Are we there yet?

I find myself asking this question time and time again? When will part-time student teaching end? I'm so confused. For a few hours, I'm expected to be a student teacher with tons of cute pre-teens. And a few hours later, I'm expected to be in a room full of twenty-something year old student teachers, in a classroom, and with a professor. VERY STRANGE! Yes, I am almost there.

As I journey on from week to week, I am finding it harder and harder to leave the parking lot of CCMMS and return to my classes. I just want to stay and be with my students all day long. Is that too much to ask for? Well, I get to do that in 6 days! I'm so excited that I can barely keep my composure at times. This week I got the opportunity to do some pretty interesting things that made student teaching a little bit more real to me. I participated in my first full staff meeting (with free yummy lunch!), learned how to enter PEPs on EasyPEP, played Apples to Apples with my students, assisted my students with Analogy presentations, learned how to use the media center copy machine, assisted my students with Science Fair reflections and articles, and visited West Millbrook Middle School.

Something I thought that was good was attending the full staff meeting. I was given the opportunity to see all of the faculty and staff of CCMMS. I was also introduced to the BT Coordinator, who will be contacting me to sit in on a few BT meetings. During the full staff meeting, I also received a tutorial on how to enter PEP plans into EasyPEP software. I also was given a presentation on the new Teacher Evaluation Assessment instrument. It was great for me to see it actually put into plan because I only had experience with it from class lectures.

Something that I think I need a little more clarification on is the purpose of the EasyPEP software. If teachers were just keeping track of PEP plans by manuscript, why have they moved to the software? A lot of the steps involved in using the software also seem a little time-consuming and pointless.

I believe that the learning context of the community and my classroom will affect my instruction and assessment greatly. CCMMS operates under a strong university connections and leadership magnet program. Service-learning is also a very big component of the school's culture. A majority of my students are also visual learners. I know this will become one of my daily goals to include all students' learning preferences in my classroom. I will also have to address many opportunities for leadership and service-learning within the curriculum. There are also several volunteers and tutors who stop in from time to time. I also realize that it will become my partial responsibility to plan activities for them to work on with the students to make the more effective. Planning for my students may become a little complex; but I'm up for the challenge

It's testing season!

Ok, ok. I'm really starting to get the hang of this whole student teaching experience. Waking up at 6am doesn't seem so horrible anymore. I believe that my body is actually starting to catch up with my mind. Sounds like a pretty good accomplishment, right?!

This week at Centennial has been a little more low-key than the last couple of weeks. We started ACCESS testing, so that has been my student teaching experience for the week. I also proctored and provided instruction for students who were not taking the test on a particular day. On Wednesday, I assisted a student with Easy English News. In case you are unfamiliar with it, English Easy News is a newspaper that has articles for students who need simple language for comprehension. Some of the articles were about the legal system (court cases, prosecutors, juries, etc.) and holidays that we celebrate in the U.S. We read about Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day, and Chinese New Year. After reading about the articles, I had the student fill out a non-fiction reading log. The purpose behind having a student fill out a reading log is for them to get a better understanding of what they are reading by stating some things that they learned and their thoughts on the article. I also proctored ACCESS testing this week. I have proctored this test before so it was a walk in the park. I also did many other things with the students like assist with animal fact and opinion articles and play PIT with the students. Overall, it was an exhausting week with all of the testing that was going on.

I thought I did a great job with assisting the students with writing their fact and opinion rough draft articles. The students were really comfortable with asking for help. I also got a chance to share some knowledge about grammar. Knowing that my students will come to me for help is the greatest feeling that I had this week. Although, I had a wonderful time helping my students with their rough draft, I am so nervous about administering ACCESS testing next week. From my observations this week, I noticed that there is a lot of planning and work that go into having the test available for the students to take. I AM TERRIFIED OF THAT TEST. I really hope that my beginning teacher mentor will be just as good as Ms. Linton next year!

I have known my students for about 7 months now, and there is great diversity within my classes. Ms. Linton and I have as little as 3 students in one class to as many as 10 in another class. My 11-15 year old students also come from many different backgrounds such as China, Korea, Brazil, United States, Jordan, Sudan, and El Salvador just to name a few. They also come from many different socioeconomic backgrounds and religions. My students also have many levels of English proficiency. I have some students who know a few English vocabulary words and I also have students who carry on conversations with difficult vocabulary. It's quite amazing. This has also impacted my interactions with them. I have to be very mindful of their cultures and backgrounds when speaking and assisting them. I also know that when I teach I will also have to be careful with my lesson plans and the things that I ask them to do because their is so much diversity. I feel that it is such a blessing in disguise because many teachers never get the opportunity to reach so many children from different parts of the world.

I like things with a little bit of personality!

This week was another great one at CCMMS! We started off the week with a substitute because my cooperating teacher had some obligations to attend to. At first, I was a little bummed out because my cooperating teacher would be gone for the entire day; but then I realized that it was a great opportunity for me to see what really goes on when a substitute is present. And boy was I surprised! I originally had thought that Ms. Linton's students would act like normal middle school students who have a substitute. I thought that they would go completely wild...but I will never judge a book by its cover again! Her students were complete angels! I could not believe my eyes! They were respectful and followed instructions on the first cue. They also completed their work and their were minimal behavior issues. WONDERFUL! The students learned about different holidays for the month on January (New Year's Day, MLK Day, and others). We read the articles in Easy English News (An ESL version of a newspaper) and discussed the different holidays. The students also practiced their English skills on ELLIS. ELLIS is a software program to help non-native speakers to practice their English by using a variety of techniques such as, pronunciation, matching definitions/vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. It was a great resource to learn about for my future classroom next year. During the rest of the week, the students worked on their CCMMS Service Learning Club articles for the newsletter, submitted them to our classroom wikipage, called a student in China on the telephone, played APPLES to APPLES to practice conversation, learned a few tongue twisters, and had a ton of fun!

The classroom that I am teaching in this semester is in the X House of Centennial Campus Magnet Middle School. The X House is located near the back of the facility and houses all of the elective teachers’ classrooms. My classroom is an average size classroom with unique features. The first thing that I immediately noticed is that our classroom does not have any desks. Instead, we have tables and chairs. I believe that this may have been done intentionally to create a warm and inviting small discussion environment.

This unique seating arrangement creates interesting social dynamics within the classroom. The convenience of this seating chart is that this layout makes the classroom dynamics very personable. Each student has a buddy and will periodically ask their friend for assistance for a better clarification or understanding of something. It creates a wonderful class community environment.

CCMMS is very fortunate to have access to a variety of technology equipment and resources. In my cooperating teacher’s classroom, we have 8 computers that are available for student use. We also take advantage of using Skype and the PC projector. We also have access to many software programs that are beneficial to the students. For example, we have access to ELLIS, software to make video podcasts, commercials, and various others. We also use the headsets on the computers to help the students to record themselves practicing English so that they can replay and listen to themselves.

The classroom procedures in my cooperating teacher’s classroom are fairly simple. We adhere to all of CCMMS’ rules and expectations. One of the important rules at CCMMS is to practice the 7 habits of the university connections and leadership magnet program. Another expectation is that the students will follow the HOWL class expectations:

Honor: Respect and esteem

Order: Following rules and instructions

Wisdom: Good judgment, problem solving, and knowledge

Leadership: Responsibility and setting a good example

The classroom scheduling follows the same scheduling as the rest of the schools. At CCMMS, we have 7 periods. CCMMS begins at 7:45 in the morning. The school dismisses the students at 2:30 in the afternoon. They are each comprised of 45 or 90 minute classes; depending on whether it is an “A Day or B Day”. The A Day and B Day are on a rotating schedule so that the students will attend each class for the same duration of time during the semester. All students have a choice of 2 elective classes per semester and the rest of their schedule is filled with core academic classes. ESL automatically counts as an elective, so our students only receive a choice of 1 additional elective per semester.

Something that I thought went really well this week was APPLES to APPLES! This game has always been one of my favorites, but I would have never guessed to use it in an ESL classroom! This game works magic among these students. It allows them to practice their speaking and also allows them to have a controlled casual conversation in a warm environment. The students really enjoyed the game and I was really impressed at how it motivated them to speak!

Something that I am questioning is hall changes in middle schools. This week, I noticed that the halls were a little bit more noisy than usual. And when asked to be a little quieter and more respectful, it got worse! Some students were yelling fowl language and engaging in appropriate behaviors right in front of my eyes. How would you try to manage about 75 pre-teens in the hallway at the same time to do the right thing and follow procedures?

The new kid on the block

Wow! It has been such a long time since I have updated. In fact, this is my first post of 2011. So exciting! I have been super busy in the 3 weeks that 2011 has blessed me with so far. I have been attending block classes, training for my 2nd half-marathon, and STUDENT TEACHING!
Yes, the time has come! Last summer, my cooperating teacher retired from teaching. I was a very sad camper. I mean think about it. Imagine if a person who showed you the ropes from the very beginning retires. What do you do?! Will the new cooperating teacher be just as amazing as the last one?! Will she take you under her wing and share her world with you?! Well, I can honestly say that I found the perfect person to replace my old cooperating teacher!

My new cooperating teacher is like my old cooperating teacher's twin! She is just as wonderful and caring as my last one. She is the perfect 21st century teacher role model and friend. I mean this lady uses so much technology in her classroom and DOES IT WELL! The kids love her, her co-workers love her, and I love her! Seriously if you ever get the chance to work with her, DO IT. She's like every student teacher's dream.

One thing that I can tell you is that the first few weeks of student teaching has been busy. I'm student teaching at Centennial Campus Magnet Middle School. It is the perfect fit for me. It is nicely tucked inside of a suburban neighborhood and very close to major highways. This school was created to fulfill the university connections and leadership magnet of WCPSS. The school works very closely with the faculty and students at NCSU to create a once-in-a-lifetime middle school education for a very diverse population of students. The student demographic profile of CCMMS is : 51% White, 34% Black, 12% Hispanic, 2% Asian/Pacific Islander, and less than 1% American Indian/Alaskan native (stats provided by greatschools.org). CCMMS also offers a wide variety of unique classes for the students to take as well. The possibilities are ENDLESS! CCMMS has dance, video/film production, family and consumer sciences, music, theater/drama, art, and a variety of other electives. They also have great extra-curricular activities like ELL Book Club (sponsored by my awesome cooperating teacher!), community service clubs, student council, intermural sports, and other activities.

Like I said before, it's like a perfect fit! The students are great, the faculty are awesome, and the staff members are pretty wonderful too! The past few weeks my students have been working on science projects. Each class has designed their own class project and I helped them perform their experiments! One class put multiple household products in a soda bottle to see which combination would create carbon dioxide. Another class mixed household items with oil to see if they would mix together. The students were all so excited to be creating science experiments in ESL class for the science fair.

We have also skyped with a former student in China! We told her about the science experiments for the science fair and she also told us about the writing contest that is going on at her school in China. The students also shared their ideas about their Spring Festival project. Spring Festival is one of China's most important holidays. It's very similar to the U.S. celebration of Christmas and New Year's Day. The former student also shared her ideas of what she thought that the class should do for their project. It was so great to see the students interacting with the former student on Skype. It is one of the student's favorite activities and it's a great technology integration into the curriculum.

Another favorite activity that the students love to do is to make video's to post on the class website. One of the recent videos that the students have made was a "Stay in School" video for the CCMMS Service Learning Club. The students love making the videos and I would love to incorporate that in my lesson plans. Only problem that I have is...I do not know how to make them myself! I know it seems so small, but I am really confused on how to upload it to the website. If there was one thing that I should look into more closely, it would be how to incorporate more technology into the lessons that I will be teaching. Since my cooperating teacher is a 21st century teacher role model, it would be a great idea to get a tutorial from her!

My experiences with student teaching so far have been nothing short of wonderful! I am truly blessed to be placed in a wonderful school that is overflowing with wonderful people! Maybe being the new kid on the block isn't so bad after all. In fact, it's probably one of the best things to happen to a student teacher. I've truly received the needle in the haystack!