Field Experience Continues

This week, I had the privilege of visiting the Early Childhood Classrooms (and one fifth grade class!)

  These girls continue to AMAZE me!  Love them all!

Madi teaching time to Miss Foster's first grade class at Bethel

Rebecca reading to her second graders in Mrs. Hamm's class at MES.

Alex consoling one of her 1st graders in Mrs. Lichoulas' class at MES

Jessie helping one of her 2nd graders with math in Mrs. Bryson's class at MES

Delaney and her sweet second grade class with Mrs Campbell at MES

Sydney is working on the letter of the week with her pre-schoolers at Pocketful of Miracles.

Amy is helping her fifth graders with math in Mrs. King's class at Bethel.

 

March 15 - St Patty's Day Celebration

My sweet girls working with our kindergarten buddies on St. Patrick's Day!

Field Experience 2013

Well, all my wonderful ladies are out in the field, and I couldn't be more proud!  So far, I have visited the youngest classes! I miss them in the mornings, but it is so nice to visit their schools and to see them so happy.  They represent Mauldin so well, and they are really going to be FABULOUS teachers one day!

Heloisa with Mrs. Vaughn's K5 class - Mauldin Elementary

Anna with K5 - Mrs. Rainey at Mauldin Elementary

Catherine with Mrs. Puckett's K5 class at Mauldin Elementary

Ashley with Mrs. Anderson's Pre-K class at Mauldin Elementary

Olivia with Mrs Hull and her kindergarteners at Mauldin Elementary.

Manuela and her little ones at Hope Academy

Frannie with Mrs. Rainey's K5 class at Mauldin Elementary

 

February 18-22

Monday, February 18

Presidents’ Day so no school!

Tuesday, February 19
Yay for a three day weekend and now back to my favorite class of the day, Teacher Cadets! Today Rebeccah Gerlach geared up to talk about double digit numbers. Her essential question was: Can you add numbers in order to make a double digit number? And the answer is yes and by learning this, we demonstrated with dominoes. A domino was a good tool to use because it showed vertical and horizontal addition and how with both, you get the same answer! Then it was Maggie Ambrose’s turn to talk about the American Revolution. She broke down the differences between the Patriots and the Loyalists. The Patriots supported America’s independence from Britain while the Loyalists were loyal to the king (hence the name “loyal”lists). I enjoyed guessing which of the two said which quote, even though some were pretty tricky!

Catherine working with Dominoes

Patriot or Loyalist?

Wednesday, February 20

Today Anna Reeps set up her presentation on meteorology. At first, she stated how meteorology isn’t the study of meteors, but instead the study of the atmosphere. She asked Alex Dawson to go look out the window and tell how the weather was. Then she handed us coloring sheets and told us to color the elements that represented how it was outside. I enjoyed the visual reenactment of how a Doppler Radar operates and learned who D.O.T. workers were (Department of Transportation). Next was Olivia Baddley’s turn to talk about the ocean. According to Olivia, the ocean covers over three quarters of the Earth! She then read us two books about the ocean, but my favorite part would have been when we searched in the sand bucket for seashells!

Doplar Radar

Thursday, February 21

Today was Frannie Erb’s time to present! Her lesson was on music and she even brought a guitar! We began by brainstorming what we already know about reading musical notes. Frannie then took us step by step into explaining how music notes go from A-G and where they are located on a musical staff. I enjoyed coming up with goofy acronyms to try to remember FACE and EGBDF. Next was Olivia Hodge’s turn to talk about penguins.  She started out with a poem describing a penguin and we had to guess what her presentation was about. She then named the five types of penguins (Adelie, Chinastrap, Gentoo, Emperor, and Macaroni) and based their differences by how they look. My favorite part would have to have been making the penguins out of construction paper!

Friday, February 22

Today I went to Pocketful of Miracles to check out my upcoming field experience. When I arrived, I was escorted to Mrs. Chris’ K4 classroom where I met about 15 or so preschoolers. They seemed very excited to see a guest and couldn’t help but show off. I introduced myself to the class and then each boy and girl stood up and told me their names. Once everyone knew each other, I helped Mrs. Chris pass around breakfast, which included juice/water and biscuits with jam. With the kids munching away and quieting down, I had time to go around to every table and chit chat a little so I could get to know them better. I found out that majority of them have a sibling that goes to Mauldin High and how much they love having sleepovers. I then had the class pick out a couple of their favorite books and gather around on the carpet. After I read Lyle Lyle Crocodile, 9:15 struck and it was time for me to head back to Mauldin. I look forward to doing my field experience at Pocketful of Miracles!

(in the meantime.... Saige taught about the Holocaust.  Manuela taught about inference v. observation, and Laura taught us CHINESE!)

Quote:

“Now, I'd like you to step forward over here. They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? Carpe...hear it?...Carpe. Carpe Diem. Seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”

 –John Keating, Dead Poets Society

February 11-17

Monday, February 11
Today we continued presenting our lesson plans to the class. The first person to present was Licha, and she did her lesson on Colombia. We learned that the capital of Colombia is Bogota, their money type is peso, their religion is 90% Catholic, and Colombia has 32 departments. Then, Licha discussed about the different festivals that occur in Colombia every year and more about the culture. Her brother also came to help with her presentation and at the end, they did an amazing salsa demonstration for us! After that, whoever wanted, got to go in front of the class to learn how to salsa! It was an amazing lesson. After Licha's presentation, we had Alex Corn present. She did her presentation on Ecosystems: The Desert. Miss Corn started her presentation with questions to see what the class already knew about the subject. She then described all of the characteristics of the desert and the different types of animals who live there. She then ended her presentation with a compare and contrast diagram to see how much the students learned. It was a great lesson and presentation! 

Tuesday, February 12

Today we continued to present our lessons and today Sydney Vail and I presented. I went first and I did my presentation on all of the seasons of the year for first grade. I started my presentation with pictures and asked the students to write down the seasons that they already knew. I then started talking about each season with an activity on the board in between each. For example, after talking about winter, I had a student come on the board and help the little girl get dressed for a snowy, winter day. I ended my lesson with a drawing activity where students were split up into four groups and each group had to draw a different season. The each group had to present and describe their season to see how much they learned. Right after my presentation we had Miss Vail present. She did her lesson on Ballet/ Dance. Sydney started with her EQ, which is What do Ballerinas wear? She then did a great job describing the different types of shoes that ballerinas wear. We also learned that ballet students must wear nylon tights and leotards. She then had everyone in the class stand up to learn all of the different positions on ballet. Ending the lesson with a coloring activity was a great idea! 

Wednesday, February 13

Today we had Ashley Brady and Catherine Phillips present their lesson. Miss Brady went first and she taught us about letters and sounds! She started with a fun warm up where a students had to go up on the board and drag the first letter of the word each name of the animals started with. She then reviewed what letter each shape and their color starts with. We were all so excited when Miss Brady pulled names with the Popsicle sticks to separate us into groups for another fun activity! In this activity, each group received a baggie full of letters and we had a minute to make as many words with those letters as we could. She then ended her lesson with a Think, Pair, Share activity. Miss Brady's lesson was good because it involved every single student in the class and we were all active. Our second lesson was with Miss Phillips. She taught us about the different types of clouds there are in the sky. She started with discussion questions to see what we already knew about the three different types of clouds: Stratus, Cumulus, and Cirrus. She explained how clouds are formed and talked about each type of cloud. She then ended her lesson with a worksheet and a fun activity. She put shaving cream on each students' desks and we had to form one of the types of clouds! This activity really got the students involved and interested in the subject! We had a lot of fun! 

Thursday, February 14

 Today is VALENTINE'S DAY!! Today we went to Mauldin Elementary to visit our little buddies in Mrs. Vaughn's class for Valentine's Day. Each of the cadets brought their little buddies a gift for Valentine's Day and our buddies did the same for us! We did not get to do the activity we were supposed to, but that's okay because we had LOTS of fun spending time with each of our buddies by playing fun games and coloring! We all had a great time spending time with our buddies and we wish we could have stayed longer. It was a great day.

Friday, February 15

Today was a busy day for the Teacher Cadets! We had the whole class period to work on different things for the Family Connection Valentine Festival on Saturday. Many cadets brought in home made baked goods for example cupcakes and cookies. Some of us made signs for the different organizations that were going to participate. Others put brownies and cookies in small bags for the kids.We got a lot accomplished and and we were all really excited to volunteer at the event.

Saturday, February 16 
Our Valentine's Festival got rescheduled because of the weather. :( We had a blizzard and lots of snow!!

Sunday, February 17
Today was the Valentine's Festival. Many cadets arrived early to help set everything up. It was from 1-3 and even though I could not attend, it wad a very successful day!

Quote: “Give yourself entirely to those around you. Be generous with your blessings. A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.”  -Steve Maraboli 

February 4-8

Monday
Today we worked on finishing up our first lesson plans.  We are teaching our lessons to our teacher cadet class as practice for our field experience which starts next month! Everyone's lessons are on a different level and a different subject depending on where their field experience is going to be or just a fun lesson they want to share with us.

Tuesday
Today we continued working on our lessons.  Some of us were spread out in the library and computer labs working on promethean board lessons. And others worked on their official lesson plan template.

Wednesday
Today was another work day.  Alex and I were putting the final touches on our lessons because we present first on Thursday.  I can't wait to see everyone's lessons!

Thursday
Alex and I presented our lessons today.  Alex taught us a lesson on Ancient Egyptian mummification.  The highlight of her lesson for me was when she demonstrated how to wrap a body like a mummy with toilet paper (thank you for being the mummy Franny)!  I taught my lesson on first grade reading comprehension and we recreated a story as a class.

After the mummifcation process...

Friday
Today Rachel and Delaney taught their lessons to the class.  Rachel taught us about 3rd grade geography on the promethean board.  She also had a coloring worksheet we got to do after her lesson that let us see the different regions of America.  Delaney taught her lesson on money (2nd grade level).  She also had an interactive promethean board lesson and a worksheet to test our skills after.  I was glad to see Rachel and Delaney put the skills Mrs. Turner taught us on the promethean board to use in their lessons!



Rachel getting our class involved through her promethean board lesson!

"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in a creative expression and knowledge"
                                                                                                             -Albert Einstein

January 28-February 1

Monday:
Today we had a shortened class due to the make-up pep ralley :( And the first day of spirit week, so everything was crazy at school that day! But we went over our webinger hunt and learned a lot about Greenville County. We learned how many schools were in our district (91).  We also learned how much you will make depending on how many years you've been teaching and also depending on what kind of degree you have.

Tuesday:
Tuesday we had the class Buy-Out so we went to see the student-faculty dodgeball game. We also got to see Mrs. Turners AWESOME dodgeball and dance moves!

Mrs. Turner with her dodgeball skills!

Wednesday:
Today we went to the library and started to learn about the Promethean Board and all the cool things it has on it! We learned about the board because we are going to do lessons for the class in a couple weeks. (sign up for your day if you haven't already) Some of the stuff we learned was really cool. Like how to take a picture from the internet, hide stuff on the board and make it appear when you get the right guestion.

Thursday:
We went to the library again today to finish learning about the Promethean Board. Some of us downloaded it to our personal computers at home. The stuff we learned about the Promethean Board was really helpful. And as future teachers it is important that we know how to use it! It will also help us when we go to our field study in March.

Friday:
Today we got to see our buddies for the 100th day of school. When we arrived they were dancing to get their energy out! Then we got them back to their tables and we told them what we were going to do with them. We counted to 100 with Fruit Loops and the put the on string for our buddies to wear as a necklece. Mr. Vaughn brought us Hot and Ready doughnuts. They were really good! I think our buddies really liked them! After that we helped them finish coloring their 100th day of school paper with them. It was great to see our little buddies, and we get to see them on Valentines Day.

Manuela and her buddy Nicholas.


 

Quote: "The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see." -Alexandra K. Trenfor



January 22-25

Tuesday:
Today we came back from a wonderful four day weekend!  Class began with us writing down all our important dates for February.  We were excited to find out that some of those were days with Mrs. Vaughn's class.  We will be visting our buddies in her class for the hundredth day of school, and Valentine's day.  Then Mrs. Turner taught us about Bloom's Taxonomy and gave us a handout to use on our assignment. To apply the lesson, we read children's books and made a "quiz" about the book we read using the strategies from Boom's Taxonomy.  Mrs. Turner also passed out a "webinger" hunt about the school district for us to complete in class tomorrow.

Wednesday:
Mrs. Turner wasn't here today, but had us well prepared for what to do while she was gone.  We began the class period by taking one of our classmate's quizzes that we created yesterday.  After we completed the quiz we gave them back to the person who made them and they graded it.  We worked on our "webinger" hunt for the remainder of the class period. 

Thursday:
Today in class, we learned about cooperative teaching techniques.  We also completed each of them after learning about it.  The first was Think/Pair/Share.  In this activity each student has a partner.  When the teacher asks a question you first think for 15-20 seconds, then share your answer with your partner.  The second was pairs check.  In pairs check partners will work together to answer the questions and then check them with another pair once they have completed them.  Numbered heads was our next technique.  In this activity, the class numbers off and divides into groups.  Once the students are divided, they number off again, because each time a question is asked the teacher rolls a die to see which student from each group writes down the answer.  Our next activity was jig saw.  For jig saw, the students are divided into groups again and each one reads a different article together.  After they know their article, students renumber and group up differently.  In these different groups there will be a member from each of the first groups.  Each student will share what their atricle was about.  The last activity was inner/outer circle.  In this, the class is divided in half and forms two circles, one inside the other.  The inner circle faces a partner in the outer circle.  Each time a question is asked, the inner circle answers first and then the outer circle can answer.  The inner circle rotates with each question so that the students have a new partner each time. 

Friday:
Today Mrs. Turner taught us what a lesson plan consists of and gave us a template to help us create one.  While we were listening to her explain this, we got an announcement that we would be leaving school at 10! Although we were excited about this, we had to finish the lesson.  At the end of class Mrs. Turner gave us a list of websites to use to guide us in making lesson plans. 

January 2th-January 11th OUR FIRST WEEK AND A HALF BACK FROM CHRISTMAS BREAK

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 3^rd:
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 4^th:
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 January 7^th-Wednesday January 9^th:
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!

 

 

    "It takes a big heart to help shape little minds." -Pinterest

December 10th-December 19th: LAST WEEK AND HALF OF SCHOOL BEFORE WINTER BREAK

Monday December 10th:
This morning many of the teacher cadets started their morning out early and came to school to decorate Mrs. Turner's classroom for Christmas with the help of Mr. Bufis. They added many paper snowflakes and hung them all over the ceiling. they also added light up snowflakes and stockings! Mrs. Turner was very surprised when she walked in. Later that morning we went to observe a high school class within our school. I had the opportunity of going to Mr. Leine's personal finance class. The class was very interesting and they were learning about different scams that happen during the holiday season and how to avoid them. We also got to start our Secret Santa week which ends on Friday.

Tuesday December 11th:
Today we had an observation day! we got to choose a place where we wanted to go, whether it was preschool or high school. I had the opportunity to visit Monarch Elementary School, which is a new school that uses technology based learning. I went to Mrs. Peay's first grade class and I loved every minute i was there. The classroom had rocking chairs for the kids to sit in and Mrs. Peay would start singing and the kids would quiet down and start singing along too. Mrs. Peay was very encouraging and helpful to every student and was so proud of them.

Wednesday December 12th:
Today we had another observation day where we could go anywhere we wanted. Today I went to Bethel Elementary School and observed Mrs. Manley's 5th grade class. Mrs. Manley teachs English and spelling and her class switches with another class and they learn different subjects. Her classes did more independent and group work.

Thursday December 13th:
Today we discussed everything thats coming up in our teacher cadet class. It was kinda like a catch up day. We talked about whats happening on Friday and the rest of next week. we have another opinional observation day next Tuesday and we talked about our teacher's Christmas gifts. We talked about visting our little buddies tomorrow and everything we have planned for the rest of the year. Mrs. Turner gave us a changes in society throughout generations which we will discuss when we return to class after break.

Friday December 14th:
Today we went to visit our little kindergardeners in Mrs. Vaughn's class at Mauldin Elementary School. First we read two christmas books to them and then we made a craft. For our craft we made reindeer with a picture of ourselves sitting on top of them. For  this craft both the cadets and our little buddies got to make a reindeer! After we finished we gave our buddies a small christmas gift to them and each gift contained at least on book so they'll be able to practice their reading!

Later that night we had a christmas party at Mrs. Vaughn's house. She invited all the cadets and Mrs. Turner over to have a mexican buffet. Many cadets were excited that night because most received a college acceptance letters today for the University of South Carolina and Charleston and we were exchanging Secret Santa gifts also! Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn for inviting us to your house tonight!
Monday December 17th:
Today we discussed everything for our extreme makeover: classroom edition. We decided to makeover Mrs. Robinson's English class. She is a new teacher who came from North Carolina. We decided how we were going to change her room and what we are going to buy.


Tuesday December 18th:
Today Mrs. Turner and a few of the teacher cadets were on a field trip with the Spanish 5 class so we didnt get to see her today. The rest of us got a few things done for the makeover tomorrow and we made a poster for the Teacher of the Year.

Wednesday December 19th:
Today is the day of our Extreme classroom makeover. During our class we built shelfs and laminated letters for the wall quote, and we created a picture frame with favorite books. Everyone was busy getting everything organized for later today. We started our makeover during 7th period with the help of Mr. Campbell and Mrs. Biggs. We cleaned her whole room and got right to work! We changed her bulletin board, put up a wall quote and decals, hung curtains, organized her desk and closet, and spray painted her podium and placed a rug in the front of the class. We didnt finish her room until 7:45. Thanks for all your help Alex C, Jessie, Olivia H, Olivia B, Manuela, Rachel, Anna, Amy, Delaney, Mr. Campbell, Mrs. Biggs, and Mrs. Turner. It turned out awesome!

BEFORE

AFTER

WE HOPE EVERYONE HAS A SAFE AND ENJOYABLE BREAK, CHRISTMAS, AND NEW YEAR! SEE EVERYONE NEXT YEAR!

Quote:

A teacher affects eternity:
he can never tell where his influence stops.
Henry Adams