Is teaching for me?

What have you decided about becoming a professional teacher? 
I have decided that I want to continue on the path of becoming a professional teacher, however I have decided that it is going to be a lot harder than I thought and is going to require a lot more time and effort than I thought in order for me to become the teacher I want to become.   
Do you think this is the career path for you? 
Yes this is the career path for me. I have wanted to become of professional teacher since the day I can remember. When I was in Preschool we talked about careers and I still remember the day I decided I wanted to become a teacher. We had a "career day" where we visited many of our parents at their jobs. I remember visiting my dad at his work, and I remember visiting with someones dad who was a cop, as a child I thought all grown ups and careers were cool but when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up and responded "a teacher" with no hesitation. I still have a picture of me as a preschool student holding a picture of a teacher with her face cut out and my face poking out of the hole replacing her face. I have thought about many other career options and have tried different internships to decide what career path is for me and I always go back to becoming a professional teacher. I absolutely love children and know I want to work with them. Growing up my neighbor had a dare care at her home, I went over almost every single day after school to play with the children she watched and almost every time I went next door we played "school" and of course I was the teacher every time. 
Has the Service Learning helped influence your decision? 
Yes, the service learning has definitely influenced my decision. I really enjoy being in the classroom, I love the feel and the environment of being in a classroom, that is what has helped keep me on the path of becoming a teacher. When I think about all the preparation involved and all the things I still need to learn to become a good teacher I'll be honest I start to get a little overwhelmed and question again if teaching is for me but as soon as I step into a classroom full of students I fall in love with them again and love the way I feel when I am in a classroom and then I think again, yes, this is the career for me. 
What are your next steps? 
My next steps in becoming a professional teacher are to finish this semester out strong, I will be taking two more classes in the summer as well as taking the Praxis test during the summer, I will take one more semester of classes, and then apply for the program in September! My hopes are to begin the Elementary Education Program Spring of 2018

Classroom Assessment

Are you making connections between course topics and Service Learning?

Yes
Have you been able to articulate your own learning and understanding?   

Yes
Is the process of blogging helping you to think and notice things in your Service Learning?  

Yes it is. I think about the things we have learned during the course and find joy in finding connections or noticing things the teacher does that we have been taught to do. When I write the blogs I am able to reflect and remember things the teacher did and am able to make connections later if I didn't notice it while I was in the class. 
In what areas do you see growth or learning from the first blog post to the last?  

The first blog post I didn't know anything about the classroom or how students learn, I didn't know the best ways to create a productive learning environment, and I definitely didn't know very much about the the history of education in America. From my first blog post all I knew was who the teacher was and where the school was located. I have learned a lot both from this course and from being in the classroom getting hands on experience.  

Standards and Accountability

Everyday I have gone into my service learning classroom I have seen the standards being addressed throughout her lessons during the day, especially in reading and math. With math the students have worksheets to work on, games to play and other interactive materials that help them learn the specific standard, same with reading and writing. The teacher has an specific program that she has been asked to use on her ipad that helps her test students with reading, the program helps her group her students into different levels of reading as well. I have mostly been in the classroom during math, english, and have been there a few times for physical education. I have not seen science addressed, fine arts, or social studies and that might simply be because I am not there during that time of day when it is the focus, however I have noticed when she is teacher one subject she ties in things they have taught from other standards which has been fun to see.

I know my teacher really likes the program on her ipad that she uses for standardized testing with reading and has found it extremely helpful but I know there are other programs that teachers have been asked to use that are not as helpful/enjoyable for their classrooms and they feel that it is not a good program to help with standardized testing. My service learning teacher understands and recognizes that the standards are helpful for both her and her students, the standards can help her know what her students need to know at certain points in their education and there are great resources available to help teach each standard. 

Diversity in Today's Schools

The classroom I am in where I am doing my service learning has quit the diversity. We have students who are ELL students, we have students who struggle with different subjects due to different learning disabilities, we have students who have physical needs that we have to be aware of, and students who simply come from very different family backgrounds. The teacher is aware of each of these needs and addresses them in different ways, she does this by grouping students into different groups for learning centers, she does a great job at modeling exactly what she wants the students to learn/do and doesn't just get up and lecture. She also asses the students regularly to track their progress, and she has IEP meetings where she talks with the special education teacher and the students parents. 

The teacher in my service learning classroom uses differentiating instruction for the diverse learners in her classroom by grouping students into groups by ability for assessments. She also uses differentiating instruction through the arrangement of her classroom, she has the students sit at desks in groups, and her classroom is very colorful. I have seen her present instructions through auditory and visual means, and I have also seen her give students the opportunity to express the things they have learned, she is able to give quick feed back and spend time with small groups to re-teach an idea if they are struggling. 

HIstory of American Education

Do you see support for English learners? Yes I feel that there is support for English learners in the school I am at. There are a handful of students where English is not their first language. The English learner students are pulled out of the classroom during a specific time to get the extra help they need. If it wasn't for the Brown v. Board of Education act and the No Child Left Behind act we would not see this in our schools today. 

What landmark decision does that come from? The Lau vs Nichols case lead to the Equal Educational Opportunites Act of 1974 where students were allowed the same educational opportunites; race, color, sex, or national origin no longer mattered.

What are you seeing in your service-learning experience that is a result of Brown v. Board? Because of Brown v. Board of education we now see diversity within our schools. In the classroom where I am doing my service learning we have quit the diverse classroom which is wonderful. The students all get along and race, color, sec, or national origin does not matter. All of the students in her classroom and in the school have equal educational rights. I can't imagine a school being any different but before the Brown v. Board of Education schools were very different. 

Engaging Learners in Today's Classroom

Keeping students constantly engaged in a classroom can be very difficult, especially in a 1st grade classroom. However, my service learning teacher does a great job at keeping her students engaged and she does this using many different strategies throughout the day. Here are a few different strategies that I have noticed. One way she helps her students stay engaged is by quickly moving from one lesson/activity to the next. There is no "dead time". For example if a student finishes his/her work before the next assignment/activity they know they are to sit and read a book quietly. As I have been in the classroom I have seen how effective this is. The students in my service learning classroom love to read and look forward to every chance they get to read, so this motivates them to stay on task and get their assignments done. One day while I was in the classroom the students were told to get their writing assignment they had been working out of their desks. They had finished the writing part of the assignment and the next part was to glue the four different parts onto a different foldable paper, as the teacher and I passed out the foldable papers they were to color the pictures on their writing assignment. I thought this was a great idea because this gave them absolutely no "dead time" even while passing out papers.
Another strategy the teacher uses to help keep the students engaged during reading and writing is by having different stations with different activities/assignments that have to do with reading and writing. The students are split up into their groups or teams, they know which station to start at and where to rotate once the time is up for that station. One station the students are being tested by the teacher on their reading, the next station is on a computer, the next station is with a teach aid who comes in and helps the students read together as a group, the next is an independent writing station, and the last is another station with chrome books.
Just yesterday the students went on a field trip with the whole first grade where they went to a play at the Scera theater, field trips are a great way to help students stay engaged in a classroom. Some students are currently working on memorizing their parts for a play they are doing at school.

Finding an example of an instance where the lesson was not as engaging was really hard because the teacher does such a great job at getting her students attention while presenting instructions and often times she asks questions and has them repeat the directions, which is really helpful. But there was one time when the teacher gave directions for an assignment she simply had the students focus on her while she showed them the paper and read the directions on what they were to do. Maybe she could have had another student read the directions, maybe she could have asked the students to share some examples of what they could write, maybe she could have put it on the overhead for the class to see better, there are many different ways a teacher can give directions/instructions. In fact I saw her do some of these things later on.

Creating Productive Learning Environments

What does the cooperative teacher do to encourage a positive classroom community?
My cooperative teacher has done a great job at creating a positive classroom community in her class.  I have mentioned this before but I have noticed that the way she has the classroom set up helps create a positive classroom. The students desks are arranged into three different tables and each table has a team name that they chose. The children are to work together and help each other behave so they can earn points for their team. They are also encourage to share their work with their neighbor when they are done working on an assignment and are encourage to give positive feedback to one another on their work, if a student is struggling with the assignment their teammates are there to help them. Something else I have noticed that has helped create a positive classroom community are the routines and procedures the teacher established at the beginning of the year. The students know how they are suppose to enter the classroom after coming in from recess or how they are suppose to be dismissed. They also know that when the teacher says "can you hear the ocean breeze?" that the noise level is getting too high and the students quickly and quietly make the sound of the ocean breeze and the noise level goes down.

What has your cooperative teacher done to make students feel loved and safe?
My cooperative teacher shows love to her students in different ways throughout the day, she listens to them and lets them tell her their interest, accomplishments or anything else they feel like they need to share with her.  One particular thing I have noticed and love is that at the end of the day as each student leaves her classroom to go home she offers them a hug, they don't have to get a hug if they don't want to but they know where to get one if they need one.

How does your cooperative teacher recognize students skills?
While the students are working on their assignments the cooperative teacher walks around and gives individual positive feedback on their work. She is always complimenting her students in her classroom and lets them know just how smart they are. She also asks the students questions and lets them teach each other and share their skills.