October 10- 12

Monday: Mrs. Turner was not at school :( We had a sub and finished up our projects.

Tuesday: We met at Mauldin Elementary School and showed our 1st grade friends the books we made. Also, Mrs. Turner told us where to meet for the field trip on Wednesday.






Wednesday: We met at Mauldin Elementary and went to see Junie B.Jones at Furman with our 1st grade friends:) After some of us went home, others went to go eat, and went back to school.






"All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them"
- Walt Disney

October 3- 7

Monday: Disability Day! Today we went around the classroom doing different activities dealing with different disabilities. For a service hour you could try and see how long you could make it through a regular day with a disability of your choice. Some of us could only make it to 2nd or 3rd period, but if you made it through the day good job!

Tuesday: At the beginning of class, we reflected on disability day. Then Mrs. Turner and Polly played a game called Polly’s Picnic. In order to go to the picnic you had to say that you are going to bring something that begins with the same letter as your name. Mrs. Turner read the book Stop Picking on Me, and she introduced our barrier book project. We all got into groups and started to figure out what our stories were going to be about.

Wednesday: Today was the 1st before school bucket day:) Many people forgot so everyone ended up doing buckets and working on their projects during class.

Thursday: Officer K was supposed to come to have breakfast with us, but he was sick so he didn’t come:( Instead we worked on our projects the whole class period.
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Friday: The class period was shortened because of the prep rally. We worked on our projects and decided to have another work day on Monday and Officer K to come after the break.

September 26-30

Monday and Tuesday:: We had a great start to this week because on Monday and Tuesday we were able to go out into the community to visit sites! We were able to choose to spend one day at either a rescourse / self-contained classroom and the other day was spent at Hope Academy! :)

Wednesday :: Wednesday was spent back at the high school where we picked a teacher and made them a bucket! Once the bucket was done we got to put them on their door and make little buckets telling them to write words of encouragement on their teacher friends' doors. :) Mrs. Turner was out. :'(




Thursday:: Thursday morning we had a guest speaker who talked to us about A.D.D. She gave us a more clear definition of the disability as well as the diagnosis, signs, symptoms, and treatment. She also taught us how much our discipline in the classroom can help these students learn and focus much better.

Friday:: The first thing we had to do on Friday morning was turn in our first assignment for Anderson University: the autobiography! :O Once those were turned in we were told to go to the auditorium for a meeting with Josten's. It's hard to believe this but at that meeting we recieved our information about how to order our cap and gowns! After the meeting we came back to the classroom to collect our buckets. :)

Week of Sept 19-23, 2011

Monday: Monday morning we were lucky enough to get a visit from Mauldin's own Mrs. Eckland who helped explain the differences between Resource and Self-Contained classroom settings. She also explained the differences between Accomodations (found mostly in Rescource classes) and Modifications (seen more in Self-Contained classes) for those classroom settings. During her visit we did a very stressful activity where she gave us a sheet with the numbers 1-100 on it. The first time we tried her activity, she just told us to look for the numbers in order as she stressed us out even more by counting down the seconds!! Aaaaahh!! But the second attempt of this sheet she gave us even more direct instruction by telling us to fold our papers into fours and where to look for each number. This activity helped us realize the importance of resource classes for some students.

Tuesday: Unfortunately, Tuesday we were not in class for too long because we had our senior picture! Once we returned to class after the picture, Mrs. Turner gave us sheets with important dates on it. She also gave us permission forms to go see Junie B. Jones on October 12th with our first grade froggy friends!!

Wednesday: We were introduced to the Autism Spectrum by watching a very informative video about different types of Autism. We learned that Autism is a physical and mental disability that affects one in every 110 girls and one in 70 boys. Although there is no determined cause or treatment for Autism, students with this condition know they can always feel welcome at Hope Academy! :) On Wednesday we also signed up for sights we are going to visit on the 26th and 27th of next week to observe classroom settings.

Thursday: On Thursday we were visited by one of the co-founders of Project Hope, the lovely Susan Sachs! Mrs. Sachs' son, Michael, who we were introduced to in Wednesday's video, is unfortunately affected by Autism which is one of the main reasons why she was inspired to open Hope Academy. She explained to us how a typical classroom is setup at her school, and how Hope Academy doesn't only benefit students with Autism, but it is a great school for students without it as well. She gave us more information about the condition that the video left out, as some really sad stories to go along with it. :( Also she told us about a volunteer oportunity on November 19th!

Friday: Friday morning we discussed some of the Barriers of Education that we read about in our articles. We were grouped up depending on which article other people read. After given a few minutes to talk about the article, we stood up in front of the classroom in pairs to give out main points that we learned. Some of the barriers we learned about included bullying, abuse & neglect, eating disorders, teen pregnancies, drug and alcohol abuse, being a lach-key kid, and many more. After everyone was done presenting we went up to the library to check out the book A Child Called 'It'. This book is an auto-biography by Dave Pelzer about the barrier "Abuse and Neglect" and it illustrates the horrors he went through as a child when he was abused. If you have not started reading this book yet, just a warning: it will make you very angry.

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September 12-16

Monday: We started watching the Gridiron Gang. This movie illustrated how a group of teenagers in prision, who were involved in gangs and violence, begin to turn their life around. The probation officer in the movie wanted to start a football team in hopes of teaching discipline and to these kids so they would hopefully get off the streets and make positive choices in their lives. The movie ends with most of the football players winning the last game (to the team they played first at the beginning of the season). After getting out of the detention center, most of the players went to college, got jobs, or finished high school. This movie shows how one person, who wanted to make a difference in someone's life, changed the outcome of a group of teenagers for the positve.


Tuesday: We continued watching the Gridiron Gang.




Wednesday: We finished watching the Gridiron Gang. Reminder to complete your journal about the GridIron Gang and how it relates to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Thursday: Miss Quinn came to our class! She showed us all of her little second graders. She told us a little about each student so we could choose who would be the best match as our second grade penpal. During the year, we will write to our little froggy friends and they will write back to us. We will get to visit them throughout the year too!





Friday: We got to choose our second grade froggy friend! (I was absent)

We introduced Barriers to Education. Each cadet chose an article about common barriers to learning. They are to summarize the articles and write up bullet points for our bulletin board. On Wednesday, we will exchange articles.

Sep 6 - Sep 9

Tuesday: Today we practiced our puppet shows and presented them to the class to make sure that they were good. Every0ne did a great job and all had different ideas.

Wednesday: Today was the opening day of Mrs. Turner's Puppet Shows in Miss Quinn's class. I must say the audience adored all of them. We started off with Mr. Frog and his hunt for his bucket, followed with The wise old Pooh Bear and the Rainbow Duckling, The Fruits and the Dinosaur, and ending with the four kids who lost their self esteen. All the kids were entranced by the shows as well as us. The kids liked all the puppets and tried to immitate the shows.

Thursday: Mrs. Kelsey came in today to talk about scholarships for Teacher Cadets. There were quite a few with a lot of money that came with them. Luckily, Mrs. Turner is a judge for one of them, so we have a edge up on the competition. These scholarships will be offered to the whole shcool soon, so make sure to get your application in!

Here is the link for Teaching Fellows!!!

Friday: Friday scared all of us as the SRO officers and Officer Beeco talked to us about gangs in the area as well as their own experiences in gangs. It was amazing that the gangs that you just hear about are at our school. After learning the history as well as the signs of a gang, it makes us look at people differently trying to figure out if someone is in a gang

Monday August 29: This day in class we read an article addressing the importance of self esteem called the three "s" pot. The story was odd, but made good points. We were to read a second article that day but it was postponed to be read the following day. Instead we read a book that illustrated the possibility of global esteem turning into useful traits called "Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon."

Tuesday August 30: We read a story on the smartboard called "Have You Filled A Bucket Today?" We later started to decorate our own buckets to post on the wall so that we might all be able to submit our own bucket filling comments to each of our classmates. It then became our mission for that day and the days following to try to purposely fill a friend's or stranger's bucket.

Wednesday August 30: A class discussion was had regarding the arguments made in The Self- Esteem Fraud. The general consensus of the class from what I gathered from those who spoke, was that it's too difficult to label global self esteem as wholly good or bad, or even valid. There were too many variables when considering its use inc

luding the individual student, the age group, the situation, among other things. We then had cupcakes and juice thanks to Mr. Bufis, and were briefed on our first project of the nine weeks.

Thursday Sept 1: This was our first day to work with our groups toward the puppet shows to be presented to our soon to be first grade pals the following week. Our show was to highlight the importance of self esteem and to be inclus

ive of the members of the audience.

Friday Sept 2:Our final day to fine tune and

organize our stories and hands, not much else happened aside from the appearance of the mysterious tab sheet on the corkboard outside the room. Its origin is still unknown even after my diligent efforts to identify its source.

I wasn't sure if my quote was supposed to go on here or not, but to cover my hiney I'll put it up here anyway. It's not so much a quote as it is a very short story from a man I really admire, in a movie/book that was truly life-changing. the significance of it to what we've been discussing these past weeks was too great to not remark.

"Once upon a time there was a crooked tree and

a straight tree. And they grew next to each other. And every day the straight tree would look at the crooked tree and he would say, "You're crooked. You've always been crooked and you'll continue to be crooked. But look at me! Look at me!" said the straight tree. He said, "I'm tall and I'm straight." And then one day the lumberjacks came into the forest and looked around, and the manager in charge said, "Cut all the straight trees." And that crooked tree is still there to this day, growing strong and growing strange." Tom Waits in "Wristcutters"

First Week of School

Monday, August 22: Mr. Kembrell from Anderson University came and talked about the Teacher Cadet course and its requirements. (Reminder: Autobiographies are due on September 30th)

Tuesday, August 23: We finished our About Me pizza's, each topping stood for different qualities about ourselves. We shared our pizzas with our fellow classmates and it was a good way to get to know each other better. Mrs. Turner also read us the book Chrysanthemum, then discussed the importance of self esteem.

Wednesday, August 24: Mrs. Turner read us the book Wings of Change; we read all about a caterpillar named Anew who didnt accept the changes he was faced with when turning into a butterfly and the voice of reason, Faith the snail who helped Anew deal with his change issues. We also learned new things about our classmates by filling out a sheet with boxes that had different categories like "someone younger than you" or "the person with the best car". It was a fun activity and we got to learn things we didnt know before about our classmates.

Thursday, August 25: We made butterflies that represented ourselves in honor the the Wings of Change book. Each butterfly was unique, just like us.

Friday, August 26: We finished our butterflies and pinned them on the bulletin board outside Mrs. Turner's room. Everyone presented their butterfly and told what they would do to change the world.

Final Weeks of Field Experience

These past two weeks, I have been all over the place....and what a joy it has been. I am so proud of ALL of my young ladies. I had the priviledge of seeing Cortney teach a wonderful lesson on South Carolina symbols. It was really neat to see her practice lesson put into the "real" classroom. Excellent work!

I visited Kareen at Bethel, and she was teaching prepositions of place with three dimensional shapes while playing "Simon Says" at the same time! The kids LOVED IT!I made my way over to Mauldin Elementary, and spied on Chloe working with a small group of advanced kindergarten students. They were "playing" BINGO with site words.

Somewhere in the midst of it all, we took a FANTASTICALLY FUN trip to the Childrens Museum of the Upstate with our pen pals. What an exhaustingly fun day!

In the last few days, I had the pleasure of taking a class photo with Alex and her fun little 2nd graders.

I also got to see Maddy teaching kindergarteners a math lesson about subtraction. She read a book about Froggy going to camp. Then, the kids drew a pond with grass on a big piece of paper. Maddy told "mini stories" about how many frogs were in the pond - and then jumped out. The kids reinacted the story with their drawings to learn subtraction!

Finally, I visited Kate in the library where she was working with a small group of students using whiteboards to review math concepts. Such a natural teacher!

Week 5 Field Experience

Sorry this post is soooooooooooooooooooooo late! - This week, I saw Leigh Anne teach the most amazing lesson about probability. She built a wonderful flipchart for the promethean board, and her students were so actively participating. Her cooperating teacher had teh most wonderful sings to say about her. Great Job Leigh Anne!

I also went to visit Chelsey at Hillcrest. What a fun experience. She has a small, but fantastic group of students who are sweet, energetic and filled with positive energy. What a great way to start her day!

But...the absolute BEST part of this week was Friday! - All of my girls were together again. It was so nice to catch up and to see everyone again. We set a date for the banquet, May 17th and are really looking forward to our field trip to the Children's Museum after Spring Break!

Happy Times!

Week 4 Field Experience

Well, this week did NOT start off well... for me anyway.... I spent Mon-Wed fighting the stomach flu. When I was back and kicking on Thursday, I found my way back to Mauldin Elementary School where I finally got to see Dru with her cutie-pie kindergarteners. She was busy helping small groups work on writing the letter "N." On my way over to see Kate, I saw Alex reading a story to her second graders. As I was snooping, I think it was about the salty oceans coming from soneone's tears??? - That's what you get when you just "eavesdrop." I got to see Kate work one-on-two with two of her young second graders who needed special help while the rest of the class was MAP testing. On my way out, I saw Meghan reading in the hall with a little friend, and I spied Allison working in the library with another little friend. - What a great visit from afar! Friday took me to Sara Collins Elementary where I saw Mrs and Miss Renwick teaching Kindergarten. It was hard to tell which one was the "real" teacher. Elizabeth - you are such a NATURAL in the classroom. It was GREAT!! and then.....oh boy oh boy oh boy.... I got to sing the "What are you wearing song!" Yippee!!

Week 3 Field Experience

Yet another great week! Monday, I made my rounds through Mauldin Elementary School. I listened to the morning warm-up with Maddy's kindergarten class and watched her cut out spoons for their healthy food pots. Then, I sang "Rise and Shine" with Chloe's kindergarten class. She has an adorable class who clearly loves her. She also has a neat hidden office where found her working hard.

I found my way to the third grade hall where I discovered Cortney teaching (by herself). I was so proud of her! Her teacher had slipped out to the restroom, but Cortney didn't miss a beat. The class was fully engaged. I then ventured over to the second grade hall and found Alex helping out with morning work. - What a great way to spend the first day of the week. On Tuesday, I drove out to Bell's Crossing. Miriam's teacher was absent, so she took over the morning .... like a pro. She went over homework, and then watched a video with Bryan the Science Guy. Miss Berry looked more like the teacher than the sub! Most impressive! Wednesday was an adventure in high school land. I visted Surena at JL Mann and her class of Freshmen Global Studies. Interestingly, the boys sit on the left side of the room, and the girls on the right. Surena did a bell-ringer (tough one) with the class and then gave them directions for a one-page reflection essay. Thursday took me over to Hope Academy where I met Katie's class. She was working with a small group and introduced me to her class. I also met Michael, our hero from Spirit Week. We moved to the music class where I had wonderful flashbacks with Whadalee Atcha (however you spell that) and playground hand games - now called Tic Tac To. Such a GREAT morning! Friday - well - I'm off to Sue Cleveland! I found Jessica hiding in the reading corner bouncing on the seaty balls! ;-) I met several of her students - especially the sweet one with a crush on her. I then watched her lead a mini-lesson about the alligator chomping on "greater than" numbers....very sweet!

Week 2 Field Experience

What a great second week!!! We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with our Pen Pals from Mauldin Elementary and had a nice surprise Birthday Party for Miss Quinn. Allison and Meghan were busy teaching reading skills to their first grade friends.

Thursday, I went to see Ashlyn and Stephanie at Mauldin Middle. Ashlyn was busy checking homework and giving a quiz. (which she subsequently had to grade). She looks like a natural in the classroom. Meanwhile, Stephanie was going over homework with her class - working out math problems by request. GREAT JOB!

Friday, I spent the morning at Bethel. Kareen's kids were MAP testing, so she had the task of changing out the hall bulletin board. Leigh Anne's little ones were taking a quiz. I enjoyed visiting, watching her watch them! ;-)

Click below to read and share comments about BEST experiences!

Field Experience Begins!!!

Beginning March 7th, the cadets entered local schools to begin a six week field experience. They are working with children from the upstate at Mauldin, Bethel, Bells Crossing, Sara Collins and Sue Cleveland Elementary Schools; as well as Mauldin Middle and JL Mann High School. Click below on "comments" to read about their best experiences this week!