Dear Parents,
During my student internship at 123 Elementary, I have learned how to prepare for conferences with parents. Administration prepared teachers during a faculty meeting by going over important conversations topics and a academic plan. The academic plan listed expectations students needed to meet to move on to the next grade. This plan consisted of test scores in all subjects. I was surprised that just a few tests for second graders determined if they were going to be third graders next year. I am worried for a few of my students because I know taking tests is very hard for them.
Teachers prepared me for parent teacher conferences in many different ways. My second grade collaborating teacher organized all of the most important data for her students, included with information of how to help them at home (examples are worksheets and online resources). My fifth grade collaborating teacher taught me how give a DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment). She showed me the running record symbols to use as the student is reading and how to add up the symbols to give an accurate score. Then students took back to their seats and reflection and writing piece. I love how they we not just assessed orally but also on paper. It really shows the students talent by reading their writing. I got to experience a students score go from a level 40 in the beginning in the year to a 60 by last Wednesday. This is great data to show parents so they can see where there students academic level increasing.
I am a very fortunate student intern to have such an amazing faculty and two collaborating teacher teach me all about parent conferences. I feel very prepared for my own, which is just a year and a half away!
Sincerely,
Miss Hester
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Reflect & Connect 2/9
Dear Center Lovers,
During our Teaching K-6 Math class last Thursday, residents got together in groups and created math stations for learning numbers 1-20. Once we completed making a chart that had directions for our center, our professor then had us do a gallery walk. For those who do not know, a gallery walk is when you walk around the classroom looking at projects/pictures. It was really cool seeing how creative my classmates are. I would love to use math centers in my second grade classroom. I think this could really benefit student's learning because they would learn in their math-level groups, work collaboratively, and focus on what they need. I wonder how this could happen though because I feel like there would not be enough time during our math block. Please feel free to comment with any suggestions! Thank you!
Sincerely,
Miss Hester
During our Teaching K-6 Math class last Thursday, residents got together in groups and created math stations for learning numbers 1-20. Once we completed making a chart that had directions for our center, our professor then had us do a gallery walk. For those who do not know, a gallery walk is when you walk around the classroom looking at projects/pictures. It was really cool seeing how creative my classmates are. I would love to use math centers in my second grade classroom. I think this could really benefit student's learning because they would learn in their math-level groups, work collaboratively, and focus on what they need. I wonder how this could happen though because I feel like there would not be enough time during our math block. Please feel free to comment with any suggestions! Thank you!
Sincerely,
Miss Hester
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Reflect & Connect 2/2
Dear Questioners,
I am very excited to inform you that I will be making a lesson plan for my Instructional Planning class and a unit plan in Teaching K-6 Social Studies class. I have chosen the CCSS, "SS.2.G.1.2
Using maps and globes, locate the student's hometown, Florida, and North America, and locate the state capital and the national capital," for my Instruction Planning class. I chose this standard because I want to create lesson plans for my internship I have with second grade. It is a social studies standard because I only get one K-6 Social Studies class while I am earning my Elementary Education degree at USF. So far it has been difficult for me to create essential questions for my lesson and connect them to the six facets of understanding. The six facets of understanding include, explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge. As I continue to learn from my professor and intern experience I hope to be the best at creating essential questions for my lessons. I feel as if they are the heart of the lesson because it shows the class the lesson purpose. I want to be able to connect my essential questions to their life outside of school.
As soon as I have my essential questions complete I will post them here for you all to see!
Feel free to leave comments. :)
Sincerely,
Miss Hester
I am very excited to inform you that I will be making a lesson plan for my Instructional Planning class and a unit plan in Teaching K-6 Social Studies class. I have chosen the CCSS, "SS.2.G.1.2
Using maps and globes, locate the student's hometown, Florida, and North America, and locate the state capital and the national capital," for my Instruction Planning class. I chose this standard because I want to create lesson plans for my internship I have with second grade. It is a social studies standard because I only get one K-6 Social Studies class while I am earning my Elementary Education degree at USF. So far it has been difficult for me to create essential questions for my lesson and connect them to the six facets of understanding. The six facets of understanding include, explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge. As I continue to learn from my professor and intern experience I hope to be the best at creating essential questions for my lessons. I feel as if they are the heart of the lesson because it shows the class the lesson purpose. I want to be able to connect my essential questions to their life outside of school.
As soon as I have my essential questions complete I will post them here for you all to see!
Feel free to leave comments. :)
Sincerely,
Miss Hester
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Reflect & Connect 1/27
Dear Teachers who Teach for a Cause,
This past week I learned a lot about myself as a teacher. My internship consists in an urban school district. I have learned through my experience I want to teach in an urban setting when I graduate. I would like to do this for many reasons, but I learned my true passions during class. For my level II intern class we are learning about teacher inquiry and how to start our own inquiry. We looked at this by reading examples of passions teachers inquire. The passion I connected to the most was social justice. My passion for social justice is to understand how to meet every students needs when it comes to their culture. In my Teaching Exceptional Students class, we watched videos concerning African Americans versus Caucasians when it came to education in America. I learned our education system needs some changes when it comes to teaching minorities. Teachers need to learn how to teach different cultures with their learning styles. As a teacher, I want to be apart of my students community and show them everyday how much I care. I will support my students and set high expectations.
In my second grade classroom, I was struggling with the fact that I knew about how rough life is at home for most of my students and that there is not much I can do to change that. As a teacher I want to teach in urban schools to have my classroom be their safe, second home. I cannot wait to create a safe, fun, learning community environment in my class.
Growing as a Teacher,
Miss Hester
This past week I learned a lot about myself as a teacher. My internship consists in an urban school district. I have learned through my experience I want to teach in an urban setting when I graduate. I would like to do this for many reasons, but I learned my true passions during class. For my level II intern class we are learning about teacher inquiry and how to start our own inquiry. We looked at this by reading examples of passions teachers inquire. The passion I connected to the most was social justice. My passion for social justice is to understand how to meet every students needs when it comes to their culture. In my Teaching Exceptional Students class, we watched videos concerning African Americans versus Caucasians when it came to education in America. I learned our education system needs some changes when it comes to teaching minorities. Teachers need to learn how to teach different cultures with their learning styles. As a teacher, I want to be apart of my students community and show them everyday how much I care. I will support my students and set high expectations.
In my second grade classroom, I was struggling with the fact that I knew about how rough life is at home for most of my students and that there is not much I can do to change that. As a teacher I want to teach in urban schools to have my classroom be their safe, second home. I cannot wait to create a safe, fun, learning community environment in my class.
Growing as a Teacher,
Miss Hester
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Reflect & Connect 1/18
Dear Interactive Teachers,
One of my assignments for my Teaching K-6 Social Studies class was to go to the Tampa Bay History Center. One MLK Day, I celebrated by visiting the history center. I had so much fun! I learned how to take in the history, as a student, so I can take my class here in my future career. I played on horse saddles and felt like I was really horseback riding. My favorite experience was during a 15 minute film. The theatre was set up in Florida's forest. It had a screen and two active models. The film was about the Seminoles tribe in Florida. I loved learning about this because it showed the Seminoles perspective and the American General's. Also, I am currently teaching a Native Americans unit in second grade so it was great to learn both perspectives of what happened toNative Americans in American history. I think this is very important for my teaching because I want to teach my students both perspectives so they can learn everything about history and follow what they believe in. I bought a graphite arrowhead for my students to write with and connect to the Native Americans they are learning about. They loved it! I know have a better understanding of fully learning the content you are teaching, I can make my Native American lessons so much more interesting because I learned fun facts from the Tampa Bay History Center.
Look in my gallery to see pictures from my trip at the museum!
Sincerely,
Miss Hester
One of my assignments for my Teaching K-6 Social Studies class was to go to the Tampa Bay History Center. One MLK Day, I celebrated by visiting the history center. I had so much fun! I learned how to take in the history, as a student, so I can take my class here in my future career. I played on horse saddles and felt like I was really horseback riding. My favorite experience was during a 15 minute film. The theatre was set up in Florida's forest. It had a screen and two active models. The film was about the Seminoles tribe in Florida. I loved learning about this because it showed the Seminoles perspective and the American General's. Also, I am currently teaching a Native Americans unit in second grade so it was great to learn both perspectives of what happened toNative Americans in American history. I think this is very important for my teaching because I want to teach my students both perspectives so they can learn everything about history and follow what they believe in. I bought a graphite arrowhead for my students to write with and connect to the Native Americans they are learning about. They loved it! I know have a better understanding of fully learning the content you are teaching, I can make my Native American lessons so much more interesting because I learned fun facts from the Tampa Bay History Center.
Look in my gallery to see pictures from my trip at the museum!
Sincerely,
Miss Hester
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Reflect & Connect 1/12
Dear Explorers,
Last Friday I went on my first field trip as a student intern. My second grade class traveled to a Riverfront Park. It was a lot of fun! We got to go on a nature hike, learn about trees, and learn how to plant a tree. It was interesting how 123 Elementary had no buses, so individually we had to drive our students there. The majority of the class was not well-behaved during the field trip, which I was very surprised about because compared to the other second grade class their everyday behavior is amazing. I learned a lot from watching how my CT reacted to certain behavior situations. For example, there was a child who kept running away, wanting to do something else. My CT talked to the child about their behavior and said they can still be sent to the office because our school was right down the road. As a new teacher learning about how to become a teacher I wish there was another way to handle misbehavior without rewards/punishments. That is something I am inquiring on my own. I have learned from my Level II Intern class that we should research and reflect everything we do as teacher's. I am taking my time to learn from a book by Dr. Marshall called, Discipline Without Stress, Punishments, or Rewards, to teach myself how to take away rewards and punishments from the classroom. This connects to my Level II Intern class because we are currently reading,
Last Friday I went on my first field trip as a student intern. My second grade class traveled to a Riverfront Park. It was a lot of fun! We got to go on a nature hike, learn about trees, and learn how to plant a tree. It was interesting how 123 Elementary had no buses, so individually we had to drive our students there. The majority of the class was not well-behaved during the field trip, which I was very surprised about because compared to the other second grade class their everyday behavior is amazing. I learned a lot from watching how my CT reacted to certain behavior situations. For example, there was a child who kept running away, wanting to do something else. My CT talked to the child about their behavior and said they can still be sent to the office because our school was right down the road. As a new teacher learning about how to become a teacher I wish there was another way to handle misbehavior without rewards/punishments. That is something I am inquiring on my own. I have learned from my Level II Intern class that we should research and reflect everything we do as teacher's. I am taking my time to learn from a book by Dr. Marshall called, Discipline Without Stress, Punishments, or Rewards, to teach myself how to take away rewards and punishments from the classroom. This connects to my Level II Intern class because we are currently reading,
The Reflective Educator's Guide to Classroom Research: Learning to Teach and Teaching to Learn Through Practitioner Inquiry.
Have fun researching,
Miss Intern
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Reflect & Connect 1/5
Dear Revolutionaries,
This week I have returned to 123 Elementary. I am so happy to be back in my second grade classroom. I sure have missed my students over break! UTRPP has brought me exciting new opportunities for the 2014 year. First, I will be experiencing intermediate elementary school. I am paired with a fifth grade teacher at 123 Elementary for two hours a week. My first day I was very nervous, but also super excited to see what teaching an intermediate grade level is like. I loved every minute of fifth grade. My collaborating teacher is energetic, loud, and very passionate about teaching fifth grade. I observed her teaching a social studies lesson, where her and her students were reading along to an article about a woman who helped Colonists during the American Revolution. It was very cool to learn about history with a women in power. This article she was teaching connected to my social studies class from earlier that week. My social studies professor taught us how to teach students history from a different perspective. This is important because it teaches students the unwritten curriculum of our cultures values. For example, I never knew women helped out during the American Revolution. I assumed their only job was to be housewives and have children. Also, in my instructional planning class we read an article by Banks called Curriculum Reform Approaches. This article connects to teaching social studies because it went over how teachers cultures and backgrounds are the perspectives they teach from.
I am very excited to see what else connects in my future classes with my new fifth grade class! Also, I wonder if getting experience in an intermediate grade is going to change my mind for what grade I want to teach. As of now I am set on Kindergarten but my experience in fifth grade might change my mind. We will have to wait and see!
Happy New Year!
Miss Hester
P.S. Here is a picture of the social studies article from a students binder and the set up of a science/social studies/math word wall my fifth grade CT's classroom.
This week I have returned to 123 Elementary. I am so happy to be back in my second grade classroom. I sure have missed my students over break! UTRPP has brought me exciting new opportunities for the 2014 year. First, I will be experiencing intermediate elementary school. I am paired with a fifth grade teacher at 123 Elementary for two hours a week. My first day I was very nervous, but also super excited to see what teaching an intermediate grade level is like. I loved every minute of fifth grade. My collaborating teacher is energetic, loud, and very passionate about teaching fifth grade. I observed her teaching a social studies lesson, where her and her students were reading along to an article about a woman who helped Colonists during the American Revolution. It was very cool to learn about history with a women in power. This article she was teaching connected to my social studies class from earlier that week. My social studies professor taught us how to teach students history from a different perspective. This is important because it teaches students the unwritten curriculum of our cultures values. For example, I never knew women helped out during the American Revolution. I assumed their only job was to be housewives and have children. Also, in my instructional planning class we read an article by Banks called Curriculum Reform Approaches. This article connects to teaching social studies because it went over how teachers cultures and backgrounds are the perspectives they teach from.
I am very excited to see what else connects in my future classes with my new fifth grade class! Also, I wonder if getting experience in an intermediate grade is going to change my mind for what grade I want to teach. As of now I am set on Kindergarten but my experience in fifth grade might change my mind. We will have to wait and see!
Happy New Year!
Miss Hester
P.S. Here is a picture of the social studies article from a students binder and the set up of a science/social studies/math word wall my fifth grade CT's classroom.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)