Class Conclusion

I can't believe this semester is coming to an end. Through everything we have done, it has been a great class experience and I feel as though I have learned more about myself and who I am. I have regained my passion for writing and expressing myself in different ways. I have learned about different stages of writing that will be extremely useful when I am in my classroom and I have learned more about who I want to be when I am in the classroom.
I enjoyed this last week in class because the spirit in the classroom was so high. You could tell that everyone was so ready for break and so happy that we were almost done for awhile. I love the group I sit with and get to work with because we all have so much fun. It's nice being able to sit with people that you enjoy and that you feel comfortable working with. Just like in an elementary classroom, if you don't feel comfortable then you won't want to share and my friends make me feel comfortable about my writing, ideas, and where I am in on my journey. I am excited that we decided to work on Christmas for our digital story. Christmas is definitely the most wonderful time of the year and the girls I work with share my excitement about the holiday. We were able to include some of our favorite things about Christmas and even pictures from our own families. I am anxious to work on it more and finish it up because I think everyone will enjoy what we have.
I am very excited to work on publishing my final piece from my writer's notebook. I have decided to take a bit of what I have been doing all semester which is writing about me; writing about my life, my ups, my downs, my challenges, my struggles and turning that into an ABC children book. I have always wanted to write a children's book so this is giving me a great opportunity. Since it's about my life though, it's just something that I maybe would show in my classroom and read a few things from it and then we could make our own in our class. Depending on my class, I could give each student a letter and we could make our own talking about each of their own lives or we could even work on one individually. It's a great project that I think children would enjoy. I have had fun and I hope it all turns out.
I am happy with my progress and I am happy with this semester. I look forward to taking what I've learned and applying it into the classroom.

Writing Analysis

I absolutely loved being able to look at our kidwatching child's writing sample. I took 3 different samples to be able compare and contrast the work between a rough draft and a published piece. She has great writing abilities and is confident in what she does. Of course, there are areas where she can grow, but that's how it always is going to be with everyone. We all have areas we can continue to grow. I love being able to watch her in class and talk with her because she is so proud of her work. When I asked her why she likes to write, she responded with, "It is a way to express my feelings and emotions." She is only in 3rd grade and already knows that she can write to express the way she is feeling. She also said she works with her younger sister at home on writing and reading. I liked being able to here Linda talk about the different aspects in writing and the strategies and stages a child may be at and then be able to utilize what we learned in our writing analysis.
I had fun at University Elementary School and was able to work in the computer lab with some children. I was faced with a couple children that gave me challenges but I felt like I only grew that much more from that experience.
I look forward to taking my seed idea from my writer's notebook and publishing it into a children's book. This is definitely a work in progress but I look forward to where it's going to take me. I can't believe we are almost done and I am so happy with how this semester has gone so far! I love everything I've learned.

MGRP

I had so much fun at class this week! It was a great way to get to know some of my peers better and to learn about some of their interests. It was a wonderful opportunity to research in new ways. My teachers in high school and even middle school always assigned the traditional paper. It had to be 3-5 pages or even longer with however many sources and the topic was usually given to us. This was such a great way to be creative and show our interests in different things. For example, I did my paper on single parents. I was able to use poems, word searches, bumper stickers, scrapbooks, and a certificate to talk about my topic. I was actually interested in other people topics more than I thought I would be because they used such creative genres.
On another note, I am having a great time observing at University Elementary School. My class is so exciting and I am learning not only from the teacher but from the students. I am anxious to get my writing sample and dive right into the work we are going to do with them. I love my kidwatching child and know that I am going to learn so much from her! I look forward to working with her! 

MGRP

I am focusing my blog this week on my MGRP project. I have worked so hard and it is definitely something that is close to my heart. I chose something that I connect with: Single Parents. I wanted to find research and try to rid society of assumptions and judgments. I had a great time working on this project because I was able to take something that I live everyday and express it through different genres. While looking through our book, I was able to find pieces such as a bumper sticker and a word search and put my ideas in those. I would have never considered that those would be considered a genre piece and it was nice to be able to express myself through those. I had a great time and I am anxious to show my peers what I did and also see what they did themselves!

Continued Reflection

I have truly enjoyed my experiences at University Elementary School and I feel like I continue to learn more about myself as well as who I want to be. Not only are the children learning from me but I am learning from them. Children are extremely smart and I will constantly be learning day to day from each and everyone of the students in my class. This last week, I was able to watch my class engage in a Red Cross presentation on water safety. They were all extremely respectful and engaged in the questions that were being asked. The stories and answers they responded with made me smile. After the presentation, I was able to participate in a spelling/handwriting contest. These students are only in fourth grade and their handwriting was so incredible. I think this comes from their teachers in the past and their teacher now as well as work they may receive at home. It makes me so excited to become a teacher and be able to have this success with my students. They wanted to win and they wanted to succeed. They all put their best into their handwriting and their skills amazed me.
In our writing class, it was nice being able to have different stations to work on our MGRP. I am so anxious to use different genres with my piece because I feel as though I can portray the same idea in so many different ways and this class period was a great way to show that. I had so much fun working at these stations and seeing what my classmates had done as well.
I am also learning in each of my classes. Through the group work we do or the discussions we have, I am learning and seeing what I would like to take with me and use as a teacher. I am so excited to teach in my own classroom and make a difference in my students lives!

Reflecting

I have truly enjoyed my experiences in my classes as well as my class at University. I loved being able to see the writer's workshop taking place. I was really happy because the little girl I had challenged me. She had an extremely hard time trying to choose something to write about. I would give her idea after idea and she continued to decline. It was nice to be able to listen to her stories and hear her talk but it was definitely tough for me to get her to stay on task and remain focused. I know that I will have many children like that in my own class so it was a great experience for me. I kept giving her more choices and we finally came up with some to put on her list that I think were great for her.

I also enjoyed this past week and being able to work on our MGRP project. Having my partners read my paper really helped me and I was able to add more and take out some after meeting with them. I also enjoyed our newspaper activity because it gave me so really good ideas for my own genres. I look forward to adding some creativity to my project as well as getting my topic across. It was a great experience for me!

Reflection of Myself

I have had many experiences teaching in the classroom. Through being an aide, an after-school assistant, a Pre-Kindergarten teacher, camp counselor, substitute teacher, etc., I have learned so much about myself as a teacher and the areas I would like to grow in. I love having the opportunity to go to an actual school and work in small groups and with other kids to help them along their way. This past week, I was in a different classroom and was given the task to assess the student's papers. They had to read sentences and write the definition for that word and underline how the word is being used in the sentence. It was a great opportunity for me to be able to experience. In my own classroom, when I have been in there, I have worked in small groups doing different tasks. One of them was to read and have them make inferences and ask questions; the other task was to help them work on an acrostic poem with the word Indiana. I have had so much fun working with the classes and the student's and I know I can only grow and learn more. I look forward to what lies ahead and I am anxious to see the writer's workshop!

Me as a Teacher of Writing

I enjoyed this week! I had so much fun planning the manner lesson and then teaching it to my peers. My group I was in was so involved and we all supported each others ideas and lessons. It was a great way to learn from each other and feed off others ideas! I think that I did a good job teaching; I was in a group and I believe that we all did a good job! I think when we all become teachers we are going to do a good job. I wish we would have had more time and a way to teach each one of our mini-lessons and activities but even just being able to explain them was a way for me to take notes. I am so excited to become a teacher and actually try all these lessons out in class!

Craft Lessons and Punctuations

Today was a fun day! I truly enjoyed class today but I actually enjoy class everyday. This was a great way to learn from others. I was able to find out great new books that I would like to use in my classroom and new ways to teach a lesson. I think it's great to collaborate with our table and learn other ideas. The punctuation activity was fun and interesting as well. I think that Eats, Shoots and Leaves was a wonderful resource and would be something that I would love to use in my classroom. It was a great way to show student's how commas work and that we definitely do need them in our sentences.
I am very excited to work and collaborate with my partners for my writers notebook as well. I learned some new ideas that I want to add and we worked together to talk about new things that we can put in our notebook. It was a great class and of course, I enjoyed getting out early! Our professor is awesome!

Reading like a Writer

I truly do enjoy this class! It is so much fun and I find that it is going to be something that I will get the most out of. I will be taking everything I learn into my classroom someday and I like that. Some classes I feel like I'm just doing busy work-which I hate! I think that reading like a writer is a great way to open our minds and explore new ways of thinking. We discover new techniques, vocabulary, and words that can make our writing better. It helped me in knowing ways to engage my audience when I'm writing by things such as descriptive words and illustrations.
I am very anxious to start working with my partners and collaborate on our writers notebook. I think this will be very beneficial for all of us! I also enjoyed reading through our craft lesson book! This is definitely one that I will keep with me for a long time! I am excited to see the different lessons that are out there!

Creativity at the Core

This class was so much fun! I already enjoy journaling and writing about anything that is boggling me or if I need to vent about my frustrations or irritations but now I have a writers notebook that defines me and who I am for people to see. I thought that finding images from magazines was such a great way to explore a new way of telling someone who we are. It's a great way for someone to look at our notebook and see that we like the color purple or daisies. It gives more insight into who we are and I truly enjoyed doing that.
I enjoyed reading Writers Notebook. I thought it was a cute, fun book and it wasn't what I expected. It talked about all the different ways we can use our notebook and it gave me some ideas. I love writing about memories but I have found myself since last class writing more about what is going on around me. I find some really interesting conversations or lack there of going on around me.
On another note, I love spelling. However, for me being 27 and having a 3 year old of my own, I was probably taught spelling than some of my other classmates. We always had a list and a test of Friday. Somtimes are tests were even timed, which always gave the class pressure. I remember always going home and practicing and trying to memorize my words and I loved it. I was always in class spelling bees and even in middle school came in the top 10. The ways we teach spelling now though have changed, which I think is a good thing. I think every teacher should know their students and focus on each of their individual needs and come up with a strategy that way. Not every student is going to learn the same way and it's our job to reach them on their level. I look forward to meeting each one of my student's needs and coming up with my own creative, fun strategies for my classroom.

First Class Fun Facts

I am actually very excited about this class. I am a little apprehensive about everything that we will be doing however I think this class is something I will be able to take with me as a future educator. I truly enjoyed the literature we read and listened to and I loved the name activity we did. It is so fun to think of what our names mean and I think that was a great way to get to know some of our other classmates. I enjoyed reading about the little boy that recognized that the letters in his name were also in his mom's name. I think we all learn so much from kids. Working in classrooms and being a mom to a 3-year old, I am constantly learning something new and I am anxious to learn in this class from others.

I have always loved writing. I had amazing teachers that shared stories with me and the class that allowed us to feel comfortable to share our own stories. My teachers were always giving constructive criticism and allowed writing to be something that we wanted to do. I have many journals and diaries that I have kept and I think that keeping a writing notebook is a great opportunity for us to express ourselves.

I look forward to what the semester has to bring!