Last lesson & Last day with the kids :(

April 29th, 2021

Amy Mustafa

On this day April 29, 2021, was my last lesson & final day with the students. I had a feeling the students knew that it was my last day as they all came up to me and hugged me as they each gave me individual

letters. This was such a bittersweet moment because as I've only been with the students for just a few months I was happy to know that I impacted each individual student positively. Today went by way faster than I thought it would. I taught my lesson for the first time in the morning which I thought was better than later on, as the students were more energetic & less tired or drained out.

My lesson was on summarizing short stories. I did not know that the theme of today would be "book and beach day" but the book I had read to the students was on ice cream which I thought goes along with the overall theme of the day. I could tell that the students enjoyed the book as I could hear their different expressions as I was reading. Overall, I will miss these students greatly & hope they have a great rest of the school year. 

In regards to my strengths going into FE was my overall communication with my MT & the students. From my previous field experiences, I knew that it is very important to keep a good relationship going with not only our MT's but students as well. I felt that the students were always intrigued by every lesson I had taught & was glad to know my MT was pleased with them as well! Another strength going into this FE was putting my all into everything required of us this semester all while juggling so many other things as well. To know I got through the last FE is such a great feeling. 

I felt that I definitely improved within my lessons and being able to differentiate my lessons a ton more! I of course, still felt that I need to work on being able to teach both in-person students & students over zoom. Virtual teaching has not been easy on me as I struggle with multitasking at times. The most fun I had during this great experience was being with the kiddos & finally having a chance to be around students in a classroom rather than them all being over a laptop screen. I truly feel that the best lesson I taught was my last one. This lesson was on summarizing short stories. The students were to read fun short stories & distinguish the difference between the main idea & the key details. The students had fun reading a few funny short stories & I enjoyed seeing them laughing & having a good time all while learning! My worst lesson taught would probably have been my first lesson teaching the students in class & hybrid. I think this because it was my first time teaching both remote & in person, I was still trying to figure out how it's done & thankfully by the end of this experience I can say I have improved. 

I learned many things from my MT, she showed me how to juggle teaching both hybrid and in-person students, she taught me that along the way there will be some hiccups but eventually one would get through them, and lastly how to be an overall great teacher that students can relate to and have fun with. I learned a few things about myself as well which were that I still have that long and passion to be an educator of young learners,  I need to get better with multitasking and juggling more than one task at a time, I also learned that being a teacher is something I definitely want to keep striving for. 

The education field is not one like everybody says; an easy task to do. I came into the field knowing it would be a struggle and nothing like what people say. In regards to what I wish I had done differently was introducing myself to all of the other MT's as I feel that would have boosted my confidence in teaching a bit more than I had walking in. I am more than excited about student teaching. Getting to know the students, meeting my MT, & overall having a grasp of the classroom is what I'm excited for! I am most anxious about the students' overall performance. During this field experience, many of the students would not participate enough for me to complete an accurate assessment. As much as I would emphasize the importance of participating in class a few students would refuse to. I guess I could say I am most anxious about the students not listening and participating in what is asked of them. All in all, more than excited for this next step! 

Week 13- Fire Drill and Hello students!

Jarrell Harris 

Make up Blog for 4/22- Week 13

 

Today was quite interesting, I gained the opportunity to meet and get involved with the Monday & Tuesday hybrid students. Two of the students were excited to finally meet me in-person, I was beyond excited to see them all. What a great opportunity to finally meet the students I haven't met in person all semester. One of the students was very intrigued to meet me in person and had questions for me. She asked me, “Will I be coming back next Tuesday?” & “How much longer will I be with them?” This certainly made me feel special, knowing that the student desired for me to stay with them was longer. I was able to connect with the Monday & Tuesday students even the more when my MT allow me to walk them from the lunchroom. As we made it to the classroom, they all shared with me how good their lunch was and they ask me what I had for lunch, this was a very good connecting experience. 

 

 Furthermore, there was a fire drill. My MT did inform me and the students of the fire drill, it still ended up catching us all off guard. it was a very wonderful an interesting experience. I like how my MT refreshed the student’s memory regarding the protocol for fire drills. turned out to be a huge success, the students did an excellent job following the fire drill protocol. The teachers all met up with their designated locations outside. I was able to grab my MT’s emergency bag. 

Week 14: Last Day of Class

 Sara Kent 

4-29-21

    Today was my last day with the kids and it was bittersweet. They made me cards and drew me pictures to take with me. I told them I would hang them up at my house. At the end of the day, I gave them their goodie bags which they loved! Since this is was my last day, it got me thinking about how much I have learned and how far I have come since my first lesson. I think my two strengths going into FE was my enthusiasm for meeting the kids and being open to collaboration. I think the two areas that I have improved on are my lesson plans and how to navigate both remote and in person learning. Two areas that I still need to work on is my explanation of directions and having a good anticipatory set. The most fun experience was walking around and helping the students with their work and getting to know them on a personal level. 

    As far as lessons go, I think my best lesson was my science lesson which was on Earth Day. I think this was my best lesson because the lesson seemed to flow effortlessly, and I had a fun guided practice that the students were all engaged in. I think my worst lesson was my social studies lesson because it was my first lesson that I had to teach to both remote and in person learners at the same time, so I was a little overwhelmed making sure everyone knew what they needed to do. I also had some technical difficulties which made me very flustered. Three things I learned from my MT was some new classroom management tools such as using name sticks, how to relate to the children in a fun way, and how to do an engaging read aloud. Three things I learned about myself was that I am patient, If I go into a lesson with confidence, I do better, and that everything worthwhile takes time and is not going to happen overnight. Three things I learned about children is that they are very inquisitive and really do watch and remember everything you do and say, they are like sponges in terms of gaining knowledge, and that they really do say the darndest things. 

    In terms of student teaching, I am looking forward to continuing practicing my lesson planning and teaching. I am also looking forward to getting to know a new group of kids and spend more time with them. I am most anxious about being graded on teaching and having twice as many lessons to teach when I student teach but am up for the challenge.I am so happy to have had this experience. I truly believe it helped me become a better teacher. 

Week 14 - Last Day!

Emily Pinto

EDEC 4571/81

4.29.21

2 strengths going into FE and now:

    I think 2 of my strengths that I carried into my FE and that I continue to have is my past experience and overall comfort with working with children. It's important to be comfortable and confident because the children can definitely pick up on that if you don't have it. 

2 areas of improvement:

    I definitely improved my lesson plan writing by a mile -- maybe more. At the beginning of the semester I was always nervous and a little overwhelmed when it came to this aspect but I definitely can see that my overall quality and rate of busting out lessons vastly improved.

    The other improvement I made was the quality of student resources I discovered throughout the Methods courses and lesson plan process. There are almost limitless tools and resources for students to access and I'm glad I have familiarized myself with them.  

2 areas that need work:

    An area that still definitely needs work is my pacing of lessons. I consistently found this to be the most challenging aspect of the whole experience and I know I need more practice with this.

    The other area is my differentiation strategies -- I found this to be consistently challenging to implement appropriately and I hope with more practice and experience this will come more naturally to me. 

Most fun experience:

    The most fun experience I had in class was my Earth Day lesson. I got to read a really fun book to the class and then they wrote a letter to an alien as if it were their pen pal. I think the kids really liked the book and had a lot of fun reading it with me, so I really enjoyed that.

Most challenging experience:

    This would have to be my very first lesson - Literacy. I think I was much too ambitious in what I expected from the students and it just did not go according to plan at all. I took a lot of lessons and changed some things from it though, so I guess something good came of it. 

Best lesson taught and why:

    My best lesson would probably have to be my math lesson. I was so nervous about not doing well on it that I over-prepared (if that's possible) and made sure I knew what I was talking about like the back of my hand. The other subjects come a little more naturally to me and I just am more familiar with the topics so when I was getting ready to teach this newer math content I made sure I knew what I was talking about. I think the kids enjoyed using the pattern blocks as well and that this utilization made it more engaging for them.

Worst lesson taught and why:

    As I've previously stated, my first literacy lesson was my worst by a long shot. I was over ambitious in introducing a completely new concept (looking up words in the dictionary) in a 1/2 hour time span and I don't think I did well in scaffolding the process. I also feel like while some of the elements of my lesson were pretty good, they did not mesh together well to form a cohesive and effective lesson.

3 things I learned from/about:

• My CT:
• A lot is expected of teachers with not a whole lot of help from parents/administration
• It can be very challenging to communicate with parents
• Utilizing pre-prepared curriculum can be useful but there is definitely a strategy to it to make it work for your classroom - it's not a one size fits all scenario
• Myself:
• It is very hard for me to not address a group of kids as "you guys"
• I love kids! (I already knew this but these experiences just remind me of how much)
• I don't like the politics and severe structure in public schools
• The students:
• Kids are so smart -- and they want you to know it!
• 2nd grade is a perfectly appropriate age to introduce more independent/collaborative activities and they are perfectly capable!
• Some kids need more support and structure to succeed -- but they all want to succeed
• The education field:
• It is very politicized -- the requirements and rules can be intense
• As the principal, you need to be supportive of the teachers -- sometimes they are not so popular!
• The office ladies do a lot of work -- they are unsung heroes of a school for sure

    As far as what I wish I had done differently, I would say I wish I would have worked with my MT a little more closely on my first lesson -- geared it more towards what she was working on because that was successful in my future lessons. I'm honestly overall very pleased with the relationship I had developed with my MT -- I think we had a good communication channel going between us and we worked pretty well together. 

    I'm very excited to get some different experience in my practicum. I will be working in a Montessori school which is very different from my past experiences, so having that under my belt will be useful for my future career. 

    I am anxious (as always) about getting to know a whole new group of kids. I know it always turns out fine, but that first week or so is always stressful because of the unfamiliarity there is between you and the students. Also, as excited as I am to be working in a new and unfamiliar environment, I'm also a little nervous about working in a Montessori school. It's just very different and (in my opinion) a little unconventional so it will be interesting and hopefully I learn quickly and can assimilate to the differences in teaching styles. 

Week 12(:

 April 28th, 2021

Amy Mustafa 

Today started off like any other day I passed out breakfast bags to every students who joins us on Thursdays. I love how the school takes the time to prepare little breakfast bags for each individual student. Back when I was in second grade I do not remember having the privilege of getting breakfast at school rather I would rush every morning eating my cereal and trying so hard not to be late for the bus! We put on read-aloud for the students as they munch away at their yummy breakfast. This month students engaged in "Telling Time Thursdays", where they Engage and different activities and worksheets they ask them to tell time to the minute and even to our. As the weeks pass by the activities get harder and harder fostering the student's knowledge of time. 

Moving on, the students practiced reading short stories in their HML packets as they practiced fluency. Students then finish reading Wilma Rudolph: Against all odds, in their, my books pages 40-51. The students all together proceeded to practice the power words on page 135.  Every day I come into the classroom it gives me more reason as to why I wanted to become a teacher. Impacting student's lives positively is what I strive to do now and even in the long run. This has been my MT's passion for so long and I truly feel that she instilled in me a love for learning how to teach, even more than before.

4/22/21 Week 13 : Earth day

April 22, 2021

Amy Mustafa

 All of Crete Monee celebrated Earth Day today. I I loved how this school tried so hard to incorporate Earth Day in all of their lessons. Before class was to start my MT began the day with a video for the student who were already in class waiting for their other classmates to arrive. This video was called Michael recycle which taught students the importance of recycling. At the end of the video the students were asked to give one way they would help the world today. Some students said They will be going to the park and picking up trash that is laid out on the grass another student said they would help stray animals find a home. I loved hearing all the different ways that students would try so hard to help the world around them.

The day went on with many different Earth Day activities. I thought it was pretty cool that the students got to Meet with different schools all around the world and have a live YouTube event with the "National Geographic: Protecting our oceans" Which had different Scientists and archaeologists speak about the oceans and how to keep them safe and what goes on, at the bottom of the ocean. Towards the end of the day the students had the opportunity of enjoying Earth Day drawings.

Week 13 - Earth Day!

 Paulina Kedzierski

April 26, 2021

Today the class celebrated Earth Day by reading aloud. I continue helping the student who needs a lot of help to keep on time with assignments. I help him with writing and math. He does really well when I am working with him, but I cannot help wonder how he will do next year. He is so behind with his schooling that it will only be more difficult unless he will get additional help. 

Before the end of the day, we attempted to create an Earth Day craft. At first, it looked easy, but once we had to start folding the paper, kiddos got a little frustrated. We took a deep breath and started all over. Both my MT and I helped students fold the paper correctly, and they finished by drawing the necessary parts to finish the craft. Overall, it was a pretty calm and smooth day. I will definitely miss the kiddos. They are a great group of kids. 

Week 13: Earth Day/takeover

 By: Jamia Royal

Date: 4/25/2021

One more week in the classroom with the kiddos, time started to fly by! I can't believe we are in our last two weeks of the semester. I also teach my last lesson today which is a science lesson. Being that today is Earth Day, it went perfect for my science lesson. We talked about the 3 R's of recycling, followed with a writing activity about Earth Day. I assigned the students boom cards which are their favorite. This was my last lesson and unfortunately my MT was not able to observe me. On Wednesday she notified me that she had a death in her family and would be leaving after lunch. She asked if I was okay with taking over for the rest of the day. I was very excited to take this role as a sub. She wrote out the schedule after lunch, opened tabs for me that I would use and I was ready to go. Once the students came back in from lunch they were excited that I would be taking over for the rest of the day. I told students to log on to their computers for silent reading or to read a book around the class. Students read until 1:30 and everyone joined class again. Even though another teacher was in the room, I was the one who lead for the rest of the day until Art which is at the end of the day. 

This was a great experience for me and is really preparing me for my own classroom. My MT has been great this semester and I appreciate her very much.

Week 13 - Last Lesson - Retelling!

 

By Brenda Johnson

Today I thought my last lesson of the semester! My second literacy lesson which was on retelling. I thought the lesson went well. I started by telling students my own short story and asked them to “tell me the story again”. Students were eager to learn and participated. After showing students some strategies to use in retelling, I read a story to them on epic. We did a retell of the story together. I assigned a short story to the students on epic. They read the book and retold the story for independent practice.

Today’s question of the day “What are the steps to making a peanut butter jelly sandwich?”. I thought this was an interesting one. Students thought it was a very easy and short question to answer until they actually started writing. They found that they had to write down ‘plenty’ steps, from taking the bread out of the bag to placing it on a plate. Some students did not want to write about peanut butter jelly sandwich because they did not eat anything that had peanut butter on it. SO, they wrote down the steps to making the kinds of sandwiches they ate. Some of the other sandwich students wrote about were just jelly and bread, Nutella, soy butter, mayonnaise, hummus etc.

There is only one more day of field experience left! I cannot believe how fast time flew.  Next week my MT and the students are throwing me a going away party. It will be a dance party. While I am excited, I will miss them.

 

 

Week 13- Earth Day

 Yasmine Mustafa

4-22-2021

Today was my last lesson!! I taught a literacy lesson about Earth Day. It made me a little sad to think that this was my last lesson. I truly had such a great time teaching to the kids. They made this semester memorable for me. I had such great times with the students. 

For my lesson, we wrote persuasive letters to the Onceler who was cutting down all of the trees for his business. The Lorax asked our students to help persuade the Onceler to stop cutting down the trees because it was ruining the environment. The students were so excited to write the letter. When I said they will be able to share their letters out loud they were eager to go. It made me really happy to see how excited the students were to engage in my lesson. It was one of my best in my opinion. I am glad that I was able to finish out strong! Last week will be our last week and I can honestly say I am going to miss my kiddos!

Week 13: Almost done!

Mary Fayta

4-22-21

     Today I got to relax a little after teaching two weeks in a row. Today one of the in person students was absent so there were only two kids in the classroom. But we still had a great time, I got to help them with some of their independent work which was fun. My MT read the students a story yesterday and one of the students that is usually uninvolved in school mentioned that he wanted to finish the story today. I was very happy to hear that, he is becoming more involved and excited about school which is so exciting. It's always really nice to see children grow into a love of learning!

  I also got the hang of using the copy machine so I've been able to help out my MT with copying papers. I'm always happy to help out with prepping for the students. By the end of the day when the students finished their independent work, they were able to play with hula hoops. I had so much fun watching the kids dance around with the hula hoops and they showed me all the cool tricks they could do, we had a lot of fun!

Week 13 - A Sticky Situation!

April 22, 2021

By: Kate Drish

Today I taught my very last lesson! Wow.. what a relief. Today, my math lesson reviewed three digit addition and subtraction problems. The scholars have been practicing this for a while using the RDW strategy which stands for read, draw, write. 

I try not to be bias with math, even though its my worst subject. To make this lesson fun and to get the most participation I could, I decided to do something out of the box for my lesson. For each scholar who participated, I stuck a sticker on my face. When I first told them the rules of the game, they giggled so much. When I asked if they wanted me to look silly they all screamed, "YES!" By the end of the lesson, I had over 15 stickers on my face/mask. I had students who never participated ever, raise their hand, provide answers and engage with the content I was providing. My MT gave me all distinguished and said it was the best lesson yet!!

After I took all my face stickers off, the kids thought my mask looked cooler with them on. This is how I wore it the rest of the day. 

Week 13: Ants and Grasshoppers

Sara Kent 

4-22-21

 

Today we learned about ants and grasshoppers. This was the theme for most of the day. The kids read about ants during their guided reading and I helped multiple students with their comprehension checks and after reading activities. Then they watched a short video story about ants and grasshoppers. They then had to write about which one they were most like and explain why. We also participated in a reader’s theater which is where you can make characters and cut them out and assign students to play characters and read the story. We made ants, grasshoppers, and narrators and had three students read the story and hold up the characters they created. Today we also celebrated Earth Day! My MT read the book “Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years” to the kids for the read aloud. After the read aloud my MT wanted the kids to do a little activity making an Earth out of folded paper. We were having trouble folding the paper correctly which was kind of funny.  I helped multiple students with their comprehension checks and after reading activities. 

This was my ant that I drew during our readers workshop. 

 

It is nice to be done teaching for the semester so I can just walk around and help kids when they need it and not worry about having to teach a lesson. For these last two weeks I really want to just absorb as much as I can before my time here ends. I feel like I have learned so much up to this point as far as classroom management goes and how to create meaningful relationships with your students. I plan to take those lessons with me as I continue into my career. 

Week 13 - Teaching Literacy

 Stefanie Flory 

Thursday April 22nd, 2021 

    Today was super fun! I got to teach my a literacy lesson on retelling! This was super fun for me to teach because I really enjoy reading and literacy, so sharing this with the students was a lot of fun! For my lesson, I wanted to teach how to retell a story using a read aloud activity. One thing I really enjoyed about this lesson was introducing the retelling "tricks". I think this helped the students gain a good understanding what you do when you retell a story, using the three tricks! 

The story I read to the students was Across the Alley, this story is about tow little boys who live across the alley from one another. Willie is black and Abe is Jewish. At night time, when it's dark outside the two boys open their windows that face each other. During the day they do not play together but at night, they become best friends. This story was really meaningful and important to teach young readers because you can discuss various concepts and topics within the story, and as I read the story, I made sure I asked open-ended questions that would expand their thinking. This lesson was one of my best ones and I love how well the students listened, stayed on task and participated, even in person and the kids at home! It was a very good day! 

One more week with the kids and my MT and it's very bittersweet! I sure am going to miss them! 😞

I did not get a picture of the book, but I did want to point out my favorite picture/page from the story! :)
 

"

Week 13 - Earth Day!

Emily Pinto

EDEC 4571/81

4.22.21

Week 13 -- one more week to go! I must admit I'm excited for the semester to be over, but I will be sad to leave my MT's class. It's such a great group of kids and for the most part, they really enjoy learning. This week was conveniently Earth Day for my science lesson, so of course my topic was Earth! My teacher did a lot of conservation activities throughout the day and leading up to my lesson, so I did something a little different. I had read this book about Earth to the students (the book is told from Earth's point of view -- she is telling the reader all about her 4.54 billion years of life), and then I had them write a letter to an alien about why they should come visit. 

Overall, it went very well. The only thing -- which was the same challenge as last week -- is that the lesson was right at the end of the day, so my pacing and timing at the end was a little rough. It seems so rushed when the last couple minutes of class time are the kids trying to pack up and leave! But it's okay. My MT said she would give the students some time today to finish the letter so we can "mail" them to space. 

Next week is my final lesson -- my second literacy lesson. I'm honestly feeling very confident. I think I've learned a lot this semester and the practice has been really valuable. Here's to one more week!

 

Week 12

Yasmine Mustafa

4-18-2021

This week was another great week with my MT. I feel that we have formed a great bond in the classroom.  My MT provides me with many opportunities to engage and work with the students. She is always asking if I want to teach different things throughout the day. I really appreciate that because it just shows that she wants me a part of her classroom and wants to give me different opportunities. These weeks have just flown by. I am honestly going to say I will miss it. The students make this so great. I feel that I have built bonds with the students. My favorite part of the day is being able to do Math and Reading breakout rooms with the students. I like that I am able to grab the students and work with them to ensure that they are getting the extra help and support they need. 

Next week will be the last week I meet with my MT because there will be a sub on the last day of our field experiences. I will also be teaching my last lesson next week which I am super excited for. My Mt gave me some great ideas for my literacy lesson. It is going to be earth day so I have some really fun and exciting ideas for my lesson that I know the students will enjoy! The weeks are flying by, I still can not believe that this semester is already almost over. It feels like just yesterday we were online trying to figure out if we will ever be in the classroom. Now here we are finishing the semester out strong!!

Week 12: Literacy lesson: Freckleface Strawberry

By: Jamia Royal

Date: 4/18/2021

This was my second literacy lesson and it was based on the story Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully and how the character feelings changed throughout the story. I never read this story before so I was very excited to read it.... and I LOVED THIS BOOK! Freckleface hates when it rains because she has to go inside the gym and play dodgeball. She was scared of Windy Pants Patrick because he was the school bully and he threw the ball too hard. Freckleface overcomes the school bully by using her imaginary friend which a monster during a game of dodgeball, and scaring the school bully unintentionally. Once she found out the bully was scared of monsters they became friends at the end and no one was scared of each other. 

During my lesson, I asked students to think about a time where they were afraid to try something and after they tried it, they enjoyed it. Children shared and I also asked students to make a prediction on what the story may be about by looking at the cover, I wrote a few predictions down and then we got into the story. While reading I made sure to stop and ask questions on how did they think the character was feeling during different parts of the story and to make sure they remembered. After the story we did a activity in our journals to show how Freckleface feelings changed from the beginning, middle, and end of the story. The students love to draw so they included drawings that went along with each feeling. Before the lesson was over I went back to the predictions the students made about the story. 

I think this was my favorite lesson, because I enjoyed the book and the lesson that went along. 

Week 12 - Dinosaur Lady

April 16, 2021

By: Kate Drish

This week I taught my second to last lesson which also turned out to be my second literacy lesson! I'm not sure why, but I love teaching literacy because it gives me the opportunity to research fun and interesting books for the students while still being able to implement literacy skills. This week my MT had told me to teach something about biographies and I pretty much had full control over which book to use. I immediately researched fun, engaging children's biographies. There were many books to choose from and they seemed repetitive. There were many children's books on Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, Helen Keller, and other historical people. However, I knew I wanted to choose a book that talks about some new and unheard of. That's when I stumbled about my girl, Mary Anning AKA the Dinosaur Lady.

This book was a HIT! I knew the boys in my class loved dinosaurs and I knew that the girls loved hearing about powerful women so this book was the best of both worlds. I read out loud "Dinosaur Lady: The Daring Discovering of Mary Anning, the First Paleontologist." The book was all about Mary Anning who discovered the first ever dinosaur fossil along the coast of England. It had so many great pictures and a wonderful theme too! The students were engaged and participated in discussion more than normal! I discussed why biographies are important in helping us learn about different people and their achievements. For the IP, the students created their own 'mini-biographies' about Mary Anning with facts they learned from the book.

With 2 more weeks to go and 1 more lesson, all I can say is these weeks are flying by!

An example of my IP: a student's 'mini-biography' about Mary Anning.

Week 12: Social Studies Lesson

Mary Fayta

4-15-21

     This week I am teaching my social studies lesson, I have never taught social studies before but I created a fun lesson on how to be a good citizen that I was excited to share with the kids. When I first came in in the morning my MT told me that there is a bat living in the gym! I thought that was pretty interesting, so gym class is now being held in the library.  Although the bat situation is pretty crazy, I was happy because I got a chance to see the library which I had been wanting to see. It was a lovely library with a small stage for kids to perform on. My MT also showed me how to use the copy machine in the library, it looked pretty complicated. Then at 11:30 I taught my lesson. It didn't go exactly as planned as usual but that's just what happens, as teachers we need to roll with the punches. I read a book about a boy who was not being a very good citizen and the kids loved the book which I was really happy about, but the kids shared a lot more than they usually do which was really fun to hear but it threw me off schedule a little and we weren't able to do my independent practice. I still assigned the Google Slides I created so that the students could do them later. One of the slides is pictured below. I was able to help the students in person a lot with this activity and that was a lot of fun.

   At 1:00 the kids logged onto a presentation on safe and unsafe touch. I was glad I was able to view the presentation today. It was interesting to see how they approached such a touchy subject. Lastly, in the afternoon my MT asked me if I was ready to use the copier by myself, I accepted the job and she wrote down a few notes. I ended up figuring it out and I was happy to be able to help her out by copying packets for the kids. I know she has been stressed about the pick up on Monday so I was happy to help.

(My independent practice activity on how to be a good citizen)

Week 12: Science lesson!

 

By Brenda Johnson

Today I thought my science lesson. I was a nervous because it would be the first time, I teach both in person kids and remote kids, I was not sure how that would go. I am ever grateful for my MT. She helped me set up before my classes, boosted my confidence by just telling me I could do it, and was available to help. The topic of my lesson today was the state of matter. I brought in some materials that were solid, liquid, and gas.  Since it was science, we got a little experimental. The students were great at participation, they had so much to share! It was a great experience teaching both students in person and those at home. I had to constantly remind myself that there were two sets of students so that I did not ignore any group. I think it was a great lesson!

The state mandated Erin’s law presentation for all students happened today. It was nice to be part of that presentation, I had heard about it but was not sure what it was about. The purpose of the presentation is to use age-appropriate curricula to teach students how to tell on anyone who touches or attempts to touch their private parts. Some of the students in my MT’s class did not want to listen to the talk. One student said it was long and boring, another found the whole talk uncomfortable. This one student told me that “if anybody tries to touch me like that, anybody at all I will slap the sooo hard they’d run away from me”.  I thought it was interesting that he had that defense plan. Next week I teach my last lesson for this experience!  This is truly coming to an end!

Week 12 - Coming to an End :(

 Stefanie Flory 

Thursday April 15th, 2021 

As the weeks come to an end, I am beginning to become very sad that I will be leaving my kiddos soon. Today was a very fun day with the kids! For the morning, the students had a very special guest speaker. When I was told that we would be having a guest speaker and presentation, I was not aware of what was expected! The presentation was a touchy but yet very important subject to discuss. From what the guest speaker said, she comes to the school once a year to talk with the students about Erin’s Law. This was something I was not familiar with. Erin’s law is mandated and required in  all public schools implement child-focused sexual abuse prevention education that. In Illinois, this provides parents and guardians with information on the warning signs of child sexual abuse, plus any needed assistance, referrals or resources to support victims and their families. This topic was very eye opening to me, that it would be implemented with kids as young as 2nd grade! However, I do think it is very beneficial and important to talk about it and as uncomfortable as it is, it is very good to teach young children. 

Apart from that, I did not teach a lesson today but I am excited that I got to discuss my two upcoming and last lessons for the semester. I will teach literacy next week, and then finish off field experience with a science lesson! I am very excited to see how much I have improved over the semester, and hope that both lessons will have a good outcome! I am getting very sad that I won’t see my kiddos anymore, but I really am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with them and get to know all of them individually! 

Cheers to the last two weeks! 🎉

Week 12: Last Lesson!

Sara Kent 

4-15-21

 

    Today I taught my final lesson which was science. I did a lesson on Earth Day as it is next week Thursday. I was excited about teaching this lesson because I love helping the environment and learning about living a sustainable life. I read a book called, “The Earth Book” to the kids and then did a sorting activity with them. The sorting activity consisted of me having two columns: one with a happy Earth and one with a sad earth and the kids would have to tell me based on which card I held up if it would make the Earth Happy or sad. The kids all participated in this activity and loved it! I then had them write four sentences explaining what they can do to help save the Earth. Overall, the activity went over well I thought. I think it was easier this week than last week balancing the in person and at home learners. I made sure this time around to explain instructions twice once to in person students and then again with remote learners so that there was no confusion. 

    On another note, I walked around a lot today and helped students individually. During guided reading time, one of my students didn’t have a partner to read with so I had her read to me and she did such a wonderful job. I love being able to help the kiddos and also my MT, so she isn’t overwhelmed. She told me today how much she appreciates my help and it made me smile. Sometimes I feel like a burden or like I am in the way so to hear her say that really made me happy and that I have a purpose here. 

Week 12 Changed schedule!

 Paulina Kedzierski

April 15, 2021

Today we had a little bit different schedule because my MT had to leave early. She had a doctor's appointment, and the substitute teacher took over after lunch. In the morning, the class had to listen to Erin's Law Presentation. The presentation's content included safe and unsafe touch. The presentation started with a read-aloud. While reading, the presenter paused and discussed and used many examples to distinguish between safe and unsafe, comfortable and uncomfortable. The presentation was carefully crafted so that the students are exposed to many examples of safe touch. I like that the present stressed out that students can decide if they want to give a hug, kiss, or high five to strangers and family members, or people they know. After the presentation, the MT decided to move math to morning to instruct the math instead of the sub teacher.

This day showed me how to change a schedule when the teacher must leave early. My MT printed a plan for the sub with step-by-step instructions to know exactly what to do. Therefore, when the teacher must miss the school day or leave early, it is not just a phone call; the teacher must prepare the day and go over detailed directions with the person that will substitute. At the last minute, the students moved to the class next door instead of a sub. The teacher must be flexible and ready to have more than just one plan if she must miss or leave early.

Week 12- Being a Big Help!

Jarrell Harris 

Today, I was very active, I am very grateful for the experience. I was able to help a student choose a break. There was a student with a damaged Chromebook, I was able to walk the student to the main office and report the issue to the secretary. Leading from that, I was able to assist the student with checking out a loaner Chromebook. It was a great opportunity for me to show the student that I care about his success and that I am willing to help him. Also, while walk back to the classroom, he thanked me and asked me if I am a new teacher. I reassured him that I am always willing to make sure him and his classmates are able to be successful at school. Regarding his question, it made me smile, I informed him that I am a student just like he is (but in college) and that I am becoming a teacher. 

 

In addition to that, I gained an opportunity to monitor the students as they took their chapter 8 math test, while my MT ran to the bathroom and to make copies of some documents. I was able to assist the music teacher with monitoring the students during the Erin’s Law presentation (while my MT stepped out). I was able to assist remote students with catching up on missing math lessons. I am so happy for all of this experience! 

 

Ending the day with fun: My MT, the students and myself dances to two Go Noodle videos. How fun, we all participated with joy!!

Week 12 - Social Studies

Emily Pinto

EDEC 4571/81 

4.15.21

Week 12 was a good field experience day, to put it briefly. It was nice to see the two students who haven't been attending Thursday sessions actually in class for the first time. I'm not sure why their parents signed them up to go to school, and not actually have them go to school, but I suppose it's better late than never. They will definitely have an adjustment period, but I am happy they came, and it will be good for them to be in school. We went on a book walk outside this Thursday, which was fun. It was nice to get outside with the students and walk around a bit, rather than sitting inside all day. I just wish it had been a little warmer!

Today I taught my social studies lesson about the Great Plains Native Americans -- The Sioux. I think it went pretty well besides the fact that the book I had ordered to read did not come in on time! Instead, I found a short video for them to watch, which wasn't as great a replacement as I had hoped, but you gotta work with what you have, right? Despite that hiccup, the lesson went really well. I had found a lot of original pictures of the Sioux that really showcased their way of life, and it led to some very curious questions and discussion with the students. Next week I teach science, which is convenient because it's Earth Day. I continue to work on what didn't go right in previous lessons and improve in those areas. 

2 more weeks!

Week 11- Spring break is over

 Yasmine Mustafa

4-8-2021

We are back from spring break! It was a nice little break, but I am glad to be back in the class. With only a couple weeks left it saddens me to know that we will be leaving soon. I have grown a huge connection with my students and my MT. I have learned so much from them and her as well. She gives me plenty of different opportunities to take the lead in the class. I feel super comfortable in the class.  Whenever she asks me to come up and do a lesson I do not get nervous at all anymore. I really appreciate all the different chances I get because I've truly learned so much from her that I could take on in my future classroom!

On Thursday, I was able to do different break out rooms for both math and reading. I was able to work with my students that had higher reading levels and my students who struggled with math. At first, it was super nerve wrecking but I feel like I did it really well. The students sometimes get off track because they ask me 101 questions. I love how much I've connected with them. I have one more lesson to teach and I am so excited for it! 

Week 11 Back from spring break

 Paulina Kedzierski

March 8, 2021

I am officially done with teaching! Today was definitely less stressful because I did not have to think about teaching. During the day, I assisted students with their assignments. While the MT worked with a Guided Reding group, I worked with an in-person group. The students had to choose two tasks to complete that required coloring and practicing the spelling list's vocabulary. I had six students in a group, and I must admit that it is not easy to accommodate everyone. By the time the students were finished with their activities, I had determined that the students must be reminded of the rules before any assignment. Few minutes into working on their activity list, students wanted me to help them. To assist every student, firmly, I told them that when they need my help, they will have to get my attention, but then wait until I am done helping their peers. Quickly, they understood, and I was able to help every student. I am grateful for the in-person experience! Every week, I find ways to assist every student when working in small groups. I was always afraid of not being able to help all of my students, but now I know that with proper classroom management, I will successfully instruct my classroom. Slowly, I am getting the hang of many responsibilities that teachers have towards their students, and I am able to see myself managing these responsibilities, something that I had trouble with before. 

Week 11: 2nd Literacy Lesson

Mary Fayta

4-8-21

    This week I am teaching my second literacy lesson. My lesson is on nouns. My lesson did not go how I had planned, I was disappointed. I had the students do a Jamboard activity (pictured below) and I had them categorize words into noun or non-noun slots. Then I had them circle the noun in the sentences. I wanted the students to be able to interact with the Jamboard but they were not able to for some reason. We had practiced using the Jamboard before spring break and it worked fine but for some reason today the kids could not move the pieces. So I ended up doing it for them. I also had a slide on the Jamboard where the kids could type in their own noun. I thought the kids would enjoy this part because they would get to play with Jamboard a little but it did not work. Overall, I think my lesson went ok but I was a little disappointed. 

    This week my CT had to watch a few of the kindergarteners during indoor recess (it was raining). It was nice to see a few more kids in the classroom. The kids followed along to a drawing tutorial and it was really fun to see all of their drawings. I am looking forward to my social studies lesson next week as I hope it will be an improvement to this week's lesson!

Week 11: Car trouble/ remote from home

     By: Jamia Royal 

Date: 4/10/21

    This morning started off a bit rough for me. I caught a flat tire getting onto the expressway this morning. I immediately notified my professors and MT and everyone was very understanding and checked on my safety. Once my situation was taken care of, I was able to join the classroom from home like we been doing, although I would rather be in the building with the children. This is the first week back from spring break. This is my first time observing the hybrid and remote students from home. Something I noticed is that when my MT uses the whiteboard the children at home are not as engaged as the students in the classroom when using the interactive whiteboard. It also seems like my MT geared that part for the in class students even though that was not the case. 

    During math the children noticed they did something different during the math lesson today which was going into breakrooms. Students went into breakrooms to come up with word problems that went along with the given numbers. The children enjoy going into breakout rooms and I enjoy being able to listen to their ideas and help their thinking.

    Overall, the day got better and I was able to still plan with MT my next lesson on Thursday and even gave her my ideas on my last lesson which is science. She told me pretty much  I will be able to get creative with my last two since they are not following under a specific curriculum that week. I am excited for next week. :) 

 

Week 11: Happy birthday Alle!

By Brenda Johnson

April 8, 2021

This week I went two days for field experience. I had to make up some hours, so I went in on Monday for that. It was a very fun day! I was excited to meet the students I had not gotten a chance to since students have different hybrid schedules. One of the students on learning that I was going to be in class on Monday decided to move her birthday celebration forward. We sang songs, danced, played, and listened to her share things about herself. My MT has a board that students help her fill out when its their turn to celebrate their birthday. The board was a black chalk board. I told her Loved the idea! I might just steal that for my future class.

Today I enjoyed listening to the students share their answers to the question of the day. The question of the day today was ‘What is your favorite magical/ mythical creature and why?’.  My MT told them that they could create their own creatures, the kids are so smart and creative. They added pictures and other details to describe their creatures. I also enjoyed watching my MT practice shared reading in the classroom today. The students were actively participating and ready to answer questions. I think I will use this strategy in my next literacy lesson.

All about me birthday chalk board

Week 11 - Math in the Best of Times

Emily Pinto

EDEC 4571/81 

4.6.21

So this past week was awesome. It was nice to see the kids back from spring break, I really have enjoyed interacting with them throughout this semester. I have been getting more comfortable in the class -- helping my MT with various tasks as well as helping students with their work. As we close in on the last few weeks of the semester I am increasingly saddened that the experience will come to an end!

I taught my math lesson this week, and I'm very pleased with how well it went! I think I definitely improved from my first lesson and I hope I can continue with the improvements as I continue to teach the next 3 weeks. I was admittedly a little nervous teaching math, because not only is math my weakest subject, but this NEW math that students are learning is very different from how I learned at their age, so I had to pretty much teach myself the strategies they are familiar with prior to learning. I guess thanks to this, I was way more prepared for the lesson so that is a silver lining! I am happy that the remote students successfully used the pattern blocks website I provided for them. I was a little nervous about that since the in-person students were able to actually use physical pattern blocks and I wanted to make sure the remote students had a similar experience. But it worked out! Overall, a very successful Week 11. I look forward to teaching Social Studies next week!

Week 11: Social Studies Lesson

 Sara Kent 

April 8th, 2021 

Today I taught my fourth lesson: my social studies lesson. I taught it on comparing and contrasting the two versions of “The Tortoise and the Hare”. I read the students the native American version and we filled out a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the two of them. The lesson was going well until I ran into some technical difficulties. This was the first time I taught both the remote learners and the in-person learners and it was stressful. I had a plan in place of how I was going to go about this, and it blew up in my face. I wanted to put the kids in break out rooms, but I didn’t have access to put them in breakout rooms because I am not the host, so my MT had to do it. Then, when I tried to use my doc cam to project the Venn diagram it wouldn’t project. That threw off the rest of my lesson as I got flustered and anxious. When it was over, I was just so glad it was done. 

 

 

                                           

 

 

We are three weeks out to being done with the semester and I cannot elaborate enough at how happy I am to be almost done. This semester has been exhausting and I’ve had plenty of breakdowns. I will miss the kiddos and working with my MT, but I am looking forward to a break. 

Week 11- Spring Break is Over!!

Jarrell Harris 

Yay, back in the building after Spring Break, I truly missed the students. I was nice to see their smiling faces. My MT and I had a great discussion about Spring Break, her and her family went to Wisconsin Dells. I can tell that she really enjoyed it and needed the break. I forgot to mention, a few of the students even informed me of what they did for their Spring Break and asked me to share what I did; I am happy the students feel comfortable with sharing their experiences with me. I gained even more experience, I was able to supervise the students as my MT ran to the office, I walked around and checked on them to see what they were silently reading.

 

Moreover, I was able to support one student who creating a depiction of the Titanic, it was an opportune moment to encourage her as she didn’t feel so happy about her sketch.  Leading from that, I was able to walk the students back to the classroom for music. I am grateful that my MT believes in me. More exciting news: I taught my final literacy lesson today on main ideas and supporting details, it was amazing and fun (playing the game during the AS). This time I was very competent and way more comfortable teaching. 

Week 11 - Almost done!

Stefanie Flory 

April 8th, 2021 

Today was so exciting! I taught my third lesson, Social Studies. This was a special lesson because it was the first lesson for field experience that I taught both remotely and in person at the same time! I will admit, I was very nervous that this would be impossible! When I arrived at school, I mentioned to my MT that I was a little nervous about how to implement my lesson in the most comprehensive way. Wow! my MT was so supportive!! The lesson I taught, had the students researching a country! I was kind of stuck on how to provide the google slides without having them all on the same google slide and I did not want to take the extra time to assign each student their own country to research! 

To make it so much easier for me and calm my nerves, my MT offered to put together a list and assign each student the country to research prior to the lesson. This made the lesson run SO much smoother and it was overall a great lesson!! The children enjoyed it and I did too! I am so happy that I can see how much I have improved since the first week and I am very sad that we only have a couple more weeks with the kiddos, I will definitely miss them and my MT deeply!

I was also fortunate enough to have spent Monday here as well! One of the students who is not present at school on Thursdays, comes on Mondays, it melted my heart when she brought me a picture and said " I drew this for you Ms. Flory". This makes me SO excited and ready to have my own class full of amazing students!!! 

                                       

Ready to make the MOST of the last couple weeks of field experience!! 😊

The graphic organizer activity that the students were asked to complete! They all did so good, I am so proud!! 

Week 11 - Countdown to the End!

April 8th, 2021

By: Kate Drish

We're finally in the homestretch and in three more weeks, the hardest semester of my life will be over. Whew! I have to admit, I struggle sometimes to just figure out what day it is. Its definitely kicking in that the semester and field experience are almost over. I'm excited to check more classes off my transcript list, but I will really miss my MT and the kids. I've gotten so close to all of them and I feel like I've learned so much. It's been so fun to share the classroom and take over, as most Thursdays I'm teaching 2-3 lessons throughout the day. My MT has been more than supportive and I'm grateful, because I know she doesn't have to me.

As per my post two weeks ago, my MT was in direct contact with someone who tested positive for COVID. She taught remotely from home today while a sub and I lead the class in person. Its always nice to meet new people within this school as they are all very friendly and helpful. She was much older than me but shared so many stories of the years she was a teacher. Now that she subs, she said she often reflects on what education was years ago. It makes me wonder what education will look like in the future. 

Also, how relatable?! You can do it, kid!