Is Teaching for me?

After completing this course, I am still planning on continuing on this career path.  It has been very nice to be able to spend time in classroom and see what teaching entails on a daily basis. Previously, I have spent quite a bit of time in the classroom as a helper in my children's classes.  I was pretty sure that this was the path that I wanted to follow.  Those experiences have been very positive.  Adding the experience that I have had throughout this course has only solidified my desire to become a teacher.  I am looking forward to being a part of the professional teaching program here at UVU.

There were a few surprises that I learned through this course.  I think that there is a big misconception that teachers have it easy because they get their summers off.  I am pretty sure that they more than make up for the summer months that they do not work during the other 9 months that they are working.

My next steps are to finish up all my general ed classes so that I can hopefully apply to the program this coming fall semester...to start next Spring semester.  I am hoping that I will be able to go the internship route instead of the student teaching in the professional program.

After completing the program, I am hoping to teach in Kindergarten.  I currently work in a preschool and really enjoy working with this age group of children.

Classroom Assessment

I think that this course has been very good at covering topics and making them relate-able to the service learning.  It has been nice to see how the things that we are learning in class relate to the actual classroom.  It is one thing to learn about it, but it is a total different thing to experience it.  I like to go to the classroom with the understanding of why certain things are done the way that they are.  It has been a complete different experience than the ones that I have had in the classroom when I have gone in the past to help in my children's classes.

The blogging has been helpful in making me think about the connections that I am making in the classroom.  By giving us prompts, it has force me to actually think about what I have observed in the classroom.  I think that the blog posts became easier toward the end of the semester because I was prepared to be looking for things in the classroom. 

Classroom Standards

The majority of the time that I have spent in the classroom has been during reading center times. I see that a lot of the of the core standards for reading are being taught during reading time.  The students have different tasks to accomplish during this time.  The teacher has supplied each student with a workbook that has different kinds of reading assignments in the book that they can do as part of the center time.

I think that in general, most of the classes that I have helped in over the years, reading seems to be the big subject that is given more emphasis.  I imagine this is because it is a such a critical skill for students to develop.  If they can read, they can learn anything.  The classroom setting makes it apparent that other subjects are taught as well in the classroom, but I mostly have just seen reading.

The teacher seems to be indifferent about the standards.  It is nice to have a basis of what to teach, but she really hasn't said much about it.

Diversity

In the classroom that I am in, there is a lot of diversity in the class.  I have observed that there are children of different ethnic backgrounds in the classroom, there is a little girl with a prosthetic leg, and there is a child that is an ESL student.  For the most part, the teacher treats each student the same and only makes minor adjustments as necessary for the students.  The children are still expected to do their work and participate at the same level as the other students.

 The teacher does tend to work with those with the language barriers a little more than the others. They seem to get a little extra one on one time.  The girl with the prosthetic leg has some physical modifications for her. She is allowed to sit on a chair during certain activities where all the other children are sitting down or when they are expected to stand for a longer period of time.

History of American Education

There are a lot of ways that history has affected education and what takes place in our schools today.
The school that I have been working in is a Title I school.  It has a large diversity compared to some Utah county schools. I am sure that for sure that Brown vs. Board has a lot to do with the diversity in the school.  There is an English as a second language teacher that helps the ESL students with their assignments. There is also a ESL technician that comes and works with the ESL students individually once a week.

In the classroom is a girl with a prosthetic leg.  The Disability Act enables her to be able to come to school on the bus everyday and have her needs taken care of.  The accommodations that are made for her are pretty simple, but they make a large impact to her.

There is also a special needs unit in the school where those students with more severe needs are able to come to school and get an education.

There are techs who come in a work with students who are struggling in their school work because of the no child left behind act.  Each student is evaluated and given the support that they need.

Engaged Learning

Some of the activities that I have observed in the classroom that were particularly engaging include the use of technology in the classroom, group projects, and some kinesthetic learning.  During the reading centers, the students are allowed to use the chromebooks to  play reading games.  They love this center and always seem to be excited to have their turn there.  The teacher did a collaborative group art project for science.  All of the kids were put into groups and had to work together to make a poster that taught about the different seasons of the year.  Each student had to make a contribution.  It was really fun to see the creativity that the students came up with.  Another thing that I have observed is seeing the kids use their spelling words while in PE as they did jump rope.  They had to spell the words as they jumped.

The time that lacks the most engagement seems to be the transition times.  They can be sitting there for quite a while in between lessons waiting for the next assignment or activity.  I think that the teacher could be more aware of transitions and if something comes up that needs to be taken care of, that she should have something for the students to do so that they are not just sitting there.

Creating Productive Learning Environments

The cooperative teacher that I have been working with establish a positive relationship with each student by getting to know them personally and making sure that they know that she sees them and knows them.  In the mornings, she is in charge of the outside duty by the entrance to the school.  She makes it a point to greet every student when they come to school, but you can definitely tell when one of her students come in.  She has a beaming smile and greets the student with their name and asks them how they are and what great things the student plans on accomplishing that day.  you can tell that she really knows what is going on in the children's lives and that she really cares.

The routines are very clearly established in her classroom.  Each day run through the same schedule.  If there happens to be an assembly or anything going on that might alter the schedule, she makes sure to write the information on the board and discusses the changes so that none of the children are caught unaware.  Her reading groups are timed exactly to the minute and the students know that as soon as the chimes ring that they are to move to their new center.  She rarely needs to interfere and it goes very smoothly.

The teacher recognizes students skills by allowing the students who are excelling in a certain area be able to help the students around them.  She also highlights a student each week and encourages them to share their talents with the class during this time.

Learning Theory

I have observed the teacher that I am working with really use the learning theory of behaviorism in her classroom.  There are a few different things that she has in place that supports this theory.   The students each strive to earn a fun Friday each week by being on task throughout the week and by getting all of their work done on time.  Another thing that she uses is handing out praise notes.  The school has a school wide program of praise notes that they give out to all the students as they are caught going out of their way to do good things while at school.  This teacher uses these notes to give to the best behaved boy and girl at the end of each day.

Another thing that is in place in this classroom is the use of think time.  Think time is an equivalent to a time out, but is geared to being a more positive  experience.  The students have 3 strikes before they are issued a think time.  If a child is given a think time, they simply go to a designated place in another teacher's classroom to fill out a form that makes the student think about why they are in trouble and how to remedy it.  After the student fills out the form, the other teacher then goes through the form with the student.  After they have discuss what has happened and how the student can avoid this situation in the future, the student is then allowed to go back to their classroom and discuss the problem with his teacher.  It is a great teaching tool to use because it allows the student to do some self reflection and figure out how to avoid the problem behavior.

For my service learning experience,  I am going to volunteer at Rees Elementary school in Spanish Fork. This is a Title 1 school.  Although, the houses directly surrounding the school are nicer homes, the school boundaries include quite a bit of lower income homes. The student body has a great diversity because of this. Rees has received a 5 star rating on the website GreatSchools.   

My understanding of service is learning is that it is an opportunity for me to learn about being a teacher in a hands on approach. I will be able to observe and also be able to give a helping hand where I can.  During my service hours, I am hoping to be able to spend some time in the Kindergarten classrooms. I believe that service learning will be beneficial to me and help me to understand the ins and outs of what actually goes on in the classroom.  I look forward to helping the teachers and to be able to see how they manage their classrooms and go about their day.