: Practicum @ Roosevelt and Practicum Supervisor Visit
Went in to Roosevelt feeling nervous about my meeting with my program supervisor. Mrs. Dearly's anxious about this week herself. On top of meeting with me and my prac. sup., the thought of Winter Break starting this Friday can be quite overwhelming. I admire how she's able to stay on top of things considering a hectic week. The vibe inside the classroom is quite eventful. The activity level seems to be a bit higher than previous visits. No, the children were not out of control. It's just that everything seems to be rushed because we need to get things done. Even for myself.
My prac. sup.'s visit was a positive one. Boy, she couldn't have come at a better time -- I'm being sarcastic here. Due to the energy level in the classroom (and in the building, too!), imagine my stress when the children lined up during transition-time AND my prac. sup. was standing in the hallway next to me. Mrs. Dearly was still inside the classroom while I was up at the front of the line. The students typically wait for her until she comes to the front. Somehow, one of the kids thought that it would be funny that he start the line by moving himself by a few inches. Next thing I knew, the line started to move WITHOUT their teacher. The boy up front saw my expression and gave me this big smile. Yeah, I wasn't too happy. I wasn't going to yell at him -- it's not in my nature to yell. I simply walked up to him, looked at him quite sternly, and told him in a low voice to stop and wait for Mrs. Dearly in a very serious tone.
Mrs. Dearly was right: nip it right in the bud or things will start to fall apart. Even though my prac. sup. is not familiar with the routine -- whether the lined-up children were allowed to move with or without their teacher -- I knew that she knew I did the right thing when she squeezed and patted my shoulder and gave me an encouraging smile. It felt good to be positively acknowledged. My meeting with my sup. went really well. She did remind me a few times that she will be up for a visit when I do an actual lesson in front Mrs. Dearly's class.
February 10, 2010 IT Class
Ew. I love this class but it's very -- what should I say -- detail-oriented. One little mistake on an assignment and you have to re-do the entire thing. There were two re-dos that I had to fix up, which puts me behind the rest of the class. We are allowed to resubmit our assignments during class. Because this is done electronically, things can go wrong. And LUCKY ME, I so happen to be one of those where things got messed up -- totally not my fault. I was pulling my hair off trying to figure out why my submissions kept saying "resubmit" after doing do-overs. It was finally solved and thank goodness, it's not my fault. My teacher gave me the okay to go ahead and continue with what I've got.
February 11, 2010 Volunteer at Oaks; Practicum at Roosevelt
My practicum supervisor wanted me to observe real closely the differences between being a parent volunteer in one school and a practicum teacher at another. Today was a perfect day. Most schools are celeberating Valentine's Day and teachers are preparing for mid-winter break. Today's the last day of school before the kids are out on a short vacation. They'll be back on the 17th.
My first stop was at Oakes. I helped the children pass out their cards and treats. They had ice cream. The children were to bring their own toppings and share it with their classmates. These are first-graders mind you, so all sorts of fun stuff were brought into the class: gummy worms, different kinds of cookies, m&ms, and much more. I couldn't stop laughing to myself because the kids will say to me, "Check out my ice cream sundae!" Yeah, more like "topping" sundae -- the ice cream was completely buried underneath all that topping (yay for mom; thanks, Mrs. Windell).
Like I said about Tuesday (2/9), the energy level was pretty high at Roosevelt. It was much higher today. Probably because the children are re-arranging their desks and cleaning them out. The classroom was a total disaster! I really have to admire Mrs. Dearly for not making a point to help them out. The mess is their responsibility. She has made the decision that the children, when they're done cleaning up, can have their Valentine treats. It was a superb deal because the children rushed to get things done. When they were -- and the room was (almost) completely spotless -- they happily had their treats while *I* read them a book (my supposed FIRST real lesson to the class!). It was a simple Valentine's Day book. It was soooo nice to have 21 children sit in front of me while I read. It was only one time that I had to call out on a kid who wasn't paying attention; and it was only once that I gave him a reminder. It felt great! For 20 minutes I read and asked the class questions. I do officially mark this day, MY FIRST LESSON TO AN ACTUAL CLASS. :D :D :D
Friday/Saturday February 12-13
We have tons of paper due in the upcoming weeks for my classes. We don't have class on 2/17 which gives us more time to work on papers, but for some reason I was stuck on one of them. I've been pounding my head against the wall trying to figure it out. With the help of my classmate -- this is a group project -- I'm starting to get it. Alas, however, I finally figured it out and I think it turned out alright. For this same class, my preliminary lesson plan is due (next week), a video response for my Social Order class, and a power point presentation for my IT class. I've never had this much homework since being at WWU. But...as someone woould've put it, "you've got what you paid for".
I have found out that many good teachers come from this school. Like Harvard is for lawyers, Western Washington University is th-e one for teachers. (Okay....I'm biased) I also have found out that WWU is more academically inclined than sports and frats (I read their opinion/review forum). It is a great feeling to know that my money isn't being wasted on anything not pertaining to my education. WWU have their own sub-college for teachers called "Woodring College" which I want to visit one day. It is a beautiful campus. I think it'll be great if my cohort could get together for a field trip to the college as a way to say "thanks" for everything they've done for us, most particularly, the teachers who must travel between Bellingham and Everett to teach us.
It IS a good idea.... ;)
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