Megan's+Practicum+Blog

9-14-2011
= Though I have not started my practicum with the first grade at Carlow Campus School, I do have several expectations. First, Let me mention how excited I am to be working on this practicum with Mrs. Jennifer Filak. At our first meeting to discuss the practicum, We discussed how the first grade Language and Reading curriculum was changing this year. I expect to bring my ideas on a new program to this classroom. Mrs.Filak and I are discussing new literary centers for the classroom; there will me more small group work versus traditional lecture. I am supposed to bring new ideas for centers that work on literacy skills and fine motor skills to start. So through this practicum, I expect to be working one on one with children aiding both their development and Jennifer. There was also a discission on creating a class mural on the wall by using a giant piece of paper where the children can go up and add their creative expressions and ideas. This idea came from the exploration on Tomie dePaola's //"The Art Lesson".// Since I hope to work with age group one day, I want to experience all that this wonderful practicum has to offer and learn everything I can in this short amount of time. =



‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍media type="youtube" key="MhYyAa0VnyY" height="336" width="548" ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ On September 19th, 2011 I finally had my first oppurtunity to experience the 1st gradeclassroom at work and all I can say is that I loved it. From the moment I entered the room I felt comfortable and new this was going to an experience to remember. As soon as I walked in the room my head teacher welcomed me into what would be our room and work together this year. Since I would be helping to design centers for the first grade children to work at and develop language, reading, science, and fine motor skills. During their floor time, I automatically felt comfortable and that this setting was one where the children could learn. The children both raised their hands to answer or spoke out, which I thought was really progressive because not alot of traditional, and catholic schools, ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍would support such an open environment for the ideas of children to be heard. ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ I felt like Mrs.Filak was the perfect placement for me to learn from because I want to make a difference for and connections with the children in my classrooms. She was really open to me just getting up and involved in the lesson with the kids. I never felt like I was overstepping her in the classroom. The children in this classroom are so well-behaved. This may be attributed to the fact that their are only 9 children in the classroom, so no child needs to act out to get attention, but their attitudes were so polite. During snack time, Elizabeth* openly started to talk to me and tell me about her life and home experiences. They were all so open and it was nice to feel accepted by the entire room. I absolutely loved teaching the children when they were journal writing. I got to experience just for a little what it feels like to be a teacher in the real-world and not just in theory. The children were really open to asking for help when it was needed and I found that extremely refreshing. The room arrangement is set up is good for the type of work that I would suggest in the classroom. The children sit at tables of 3, which I think is great for small group work. ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Small group work is one thing I would suggest more of in the classroom. ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍This may be an oppurtunity to work with Mrs. F to create a more group and experience friendly environment. The class scedule is what I would expect for a first grade classroom, but I do have to say I liked how Mrs.Filak handled transitions between activities. From what I observed on this first practicum, the curriculum is appropriate for the students that she has in her classroom at this level. However, some of the children are a little behind in some of thier fine motor skills like writing and scissor cutting. This is also an activity I plan on working on with Mrs. Filak this semester. Overall, my first day of practicum went spectacularly and I enjoyed working myself into the classroom. I know that I will take alot from this experience and thank Mrs. Hirsh for such an amazing oppurtunity. P.S. ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Today was also my birthday and I could not have been more pleased to spend it with these children. ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

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"Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own." //-- Nikos Kazantzakis// =====

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Another joyful day in my practicum placement getting to know the children on a personal level. The process of getting children to open up is slow, but I am very hopeful with these children. I feel as if we were meant to help eachother grow and learn, so that each of us may become a better person through this semester. To get to know the children in the classroom I am trying to incorporate myself into their work as much as possible. ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍I am also trying to be a support system for them in their learning that they can get to know and rely on for help through their struggle ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍s. During the course of my time in the classroom the children have both snack and lunch, so to get to know them I am placing myself at a different table and having open discussion with them. Allowing them to test the waters with me and allowing me to see what is really underneath the surface of these well-behaved children. I am also doing my best to incorporate myself into their curriculum when my corporating teacher has ideas. For instance, This week I got to read Strega Nona to the children. Through this reading I was sneaking in questions to get to know the children like "Have you ever done something like Big Anthony that you were not supposeed to?, What do you think is going to happen?, and Have you ever been that full in your tummy?" Slowly, but surely I am getting to know these children on a personal and professional level. =====

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Through my work and conversations over the past two weeks, I have indeed gotten to know some about these children. While walking around the classroom as they do their assignments I am learning where they are in their development and what skill levels they are at by their abilities shown to me. I can see where they succeed and struggle on an individual level. For instance, some children are great at writing and spelling, where others need the work in their strokes and writing. I can use this information to help me design my lessons and centers that I will be creating. On a more personal level during snack time, I am getting to know these children. ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Some have opened up and told me things about their home lives while others are still adjusting to my presense in the room. I did learn that one of my student's mothers works on campus and teaches some classes to the college students though I will not have her for any of mine. ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Another student shared stories about her older sister, who I happen to know from a previous observation at my placement school. While engaged in outside play, I can get to know and see the children's intrests and social levels. Are they engaged in play? How are they engaged in play? These are all questions I am slowly answering through my observations of the children over time. I will most likely reflect in this blog at a later time once I have had even more time to get involved in the classroom experiences and play. =====

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<span style="color: #00adff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">On Monday, October 3rd, 2011 I choose to do my first lesson plan in the 1st grade classroom. This week the students are learning more about Tomie DePaola through examination of his work "The Popcorn Book". My teacher thought this was an awesome time for me to do my first lesson with the children. With the help of Mrs. Hirsh, I came up with an awesome idea to do with the children to not only introduce the section, but to add small group, large group, fine motor, brainstorm, predictions, and experimentation all into one lesson. <span style="color: #00adff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">I started my lesson by a simple discussion of popcorm with the class. This allowing me to see what previous knowledge the children had on popcorn and allow the children and me to get comfortable with eachother. <range type="comment" id="426744">‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍I feel that when we were comfortable the lesson would be more fun and we would all learn much better together ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍. During this discussion, I passed out unpopped kernals and allowed the children to manipulate the kernal. We had a good discussion about popcorn kernals and started to brainstorm together what we all thought happens to turn this kernal into the "fluffy puffy" stuff we can eat and enjoy. Soon after, I walked the children over to a new table where I had set-up a hot air popcorn maker. Together we added the ingrediants, turned on the machine, and watched with enjoyment as the popcorn began to pop everywhere. I say everywhere because an unexpected thing happened where my machine started to shoot the popcorn out! There were pieces flying everywhere in the room, on the table, at the kids, and on the floor. Though unexpected, this did add alot of excitement to my lesson and the children were enthused and laughing, which I think made my lesson more enjoyable and that lead to the children learning more. When the popping was over, I asked the children to sit back at there tables and draw out on a popcorn page what they thought happened inside of the kernal to make it pop. I asked the children to discuss with eachother in small groups before they started to create, then express what they individually thought occured. <range type="comment" id="653876">‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍This demonstrating my value of small group work, but also the value of the children's thoughts as individuals ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍. When the children were finished expressing themselves, I asked them to return to the carpet and discuss with me what they thought happened. As a group, We came together and I wrote all of the ideas they had on the white board. When they were all warmed up to popcorn, I finally introduced "The Popcorn Book" by Tomie DePaola. To my great pleasure, the children watched with excitement as I read the book to them. When I was done, I told the children to once again return to their desks and to enjoy some of the popcorn we popped together. In my opinion, the lesson plan was quite a success.



<span style="color: #00ffb1; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater. ~Gail Godwin

<span style="color: #9a00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">On October 24th, 2011 I returned to my practicum classroom after a two week break due to thier day off in recognition for Colombus day and my day off for Fall break. I was truly happy to once again be with and learn along with the students of this classroom. I choose to step-back from direct learning with the students and treated this as a day more of observation. I choose to do this because the Early Language & Literacy Classroom Observation rating scale need my full attention. I do have to say I enjoyed and did not enjoyed this day of observation. It in retrospect was a good chance to warm back up to the flow of the classroom and the students after two weeks off and away from them. However, As I sat on the outside of the learning, I found my self longing to be involved and talk to students as they developed and grew in their learning. I think this basically reminds me of the fact that even though the education field may be challenging I have made the absolute best decision about my future because I literally long to be in the classroom and helping children learn. I truly deep in my heart want to make a positive difference in their worlds and the future of our world that we share; Children are our future and what we do, what we say, and how we inspire them might just change the world as we know it. <span style="color: #9a00ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">That being said, The point of this blog entry is to reflect on the classroom literacy scale and what I have learned from it. As I completed this scale I noticed the different literacy based aspects of the classroom and the uses of literacy my practicum placement completes and struggles with. I noticed how organized the classroom is and how that relates to the flow of the classroom. The centers allowing for the children to work together and move about the classroom learning and experiencing different content areas. I noticed just how much professional focus Mrs.Filak has in her classroom; she seems to hold the student's education very close to her. She is both professional in her teaching, but warm, nuturing, and connectable to the children. I also noticed that through my practicum and discussion of her technique with my peers that she alway tries her best to get any adult in the classroom very involved. The environment of the classroom is very literacy based and encourages the students to pick up a book and read. Children go book-shopping on Mondays for books to silent read on there own or with help of the teachers. There are is literature surrounding the entire class and in each of the center. I think how great the environment is due to the fact that the first grade is working with Rae Ann on thier language curriculum. It is so amazing to see the changes; and if I do say so, I think the changes are only helping the learning of the students in this classroom. The displays in the classroom encourage the children to read and look at books. If I was to make recommendations for the class, I would suggest more group activities with the literature. I would suggest different techniques that I am currently learning in my Language and Arts Methods course. I would also possible recommend more diversity in the classroom displays of the students backgrounds and cultures along with more diversity in the texts that I observed being used.<range type="comment" id="602238">‍‍ Another suggestion I have is for more oppurtunities to extend conversations past the basic curriculm with peers. Literacy can be developed in every content, so I suggest more books in every center. :) I believe that doing the ELLCO really helped me take notice of the literacy elements in the classroom that I would most likely have overlooked due to my fascination with working with the children. It was crucial to my learning as a future educator. ‍‍

"They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel." //- Carol Buchner//

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! (( " )) <-- PUMPKIN :)  On October 31st, I entered the classroom and found out I would be experiencing something a little different from my usual routine. Since it was Halloween today, Mrs. Filak and Mrs. Reibold decided to co-teach in the morning. After the usual group time and instruction about lesson they would doing, the class joined Mrs. Reibold's classroom. First, Mrs.Filak read a story about a child witch that goes to school and the chaos that pursues when the teacher and the father do not agree, which leads to several exchanges of spells. When complete the students worked to create a color, cut, and glue witch of their own. I have to say I enjoyed seeing the creativity the children were allowed to show in their witches as they pieced them together. After, it was Mrs.Reibold's turn to read a story about a dog who did not want to share her Halloween candy. To supplement that story the children worked on their math skills, with a bag of candy and different sorting and counting activities. During this I was able to float about the class and help instruct the children when they had questions or needed help.<range type="comment" id="237124">‍‍ I was really happy to see the different teaching technique at work as the teachers both put effort into eachothers efforts teaching and supported eachother. ‍‍ At the beginning of the practicum I made a goal for myself, to learn all I can about leading a successful 1st grade class. I think that summarizes my goals for this practicum to try and learn all I can and experience through my time spent with these children. I am meeting my goal for this goal several ways. First, I am trying to get to know these children as I float about the room during instruct, learning where each child stands, and their strengths and weakness. Second, I am taking the time to pause and observe how Mrs. Filak runs her classroom. How she moves about the day, how she relates to the children, and most important how she instructs them so that each and every child is getting the best education possible. Thirdly, I am reflecting on everything I learn after my experiences in practicum. Taking what I see and intrepreting what I enjoyed and what I may do differently to make my future practicum experiences a success. Overall, I believe I am trying my best to incorporate myself into the practicum, help Mrs. Filak in whatever ways I can, and enjoy myself and truly learn.

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//**"Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength of the nation." -- John F. Kennedy**//

<span style="color: #0090ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">On Monday, November 14th, after a week of being sick and having to miss my practicum because of it, I was able to reenter the classroom. I choose this week as a time to complete my math lesson with these children. With the help of my teacher and a discussion on what the students needed and are in their math development we chose for me to do a lesson on the analog clock and telling time. <span style="color: #0090ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Overall, My lesson was a success as I believe that many of the children already have a vast knowledge of telling time on an analog clock. As I taught, some of the children added information that was higher skills than I was actually teaching during this lesson. I was teaching estimation of how long a minute is, the meaning of a clock, how the hands move, and basic describtive terms for telling time like almost, a little past, between two hours, etc. Rather these students added that each mark on the clock represented the second or minute of that moment in time and that when the minute hand was on a number that meant that it was a total of another 5 minute period.<range type="comment" id="975360">‍‍ Therefore, my lesson was a success, but that was on part of because the children already had alot of prior knowledge about telling time. ‍‍ When we did the estimations of a minute, where the children counted in their head and raised a hand when they thought a minute was up, I was surprised to see how short a mintute was to them. I later figured out as we counted as a class that they count faster than the time a second actually is and had to try and slow them down as we counted. The rest of my lesson that I taught flew by as the children knew the answers to the questions that I asked as I taught. Later in the lesson after I taught the children got to make a clock of their own, which they loved and decided to show me different times they knew how to represent. As an assessment, Mrs. Filak gave me a work sheet that asked the children to fill out 4 different times of activities that they go to on a clock. The students had to create the clock and then show with the proper minute and hour hands the time that the activity took place. I enjoyed this lesson and thought it was a good one to do my first ever lesson on a math topic.



<span style="color: #fab200; font-family: Georgia,serif;">"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." <span style="color: #fab200; font-family: Georgia,serif;">-- Henry Brooks Adams

<span style="color: #b700ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On Monday, November 21st, I changed up my practicum routine and decided to enter Mrs.Rs 1st grade classroom for one week. This was choosen after discussion with my cooperating teacher about a blog on a challenging behavior. Mrs.Filak decided that since there really is not any challenging behaviors in her class to possibly observe another first grade. The day went as usual, however I did see a particular challenging behavior that would be difficult to handle in a classroom. For the purpose of this blog, I will call her Lola. Lola seems to have authority issues in the classroom and is very outspoken for a six-year old. I observed her challenging the teacher for authority several times during this day. Even once noticing a particularly strong sort of yes, no, yes, no type of arguement when Lola did not want to listen to Mrs.R. She seems to have a sort of attitude and behavior issues doing what she wants as she wants it. The arguing back and challenging behavior of challenging your superiors is simply that a hard behavior to handle. I think that the behavior is so difficult because its a superiority issue rather than the result of a special need. <span style="color: #b700ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Based on the curriculum's of the first grade that I have observed throughout my practicum experiences I would say that it sometimes helps her self-control, while other times hinders it as well. When the children are provided small group work or partner work the Lola seems to like to take charge of the situation. It is when they have lecture that Lola seems to want to take over and control, but at those times it is not appropriate, which leads to the challenging behavior. Therefore, I would suggest several things that might help the child develop better self-control in the classroom. First, I would suggest having a meeting with Lola away from her friends to discuss this behavior. <range type="comment" id="296566">‍‍At the end of this discussion, agree on terms of respect for both Lola and Mrs.R teaching. Let her know that the classroom values her thoughts and ideas, but there is a time and approriate place for them to be shared. Then, I would implement into the curriculum a ‍‍that allows small group practice in the classroom, where it is appropriate for Lola to take a lead role in the class activity.

"[|Teach me to behave sincerely and reasonable toward every member of my family and all other human beings, that I may not cause confusion and sorrow to anyone]"

<span style="color: #0091ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">On Monday, December 5th, I set off from my dorm room for the last time to head to my 1st grade practicum. I am so honored to have spent my semester with these children. They have all taught me so much, as well as taken a small piece of my heart. They are so kind and caring and I truly have made a connection with these children over the last 10 weeks. I am going to miss them so much as I leave to enter a new semester at Carlow University. <span style="color: #0091ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">At this time in my wikispaces blog I believe it is time to reflect on how my own professional teaching practice changed as a result from this practicum experience. I have learned from the staff, from my cooperating teacher, and from the children themselves. The staff of my placement has taught me how to act responsiblity when it comes to the education of young children. I have learned how to handle difficult situations between how to handle when one first grade bites another first grader, to how to professionally cooperate with your peers in the education of young children, how to run a successful classroom. During this practicum, I have not only had the oppurtunity to work with my lead teacher, but also another first grade teacher for a week and when they co-taught the two first grade. Also since in the middle of the semester the children's specials got combined (Science, Library, Swimming, etc.) I have gotten the oppurtunity to observe a library class. My cooperating teacher had helped me reach my goal of this practicum, "to learn all I can about leading a successful 1st grade class", by demonstrating professional actions, but by also making a connection to the children through discussion and allowing the children to share their thoughts. Mrs. Filak welcomed me into her class and I was able to become a part of her classroom. I helped out wherever I could, whether that being a floater to help the children with their work or performing an assessment on math or reading with the students. The children have helped me to grow the most in my professional teaching practice. Without children hungering for knowledge there would be no need for education or teachers, like you and I. My work with the children has taught me how to become a professional, but good educator. I needed to gain their interest and keep them entertained, while teaching them something knew. My working with these children, I had to become close to them to know where they needed help, where they struggled, and where they were strong and independent. My work in this practicum truly has shaped me as an educator by allowing my to experience a real classroom. <span style="color: #0091ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">My professional teaching practic has developed, but more than ever I hold true to the beliefs of my philosophy statement. In the classroom, I still believe community involvement, small group practice, play, media type="youtube" key="Tlp7UvLvqXI" height="315" width="420" align="left" and developing the whole child are crucial to the development of the child. "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement, nothing can be done without hope and confidence." //-- Helen Keller//

"Once children learn how to learn, nothing is going to narrow their mind. The essence of teaching is to make learning contagious, to have one idea spark another." //-- Marva Collins//