Reflect & Connect 12/2

Dear Performance Fans,

This past week has been very stressful at 123 Elementary. For me, it is finals week with a project due every night, and for my focus group we changed from Book Club to having a Readers Theater. The children are so excited to put on a play for the other second and third grade focus groups! This is my first readers theatre so I am learning with my students. They have been practicing their lines this week and tomorrow we are making props for their play. I am very excited for them to perform but I am also very nervous. I am nervous because I gave them their lines last Wednesday and our assistant principal said she is going to invite their parents to come in this Wednesday to watch them perform! We still have to make props and learn how to act out what we are reading. I am very excited but am also impatient that we could not have more time for my students to practice. I expect them to try their best, and to most importantly have fun with readers theatre! After all thats what it is for, fun fluency.

Wish us luck! :)

-Miss Hester

Reflect & Connect 11/18

Dear Anyone Who Needs A Break,

I have good news! Fall break is this week for students and teachers! It is awesome to be apart of University of South Florida's Urban Teacher Residency Partnership Program because of the teacher experience it gives we have access to. I am in the classroom Monday through Friday and I get to go to faculty meetings, lesson-planning time, and a staff book study. This upcoming week I have off school Monday through Friday because 123 Elementary has their fall break. I love how the URTPP treats their students like teachers. My friends at USF do not have off until Thanksgiving. I feel my CT and I have been so exhausted and in need of a break. This week off I am going to be spending time with loved ones and finishing all of my homework!

Last Tuesday was Family Literacy night at 123 Elementary. Teachers decorated doors for Thanksgiving for families to see. Here is a picture of our door!

My CT and I had our students write on each finger, of their hand turkeys, the name of someone they are thankful for. Our students loved crafting their turkeys. It is such a spin on what they do everyday that they were happy for some change. During family literacy night I connected to my Emergent Literacy class because the station I was working at had activities for young and mature readers. My station was all about bones in the body. Students would learn about bones in an x-ray machine then they would read a paragraph about a broken bone and they would have to guess what bone it is from x-ray pictures. This connects to my Emergent Literacy class because the comprehension pieces included a literacy lesson involving ELL, young, and mature readers. I learned it is important to have all students be engaged in learning no matter what their reading level is. There is always room for accommodations to improve understanding! 

Readers have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your break,

Miss Hester

Reflect & Connect 11/11

Dear Elementary Education Interns,

Over the past two week I have started to teach social studies and I absolutely love it! It is so much fun  to teach American History. My CT gave me a lesson plan packet, made by the district, on American symbols. The purpose of teaching American symbols is to teach students why they represent America and how to research these symbols. I have read a few non-fiction books to teach my students how to use research from a book to find out information on symbols. Then, after I taught my lesson I went to Teaching Children's Literature and we learned all about the importance of informational text. I learned how informational text is connected to Common Core State Standards and how it motivates younger children to read. These were my favorite facts of what I learned about non-fiction because I would love to teach kindergarten and get them hooked on non-fiction books! It is so great how it connects to CCSS.

I was thrilled to know that what I was teaching my second graders made an immediate impact. For example, a student of mine raised his hand at the end of the lesson asking a question about the Statue of Liberty. I did not know the answer but my CT gave him a non-fiction book to research and find what he was looking for. A few minutes later he was raising his hand in the air like an eager puppy, because he wanted to share the facts that he found. After recess my class went to centers. At individual reading time a couple of my students came up to me showing me the non-fiction book they choose to read to find some interesting facts. I love how my classes connect to my internship. I cannot wait until spring semester when I get to take Teaching Children's Social Studies!

Here is a picture from my Social Studies lesson.

Enjoy,

Miss Hester

Connect & Reflect 11/4

Dear Multicultural Readers,

Last Tuesday, my Teaching Children's Literature professor asked my class to bring in a multicultural children's book. Everyone shared their book and I learned a lot about different cultures. The cultures talked about was African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, Jews, and people with disabilities. There was book about Autism that I fell in love with. It is called My Brother Charlie by Holly Robinson Peete and Ryan Elizabeth Peete. I was so happy that we got to share our books and learn from each other because it really opened my eyes to why multicultural books are so important for children. In second grade we have a student with autism but his parents do not want us to give any accommodations. I always wonder if students know that he struggles with autism. My Brother Charlie would be a great real aloud because it can teach my class to understand autism and maybe it could point out to my student who has autism that it is okay to be different.

During focus, my group of students participates in a literature circle. This week I picked a multicultural book to open their eyes to different genres of books. It is called A Birthday Basket for Tia and is written by Pat Mora. It is a story about a girl creating a birthday gift for her Great Aunt. The story is written mostly in English but some parts are in Spanish.

I introduced the book to my focus group by looking through pictures and words. Then we started reading the book by playing the game popcorn. While playing popcorn, one of my students got so excited and happy to see words written in Spanish. A boy was struggling to pronounce the Spanish words and she raised her hand saying, "Miss Hester I can do it! I know Spanish!" Then I paused the popcorn reading and asked if anyone else knew Spanish. Nobody else did. She was so excited to be reading out loud in Spanish. Also, it was an eye opener to the rest of the group because they loved hearing something new. I was so happy to see that what I learned about multicultural books in class was happening right in front of me. I got to experience the powerful effect that different genres have and how many teachable moments there are in reading.

Sincerely,

Miss Hester

Connect & Reflect 10/28

Dear Planners,

I don't know about you but I always plan out everything. I have a total of 4 planners that I use daily. I love having my life planned out and organized. Today in class I had a big problem with organizing my main idea of classroom management. My professor handed out a blank piece of paper with play dough and told us to create what we think our main idea of classroom management is only using play dough. I had such a hard time because I only had a few minutes to plan out what I thought classroom management was all about. Classroom management is so broad to me that I did not think I had a main idea until this in class project. I decided to show that I want my classroom to be student centered surrounding by fairness. The children in the picture below represent my student centered classroom. The blocks that they are standing on represents that I want a classroom environment where my students know that being fair is not always equal.

After we created our main idea of classroom management, my class laid out their  creations and we went around in a circle writing what we thought the main idea was. I was very pleased with the comments I received. It told me more about myself as a teacher than what I thought I knew. During the week I noticed when I teach I use these classroom management main ideas that my class wrote about my play dough creation. I create community during the morning meeting. I demonstrate fairness in my classroom by meeting all of my students needs. I teach my students teamwork by having them complete group work and solving peer conflicts. I loved this classroom management in class assignment because it really taught me what I think classroom management is. Also, I got to connect my ideas immediately in the classroom. This is why I love being apart of USF's urban teacher residency program!

Sincerely,

Miss Hester 

Fall Family Literacy Night (Reflect & Connect 10/21)

Dear Fall Literacy Lovers,

Last Thursday at 123-ABC Elementary school was fall family literacy night. Family literacy night is about getting parents involved with the school and teaching students literacy techniques to use at home. Every grade had their own literacy station. I worked with second grade and our literacy station was called Fall Comprehension Trees. At our station students from any grade level could come up with their families. They had to cut out leaves and color at least two. Next, they would write a comprehension checkpoint question on their colored leaf. The comprehension questions were printed on 4 sheets of paper so that students had a variety to choose from. Lastly, they would glue their leaves to a tree trunk. I really enjoyed family literacy night because I had the opportunity to meet my students parents and get to know my students in a different setting. Teachers, students, and parents could come to fall family literacy night dressed as their favorite book character. I thought this was a really cool idea because it influences children to read so they can dress as their favorite character. My collaborating teacher dressed as Pippy Longstockings because that is the chapter book she is reading aloud to our class for fun. Another reason why I loved fall family literacy night was because I got to work with new children that I normally do not have the chance to. I noticed something about myself when a kindergartener and a fourth grader were at my station. I have a higher pitched voice with the kindergartner and had more of my focus on him because he needed help using scissors and with writing the comprehension question. Then my voice level changed when I was working with the fourth grader. She knew what she was supposed to do so all I was doing with her was telling her how good of a job she was doing and I asked her questions of why she choose the comprehension questions she did. I realized then and there that it does not matter to me what grade I teach. I love helping and teaching all children. I am still in the process of learning the differences of each grade level but I feel that teaching comes naturally to me and I would be thrilled teaching any student at the elementary level!

Here is a picture of second grade's Fall Comprehension Trees station.

During this week, 123 ABC Elementary had their book fair. I bought three books for my classroom library during fall family literacy night. I am so excited to share these because they are my first books I have collected for my classroom library. I bought these books because for one the book fair had excellent prices, and two I instantly thought of a lesson plan when I began to read each book. I am going to share with you my favorite of the three. It is called My Teacher for President by Kay Winters. Here is what the cover of the book looks like. 

I think this book can be used in primary grades to teach children about the president's duties. We can have our voting lesson intertwine with literacy and social studies. I am very excited about this book because My Teacher for President gives great examples of what the president does and connects it to the classroom.

In Teaching Children's Literature we read a great article called Seven Rules of Engagement by Linda B. Gambrell. My professor separated us into groups and has us highlight our teacher takeaways. Then one by one we wrote our most meaningful takeaway on the board. Here is my group's teacher takeaways. 

I really enjoyed this article because it has ideas on how to motivate children to read. For example it says, "Access to books also implies that teachers should invite children to read by raising interest and curiosity about books and other materials." This paragraph is talking about having a variety of books in your classroom library. I completely agree with that statement and my Classroom Library board on my Pinterest page expresses the variety of books I want for my classroom. To get my students motivated by having a variety of books I would use a teaching strategy I read in the book Kindergarten by Julie Diamond. Diamond had a ritual, created by her students, that very Wednesday a student would read a book to the classroom. I love this idea because the child is presenting a book they enjoy and sharing it with the class will have students who have not read that book be motivation to try it out. 

This week has been a fun fall literacy time. I hope you guys are having a great fall season so far!

Sincerely,

Miss Hester

Reflect & Connect 10/14

Dear Rhyming Queens,

This week in my Teaching Children's Literature class, we learned all about poetry! We went over chapter 8 from Charlotte Huck's Children's Literature. I love how my professor made what we read in the textbook come to life in class. She lead be example by reading a few of her favorite poems aloud. Then she had us separate into groups and write our own poems. Here is a picture of what my group's poetry. Our task was to write about our experience so far in UTRPP.

Next, we practiced reading aloud to our groups and a few students read aloud to the class, including myself. I raised my hand to volunteer because I love, love, loved the poem I read to my group! I had so much fun reading it, so I decided to practice my read aloud and I presented the poem to the class. Once I started reading I remembered my voice being gone at the morning meeting in second grade. Ut oh, I thought, this read aloud cannot go well because my voice kept cracking and squeaking!  In the end everything was great. My Teaching Children's Literacy class had fun because I made the poem come to life with my different, weird voices. I even had some of my peers laughing. I learned so much in this class about having to teach students the love of reading. That is how my professor started the class and that is how I left the class. Before Tuesday I hated poetry. Now I want to read poems to my second graders and teach them the importance of reading.

Sincerely,

Poetry Queen Bee Intern

P.S.- I hope you like the poem my group made! I had a hard time with rhyming but they taught me a lot during group work. I love how the teacher residency program has so much group work because I already feel better prepared to work with my team in the future elementary school I will teach at! :)

Nickel & Dimed

After reading Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, I have learned from her experience a new perspective for minimum wage workers. I think Ehrenreich's main point for putting herself in others shoes, concludes in the understanding of how the lower class lives. She wanted to tell America about her surprised findings at how workers were treated and about their home life. Ehrenreich intended this book to be for middle class citizens, like herself, to understand a different way of life and have respect for it. Nickel and Dimed had many different, positive and negatives responses. I feel as if Ehrenreich's main point of writing Nickel and Dimed was hit from many types of citizens from all classes and gave American's the knowledge to stand up for what is right. This main point it applicable to my practice as a  preservice teacher because it taught me the experience that some of my students parents may be going through. It has also taught me to be less judgmental because you never know how hard someone is working and what they have to do to get by.


I really like how Nickel and Dimed gave the reader discussion questions at the end of the book. This is great for book clubs! The discussion question that stood out to me the most was number 17. It asked, "After reading Nickel and Dimed, do you think that having a job-any job- is better than no job at all? Did this book make you feel angry? Better informed? Relived that someone has finally described your experience? Galvanized to do something"? I agree that having a job is better than no job at all because it gives people something to do with their lives and a way to earn money for their hard work. This book did not make me feel angry and did not make me feel better informed. I agreed with most of the topics Ehrenreich argued, but I feel as if I do not feel better informed because I have experience in a minimum wage job. Also, from my Sociology class I took last semester at USF, I learned a lot about the lower class and problems within that community. I was well informed of what her experience would be like before reading Nickel and Dimed. At first I was upset about how she talked about the stereotypes, but then I realized from her experiences the stereotypes are true. These are the same stereotypes I learned in my Sociology class and my professor always talked about how negative and horrible it is to believe these stereotypes, but in class she showed us evidence that they were true. An example of what type of stereotype I am talking about is that poor people in America eat a lot of fast food. From my sociology class I learned that was true because the environment that surrounds impoverished areas include many fast food restaurants. In Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich discussed eating out at fast food restaurants because its what she could afford and second because she did not have time during her work day to eat anywhere else. Nickel and Dimed was a good eye opener for personal experiences of the working class.

Reflect & Connect 10/7

Dear Flexible Teachers,

This week in second grade, I learned the true importance of being flexible. All of my professors kept mentioning this work in the first few weeks of our classes and implied that you have to be flexible to be apart of the UTRPP. Sunday night I received a text message from my collaborating teacher that she would like for me to take over the class on Monday morning when she will be in meetings all day. I was beyond excited, literally jumping up and down in my room. I felt comfortable enough to teach the class because I have been there every morning since September 3rd. After the excitement was over I realized that I do not know what I will be teaching them. I never make lesson plans with my CT because we plan out the week together on Mondays. She texted me saying that everything would be ready in the morning and I will be using a sub plan. I was very nervous because I am the type of person who needs to have a plan for everything, but when I walked in on Monday morning I was ready to be flexible or whatever the morning through at me. The sub plan my CT had for me was very simple for me to understand, since we were working on one story all past week. I kept the morning routine the same but just added my "teacher touch" into the morning meeting and lesson plan. During the morning meeting I had my students share something fun they did this past weekend and I was so excited to see my shy students sharing their stories. I gave extra time at the carpet so everyone had a chance  share what they did this past weekend. Now that my CT has let me takeover the morning meeting I really would like to add more ideas for the Morning Meeting book that I read for my Classroom Management class.

I love the whole concept and the way morning meetings can change a classroom. The problem that I am dealing with right now is that I am debating if I should incorporate sharing or an activity because I know our time is limited in the morning. We already have a morning message and a greeting but I am unsure if I should add a sharing section because the children are very close with each other since they have grown up at the same school together. But on the other hand I think sharing time is very important to teach social skills and to talk about the children's emotions because most of class time is dealing with academics. I would also like to incorporate an activity to wake the children up and have them be more excited about the school day. If any of you guys have a suggestion please feel free to comment below!

Flexibility is a very important concept to master as a teacher. I feel from the past weeks I have been in the second grade and my USF education classes I have learned how to be a flexible teacher. This has been a little bit of a tough time for me because I need to always have a plan, know due dates in advance, and I want my lessons to go perfectly in the classroom. The perfect planned teacher in me has change to now a more plan ABC teacher. I am flexible to expect things to not go as planned and my CT has taught me to always have a backup plan, (my ABC plans). I took on last Monday with not knowing the lesson plan and the sub told me I did an amazing job. She said she did not have to worry about anything going wrong in the classroom because of how confident I was with the children. This made me very happy and proved that I can be flexible.

Sincerely,
New ABC Plan Teacher

Reflect & Connect 9/30

Dear Busy Bee's,

This past week of classes and interning has been very hectic! I have gained a lot of responsibility in the second grade. I am in charge of BLC (Bull's Learning Club) focus groups, morning meeting, and a fluency station during centers. Also, I am trying to observe kindergarten, when I have the chance, because it is the grade I would like to focus my classroom management plan on. I love the second grade but I have realized from reading Making Sense of Phonics, that I am very passionate about teaching emergent readers. For example, when I read about teaching the alphabet I realized how important it is. I forgot about every letter representing a sound, which may sound insane to everyone reading this, but it's true. The english language is so natural to me I do not appreciate understanding it anymore, until I read chapter 2 in Making Sense of Phonics. In chapter 2 I really like this quote, “The alphabet allows speech and thought to become permanent,” it embraces the alphabet’s importance. During my Bulls Focus group I am going to teach my group of students how important the alphabet is and why we need to keep that fact in the back of our minds. Last Friday, when I observed kindergarten, I walked around the students working at their tables. One child read his sight words to me and I loved how proud he was that he had all the correct pronunciations. Another reason why I would like to focus on emergent readers is because, “If you would like to ‘see’ the differences in young children’s abilities to engage in the continuum of phonemic awareness activities", from chapter 2 in Making Sense of Phonics. I loved how the book taught me how to teach young children phonemic awareness. I like how at the end of the chapter the author gives the reader a chance to take what they have read and put it into real life!

Tomorrow will be a busy day. I am taking over my collaborating teacher's classroom because she will be working on the schools improvement plan. I am very excited for another hectic week with a bunch of readings, assignments, and teacher planning to do! I hope you all embrace your busy weeks and connect all the knowledge you will learn!

Sincerely,
Buzzing Intern

Reflect & Connect 9/23

Dear Powerful Teachers,

This week I have become in charge of my own center! I am very excited to start practicing fluency with my group of learners. I am teaching my group of student’s phonics, fluency, and am giving them a weekly reading conference. I started my own group of centers by giving a mini reading conference to my students. I took notes and made every interview a little bit different by asking the student I was working with a new question based off of his/her answer. My favorite part of my center is listening to them read and answering any questions they may have. I found out one of my students does not like to read because he is "forced" to at home. My goal for this individual student is to teach him that reading is fun; it is not something you have to do. I am going to be using some research theories I learned from Emergent Literacy. For example, seeing if he is interested in what we are reading aloud, find a more challenging book, and help him find a book he is very interested in. 

I have realized this past week during my intern class, that teachers have a lot more power than we think. With these students I am working with, I have the power to improve their reading attitudes and levels. I am nervous and excited at the same time. Having power is very important. Your students can take anything you say the right or wrong way. For example, I learned a teacher's tone has a lot of power because depending on if it is high, low, or sarcastic, a student may be hurt by the wrong tone for the whole day when the teacher thinks s/he has gotten the point across. As a teacher I feel as if it is important to always have the same tone and voice level when giving instructions and directing students but not having a monotone voice while reading aloud or during lessons. I want to practice this upcoming week on being more cautious to my student’s reactions and focusing on what type of power my teacher enforces. 

Sincerely,

New Center Teacher

Connect & Reflect 9/16

Dear Scared Student Interns,

This past week has been a wild ride in 2nd grade. First thing Monday morning, my class got a brand new student! I was very excited but also scared because I had no idea what to do! My collaborating teacher and I had no idea she was coming into our class. That made me feel as if we were not prepared or ready for her. My collaborating teacher told me that this happens all the time and to make sure you always have back up materials ready. Then she gave our new student school supplies and continued class as usual. I have worked with her throughout this week to make sure she feels comfortable and understands the classroom procedures. I have learned from my Classroom Management class, what to do when a new student enters the classroom. I had to stop myself from always talking to her, telling her what to do, and instead I observed my class help her out. I loved seeing my students become friends with our new student and teach her the procedures of the classroom. It really helped out my CT and I because we cannot stop our lesson plans to teach our new student the procedures that the other students took over a week to learn. On Monday I was scared and nervous about how our new student was going to learn the rules of our classroom but by Wednesday I have thought of my own "new student solution," (my plan for when a new student comes into my classroom). My "new student solution" includes ideas from my professors, my readings, and my observations from my class. I will have extra school supplies ready for my new student and extend our morning meeting to introduce my new student to the class. At the morning meeting,  will go over a few very important procedures and tell my class my expectations for how they will treat and teach our new student. Then I will give our new student a new "buddy" everyday to help them out with classroom rules and procedures. I think my "new student solution" will be a great transition for them to feel safe, comfortable, and confident in my classroom.

Sincerely,
Not-as-scared Intern

Connect and Reflect 9/9

Dear Passionate Teachers,

These last two weeks I have begun my student teaching journey! So far it is amazing and I love every, stressful minute of it. I love being apart of USF/HCPS Urban Teacher Residency Partnership Program! I realized a lot more goes on behind the scenes, about teaching, then I previously assumed. I thought every teacher has their own one way street teaching with classroom management and the curriculum. These past weeks I have learned from my readings and experience in the classroom, that what I assumed is 100% wrong.

My readings and professors have taught me that research is key in education. I do not know why but this has never crossed my mind before. I always thought that research was only used for science, not teaching. But boy am I so happy that we have so much research in the education field! I feel as if without research teachings would be boring and very repetitive. In the book, Classrooms That Work, they talk about doing different studies to find out how effective teachers are so effective and why their methods work compared to other teachers. Reading chapter 1 from this book made me realize that all of the components of an effective teacher really makes a difference. I connected this with my internship by observing different teachers in different grade levels to see what their difference in teaching styles. From my ESOl I readings, I have learned that every student has their own culture and it is my duty to look into their background to find the best teaching strategies for them to succeed in my classroom. After I finished the reading I went on Google to research the backgrounds of my students. It was really beneficial that I did my research because the next night was open house and there was an arab women who is one of my students mother. I knew when I met her not to shake her hand unless she put out her hand first for me to shake. I knew not to shake her hand because my research shared with me that Arab women have a choice of their own if they do want to shake hand or not. Also, they shake with only their fingers. I decided not to put my hand out for a polite shake because I did not want to make her feel uncomfortable. Now when I am working with my diverse students, I am more cautious of their background and what norms they have. Researching has helped me everyday in the classroom and I am so excited to learn more! To be the most effective teacher that teacher must be full of passion for teaching because I learned there is a lot of research to do and teacher must be passionate or they will not do it. My PRT has taught me that every teacher has their own teaching philosophy. I know what mine is exactly, but I do know I want it to include that latest, successful research for effective teachers.

Sincerely,
Miss Intern