Student Teaching

September Journal Articles
Home
Autobiography
Resume
Philosophy of Education
What is an Effective Teacher
Why Do I Want to be A Teacher?
The Basic Philosophers of Education
Position Paper: Rationales for Discrepancies Between Abilities and Achievements
Lesson Plans #1
Position Paper: No Child Left Behind
4th Grade Objectives from The Missisippi Framework
Objectives Aligned According to Bloom Taxonomy
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC)
Model Standards for Beginning Teachers
NCATE/CEC Programs for the Preparation of Special Education Standards
Lesson Plan #2
MY JOURNEY TO STUDENT TEACHING
Reflective Case Studies
Empirical Research Article- Assessment
Lesson Plan #3
Journey Enties -August
Lesson Plan (Marco Polo 3-in 1 Lesson Plans)
Lesson Plan #4
PowerPoint of a Lesson
The Essential Elements of Strong Parental Involvement
Empirical Research Article: Policies for ReformingTeacher Education
6 Weeks Behavior Plan
Lesson Plan #5
Empirical Research: The Importance of Early Intervention in Educaton Program
Lesson Plan #6
Position Paper: The Advantages and Needs of INTASC Standards for Pre-Service Teacher
How Each Standard is Applied in my Lesson Plans
Thematic Unit
Empirical Research: How to Identify At-Risk Students: Solutions and Strategies
Position Paper: Foundation of Every State is it Youth
Empirical Research: Problem Based Instruction
Position Paper: Classroom Management
Research Paper
September Journal Articles
October Journal Articles
November Journal Articles

SEPTEMBER

September 01, 2008

Labor Day

September 02, 2008

Did not attend due to the Storm

September 03, 2008

 

            Today the new superintendent came to view the school.  The teachers were extremely nervous.  I really did not understand why, because if you are doing your job right, you should not have to worry.  They were very panicky.  They were running around like chickens with their head cut off.  The teachers were putting posters on the wall.  They were also putting up signs up that should have been up since the beginning of school year. 

            Today the new student teacher began.  She is from Jackson State University, but she already teaches at the school.  She is very nice, she work with the third grade as tutorial in science and physical education.  Compared to us their student teaching is easy, she does not have as much work as I do.  They only have to complete ten weeks; I have to complete fifteen weeks. 

            The students are very tired today.  This was kind of strange to me because, we had a very long weekend.  They have been very slow all day.  It seemed as all the students stayed up late, probably watching the storm.  Therefore, before I left I told all them to go to sleep early. 

 

September 4, 2008

            Today we were getting everything prepared for the meeting on tomorrow, I actually had to stay a little longer today.  I did not mind it because, I like working at the school.  We worked extremely hard.  There were a lot of things we had to cover. 

            I basically did a lot of cleaning.  I also prepared portfolio for our SCD students (Social Cognitive Disorder).  These students are not performing on their level.  They are extremely low.  Some of the students are on kindergarten and first grade level, while in the 3rd-5th grade.  Their portfolios consist of work that corresponds with the lesson that was taught in general education. 

September 5, 2008

            Today was a busy day.  I had to be here at 7:00 am.  Today we were assigned to dot he bulleting board.  Our theme was A Harvest of Good Work.  The board consisted of all the work the child did based on synonyms and antonyms.  It turned out very well.  I put a lot of work into it.  We also had an IEP Review and Revise meeting about one of our students.  He is a little boy with Danny Walker Syndrome.  They are trying to move him from inclusion to self contained TMR, but will leave him for resource.  The student has several problems, which needs to be addressed.  The meeting was very interesting.  I learned that the exceptional education teacher couldn’t move this child without hosting a meeting with different people.  These people include the parents, general education teacher, exceptional education teacher, the learning specialist, and principal.  Everyone that has any involvement or any observation of this child most be there.  Before moving the child the team must come to an agreement.  The team agreed to move the students.  The student will be placed in TMR, but he will leave for resource. 

            I also got the privilege today of walking the TMR students to the bus.  It was so exciting, it was the best.  We moved a little slower, but they follow instruction better than some general education.  This experience makes me want to teach TMR. 

September 8, 2008

            This week is mid-term week, and today is test prep.  So as the exceptional and ask for test.  By asking for test, I can see exactly what skill has to be taught, or exactly what do we have to focus on during tutorial.  While going around to each class, there was an announcement on the intercom.  The announcement stated that in a few minutes there will be three short rings, that will indicate that there is a tornado drill.  The students will have to line up quickly and exit into the hallway.  When arriving into the hallway, the students must sit on their knees with their face facing the floor.  This was very interesting to me.  When I was in school, we had to sit on our buts with our heads between our legs.  So therefore their way of sitting was brand new to me. 

September 9, 2008

            Today is the first day of midterm and they are doing it as if it was state test.  The teacher has to have a proctor in the classrooms at all time.  They also use scantrons sheets.  On Friday, we can help the students take test but today we cannot.  We cannot modify the test either.  The strangest thing about taking this test, we could not read the test for them and most of them are in special education based on their reading skills.  We could not read the reading test, but we could read them the math test.  That is so strange to me. 

            We also have 5 SCD students, who do not perform on grade level.  Due to the fact, they cannot perform on grade level; these students are tested on the first grade level.  When tested on first grade level, the students do not have to use scan trons sheets.  They have teacher made tests.   With the student only testing on a first grade level really shocked me.  I was shocked because some of the students are in the fourth and fifth grade.

September 10, 2008

            Today we are testing on science.  The test is only supposed to be two hours long, but with our children being in special education, they have until 11:30.  Some of the students can move through the test without help and there are others who need all the time to finish.  To me some of the tests are not grade level appropriate or valid.  For instance third grade test was extremely hard, while the fourth grade test was quite simple.  This school works as a team, each grade level performed together.  Every teacher in each grade level is teaching the same exact lesson at the same time.  This is the best thing to me.  It makes it much easier for the inclusion.  Instead of going to each class, she can pull all the exceptional education students and pull them into one class. 

September 11, 2008

            Today is the last day for testing and I am so excited.  It seems as if we have been testing forever.  Some of our students are great test takers and others are extremely slow and need all the help they can get.  The students tend to get bored when taking test; they also become sleepy and cannot focus.  I believe it because they are not getting enough sleep at night.  It is also due to the fact that the classrooms are extremely cold and the children are not wearing the proper clothing.  Some students cannot function under these conditions.  The students also complain about being hungry.  Their minds are always focused on lunch. 

            When finish working on the test the student immediately returns to class for lunch.  That is a long time to be working on one test.  Some of the students were done early but others moved rather slowly.  It became a little tiresome, but if I am going to be an exceptional education teacher I must use to get use to it immediately. 

September 12, 2008

            Today I instructed the reading block.  At first I was a little nervous.  I was actually shaking as I walked down the hall.  My heart was pounding fast.  At first I did not know what the students were working on, but when I found out, I was relieved.  It was something that I could actually cover, cause and effect.  It was a great, and I did it all by myself.  The children were well behaved; every now and then they would get off track.  I would have to call their names and eventually they would get back on track.  At first they wanted to take me for a joke, but when they realized I was serious.  They straighten up and were well behaved all day.  When doing inclusion, I learned that I always have to have a student from the general population in my group.  They cannot be separated at anytime. 

September 15, 2008

Today we began anchor writing.  It was such rigorous task.  The students did not want to complete the assignment.  My students hate doing anchor writing, and honestly I do not like anchor writing myself.  It takes to long.  The children stop and ask every ten minutes how to spell this word and what is the world.  It took almost five hours.  I was exhausted. 

 September 16, 2008

            Today we worked on our second draft of anchor writing.  It was extremely long too.  It took us all day long to write a one-paragraph essay.  Some of the students were crying because they did not want to complete the task.  I thought that was lazy, my mom would kill me if she knew that I cried because I did not want to do my work.  That is crazy.  The students have other things on their minds.  I now know that they hate doing anchor writing. Sometime I don’t blame them, because it takes to long. 

            Today we also had a student who had a bruise on his face.  When asked what happened he said that he got a whipping.  The baby was bruised up extremely bad.  The teacher had to document the situation and take pictures.  The bruise looked bad, it actually made me want to cry.  I felt so sad for the students.  If his parents were smart, they would have left him at home instead of sending him to school.  

            Today I also attended my first professional development.  I was so fun.  It focused on Physical Education and Phonemic Awareness.  I really did not know much about phonemic awareness.  I did find out that the students are saying the sounds wrong.  This is done because we are teaching them wrong.  We also played some fun games to go along the sounds.

September 17, 2008

            Today was a long day; we worked on anchor writing again.  It was not so bad today.  The process actually went by rather fast.  I was kind of relieved.  After reviewing the anchor writing material we decided to begin reading.  While the students worked on reading, I help one of the first graders with his test.  He did a great job, he knew every answer.  The only problem is, he has a problem reading the questions and answers due to his sight. 

            I also attended my first team meeting, which was fourth grade.  We discussed the scores from midterm.  Some of the scores where pretty good.  One of my exceptional education students did extremely well.  The student took four test and his scores were 80, 80,80, and 84.

September 18, 2008

            Today we prepared for evaluation.  We had to find out what subject would we teach.  We decided to do math, single, double, and triple addition.  The reason we chose to do math is because the children does a great job in math.  It is also easier to pull down different things down for math for all different levels.  The group of students that we decided to use was five SCD and three fourth graders.  The SCD students performed on very low levels, but some can do math without struggling. 

            The evaluation went well, it was a success. The principal was impressed; she said we followed our lesson plan exactly.  The students did a very good job.  They did the assignment with no struggle, which was amazing for the SCD students. 

September 19, 2008

            Today we attended another meeting about 3 Tier Behavior Intervention and this time I have a better understanding of.  The tier programs was designed to help students without being placed in exceptional education, but when the children are placed on Tier III, they are tested for exceptional education. 

 

September 22, 2008

One of my student’s parents visited the class today. She was worried about her daugher’s behavior. I told her that her daughter behavior is getting a little carried away.  She never sits down, and I have to constantly have to call his name.  I did inform her that her child is.  I also informed the parent of the students grade, she is not failing only because she can’t fail, but she does not try to participate.  She catches an attitude with the student because they are answering questions and she is not.   All the mother did was take her outside and fussed at her and as she walked back in the room she motion her shoulders as if I do not care. 

Later on in the day, the student came to our class for and apologized for her actions.  I accepted her apology and I had to tell her that she was only hurting her self not the teachers.  I felt that she was really sincere because I did not have anymore problems out of her. 

September 23, 2008

            I attended an IEP workshop today. In this workshop, I obtained a lot of important  information. Most of the information was very familiar to me, and some was so confusing. For example, I already knew that an individualized education program, or IEP, was a written statement for a child with a disability. I also knew that IEPs describe the student’s performance, they must be realistic, they must be specific, they must be measurable, and they must be reviewed and revised annually.

            On the contrary, I wasn’t really familiar with creating individual transition plans. In the workshop, I participated in a group activity in which I helped to create a transition plan for two students. In doing so, I learned that all transition plans must include five essential elements including the following: higher education, employment, residence, transportation, and leisure.

September 24, 2008

Did not go had to go to the doctor

September 25, 2008 

 

            Today was a review day.  We reviewed math and science.  I really like studying for science, it is so interesting to me.  It like I learn more when I teach it.  I learn some very interesting things in science.  When focusing on math, I really don’t learn anything because I already know most of it.  I really do not have to study. 

            For some reason, I am very tired and does not feel like working today, but I have  to go on, because I have a job to do.  It must be the medicine that is making me feel this way.  On tomorrow I will not take my medicine because I believe that is why I feel so drowsy today. 

 

 

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