Well Hello! I haven’t been here in a long time.

So since my last post a lot has happened! Most importantly we just finished our first week of observation with our cooperating teachers. This week was really good! My schedule got a little thrown off because the teacher I was originally suppose to be with wasn’t available for the six week period. So I observed her (Mrs. Emerling) for two days. The first day she was doing inclusion (she is a special education teacher), so we were in another teacher’s classroom. The students seemed to be well behaved and when I entered the room they were doing bell-work.  One of the cool things I learned about was that they elementary school I’m at does a vegetable/fruit snack most days, if not everyday. Mrs. Emerling told me that they’ve had the chance to taste star fruit, orchid flowers, and broccoli (which wasn’t a favorite). I though the fact that they expose their students to healthy choices was really neat. I wish this program would have been around when I was in elementary school!

The next day we were in Mrs. Emerling’s class working on research papers. There were only six students in the class. The students were researching African American inventors like Eli McCoy and Madam C. J. Walker. I had the chance to help a few of them with their research process.

On my last day I switched to a new teacher, Ms. Hammonds. The students in her class were very well behaved. One thing I should tell you is that Ms. Hammonds’s class is a fourth grade math class. On this particular day they were just doing different math activities because they had been testing all day. I walked around and talked to some of the students about what they were doing and I found out their names. By the end of class I had helped a little girl with her multiplication (we played a little math game) and I also helped another student with adding decimals (we also played a game). One student even showed me how to do a new method of multiplication, I believe it was called a Lattice…anyways; I really enjoyed my day in Ms. Hammonds class. All the students were asking me if I was going to come back, so we’ll have to see what happens, but I’ll fill you in on that later! Can’t wait for week two.

One thing that is quickly approaching is our Teacher Cadet internships and observations. Soon we will be going out to observe in an area that we are interested in, like an elementary or high school class (it just depends on what level you want to teach or basically just one that interests you). Then we will do a drawn observation. For this particular observation will we draw out a bowl, hat, etc. to see where we will go to observe, it could be in the lunchroom or even with one of the janitors.  After observing for a while we are suppose to plan a lesson and teach it. There are specific areas that we must cover over the course of our teaching internship, but I’ll fill you in on those later. Although this might seem kind of stressful right now I know that this upcoming experience will be very beneficial for all of us Teacher Cadets.

That’s not the only thing I’m excited about for 2012 though. This year I will finally graduate from high school! How much better can this get?? And then off to college I’ll go. I’m glad to see that this day isn’t too far around the corner. Now don’t get me wrong, I have and will still continue to enjoy high school while i’m here, I think I’m just ready for a new phase in my life.There is still so much time left in this new year and I can’t wait to see what else it holds in store. So before I sign off I’ll leave you with a little motto that I will be using this year…”Do well in 2012!” ( And if you say it just right it rhymes ha-ha) Oh and  Happy New Year to all!

This week instead of ending the week with a quote, I thought I’d start us off with one that has the power to inspire us all to enjoy learning (especially since it’s exam week here at my school!!). Enjoy!

“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.”                    -Anthony J. D’Angelo

PASSION! What a great word! There are so many things that people in the world can be passionate about: faith, music, art, family, friends, and so much more. I personally believe that learning should be on that list too. It’s not always easy to sit in a classroom and listen to someone day after day, but if you develop a PASSION for it then it becomes more enjoyable. It can be like that with all sorts of things in life, you just have to develop a strong interest in whatever it may be. Now don’t get me wrong, there are just some things that don’t make you feel very passionate like washing dishes or cutting grass (or am I the only one who feels this way? haha). But when you are able to develop a zeal for something like learning this quote becomes so true, “you will never cease to grow.”  So as many of us are facing exams head on, remember what you’ve learned, and if you feel as though this past semester you didn’t really apply yourself then try to become more passionate about what you will be learning in this new and upcoming year. After all, there is always room to grow!

We had a good time! The three little girls seemed to really enjoy the songs and one of them even told us “Bravo!!”.  As always, I really enjoyed it. I didn’t really sing that great (haha) but the girls seemed like they really didn’t care what we sounded like, they just loved getting do motions and sing along with us. You can always count on children to brighten your day!

I really like this quote! I think that it encompasses many important aspects of how your life should be. It’s not always about doing every thing to perfection, just striving for success and doing the best you can. I think that that is an important part of being a Teacher Cadet. In our class we have many different projects and presentations that we have done or still will have to do. I don’t think that we as students should feel like everything needs to be perfect, but in the same manner we should always try our best.

This quote also talks about how you shouldn’t give up on your right to be wrong. Sometimes you are just going to be flat out wrong about things.  I have to admit that it is never fun to be wrong about things, but it’s all a part of the learning experience. If you always think you have the right answer for everything in life then there’s really no point to it. You have to be willing to accept the fact that you won’t always be right and you don’t know everything. You have to be willing to humbly accept correction.  Learning is a big part of life and it is a continuous process. You can’t just decide one day that you have nothing left to learn, I mean you could but it would just make life so boring.

This quote, in my opinion, is GREAT! I think that it is one that I will try to live by from now on. Throughout the rest of this school year in my Teacher Cadet class, and in every aspect of life I want to strive for success, not perfection. I want to continually learn and be willing to accept correction. I hope that you can take something meaningful from this quote as well. Oh, and have a good weekend guys!

We are working together as a school to collect at least 80 socks and hats for the children at our local Head Start Program. I always love helping the community out so that should be a cool project. Also, we are planning to go down to the parenting center at our school and spend some time with the kids revolving around music and movement. I LOVE music so I’m pretty stoked about getting to share one of my passions with the children. So basically it’s starting to look like we are going to have a fun few weeks ahead of us before Winter break. I can’t wait!

Before I explain, I have to let you know that writing and illustrating a children’s book is not as easy at it looks! Our Teacher Cadet class had been given the assignment of writing a barrier book for children. I have to admit that I’ve always wanted to publish a children’s book, but I didn’t know I’d have so much difficulty creating one. There were a few topics to choose from, and some specific guidelines to go by. I chose the topic Death of a loved one (including pets). My book focused on the aspect of loosing a pet and how it can affect you, but that it is possible to overcome that loss.  Coming up with the story line wasn’t too hard, it was the illustrating that got me. I could have just copy and pasted pictures, but I was determined to actually draw my own. After hours of tedious work on my book, I realized my pictures just weren’t cutting it, but I didn’t give up and I eventually found an easy enough way to create my own illustrations. Now that my book is completely finished I have to say that I am quite proud. I really enjoyed this assignment!

So anyways, last week we were given the chance to present some mini lessons to our classmates about a barrier to learning. We were actually going to get to practice being the teacher! I have to admit, it was a little nerve racking to think I was going to have to get up in front of my peers and teach, but they were a really great class.

I chose to research and teach on the subject of eating disorders (This topic just seemed interesting to me). During the research stage of my preparations I learned a lot about the effects of eating disorders. I didn’t know that the effects could also be detrimental to learning. Through choosing this topic I guess you could say I learned a lot! After researching it was time for me to put it all together and create a lesson plan. Once I got started it wasn’t all that hard because I knew what I wanted to talk about. After I had it all planned out, I worked on some visual aids and what not. Once I had everything I needed to teach my lesson on eating disorders I practiced a few times. This was one project I knew I better not just try to wing.

When the time finally came to teach the lesson I felt confident and prepared. My classmates responded well and I know they learned a little something because they all aced the quiz I gave them (They also did a good job on the review game!!). I really enjoyed teaching and I think I was able to feel this way because I actually knew what I was talking about and where I wanted to go with it.  I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to teach my classmates and I’m excited about actually getting to teach others too…when the time comes! But for now I’m signing off! See you soon.