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!