November 3, 2012- November 8, 2012

Monday
Today we discussed our middle school activity of doing burger books. The assignment was to read a middle school grade level book and do "hamburger" book report on it. Every piece to the hamburger book had to have a specific description. The top bun had to be the title and the authors name. The tomato characters and description, the meat needed to have the plot summary. The cheese in the center of the burger had to be your favorite part of the book. The last two would be the tomato which is your opinion or recommendation and the last bun would be your name. Today we also discussed our "cereal chats" that we will have on Thursday with teachers at Mauldin High School. We also discussed our experiences observing middle schools on Thursday and Friday. While being in Hillcrest Middle School, I noticed in each classroom there were the crazy, loud, immature students but there were also the very calm and studious students. This showed me that the middle school experience is different to everyone.


Tuesday
So today, Mrs. Turner had us take some pictures. The thing about taking pictures with Mrs. Turner is that she doesn't say what it is for. The most we know is that we will know sometime before Christmas because we had to take pictures with a Santa Clause hat.
We had a wonderful guest speaker today! Mr. Bufis came in and shared with us his whole college experience working to become a teacher. Mr. Bufis was actually one of Mrs. Turner's students in teacher cadets, six years ago. He gave us all a sharpie as a gift, because just like a sharpie leaves a permanent mark when you write with it; he encourages us to always leave a permanent mark on our students when we become teachers. He attached a poem with it that went:

  S: Supportive

  H: Humorous 
A: Attentive

    R: Resourceful

P: Patience

   I: Intelligence

 E: Energetic

Mr. Bufis also explained to us all the tests and certifications we had to take and pass to be able to be a teacher. He showed us this website, http://www.ets.org/praxis that explains to use in more detail the many tests we will need to take.


Wednesday
Today, Mrs. Turner taught us a wonderful activity that will definitely be in my lesson plans! Since tomorrow we have our cereal chats, we came up with questions by doing activity that categorizes them by subject. Mrs. Turner put headings on a big piece of paper and we went around with post-it notes and asks some questions we may have about that specific heading. This is a wonderful activity for any teacher to do because it allows every student to ask any question they have, instead of sometimes not raising their hands in class.

Thursday
Today, we had our "Cereal Chats" with teachers at Mauldin High School. I sat down with Mrs. Powell which is a U.S History teacher. She had many wonderful things to share with us. It was a great experience for me because I had her as a teacher junior year and it was great being able to talk to her about everything else and not just U.S History. I would have never known how she thinks she is as a teacher if I wouldn't have had this opportunity. "Cereal Chats" are a wonderful idea!

Friday
We finally finished all of our teacher crayon boxes! Now every teacher has their own and can be thanked and encouraged to continue to do all the wonderful things they do for MHS. Earlier in the morning, we took our Teacher Cadets year book picture, which we all came out wonderful! Well, we hope we did.

Saturday
Today was a great day with Teacher Cadets! A few of us, went to help a Christmas event that Chiefs was sponsoring that gave families with special need kids to take pictures with Santa, make picture frames, candy cane animals, and enjoy some breakfast together! Most of us were there from 7:30 in the morning to around 10:00. Spanish National Honor Society of Mauldin High School was also helping with the event. It was a wonderful experience because we were working with kids, helping the community and most importantly, we were together outside of school. This shows how much of a family we can still be outside of Mauldin High School.

Teaching is the profession that teaches all other professions!

-unknown

November 26th - November 30th

Monday

Today, Mrs. Turner introduced us to the middle school unit. She read us the poem "What Is a Middle Schooler?" I thought the poem was very interesting, and agreed with what it had to say. I agreed with it because middle school is the time in a child's life when they are just starting out who they are, and it's that in between stage. Then, we discussed Erikson's eight stages of development. Mrs. Turner also introduced our Burger Books. We are to pick a book of upper elementary/middle school level and reread it. We needed to pick a book by Wednesday. Then, we are going to create the books on Monday. The top bun will have the author and title. The tomato will have the characters and brief descriptions. The lettuce will have a summary. The cheese will have our favorite part of the book. The meat will have our opinion of the book and a recommendation. The last part is the bottom bun, which will have our name. Towards the end of class, we watch a video on Langston Charter Middle School. 

Tuesday

Today, Mrs. Kirby was supposed to come and talk to us from Hillcrest Middle School, but instead, Mrs. Acton came. She teaches 8th grade math at Hillcrest. She shared with us about the education she got, and how she got into teaching. She told us that she subbed for a while before she became a teacher at Hillcrest. She shared with us why she loves teaching 8th grade so much, and about different kinds of activities she does with her kids. She said it's very important that in middle school, you keep the attention of your kids. She also told us about her interview experience. She said that it is very important to dress nice and make a good impression when you go for an interview. Lastly, she told us about a journal she does with her kids at the end of the year. She lets her kids write whatever they want to in it. She shared some of the things that the kids wrote, and told us that the reason she loves being a teacher is because of the things her kids write.

Wednesday

Today, Mrs. Ambrose came to talk to us about teaching middle school. She is a teacher at Ralph Chandler Middle School, and is the South Carolina History Teacher of the Year. She started of with asking us how we had changed since middle school, and talked to us about how middle school kids are unfinished. She told us that middle school kids are socially active, inquisitive, impulsive, emotional, and hopeful. She talked with us about the Star Tracker that she has in her room, and how the kids get stars when they do good things. It helps to boost their self-esteem. Then, she went around the room and asked some people why they wanted to be teachers, and it was great to hear what people said. She told us that if you are going to be a teacher, you need to be passionate about what you do, flexible, compassionate, creative, and have a good sense of humor. Then, she talked to us about how her middle school has teams, and all the teachers work with the same kids. Lastly, she shared with us about what she has learned being a teacher. She told us lesson plans are never done, persistence is as important as talent, be consistent, forgiveness is vital, and relationships are vital to success.

Thursday

Today was the first day of middle school observations. I was supposed to go and visit Mrs. LaColla's 7th grade Social Studies class, but she didn't have a first period. I ended up observing Mrs. Carswell's 8th grade Social Studies class. They were studying the American Revolution. They had just finished studying the French and Indian War. She had the vocabulary on the board. The kids were to pick some of the terms, and write the definitions in their own words. The kids did a good job with remembering the definitions of the words. Then, the kids took a few notes and it was time to go.

Friday

Today was the second day of middle school observations. I visited Mrs. Adam's English class. Homeroom ran late today because of careers. Career Day is in December at Hillcrest, and the kids had to sign up for what careers they wanted to go and see. They had a whole list of careers to pick from like entrepreneurs, vets, aviation, marines, police officer, and much more. After homeroom, her English I Honors kids came in, and it was test day. She gave the kids a few minutes to study, and then it was time to take the stems test. 

Quote: "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela