My Service Learning Observations: Part Eight

While going through this course I have decided that this is the career path for me. I have never felt more at peace with a big decision. I am so grateful for this course and for my service learning placement. I feel so at home in the classroom and I am so excited to start on this journey to becoming a professional teacher. I'm grateful for classes, volunteer hours, counselors, family and friends that have helped me to solidify my decision!

I love that when you find your place in the world things just fall into place and everything feels so natural. That is how I feel about becoming a teacher. All the classes I've taken to prepare for my major I've felt so passionate about and school has become much easier because I care. My service learning has helped influence my decision because I've been given a taste of a real life classroom and an idea of what the life of a teacher is like. 

The next steps for me to become a teacher are to take the Praxis test and apply for the education major program at UVU for Spring of 2018. I have a couple more prerequisites to take over summer and fall semesters. I am beyond excited to get this all done and to finally get my own classroom. Teaching is my dream and children's success is my passion!  

My Service Learning Observations: Part Seven

I feel as though all throughout this course I have been successful in connecting my course topics and my blog posts. I have been able to observe many things in the classroom that have connected with my coursework. The fact that my observations and the course have connected have made the class more engaging. The blogs have been a good way for me to assess the things that I've been learning. I have really enjoyed keeping a blog as a way to monitor my learning and my understanding of the course material.

Blogging has been a wonderful way for me to monitor some of the things I've seen in the classroom. It has been a good way for me to think about the things I've seen on a deeper level. Blogging has helped me to keep track of the good and the bad things I've seen in the classroom. It has been a good way to take note of some of the strategies I'd like to use in my classroom. From my first blog post to the last I've seen a growth of the things I've observed in the classroom. I have noticed that by the last blog post I felt much more comfortable expressing the things that I had seen and learned and comparing it to our topics.

My Service Learning Observations: Part Six

In my service learning placement I see lots of evidence of the core curriculum in use. I know this because in my classroom my teacher uses an app that is supported by the core and deals with many of the items core requires. The kids use this app on the ipads for 20 minutes 2 times a week. The app is for reading and English skills. It works at the students level and they move up at their own pace. I have seen my teacher take or record data for the core as well. And she talked to me about the data and explained it me. She tests reading comprehension and English skills every week.

In my service learning placement I have seen an emphasis on Language Arts, Reading and or English more than any of the other subjects of core. I have not seen math or science addressed. I believe that I have seen the emphasis on English because number one I go to their class the same day every week at the same time so I see the same things in their schedule every week. And number two it is my understanding that they cover their math and science sections in their Spanish class. My teacher believes that standardized testing can be beneficial if they are adaptable depending on the level of each student.

My Service Learning Observations: Part Five

I have seen lots of diversity in my service learning placement as I'm sure is seen in every classroom. The one set of diverse kids that stand out to me are the ones who may have learning disabilities or are just a little bit slower to catch up with the rest of the kids in their class. For these particular students they just need a little extra time, or practice. My service learning teacher has me and parent volunteers pull these students into the hall to practice. We practice sounds, sight words or we read a book. I know that the one on one help is very beneficial for these students. My teacher also helps these students by sending notes home to parents to let them know what needs to be practiced at home.

Another diversity that I've seen is that there are many students who come from different cultural backgrounds. This could mean, religion, race, language etc. My service learning teacher recognizes this and makes culture a part of the class. She values all students and their participation and encourages students to share how they feel or what they value. The students are encouraged to often work as teams on assignments so they get to hear all different ideas and values that are among their classroom. I have been blessed to see diversity in a classroom and to see how diversity can be a beneficial part of the classroom experience. 

My Service Learning Observations: Part Four

In my service learning placement I am very excited to see support for all children, of every race, culture and sex! The school in general is very good at supporting English language learners. The school is set up to be a dual immersion school. This is beneficial for both Spanish speaking and English speaking students for many on both ends are learning a new language. Teachers go into their classrooms from the start knowing that they might have students who are unfamiliar with the language of the classroom and are more prepared to provide extra help to those students.  And they are given many resources to help them as they learn a new language. One court case that made support for English language learners a priority and a necessity was Lau vs. Nichol. this court case was taken to court by a group of Chinese students in San Francisco where they were told to either sink or swim in a mainstream school. The court judge decided that these students had received unequal treatment and in no way a meaningful education. As a result of this court case a federal law was created to protect these students the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974.

Because of Brown vs. the Board of Education and because of Ruby Bridges I see students of all color in my service learning placement. It makes me so excited to see students from all different races in a classroom together and no one bats an eye. The students don't even notice a difference between them and their peers. They are not scared of each other because of the color of the skin they see. They freely befriend their peers no matter what the color of their skin is. And all students are treated equally by my teacher and given a valuable education! I think this is so exciting because it has not been long since our schools were segregated and we were scared of each other. It is amazing to see the amount of progress we have made!

My Service Learning Observations: Part Three

The teacher I observe in my service learning classroom is very good at engaging her students. I have seen multiple activities that the kids find engaging! One activity that stuck out to me was when the students were practicing spelling words. The teacher sprayed a small amount of shaving cream on each desk. The kids then spread it around their table. When they were done they had a thin layer of shaving cream on their desk. A Tupperware full of paper towels was at each table and a plastic sack for garbage if the kids needed to wipe off their hands. Then all the kids took a Popsicle stick and wrote their spelling words as the teacher read them out. What a fun and memorable way to practice spelling! 

Another engaging activity was when the teacher passed out a plain deck of cards to each table. The kids were going to practice their math by playing math card games. There was quite a variety and I'll be honest I don't remember most of them. But one of the games was a lot like war. Two kids flip a card over at a time and they add them together. When they know the answer they shout it out and whoever says it first wins. These games were really fun and exciting for these kids. They play these math card games in their class pretty frequently and their teacher has given them all a deck of cards and instructions for all the games to keep and take home. I love that her students have been encouraged to keep practicing at home in a fun and exciting way. Because of this they will be more likely to practice!

One other engaging activity that my teacher has her students participate in is a program that the students play on tablets. This program focuses on teaching reading, spelling, letter sounds etc. This program modifies to each student and their individual level. They do this 3 days a week for 20 minutes at a time. The kids really seem to like playing on the tablets as a way to learn! They get to play games and participate in a wide variety of activities to help them grasp concepts!

There are times when the activities or lessons in this class are not engaging. This class starts their day working on a worksheet. A couple of weeks ago the worksheet they worked on was a groundhog day coloring page. I did not think that this worksheet was very engaging and there could have been a better way to discuss groundhog day. It seemed like pointless busy work and it wasted 15 minutes of class time. If it were my classroom I would have gotten up in front of the class and explained what groundhog day is shown pictures of groundhogs and shown a video of this years groundhog day! This way I would be showing the kids exactly what groundhog day is and we'd find out if we would have 6 more weeks of winter or if we would get Spring!

My Service Learning Observations: Part Two

The teacher that I am observing is very good about encouraging a positive classroom community. She makes sure to greet and welcome each student entering the classroom. The day begins with a short amount of time to finish any of their classwork or homework from the previous day. After that they all go to the rug where the students are given the opportunity to talk, share what they did the night before, how they are feeling etc. They then read a book together as a class! They also have their classroom set up into groups or teams and they can work together as a table pretty often throughout the day. The teacher frequently has times where the students are encouraged to work in partnerships too. These are just a few of the ways that my teacher encourages a positive classroom community.

My cooperative teacher also offers quite a bit of opportunities for the children to make their own choices. For example after they finish their work there is a box of books and they get to choose which book to read. Each table in the classroom has daily jobs and my teacher allows the students to pick which job they want for the day, for example there is a table runner. My teacher sometimes offers the students two choices for the book they read as a class and she lets the students vote on the one they want. These are just a couple of examples as to how the teachers allows students to make their own choices.

By making a positive classroom community my cooperative teacher has created a space where the students feel safe and loved. The students have made friendships and are comfortable enough with their teacher that they feel safe in this classroom. The students also feel comfortable enough to share their feelings with each other and their teacher. I have seen this frequently in the classroom. Just the other day a kid started crying and told the teacher that one of the other students had hurt his feelings and then the teacher proceeded to talk to the two students about the problem. The classroom is also set up in a way to promote the children's safety! Here are just a couple of ways my cooperative teacher creates an environment where children feel safe and loved. 

My Service Learning Observations: Part One

Through my first week of observation of my service learning teacher I have concluded that my teacher uses a lot of the behaviorism learning theory. They have a system set up where every day the students will either get a gold, silver or bronze. They get gold when they have been good all day. A silver is rewarded when they act out a little bit and this causes a note to be sent home to let their parents know. A bronze is rewarded when they act out multiple times throughout the day. When they earn a bronze, they get a note home to let their parents know and they go talk to the principle. On random days, the students with a gold get to go to the principles and get a prize. This works because the kids know the expectations and want the rewards. The teacher and the students have mutual respect and it is amazing how well this first-grade class is behaved.

Through my observation, I have also noticed that the teacher I'm observing is good at using all three learning styles. One part of her lesson comes to mind. They were reading from a book. The teacher read out loud to them but every student had a copy so they all had their own book to look at and every time they went on to the new page she'd say, "raise your hand into the air and dive those fingers down to the next page on the word...". This part of the class stood out to me because they were using all three learning styles. Auditory was used because they listened to the teacher read. Visual was used because they had their own copy of the book to look at and follow along. Kinesthetic was used when they raised their hands in the air and dove back down to the book. They could hear, see and move!

The First Step: My Service Learning Journey

I could not be more excited to start this service learning project or this new blog. Hello, world! To get this started I thought I'd talk about what "service learning" is, where I'll be doing it and what I hope to gain from it. 

Service learning basically means providing an unpaid service for a community, an organization or in my case a school in hopes to learn something by hands on participation and real world observation. Service learning can be beneficial for many reasons: to help meet community needs, to enhance knowledge and skills, to get engaged into a certain subject etc. My Service Learning Project will be done at an elementary school under one specific teacher. I will be observing her classroom, working one on one with the children, I'll walk around and help answer questions etc. Basically I will be working hands on in a classroom, watching an amazing teacher work her magic and most important, I'll get to interact with young kids! I am beyond excited about this because this is what I want to do when I "grow up"! 

 The elementary school that I will be working at sits in a neighborhood that is filled with families and little kids. Many parents and kids are seen walking to and from the school every day.You can tell it's a really family friendly community. The neighborhood seems to be a typical middle class neighborhood. The school building is made of brick and everything inside is incredibly small! Perfect for all the kiddos they have running around. This school building is very old and is not up to code and not earthquake safe. They are currently in the process of building a new updated school building right behind the old one. I believe that the new building will be completed in the fall of 2017. Something about the school that I really like is that they have a dual immersion program! That means that most of their students go for a half a day in an English class and half a day in a Spanish class. What a better way to learn a language!

 My service learning placement is under a teacher that I know. She was my little brother's teacher last year. I have observed her class a couple times before and the work she does is astounding! I want to be her when I "grow up"! She is literally a role model for me! I'm so excited to work under her because I know I could learn so much from her. I will be working in a first grade classroom and I couldn't be more excited! Throughout this journey I am hoping to pick up some tips and tricks of the trade. I want to create a relationship with the teacher as well as the students. I want to be of help to this classroom and this community. I'd like to see how technology can be a resource for a classroom. I'd also love to be exposed to ethically and racially diverse kids. But most of all I'd like to take the first step into the world of a teacher.