Family Literacy Night

On April 4th, I helped put on a Family Literacy Night at North Elementary. The theme of the night was gardening, because it was the kick off to starting their new garden. When families arrived they went to their assigned room. While entering, there was a slide show of pictures of the beginnings or the new school garden. Once all the families arrived, I read my group, “Oh Say Can You Seed” a book about plants. After we read the story, we talked about how sometimes we read for fun, information, or both! After the discussion, we went to the cafeteria and the families got to plant their own seeds to eventually be put in the garden. This was a great way for families to come to the school and support their child. It was also a great way to show how reading can influence many other activities. I would love to bring the idea of this night to my future school of employment.

Mentoring

Throughout the semester, the other interns and myself at my PDS got together with the tutors and participants to mentor them on upcoming assignments and any other questions or concerns they had. This was not only a great way to help them, but get to know them as well. We met with their mentor teachers once and just them a few other times. This gave the tutors and participants time to open up and feel comfortable asking questions they may not want to ask their mentor teachers or professors. It was nice to be able to guide them through assignments and made doing them a little more meaningful. I believe having this sort of mentorship is very important and hope during my first years teaching someone will be there for me and then I can return the favor once I get a few years experience.

PLC

I took part in a PLC with other interns and our coordinator this past semester. The topic of our PLC was a book study on, The Leader In Me. This was a familiar topic for me because my PDS where I did my internship was the first Leader In Me school in the state. We met four times throughout the semester to discuss different chapters of the book. It was nice to get together and be able to discuss the things we had all learned from the book. It was also helpful because I did not get the formal training on the Leader In Me at my PDS so this helped solidify the purpose and how to use it. I think having a book study PLC is a great way to get people together and talking about topic of interest. Our PLCs were pretty casual and were more like getting together with the girls, but that made me wanting to do it. It wasn’t a hassle to go, it was nice to have time to have good conversation with people who have the same interests and concerns as you and share ideas.

EDUC 602 Unit

For my EDUC 602 class this semester, I designed a unit with the other interns at my PDS to leave at my PDS for their use. We designed a fun unit based around the 7 Habits of Happy Kids. There are 7 total lessons that can be done anytime during the day and require little to no materials. My favorite lesson is for the Synergize habit. The students hold hands in a circle and try to get a hula hoop around the circle without letting go of each others hands. This shows how working together can help get things done. It also gives them the opportunity to work as a whole class and not just with partners. The 7 Habits has really helped my PDS and I will use some of the ideas in my future teaching whether or not my school is a 7 Habits school. This unit helped me collaborate with others and come up with fun ways to teach ambiguous topics to kids.

Movement Workshop

I attended a movement integration workshop this semester. I learned how to incorporate movement and dance into any classroom, at any grade level. I learned a lot about first making students comfortable with moving and the space that they are in. I have taken many things back to the classroom with me that I learned from this workshop and use them while I am subbing, and will continue to use them in my future teaching career. I have had my students spell their spelling words with different parts of their bodies, like with their elbow, foot, or shoulder. I have also had the students walk around the room pretending to be in a different substance. For example, while subbing in fifth grade they were learning about light rays and how they move slower through water. I had the students stands up and walk normally then had them pretend they were walking in water that was up to their shoulders. I asked them what happens when they walk through water, you slow down, just like light rays in water. Movement is something I am now not afraid to use in the classroom. It is a lot of fun!

Title 1

I spent several hours in a Title 1 reading room for part of my contract. I was shocked to see how it all worked. Once the students are grouped into their tiers almost everything the Title 1 teacher does with them is from a script. A program literally prints out their lessons and what they should do and say. I think it is great that these students are given extra help in reading, but I believe it should be a little more individualized if we really want it to work. I got to see one group perform a readers theatre which was really great. Even though the lessons were scripted, I was glad to see they were doing some creative things. I don’t think I would want to be a Title 1 teacher after observing it for a day.

SPED 668 Intervention Project

For my SPED 668 class this semester, I spent time in a high school setting working with one student on an intervention project. I had to first observe and get to know a student and look through their IEP to see an area where they were struggling and where I could help them. I decided to work with a 9th grade boy who was struggling with math. I used an AB design for my study to compare the results of the intervention. After getting to know my student, I gave him three pre-tests on addition and subtraction of integers. I then created my intervention which was bell ringers to do each morning to help him remember how to add and subtract integers. After ten days of bell ringers, he took three post-test. He improved greatly! This is an experience that I can take with me throughout my career. I got to see the step by step process of creating an intervention and going through the AB design. I will be able to use this design in the future for my own students.

Co-teach Rainforest Lesson

I co-planned and co-taught a science unit in a self contained mentally impaired classroom. It was a four day unit that integrated technology, researching, presentations, and living skills. The unit started by the students watching a Brain Pop video to introduce them to the rainforest. We then talked about the different layers of the rainforest and each group of students picked an animal to research. The next day, they used books and the internet to answer four main questions about their animal and started to create a poster to present their animal to the class. The third day the students had a read aloud and finished their posters. On the fourth day, they baked rainforest cookies, talked about why we need to save the rainforest, and shared their posters.

This was a great learning experience for me with co-teaching, and working with students with special needs. Co-teaching can be a great thing especially when working with students with special needs because they really benefit from one-on-one interaction.

Contract - Autism Classroom

I had the opportunity to spend several ours in the autism room at North Elementary. While I was there, I observed and worked with kindergarten, first, and second grade students. I got to see them interact in their general classroom and be pulled out into the autism room. I saw a wide range of ability and severity levels among the students during reading and math. I wanted to spend time in this room because I had never seen an autism room before and am very interested in it. I really enjoyed the time spent at North working with students with autism. I am currently working toward getting my autism certification and this experience helped reinforce my desire to work with students with autism. It was so interesting to see how different things are dealt with and how the students take sensory breaks to help them stay focused. I saw so many things that I have never seen or heard about in a text book, but that probably goes back to getting to know your students.

Contract - Behavior Disorder Classroom

I spent a day in a BD classroom at Mylan Park for part of my contract. I wanted to see different special education rooms because my future career may be in a very different setting then what I was placed in. The say started out with an IEP meeting for a student who was going to begin attending a new alternative school for elementary students. It was very interesting to see this because there are not many alternative settings for elementary students. They discussed her transition process to go there and come back to Mylan Park. The meeting took up most of the morning, then she had her planning and it was time for lunch. After lunch, her schedule got interrupted (surprise, surprise) with an issue involving a 2nd grade boy. We went down to address the issue and it took about an hour to resolve. When we returned to the room, there was a student and a teacher waiting from 3rd grade. There had been an issue with a boy asking a girl to lift her shirt and she was complying. She spoke with the student about what had happened and plans on addressing the situation again. It was reaching the end of the day and several students came to her room for assistance with homework or tests. They remained in her room for the rest of the day and then we walked them down to the bus. Although her day was mixed up and interrupted it was nice to see. This experience showed me how truly important it is for teachers to be flexible.

Contract - NASA Star Lab Training

I had the opportunity to attend the NASA Star Lab Training and learn how to operate the inflatable planetarium. This training not only taught me how to bring the planetarium into a school, but gave me knowledge on space. It also provided me with many great lesson ideas to do with students about space and our solar system. This was a very interesting training because I have never seen the inflatable planetarium before. The instructor for this training also informed me of other trainings and equipment available through NASA. There are several trainings that will even pay you or give you course credits for attending. If I stay in the area I will most definitely attend more.

Contract - Tech Steps

For part of my contract, I helped teach tech steps to the entire 5th grade class with another intern. The tech steps they were on required the students to write an interactive story using power point. The students created a story with multiple endings depending on which things you would click on as you went along the power point. This experience opened my eyes to the difficult tasks that 5th grade students are expected to complete. I could not believe the level of difficulty of this assignment. I also realized how important it is to have an extra set of hands when teaching tech steps. Many students were unfamiliar with what was expected for them to complete and there were hands going up every time I turned around. I think it is valuable that students learn new 21st century skills and how to use technology, but this was very difficult and I could not imagine doing it by myself.

Contract- DIBELS Training

The first part of my contract completed was my DIBELS training. I went to North Elementary and learned how to use the palm and give students the test. Once the training and practicing was over, I spent several hours DIBELing 3rd and 5th grade students. I experienced using the palm and written forms. This training and practice allowed me to gain experience working with students. I had to create a sense of comfort when pulling the students for testing by asking questions and putting them at ease. I then had to get through the test and converse with them after and tell them good job. This experience showed me how time consuming testing can be but the results can really help out with instruction.