Jordyn's Week! October 31-November 4

On HALLOWEEN Monday, October 31, 2011, we finished up our "Boo-pops" for all the teachers. We also kicked off our Montessori education stuff. We watched a video from Lander that pretty much explained what Montessori education was in order to have a better understanding for what we'd see at Five Oaks when we went for our observations.

On Tuesday, November 1, 2011, we met at Five Oaks Montessori school. We were able to walk into three different classrooms (pre-school, early elementary age, then older elementary age) and observe the way a true Montessory school worked. The director (who's name I cannot remember) took us through a typical day in a Montessori school. The biggest commonality between all three rooms was the overwhelming feel of independence. With all that we saw, many different opinions were made, and shared on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, November 2, 2011, we had an open discussion about Montessori. We each were able to give our own opinions and thoughts about that specific type of education. Many of us shared the same opinions, but there were also very many differing thoughts. I personally didn't like it as much as I wanted to. Some of the ideas and concepts I could agree with it, but overall, it wasn't my cup of tea.



On Thursday, November 3, 2011, T-Cads went to Anderson University with our Hillcrest friends. We toured the campus at Anderson, and kinda acted up a little bit during all of the lectures (T-dog). Lunch was SO good. Sweater-vest guy was SO cute :) Oh, we also learned alot about the Teaching Fellows scholarship and program. It helped alot! On the way home, we sang lots of songs with Hillcrest and did lots of student council cheers. It was a really really fun day. KRISTEN WOOD YEAHHHH!!!




On Friday, November 4, 2011 we had a PEP RALLY!! So, we didn't have the whole period. We each signed up for our elementary observations and threw T-DOG a BIRTHDAY PARTYYYY!!!! YAYYYYY :) Finished off a LONG week RIGHT! Woooooo!


"Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than YOU!" -Dr. Seuss

October 24 - October 28

*Monday: We turned in our service hours for the quarter and researched a preschool in the area that we will visit tomorrow and make a brochure for.

*Tuesday: We observed the preschool today, (Legacy Academy, Gateway Academy, Pocket Full of Miracles or Klassy Kids)







*Wednesday: We finished our brochures in class and presented them to each other to compare prices and skills that the children would learn. We finished class with a mini play day!



*Thursday: We made suckers for the staff and Sarah taught us the craft for tomorrow so we knew what to do with our froggy friend :)



*Friday: MES visit for Halloween, we did a craft with them and hung out while we could!





*Quote: "To learn and never be filled, is wisdom; to teach and never be weary, is love.”

October 17-21

On Monday, officer K visited our class again to answer more of our questions about gangs. We also welcomed a German and a French exchanged student. We also got to eat donuts and cake in celebration of the August, September, and October birthdays in our class.

Tuesday, we got to read our giant books that we made for our froggy friends to the rest of our class. It was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed seeing all of the different approaches that each group took to catch the children's attention.







Wednesday, Mrs.Turner talked about Piaget and his theory of the different stages of development in children. She also explained the adventure we would go on the next day!

Thursday we went on a field trip to Walmart!! We had to find toys that were specific to age groups and the developmental stage that they were in. It was a lot tougher than expected, but it was a lot of fun! (:







And finally, Friday. On Friday we discussed the toys that we found on our Walmart scavenger hunt and then came up with a list of the top ten toys for a preschool. To finish up the week we got to play a game of our choice that appealed to one of Piaget's many developmental stages!

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of becoming." -Johann Wolfgang



"Education costs money, but then so does ignorance." -Claus Moser

"Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own." -Nikos Kazantzakis

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.
on ou
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.

.



.

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!