Video Clip from teaching

Entry 15 ~ Reaction and Insight

I had a great practicum this semester that caused me to think and compare and glean. My teacher, Mrs. Grigg, was very cooperative and I learned a lot from her. I have gleaned from this practicum that balanced literacy really changes the way I teach. Also, engaging the students in meaningful conversation is key for comprehension, and making the classroom into a community is one of the most influential things I can do as a teacher.
As far as spiritual insights goes, my actions show my love. Like I said previously, one of the things I gleaned from the most was making the classroom a community. The students won't learn if I do not pay attention to them and show them Christ's love. As a teacher, Christ should live in me so that I can share Him with my students, no matter what school I am at.

Entry 1 ~ What I've Learned

If you would have met me at the beginning of the semester, and asked me about teaching, I would have said something to the extent of "yeah, I'm excited...kind of." But now, after this semester, I cannot WAIT to teach!! I have learned SO SO SO much from everything Ms. Huntley has taught, what I have experienced, and what I have accomplished. I have learned that language arts is the most important thing that you must teach in the classroom. Everything else adds on to that. I have learned that balanced literacy is so important, that a word wall in my classroom is a MUST, and that the Gradual Release of Responsibility lived out in my classroom will grow my students from completely reliant on me, to independent and great, purposeful readers, writers and thinkers. I have learned teaching methods that give me the desire to be a fantastic teacher. I have learned to respect my students, no matter who they are or where they come from.
My cooperating teacher, Mrs. Grigg, has been influential. I have learned a lot from her and her classroom; what TO do and what NOT to do. It is really interesting and lifechanging to read about methods in the textbook and then see those lived out in the classroom, or the absence of it. For example, I did not know how influential shared readings were to the students until I did my lesson in the classroom. Mrs. Grigg does not do any shared readings, but when I did mine, the students were receptive. I even heard one say, "That was fun!" The great thing about shared readings are that the students really do become more fluent and love to read in a group. It builds confidence in them and makes them better readers.
I am getting more comfortable in the classroom, and in the methods and materials of elementary teaching. I get excited to make lesson plans, and the final project has really helped me think about how to integrate the teacher handbooks into balanced literacy. Through this semester, I feel like I have transformed from a college student, who majors in Elementary Education, to a teacher-candidate.

Entry 14 ~ Evaluation

Mrs. Grigg formally evaluates the students' reading in guided reading groups and through the standardized testing that the administration requires. The standardized testing includes reading sight words, words per minute, and comprehension.

She informally evaluates reading when she asks questions about the math problems. She asks certain students to read the problems if they are having trouble with them. This way she sees if they are having trouble reading the words or trouble comprehending. She can also evaluate fluency that way. She can also evaluate informally during guided reading. She evaluates them when they informally read aloud when getting their library books.

Entry 13 ~ Respect

As I was beginning to write this section, I received a tweet on Twitter from Joyce Meyer. She said, "Love can only really be seen and felt through words and action." I thought about this statement with the context of teaching in mind. Mrs. Grigg does have genuine respect for her students. I can see it through her words and action. She is always affirming them and encouraging them to do their best. She treats them as individuals and listens to them with respect. She treats them all with equality and you can tell she really loves them. She gives lots of hugs and listens to them when they have something going on at home or socially that they need to talk about.

I can tell that she really loves teaching as well because she is patient and kind to the students, and has great ideas for lessons. She is optimistic and happy most of the time, and does not dread coming to school. She has a positive outlook on life, and that really influences the students. They respect her as well, because she respects them.

Entry 12 ~ Language Arts Development

Reading: There are many ways to develop reading in the daily curriculum. Mrs. Grigg does a read-aloud every morning to show how to think about their thinking when the students are reading independently. They have time to go to the library a couple of times during the week. There are also guided reading groups that happen during literacy centers daily. Finally, students develop reading during independent reading time during the day.

Writing: There are opportunities to develop writing as well. In every unit, Mrs. Grigg includes a writing requirement where the students write about what they have learned. For example, they were doing a unit on bats and they had to come up with several facts about bats to write about. They also write about the observations they make in science lab. They write about what they detect with their five senses, and this gives them an opportunity to add new words into their writing vocabulary that are descriptive of the materials.

Listening: The students listen to instructions and readings from the teacher. They also have a listening center for literacy centers.

Speaking: They do chants and sing songs that cement math and phonics in their minds. Mrs. Grigg does not waste any time, and when they walk down the hall, they are chanting something. They also spell their word sort words out loud to a partner and guided reading is about speaking the written words as well.

Viewing: The students view short videos teaching phonics or introducing a unit. They see posters on the walls of different things they are learning about, and words they are learning. In the computer lab, they play math games that help them learn because they view the problems in animation form.

Visually Representing: There is some visual representation happening in the classroom. When students are working on a project for a unit, they create something to go along with their written project. For example, they decorated a turkey in an outfit that would act like a disguise. Some of the end results were: a doctor, a rockstar, and sports player, etc. They visually represented what they wrote about.

Entry 11 ~ Literature in Daily Curriculum

Literature does play a role in the daily curriculum. For second grade, it does not have as big of a role as some other parts of the curriculum, though. The definition for literature I found is: writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features. Mrs. Grigg uses poems every once in a while, but she has done a unit on biography and the students created their own autobiography after reading part of a biography. But most of the books read are ones that are children's books. Some are children's literature. If I were to add something to the curriculum, literature would be one of the top items on my list. I think that the students would enjoy more of a variety of literature, because many of what is read is not of universal interest.