Wednesday January 2nd:
Today was our first day back from Christmas break! We started the morning off (very early) by spying on Mrs. Robinson as she saw her room after we gave it a makeover. She loved it and was completely shocked! In class, Mrs. Turner reminded us that our midterm was due January 15th and gave us some great tips on how our brochure should look. Then, we began discussing our timeline assignment we began over break. We were given a chart with different types of school, technology, and social changes and we had interviewed our grandparents and parents on what they knew about these topics from their generation. Some of the topics were cooking, how students were assessed, communication, and media/entertainment. When we were discussing what we had learned from our interviews with our group and comparing what our grandparents had said, it was really neat to hear how things like how they entertained themselves differed from how we entertain ourselves today. We switched groups a few times so that we could hear lots of different views of topics and how our older generations differed. This was a fun way to learn more about how our grandparents and parents lived!
Thursday January 3rd:
Today, we picked our midterm topics! We also got thank you letters from Mrs. Robinson and Greenville Connection for helping them out and decorating her room. Then, we started discussing our midterm and going over our rubric. Mrs. Turner reminded us that we have to have a presentation other than our brochure, like a PowerPoint or fun activity. Then, we started discussing debatable issues we’ll face as future teachers such as birth control being offered in school and students being grouped by academic ability. Mrs. Turner would put the issue on the Promethean board and we would type our answer into our little hand held device that connected to the board. Then, Mrs. Turner could see what percentage of people agreed or disagreed with the issue. We were welcome to share our opinion. It was refreshing to hear different opinions and try to understand how people felt the way they felt.
Friday January 4th:
Today, we discussed rules of conduct for teachers throughout different centuries. It was shocking to think that teachers in the late 1800’s were responsible for whittling writing utensils and teachers in the early 1900’s had to start fires at 7 a.m. so the classroom would be warm by 8 a.m. when the students arrived. This is very different form the responsibilities of today’s teachers. Today, teachers have to create lesson plans, be evaluated, and go through very lengthy tests to even become a teacher. The profession of teaching has really evolved. Then, we played “Four Corners” to say how we felt about certain debatable issues. “Four Corners” was Mrs. Turner would put a debatable issue on the Promethean Board and you could choose one of four options; Go the door if you strongly agreed, Go to the door if you disagreed, Go to the computer if you strongly disagreed, and Go to Mrs. Turner’s desk if you agreed. Then, Mrs. Turner would have a few people explain how they felt about that topic and why they chose to agree or disagree with it. This is a fun way to get our students fully engaged in learning and strike up a discussion in our classroom one day.
Monday and Tuesday, Mrs.
Turner was sick so we had a substitute. L But she was back and better on
Wednesday! We watched the Freedom Writers, a book about a high school who had
recently had integrated their at-risk students with their advanced students,
all three days. Erin Gurwell teaches an at-risk class as a first-year teacher
and fights to give these students every opportunity to succeed. She sacrifices
her marriage to take on extra jobs in order to fund the things that keep the
students engaged in learning. Throughout the book, no matter what the students
say or do, she continues to care for them and show them all the possibilities
they have for their future. Thursday January 10th:
Today, Mrs. Turner let us use the class period to work on our midterm brochures. We got to use the laptops and Mrs. Turner walked around to answer any questions and help us in any way. We only have 5 days until our midterm!
Friday, January 11th:
Today, we got to go to the library to work on our midterm brochures. While we were in the library, a few of us could check out a copy of the Freedom Writers if we needed any last minute service hours. Thank you Ms. Morris for going out and buying copies of this wonderful book for us to read!
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