A Bitter, Sweet Goodbye

Many people do not know that I teach a religious education class one night a week. This is something I have been doing now for seven years. This year I had a third grade class, which is unusual for me. Most other years I have had grades sixth or seventh grade classes. Having such a young class was very different for me. It took a lot of getting used in the early part of the year, but as time went on things began to come together. Today was the last day of class with them for the year, and I left with very mixed feelings about this past year. For the most part I am going to miss my class, but on the other hand I am happy it is over because they were a handful and I already know that I have a sixth grade class for next year. Having such young students taught me a great lesson in being very patient. I'm not always the most patient person, but working with them taught me that I had to be patient because they were still very young and trying the best they could. Some of my students were only on a kindergarten or first grade reading level so this made it difficult for them to complete some of the readings for class. Initially this was very frustrating for me. As time went on I made many of my lessons hands on using different activities and projects to teach them the material this really worked out well. So, overall I am sad to see them leave, but I am relieved that there is one less thing to do on top of work and school.

So Much for Saying Goodbye to the Blog

Although this assignment is over and I thought that would be the end of me blogging, I keep finding things to blog about. When we were "forced" to post for class I found it difficult to post sometimes as I knew that it was part of my grade, but now that it is just on my own for fun it seems so much easier. The last few days I have had quite a few things come up that I have either already blogged about or will be blogging about in the near future. Unlike most assignments in school that end when the semester ends or the due date arrives, this has become something that I want to continue doing. The blog has become fun for me to do, and I have found out that it is impacting other people. So I will be continuing my blog as long as I still have things in education to write about. The possibilities are endless meaning this blog will go on for a long time. I definitely plan to use this with my students, and hopefully they will come to enjoy it as much as I am. 

Picking on Students

My personal belief has always been that a teacher should not pick on students directly. Joking around is one thing, but giving students a hard time by picking on or making fun of them is completely wrong. I feel that picking on students can lead to them no longer wanting to be in that class. Students have it tough enough being students and teenagers with the peer pressure and other issues they go through. Why would a teacher want to add more pressure to these students in the classroom by picking on them. This puts the students on the defensive rather than feeling comfortable in the classroom. It frustrates me when I see teachers doing this. Teachers are there to make the classroom and the entire school a positive learning environment where students feel comfortable sharing their opinions  and being who they are. 

I saw this happen in a college classroom today. A teacher spent a good amount of the class giving a student a hard time. I found this to be a waste of valuable class time as well as insulting and demeaning to that student. At any educational level this is inappropriate. Sorry if this seems like a rant, but it is something that made me really angry because it wasted so much time and was so insulting.

Taking Work Home with You

It was brought up in class about taking what happens in class home with you. Bringing what happens in the classroom with you should be something that you expect. In any job I feel like there would be somethings that occur that you will think about long after you leave for the day. During my junior field I have become very involved with the class I am in and as my time there is coming to a close I am realizing how much I am going to miss this group. I have also had the students tell me that they are going to miss me and it makes me feel bad that I have to leave them. I find myself talking to my family about my time in the classroom whether it is a good or bad day I still take some of it home with me. I have also found this in jobs I have had outside of teaching. No matter what you do some part of it will follow you and even sometime influence you as a person and/or a teacher.

Use of Certain Language

Today in class it was brought up whether or not it is appropriate to use words that could potentially be considered offensive, such as hell. I didn't even take notice to it until it was brought up by Dr. Luongo. I feel as though we are all desensitized to certain words and actions. It does not even phase most people of the current generation when someone uses what would have been perceived as bad or offensive language several years ago. Although this language may not be noticed by most, it may still be offensive to some. This is where a teacher has to determine what is acceptable and what is not. After having that discussion in class I went to my junior field class. I took notice to some of the potentially offensive language being used in the classroom. It was used in describing a certain situation. It was not meant to be used in an offensive manner. When used in that way, I believe it is acceptable on occasion, but it would be better if other words could be used in place of these words.

Reflection on the Blog Assignment

In the beginning of the assignment I believed that this was just going to be a time consuming project that would never end. When I heard we had to blog a couple times a week, my thought was oh great just more work to do. As I began to blog I realized that it wasn't so bad. The assignment began to grow on me not long after it started. As time went on I gained a large amount of information by reading the blogs of other students in my class as well as my professor. I also learn quite a bit by researching topics to post on my own blog. This assignment turned out to be one of the most effective assignments I have ever done. This was because I got to do my own research on whatever educational topic I wanted and write about it. It became fun to do this assignment. As a teacher I would definitely consider doing a blog with my students. This would allow them the same opportunities I had. Students get to be creative and have fun while still learning. For me the most fulfilling part of the assignment was when I found out what an influence my blog had on a friend of mine and the program that she runs.

Micro-Teaching Reflection

Friday I got to do my micro-teaching lesson on A Tell-Tale Heart by Poe. Going into that micro-teaching I definitely felt more comfortable than any other micro-teaching I ever went into. At the same time I was a little nervous about it because this was the first time I was dealing with the issue of behavioral problems in this situation. In the past I have dealt with behavioral problems in a real classroom situation but that is different because their regular classroom teacher was still in there and helped with the situation. In class I knew I was on my own. After starting my lesson that fear of the problems eased. I was a little taken back by the fact that there were not as many behavioral problems as I thought their were going to be. Overall I was happy about the way the lesson went. I definitely feel more confident getting into a classroom and teaching real students. 

The Last Lecture

I know I'm blogging a lot tonight, but I have a lot on my mind and a lot to catch up on. Anyway I purchased Randy Pausch's book The Last Lecture a few days ago. I finally began reading it last night. It is an excellent book so far and I would recommend picking up a copy and reading it. Thank you Susan for bringing his last lecture up in you blog. Prior to that I had never heard about him. He has many good points for living life in his lecture which also continue into his book. Since I had heard about him and watched his lecture I had passed the information on to others that I thought would be interested. They have all come back to me with the response of "WOW! It is unbelievable how a guy that is dying has such a great outlook on life." After I am done with my copy of the book I have 4 or 5 people borrowing it to read for themselves. I just figured I would pass on the fact that his book is proving to be as good as his lecture.

Just on another thought, although Randy wrote his lecture for just three people he has impacted so many more lives. I am included in those who were impacted by this lecture. I am one to take life very seriously, part of which comes from my job. I have been an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) riding emergency calls at least 3 to 4 days a week for the last 5 years, since I was 16 years old. Sometimes after a tough day at work it hits me hard and and I take things very seriously. After watching Randy's lecture I began to give that very serious aspect of my life some thought. In the end I came to the conclusion that no matter what happens at work leave it at work, and go out and live life to the fullest. Don't over analyze situations, especially the ones you have no control over it is not worth wasting that very valuable time you have in life.

Excellent After School Program

The attached website is for an after school program that has really been effecting the students involved in the middle school I am doing my Junior Field Experience. Every time I turn around I hear students and teachers talking about how great the Goodworx Program is and how it is really helping students. 

So here is the website for the program.

http://www.goodworxfoundation.com/

Check it out and see what you think.

Flocabulary

After viewing the Flocabulary website I had very mixed feelings on it. Some part of me thought that maybe it could be a useful tool for influencing a few students that are really into music, but not really into what they are learning. On the other hand I felt as though it is not a great tool to use in the classroom because to me it is just not something that seems effective. Being that I have mixed feelings on this I would be willing to try it once or twice in the classroom as an introduction or a way to close out a unit. It could never hurt to try something new. What is the worst that can happen? It doesn't work and you try something else for next time.

Inspiring Someone When Least Expected

This post is inspired by an email I received from a friend of mine in response to an email I sent her. A while back I was speaking with a friend and we were talking about education and student. This conversation came up because some of the students in my junior field class are involved the mentoring, tutoring and life skills training after school program in which she is director of operations. Any way I wound up sending her an email that included a few links to different websites, one of which was my blog. After reading part of my blog and watching the attached video (the post about creativity) it inspired her to write an email to her boss informing him that she wants to change their program to inspire students to be more creative and become more motivated. She later sent me an email telling what happened after reading my blog and how I inspired her just by giving information and my thoughts. 

What I'm trying to say by telling you the story above is do not ever think that anything you are doing is meaningless because you never know when it could have an impact on someone else's life. This is something I will carry with me into the classroom. I never really thought that anything I wrote in this blog would have a great enough effect to provoke change in a program.

MyAccess

This is kind of a delayed response, but anyway here it goes. MyAccess is a program that was introduced to our class by Dr. Luongo. The best way to describe this program is that it's a program designed to give students instant feedback and a score for their writing. It also has many other features to help improve students' writing. These other features include word banks, a dictionary, and a thesaurus among other things. I really found MyAccess to be an extremely useful tool. I wished that I had this when I was a student. It definitely prepares students to be better writers. This is especially useful in the grades that are preparing for tests such as the HSPA, GEPA, or ESPA. I got into a discussion about this program with the teacher I am working with for my junior field experience. She informed me that the district had a trial version of the program but no one had any kind of training on how to use it. That is terrible, having such a wonderful program available, but not being able to use it. I showed her some of the basics to her questions but there were still things I didn't know. Dr. Luongo gave me information to pass on to my cooperating teacher to get the district trained. This is an excellent program and if given the chance as an educator learn it and use it. This should apply to any useful learning tool, don't let them go to waste.