Last Day Teaching.

Tomorrow is my last day teaching at J.H. Rose High School. It is also my sixth and final observation by Mrs. Harris. It's bittersweet! I've really enjoyed my time at this school and I've never felt more comfortable. The auto-tech teacher came up to my desk today and said, "Can you just stay the whole school year?" I told him I would love to, if I was paid. Not having an income has been tough, but it is all a part of student teaching.

I received great feedback this morning from my University Coordinator about my portfolio. I am almost finished with my portfolio and I am very proud of what I have accomplished with it. I'm not sure a portfolio can fully represent who I am and what I am capable of as a teacher, but it sure is close! 

Tomorrow night I am going out with friends to see a band play called 'Jupiter Jones,' and celebrate me completing my internship. Although I will be attending school next week, it will mostly be filled with observing, helping other teachers out, packing up my things, and completing my portfolio.

Where did the time go?
There are great things ahead! I can feel it! 

Almost There!

2 more weeks left?
NO WAY! 
Talk about a speedy semester.
I have one more week of teaching both classes, two observations, and then a week of observing, portfolio work, final evaluation, and a big wrap-up conference.
Holy smokes!

Currently, I'm planning a very fun lesson to teach my Parenting class the areas of cognitive development of toddlers. The lesson includes optical illusions, magic tricks, guessing objects with eyes closed, memory games, and calculating attention spans! I hope they enjoy it :)

Tuesday is my last day teaching my Parenting class. It hasn't really hit me yet, but I am sad just thinking about it. This class is very special to me. To wrap up my last day with them, I am bringing in my two-year-old brother Benjamin so my students can observe him. I figured this would be a neat way to wrap up what my students have learned about toddlers :) I'm curious how Benjamin will be. He's extra social, but in a classroom full of women, he might be a tad shy ;)

I'm ready to take on this busy week ahead!
Hope everyone had a beautiful Turkey Day! :)

Reflecting.

While working on my online portfolio, it seems the only thing I am doing is reflecting, reflecting, reflecting.  I've been writing two rationales a day, scanning items, and slowly working on my classroom management plan and philosophy of teaching (BIG documents here, folks!) Oh, and also planning for the two classes I teach. "The life of a student teacher...." To be honest, I'm sure going to miss it.

I just finished my rationale on the 'Childproof Home Poster Projects' I assigned my Parenting and Child Development class my second week of student teaching. I wanted to share my rationale with you all. While writing it, I realized even more what teaching is all about.

Childproof Home Poster Project Rationale:

While student teaching at J.H. Rose in North Carolina, I taught an objective on how to properly childproof a home.  I thought, "What is a fun way to evaluate and assess my students at the end of this objective?"  I knew a test wouldn't be the correct choice.  One day it hit me; I am going to have them create their own layout of a house and childproof each room!  I knew the instructions needed to be a tad more detailed, so I created a 'Poster Project Rubric' to help guide students while they were creating their childproof home.  Students were instructed to draw a picture, or cut a picture out of a magazine, of objects in the home that need to be childproofed.  Once the object was drawn or glued onto the poster, students were instructed to label and write how one can childproof that particular object. As you can see from the pictures to the left, students turned on their 'creative switches' and did a very nice job creating a childproof home.  My students responded well to this project and were excited to see their posters hanging up on the hallway bulletin board.     

This project allowed students to not only creatively envision their own future home, but allowed them to apply the subject matter to the real world.  Childproofing a home is what parents have to do usually once their children begin to crawl and this project educated my students on how they can childproof their future home if they decide to have children.  My students can also apply this knowledge to their current home if they have younger siblings or younger individuals within their immediate or extended family.  This project engaged students in learning how to keep children safe in the home environment, and the knowledge students learned from this objective and this poster project, helped them to understand the objectives that followed.  For my occupational students, I modified this project by instructing them to draw objects that would fit in the rooms of their home. They had drawn the same number of objects listed on the rubric and when they were done, I sat down with them and discussed what they had drawn and how they can make that object safe for children.  By doing this, my occupational students felt involved in the project and they responded well to the discussion once their objects were drawn.

By assigning this project, I have gained significant growth in the areas of creating rubrics and managing a large project.  These skills are important to have as an educator and to apply to my future classroom. I was nervous to hand my students a small rubric and let their creativity do the rest, but with a little guidance, my students created incredible posters and they were also pleased with their efforts.  I enjoy assessing my students in creative ways and looking back on the success of this project, I now understand that teaching isn't about test scores to me, but about making learning fun and not being afraid to experiment with activities or projects. I will always look back and smile when I think about the day my students created their childproof home posters.    

Only a few weeks left with these little guys.

:)

This past week was busy! I love it! My last day of student teaching is December 10th and it will be here in a flash. My students expressed on Friday that they wish I could stay until the end of the semester. They also said my cooperating teacher should retire and I should take over right away. Oh high schoolers :) These little guys above are the 'classroom toddler's' for the week as we cover the objective on Toddlers. My students can't decide on names for them so as of right now they are nameless :) This drawing will stay on the whiteboard for the whole objective and each day, we will add facts about toddlers to the poster paper.

The management of my 4th hour class was beginning to get a tad out of control, so I decided to try the typical 'new seats' strategy. To be honest, I was a little scared, but I kept a positive attitude and held my ground when the comments started rolling in! It took me about an hour of erasing and re-arranging my students names on a diagram in order to get the seats just right. I really wanted the new seats to benefit the students, not hurt them. The new seats have been around for about 4 school days now and I am impressed with how much the class environment has changed.  The new seats really helped the overall atmosphere and the students are more engaged and participate more in discussion. I've witnessed new seats go sour and I'm relieved that didn't happen with this new arrangement :)  After asking students to find their new seats by looking at the diagram above, I asked them to write down three reasons why they think the seats were changed.  15 out of my 16 students listed three accurate reasons. One student was very mad and wrote some harsh reasons (ooppss!) I realized that my students were aware of the issues in the classroom, and I was impressed when 15 out of 16 students were able to list them. One student wrote, "To get to know other's in the classroom."  Another student wrote, "To have new groups when we play review games." 

Overall, I'm sad to leave these students of mine. 

Post-Graduation.

I have a feeling that post-graduation will include me researching, asking way too many questions, and figuring out all of this teacher certification business! The big question is: Do I become certified in Michigan when I am not seeking employment in Michigan? 

I wish the answers to my millions of questions would just fall from the sky at the snap of my fingers. 

 I applied for a teaching job in Rochester New York this morning. The only requirement is a New York State Certification. Makes sense, right? Since my major is scarce in many states, would it be smart to move to a state, become certified, and then begin to apply? To me, it makes sense to research states, visit them, apply for jobs, and then work towards certification if I receive an offer. Am I crazy for thinking that way? 

Sometimes while working on lesson plans, grading, or new seating charts, I eat large containers of peas. I can't help what I crave when I'm in the zone!

Phew!

Don't laugh, but I just ran up the stairs, stormed into my bedroom, quickly opened my laptop and hit 'create post' to get me to where I am at right now; which is....typing this blog post :)

Why did I run up the stairs, storm into my bedroom, quickly open my laptop, and hit 'create post?' My overwhelming brain. I was sitting on my couch reading 'What Learning Leaves' by Taylor Mali and all of the sudden millions of thoughts began crowding my brain. I didn't have paper or a pencil or pen. If I did happen to have a pencil or pen, I probably would have written my thoughts all over the ink pages of 'What Learning Leaves!'

Okay, I've noticed my students saying, "Miss Moore, you challenge us a lot!" or "Miss Moore, this class is hard!" When I first heard these comments, I didn't think much of them. I want to challenge my students, I want them to think, and I want them to learn the most they can everyday. 

Yesterday, in the mix of my loud, energetic, anxious to leave, 4th period Parenting class, I heard a student of mine ask another student, "Do we have to pass this class?" Immediately, I began to visualize the grades my students have in this class and I realized all of them are passing and doing fairly well. I thought, "Hmmm, why would she ask that question when she is passing my class and doing well?" Then, it hit me...I teach an elective. All of the sudden, the comments "Miss Moore, you challenge us a lot!" and "Miss Moore, this class is hard!" began to repeat in my head. 

Do students view electives as easy classes and that some can be considered 'blow-offs?' Did my students expect to have an easy ride with Parenting and not have to think, do work, or study? These questions and thoughts upset me. I am like any other teacher in the world. Regardless of what you are teaching, each class is important and teaching an elective is just as much work as teaching a core subject. 

Do the comments about my class being hard come from the viewpoint of electives being easy? Is it the fact that my Parenting class is taught the last hour of the day? How can I work to change this 'view' of electives? 

School is work and the job of students is school. Learning is fun, but it involves some work and maybe some challenging assignments. Yes, you should work towards passing the electives you are in. You should treat them like your English, Math, Science, and History classes. Your grades in your electives count towards your overall GPA. 

I'm so troubled by this! Time to do some research :)

Difficult and Tough.

Things are difficult and tough lately.
With five weeks left and the amount of work left to do, I wish I could extend my deadline another two months.
I've noticed that although my stress level is through the roof and I'm tired, the stress and tiredness disappears when my students enter the classroom and the bell rings.
Something about them sitting in their seats, looking at you, waiting for you to speak, makes me smile and forget about the negativity, deadlines, and stress.
Mrs. McDonald told me the other day, "I couldn't even tell you weren't feeling well or that you were very stressed!" 
I do not want to bring outside factors into the classroom. I refuse, and I'm learning that teaching temporarily eliminates those outside factors. 
Teaching is where I am Jodi. 
It's comforting being reminded that I decided to pursue the correct career path :)

After writing 10 lesson plans today, all in which are broken up into 5 minute segments, I believe I can say I'm a pro at lesson plans.

That is all :)