Training, Training, and more Training.....

This past week was the beginning and the end... It was the beginning of my student teaching experience, but the end of a era- the college era. The internship has officially begun. I have been waiting for this semester for YEARS- No Joke!

The week began with the first day of school at the elementary school that I will be working in. Then lots of seminars and training courses. Wednesday was orientation at UAB, followed by 3 days of ARI (Alabama Reading Initiative) training, which will end tomorrow; then the experience begins.

This next week will be observation in the classroom the main goal is to get familiar with the teacher's schedule, students, and her lesson plans. The following weeks will be teaching, but starting at slowly- teaching one subject at a time, until I am teaching all day for at least 10 days straight.

I'm excited about this journey, and looking forward to see how the Lord will bless me and the students throughout this semester.

C S D

First Day of School

Well, it's that time of year again- First Day of School. This video will describe how I will feel Monday morning as I wake up and prepare myself for the first day of school as a student teacher. I was able to attend "Meet the Teacher" day this week, and met lots of the students, parents, and grandparents. This was a super exciting time for them and me.

It's going to be a great year in second grade, looking forward to the impact that these students will have on me, and pray that I will have the same impact on them.

Catch Up

This summer was full of many amazing experiences for me personally and professionally. I was able to provide a group of second and third graders with academic enrichment from 8-11:30, 5 days a week. I tried to make them have fun while learning. We weren't placed in the best learning environment but I made it work. We were in the lunchroom for the entire summer; I was determined to make my area a learning zone instead of lunchroom eating zone. I brought in dividers to section off a portion of the lunchroom; this helped us create our own personal space. We did lots of fun activities throughout the summer. We learned about the human body,simple machines, basic fractions, created our own restaurant to incorporate money, focused on some of the states and capitals (goal was to learn all of them), poetry, butterflies, and the rainforest.

On a personal level- this experience brought me closer to a co-worker, another education major. She is majoring in art education and has just graduated and about to start her student teaching. We were able to collaborate and work together for several topics. I'm thankful for our friendship!

On a professional level- I was working with two grade levels, students just leaving second and third grade, age wise there isn't much difference between the two of them, but developmentally there is a HUGE difference. I had to adapt my "lesson plans/activities" for each grade level. Some of the second graders weren't able to comprehend the directions for an activity like the third graders; therefore, their directions had to be broken down into steps.

Also, there was an autistic student in the group. This boy was precious, but at first his ability not to comprehend what I was saying frustrated me, and I would just let him color or free draw. One day while everyone was working in centers, a older student was paired up with him in the social studies center, they were working on a certain region of states and their capitals. The older student was taking their time working with the autistic student helping him learn the states and their capitals. All it took was time. That was my mistake, and a lesson learned. From then on I took time with him. I would rotate centers with him, helping him figure out how to do the activity at the center.

I was able to engage my self in reading books on how to teach students about poetry, and what poetry really is. I was able to get the book Awakening the Heart by Georgia Heard. This book helps teachers create a classroom where poetry is present, and helps them integrate it with many different subject areas.

This summer was full of lots of learning, not just for group of second and third graders I worked with but for me too. I was blessed to have this opportunity.

Now, on to the next chapter in my life-STUDENT TEACHING! This is the semester that I have been waiting for, my final and last semester!!! I received my placement for this semester and...... drum roll please........ I'm a Gwin Elementary School working with second graders! So excited!

C S D

The Next Chapter

As I patiently wait to find out my placement for Student Teaching, another door has opened for me.

I currently work at a after school program. This summer the program operates from 7:30AM to 6:00PM instead of 3-6PM. The morning part of the summer program is devoted to academic enrichment. I have been selected to be one of the leaders for the 2nd and 3rd graders. I have the opportunity to put the knowledge I have gained over the past several years to use. I have the chance to plan amazing fun lessons to these students and help them retain the knowledge that they have learned over the past year in school. I'm so thrilled about this new chapter in my life, and excited to see how God will work through me.

~Carlie

There is always something to be learned....

Pedagogy II is complete. THANK GOODNESS! This semester was devoted to the methods courses (math, science, reading, and social studies). I learned so much from each one of the these classes:

Math- My teacher was very adamant about teaching math from the constructivist point of view: that students shouldn't be taught step-by-step how to do something, instead they should do it on their own. Well, this makes sense to a degree; however this is how she wanted us to teach math. This didn't make sense to me at the beginning. My professor wasn't a fan of algorithms, and thought that they confused the students more. I was taught to do math based on algorithms, so this concept was very unclear to me. The biggest thing that my professor harped on was Number Talks.

Number Talks is a 10-15 minute open to the math lesson, and the purpose is to get students to thinking about math mentally. This procedure is done on the carpet or at the desk, but with out pencil and paper. The students have to compute the problem in their head. The students show their thumbs when they have an answer, and then explain how they got their answer. As a class, they talk about the many different ways to solve one problem. This is was the eye opener for me. This really gave me an insight on how students solve problems. The many different ways that one problem can be solved was amazing, and how these students could solve the problem quickly and correctly.

One day when I was performing a Number Talk with my students, a young girl, who struggles in math, gave an answer, yet her answer was incorrect; I did not inform her that the answer was wrong, instead I asked her how she got that particular answer. She went on through her explanation and about half way through, she realized what she did wrong. This sent, and still does, chills all through me because this struggle math student was capable of catching her own mistake and correcting it. Then on the next problem, which was similar, learned from her mistake. This is what contructivism is all about, and after seeing in first hand, I'm a fan of it.

Reading- My reading professor is a lady who I have in the past for other courses and have the utmost respect for. She is a wonderful teacher, lady, and friend. This was actually my second reading course, but by far the best! She made teaching students how to read, fun. I hate phonics, it is the hardest thing to teach, probably because my deep southern drawl, but she gave me so many fun and exciting games and activities to play to help students master phonics. This class was amazing! Reading isn't always about reading the text from the book, its about comprehension, fluency, phonics, and vocabulary. These are all area that students hate, but this class made it fun and exciting.

Science- My professor is a science FREAK! He gave us sample lesson plan after lesson plans to implement in the classroom. We learned about the moon, insects, and plants. I cannot go into detail about each on the lessons, and everything we learned in that class or you would be reading a book and not a blog. Just know that I gained a lot from that class.

Social Studies- My professor focused a lot on incorporating art into the lessons. I have never seen a social studies teacher out so much emphasis into art, but it was very insightful.

This semester has prepared me for student teaching, and helped mold me into the type of teacher that I will become. Stay tuned, because the journey is just getting started, another door has opened.....

Thank you Dr. Seuss

March 2, 2011 was Read Across America day in celebration of a author who changed how children read. Many children first learn their ABC's because of Dr. Seuss, I know I did! Dr. Seuss has written many books that have made us think, he uses words that we have never heard before, and he helps build fluency with his unbelievable rhyming pattern. On March 2 SMES celebrated Dr. Seuss and his achievements with a birthday party. Many grade levels took part in the celebration by acting out some of Seuss' stories. At the end of the celebration the kindergarten classes sang Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss!

Here some pictures from the celebration:

Pledge to read led by Cat in the Hat

Kindergarten classes singing Happy Birthday

Third-grade started the celebration with a poem

I had to get in on the act...

This semester.....

Pedagogy II is underway..... I have been placed in a Hoover City School with third graders, my DREAM GRADE! I was so excited to receive this placement! The game plan for the semester is that I have to teach science, social studies, and math. I have to teach 3 lessons in one subject, 6 in another, and 9 in the another. That's a lot! We have already begun our placements in the school and so far, I have taught 2 science lessons. The first one didn't go that great,and because of that, I think that the second failed as well. I don't know what I'm going to do to improve my teaching ability. I think that I am under a lot of pressure to teach the way my cooperating teacher teaches, and it's hard. It's hard to walk into someone's classroom and take control, especially when the students are used to their routine and the teaching style that has been used since August.

This semester is going to be quite interesting, and probably very stressful over all!

Taking Teaching to the Next Level

I have been placed in a third grade classroom, at Shades Mountain Elementary (located in Hoover, AL). I have had the opportunity to help lead a discussion about Egypt and the political war taking place. One of besties, Randi, is hosting for an exchange student from Egypt. Randi and her family have opened up their home to a teenage boy, Ahmed, for the next several months.

I asked Ahmed if he would interested in coming to speak to the third graders and enlightening them more about Egypt. Well, he came and spoke not only the classroom I'm in, but all the other third graders as well. He had a blast and so did they. Ahmed spoke some Arabic, and wrote some Arabic for them. We have three Arabic speaking students in the third grade and it was very interesting watching them converse with each other. Ahmed is from Cairo and others are from Yemen. Their languages are some-what different. It was so neat watching a third grader enlighten a teenager about their language. Ahmed was so precious while he was working with them. I have several pictures from the visit. All-in-all, the kids learned more about Ahmed and Egypt than they did listening to me or my cooperating teaching speak to them!

The biggest lesson that I have learned from this is guest speakers bring so much more excitement and make the students think and ask TONS of questions! This was a great learning experience for me, to plan a guest speaker and prepare the students for one.

Here are some pictures:

Ahmed and Ali speaking Arabic to one another

Question and Answer Time

Ahmed enlightening the third graders.

My class this semester!

Ahmed, thank you so much for coming! I greatly enjoyed your visit!