Blog Post 9

When I was young, the creative side of my brain developed faster than the side that wanted to read or do math. I struggled with reading for a long time, and my teachers always placed me in special reading groups, which were humiliating, and the teachers there were not very kind or helpful. I mostly just felt unwanted and stupid. One of the teachers I had later on believed in me. She helped me learn to read and I have loved to read ever since. 

As I have tried to figure out what I wanted to do, and what I wanted to study in school, I thought about the experiences I had as a young girl, and it ignited a fire inside of me to be a teacher and to help kids who struggle with reading. All it took for me was someone believing in me and exhibiting endless patience. I never wanted to be a teacher, but it looks like I changed my mind. 

I have loved the Service Learning because it has allowed me to get some first hand experience with students, and it has helped me decide whether or not teaching is actually something I want to do. It was a lot harder than I expected it to be. In my mind, all the students listened to me and they learned and it was great. That's not what my actual experience was like, especially in the classes with Special Ed kids, and those are the ones I was hoping to teach when I become a teacher. They don't listen, and they don't cooperate, and they don't learn, but it was an incredible experience. I do think that I will keep going in this direction and become a teacher, and hopefully one day I will be able to make a difference and help to change a student's life the way my teacher once changed mine. 

As I have been learning in my education class, I have become aware of a lot of different teaching methods and techniques that are used by teachers in my service learning classrooms. It has actually been really cool to make those connections, and it helps reenforce the fact that the things I am learning are relevant and applied. 

And I think think that I have definitely been able to apply the lessons I have learned in the classroom when I have been helping. 

I think a lot of the time, there is a lot that we learn that don't even notice we are learning until we get prompted to think about it. I have liked writing a blog post to make connections between what I learn and what I see, and that has been awesome. 

I don't know if I can say I see growth in my blog posts from the beginning to the end, but I can definitely say that my learning has grown from the first time I posted, when didn't know much about teaching or education, but I know a lot more now and I feel a lot more comfortable with the classroom setting than I ever did before, and I feel more comfortable around students as well. 

Blog Post 7

I have found it really interesting to learn about the standards in the schools, and what is and isn't required for students to lean. It's interesting to see how kids in the classroom obviously enjoy learning some subjects above others, and they are very clearly happy about learning one thing, and very clearly annoyed by having to learn another. When I was in 1st grade, I loved to do the art and craft part of class, but when it came to reading time, I hated it because I couldn't read very well. I can see that in some of the students in the classroom. Students develop skills at different times, even though they are, for the most part, learning the same material. It's a little hard to see what is and isn't taught as much because the students go to different classrooms to learn different things, and I can only go to one at a time, but for the most part, it seems that everything we learned about in this lesson as being a requirement, is being covered very well in the classroom.

Blog Post 6

In my classroom, there are many students who are at different levels of learning, and what my teacher does is split the students up at various points during the day to teach individual groups in different ways. (kind of like in the video about the kids being able to choose what courses or activities they went to) Some students respond better to certain kinds of incentives to focus and sit still. I had the opportunity to sit with a group of students and teach them how to identify and use coins. They played a game with the plastic coins I gave them, and it seemed to be a great way to help the students understand the concepts. Meanwhile, the teacher was on the other side of the room, teaching her group of students about a different math concept. I could tell that it was a really effective way to teach because all of the students were able to learn something.

Blog Post 5

In my classroom there are students who don't speak English very well, but that doesn't really mean anything. The teacher, and other students even, try to help those who struggle, and they are given the opportunity to learn English during the day in a very small setting with someone who's job is to help them teach the. They are not treated any differently and I think that's so awesome. The landmark decision came from the Civil Rights act of 1954, that said that schools who receive funding must create an opportunity for those who don't speak English to learn.
There are so many events in history that affect the way we live today. The act that allows English to be taught in schools was so important, having equality in the educational system regardless of the color of your skin or where you were from was HUGE for progress. I can definitely see how Sputnick  influenced the way America looks at leaning, because there is so much emphasis on the importance of math and science. We do not want to be miles behind the other countries around the world in our education programs and those who are educated because I believe America has a sense of pride.

Blog Post 4

The teacher that I am working with is really good, in my opinion, at incorporating a wide variety of teaching and learning techniques into her teaching and lessons. I have seen so many examples of engaged learning, but I will share three examples. 

For a science project, after the holiday break, the students did a project where they each got to plant their own flower in a cup of soil. They learned about plants and how they grow and how to nurture them in class, and then they got to put it into practice by each taking care of their own plants. It took a while for the plants to grow from seeds, but most students have been able to take care of their little plants, and I think that is such a cool way to have an engaged learning experience. 

Another example was the students were able to build their own valentines boxes for the other students in the class to put treats and notes inside each other's boxes. I thought this was really cool because the students were read a story about and taught about the importance of friendship and kindness. 

Another example that caught my attention because I had seen it in a video for this class before, was the teacher handed each student a paper with one side of a multiplication problem, and the students had to go and find the other student in the class who had the answer to the problem. It was a fun way to incorporate math into an activity that helped the students to interact with each other, and I noticed that some students helped each other if someone didn't know the answer (student) they were k=looking for to match with. 

Blog Post 2

One of the teachers that I have been working with uses a lot of different learning theories when she teaches. I have noticed that there are so many different ways that students learn, and that it is so important to make sure to incorporate all of those ways of learning into the way we teach. Some kids learn by listening, others by watching and seeing, others in a more hands on putting it to practice way. 

I noticed that when teaching a concept, the planets in the solar system for example, the teacher put a slide up on the smart board with all of the plants in order. Each planet was labelled by it's title. After looking at the slide, she taught the students a song to remember all the planets. She also has a diagram of the plants, and she allowed the students to come and touch it if they wanted to. There was an interactive activity where the students went to different tables where there were different facts and things that had to do with each planet, and they had a sheet of paper with questions regarding each planet that they needed to fill out, and it was a great way to have them self-teach, which for some kids, helps them learn more affectively. I thought that it was a very good lesson and there were so many different learning techniques in it, that I think each student had the opportunity to learn in the ways that suited them best. 

Blog Post 3

The opportunity to be a part of a classroom that was pretty well established by the time I got there has been interesting. The school year was more than half way over when I came to do my service learning, and that has been interesting because the students seem to already have established relationships with each other and with the teacher, but it has been cool that they were willing to get to know me, too, and let me try to do my best to help them. One way that I have noticed my teacher giving a choice to students is in letting them choose the way they will behave, knowing that there will be consequences for their actions. She has a board with a pocket for each student. In the pocket, there are cards with a red, yellow, and red dot on them. Each day the students begin with the green part of the card sticking out of the pocket. If they do something that isn't appropriate, they get a warning and have to turn their cards to yellow, and then if bad behavior continues, they must turn their cards to red. I just think it's an interesting way to give them a choice because they already know what will happen if they decide to act out.
My teacher puts a lot of effort into building relationships with each of her students, which I know can be very difficult to do, but she really takes the time to go around to each student throughout the day and do a mini assessment of their needs and how they are doing, and I think it's an incredible way to do things and a really excellent way to get to know her students and build a relationship of trust and love.
I think my teacher is very good at recognizing her student's skills, and not making the other students feel inferior in any way. There is a prize box, and whenever students complete their assignments, they are able to choose something from the box, and it allows each student to be rewarded for doing their work, even if some student's work is not the same as others because some students struggle more with concepts that others don't.
I think I am working with a wonderful teacher and I am learning a lot from how she runs her classroom.

Blog Post 1

This semester at school I am taking two education classes that both require 10 hours of Service Learning, which means that I will get to spend 20 hours in a classroom at an elementary school, helping and spending time with students, and learning alongside full-time teachers. I am very excited to get started and to be able to post about my experience on this blog.
The school that I have chosen to complete my Service Learning hours at is called Rock Canyon Elementary. It's the elementary school that I attended when I was younger. I loved the school while I went there, which is one of the reasons that I chose it. I looked it up online and found out that it is greater school than I had originally thought! On "Great Schools.com" I found that the test scores are above average in the state, which suggests that students are performing at or above grade level for the most part, including students from lower income families. How exciting! I also found that 80% of students are white, which doesn't surprise me much considering the location of the school is in northern Provo surrounded by predominantly white neighborhoods.
I have heard and from my own experience remember, that the staff at Rock Canyon are extremely kind and very experienced and caring teachers. It's no surprise to me that students at this school do well because the teachers here are very interested in the success of their students.
I am very excited about this Service Learning opportunity. I am looking forward to being in a real classroom with students and helping them to understand what they are being taught, and to help them do their best. This is going to be fun!