The preservice teachers participating in the USA 100 Black Men Summer Enrichment Program are an outstanding group of students at the USA College of Education. This blog is a safe environment designed for journaling reflections, sharing ideas, and communicating challenges and successes during the program.
This final week has been bittersweet. I cannot believe this month has gone by this quickly. It really does feel like just yesterday we were giving the pretest. I have learned so much throughout this program. I have really enjoyed my time here, getting to know the other pre-service and in-service teachers and the students. Today is the closing ceremony. I cannot wait for my students’ parents to walk into our reading room and observe the great work that their students have done this summer.
This summer has taught me a lot about myself as a person and as a prospective teacher. I have learned a new level of patience, after being with four groups of fifth graders all month. At first, I was very nervous about teaching fifth grade because I am use to the younger grades. However, I really enjoyed my time in this fifth grade class setting, and I learned a lot about fifth graders in general. This summer has taught me that I am truly passionate about teaching because the amount of time, planning, and preparation that goes into just one day is unbelievable. I knew that teaching was like this to some degree, but when it is entirely up to you to do everything, you learn a new level of respect for the teaching profession. Time has definitely gone by extremely quickly this summer. Time management is something that I am progressing on, yet still working on as well. You never know what situations will occur to change the time of the lessons planned. I just had to go with the flow this summer, which is something I am not use to. One class may progress to a certain spot, while another progresses to a different spot. I had to learn that not every class learns the same or stays on the same track. The biggest thing that I have learned is classroom management. I knew what I wanted my class environment to feel like before this summer, but now it is a little different. I am very structured and thought I wanted my class structured the way I am, but I learned that I like less structure. Not to say that there is no structure because neither the students nor I could function without structure. However, I grew to like discussion noises and group work more than independent or whole group work. I just found out that I am not a rigid as I thought I was before this program. Overall, I have learned what it takes to teach, what it means to teach, and the joy and rewards of teaching.
The rewards of teaching truly are the best part of the job. When your students finally understand something that you have been teaching, the feeling of success is overwhelming for the teacher and students. I also love to hear, “We had fun today Ms. Benton!” I want my students to learn and enjoy school, so it is very rewarding to know that I have made lessons fun and interactive. I have grown to know each of my classes and its students. I wish that we had a longer amount of time, but I know that all good things must come to an end. I have really enjoyed getting to know my students. I am so excited for today’s ceremony, and I will be sad to watch my students leave because I know today is the final day. I know all of my students will do well in school and life. They are a great group of children, and they would not have been at this program if they did not want to succeed in both school and life.
This week has been crazy and I can not believe that it is over! Last week the students played Roll A Dollar in class and they have been asking everyday to play again so they played that on Monday to review money for the post test on Tuesday. Learning money has been very challenging for some students and I wanted to reward all of my students for their hard work this summer so on Monday we had a "candy store" in the classroom. I had given paper coins to students the week before and they used their money to buy candy from the store. The students were so excited to some to the "store" and pick out the candy that they wanted to buy. They students had to count of the correct amount of change before I they could purchase their candy from the store. The store gave me an opportunity to work more one-on-one with the students who needed individual help with counting money.
On Tuesday the students took the post test. It was encouraging to me when I graded the tests and saw that some of the students who did not score well on the first test made a B on the post test. I was not focused on the test scores this summer but it is nice to know that the students did learn while they were in my class. I only had 2 of my classes on Wednesday because we were having to practice for the program on Friday. We were able to have fun with the students but I wish I could have had all of my classes since it was the last day we were at school.
The fourth week of the program was bittersweet. There was so many things to be done! But it was still an exciting week! Monday we started on our science fair projects. This was something we had to get donebefore the field trip on Thursday. We worked really hard to make sure that the students created the best project they possibly could. We made sure they knew exactly what they would be writing on the inside of their projects. The inside of the project took the majority of the first two days. On Wednesday we worked on decorating the projects. We brought in props for the students to add to the front of their projects to make them really stand out. We had so much fun,even though it was extremely stressful and time pressed at times.
I began using prompts at the beginning of each class and assigned seats to help me out with classroom management. This worked extremely well until I was sitting on the carpet working with a large group of students this week and a few students were coloring pictures to go along with their prompts. My students decided to draw Sponge Bob, his privates, and multiple piercings (EVERYWHERE). I learned that I have to monitor the children always and I need to always have something for them to be engaged in.
The first half of the week absolutely flew by. All of my students and I were looking forward to the New Orleans trip and working hard in the mean time. Monday, I removed all of the desks from my room and did a summative review using coins and hula hoops to cover word problems, prime and composite numbers, expanded form and place value. Because of the break-ins that occurred at the school, I introduced the lesson with a discussion about trust and reputation. We talked about how when you do something wrong, even if it is just something small, people begin to question your reliability when something bigger happens. I told them that I trusted them completely, and I was eager for them to prove me right. I brought in twenty dollars worth of real coin money and distributed within the hula hoops evenly. The next day, each class had someone ask me if all the money was still there at the end of the previous day, and I was happy to report that every penny was accounted for. The last day I gave a speech that said that those kids have earned a tremendous amount of trust, respect and pride from me-- and I mean it.
The last week was a little bit crazy. The students were working on their science fair projects, and we were trying to get everything finished. I am so happy with the way their projects turned out! They looked really good, and the students were excited about displaying their projects. Also, the students got to investigate their owl pellets on Wednesday. At first they were apprehensive about touching the owl pellets. However, they really got into it, and enjoyed the activity.
The last week came so quickly. It’s hard to believe that our time with these children has come to an end. Monday we worked with owl pellets, which was not only a new experience for many of my students but for me as well. I have to admit that I was really excited about the owl pellet activity. Many of the students were a little apprehensive in the beginning but once they saw that I was excited and willing to touch the pellets they became enthusiastic as well. We had a great time discovering the small animal bones and trying to figure out what type of animal it was. Rats were the most common find, but we did find a few moles as well. Several groups found three skulls in one pellet. I love watching the students work together cooperatively and with so much excitement! It was a really great day. In addition to the owl pellets, two groups began to work on the science boards to display during Friday’s open house. I was really impressed with the projects and the pride that the students showed in their work. On Tuesday we took the post-test and continued to work on the science boards. The students were exhausted from testing all day. I was pleased to see that all but two students had improved from their pre-test scores. I now understand the pressure on teachers when it comes to students’ test scores and my job didn’t depend on it, nor was I receiving pressure from the administration. My stress came from within. These scores were going to be a direct reflection of my teaching. I would have liked for the scores to have been higher but it was rewarding to see that each student with the exception of two had improved. Wednesday, I brought cookies and white cheddar popcorn for each class. We spent the day playing games, drawing, and eating while talking and just enjoying time spent together. It was a fun day and just what we needed after the previous day of testing. I’m glad that we had time to just relax and have a good time for our last full day together.
It’s still hard to believe we’re finished with the summer enrichment program. It went by quicker than I could have ever imagined. Monday was mainly a review day. We played several of the games that helped us review: context clues, story elements, as well as the other concepts we covered the previous weeks. We also were in crunch time to learn our “Gotta Keep Reading Song” and make “books” for the closing ceremony. By the time we got all that taken care of it was already Wednesday. I could not believe how fast last week went. By the time we left school on Wednesday I was feeling pretty confident with my fourth graders. They knew and LOVED the song we planned to perform at the closing ceremony.
The last week was very fun. I feel like we just prepared for the final program and had fun with the kids. I miss them already!!! They preformed the 'layers of the earth' song and it was a big hit! There were so many words in the verses, and they really worked hard to memorize them. I was very proud.
Thursday’s field trip was as I expected it to be. The students really enjoyed themselves as did I (for the most part). The responsibility of being “the teacher” on the field trip was definitely an experience that I will never forget. It had its ups and downs. Making sure all 20 of my students were with me and accounted for every step of the way kept my head spinning. The zoo was amazing as well as hot. The students loved seeing all of the different animals and their habitats. I believe the aquarium, on the other hand, would have been nicer and more enjoyable if we hadn’t had to rush through it in 45 minutes. Many of the students were upset because they didn’t get to see the whole aquarium. The bus ride to and from New Orleans was great. The students had very good behavior. The buffet experience was better than I expected it to be. It went very smoothly. I was surprised that I was actually able to enjoy my dinner with my students. They could not believe that “Ms. Burrell” ate so much food.
The last week was bittersweet for me. I felt like I just got to know all of my students. I had just figured out how each of my four different classes learned differently and how to adapt to them. I learned the different quirks of each student as well. And now look what I had to do-give them away to someone else who does not know them for the fall. I was very pleased with my post test scores and proud of my students. Mrs. Bryd game me the opportunity to ask some survey questions at the end of my test to see what the students liked, what the y disliked, and what they learned. One of my favorite responses that I saw several ties over was "I like learning math this summer because we did not use worksheets." That made my heart smile.
This final week has been bittersweet. I cannot believe this month has gone by this quickly. It really does feel like just yesterday we were giving the pretest. I have learned so much throughout this program. I have really enjoyed my time here, getting to know the other pre-service and in-service teachers and the students. Today is the closing ceremony. I cannot wait for my students’ parents to walk into our reading room and observe the great work that their students have done this summer.
ReplyDeleteThis summer has taught me a lot about myself as a person and as a prospective teacher. I have learned a new level of patience, after being with four groups of fifth graders all month. At first, I was very nervous about teaching fifth grade because I am use to the younger grades. However, I really enjoyed my time in this fifth grade class setting, and I learned a lot about fifth graders in general. This summer has taught me that I am truly passionate about teaching because the amount of time, planning, and preparation that goes into just one day is unbelievable. I knew that teaching was like this to some degree, but when it is entirely up to you to do everything, you learn a new level of respect for the teaching profession. Time has definitely gone by extremely quickly this summer. Time management is something that I am progressing on, yet still working on as well. You never know what situations will occur to change the time of the lessons planned. I just had to go with the flow this summer, which is something I am not use to. One class may progress to a certain spot, while another progresses to a different spot. I had to learn that not every class learns the same or stays on the same track. The biggest thing that I have learned is classroom management. I knew what I wanted my class environment to feel like before this summer, but now it is a little different. I am very structured and thought I wanted my class structured the way I am, but I learned that I like less structure. Not to say that there is no structure because neither the students nor I could function without structure. However, I grew to like discussion noises and group work more than independent or whole group work. I just found out that I am not a rigid as I thought I was before this program. Overall, I have learned what it takes to teach, what it means to teach, and the joy and rewards of teaching.
The rewards of teaching truly are the best part of the job. When your students finally understand something that you have been teaching, the feeling of success is overwhelming for the teacher and students. I also love to hear, “We had fun today Ms. Benton!” I want my students to learn and enjoy school, so it is very rewarding to know that I have made lessons fun and interactive. I have grown to know each of my classes and its students. I wish that we had a longer amount of time, but I know that all good things must come to an end. I have really enjoyed getting to know my students. I am so excited for today’s ceremony, and I will be sad to watch my students leave because I know today is the final day. I know all of my students will do well in school and life. They are a great group of children, and they would not have been at this program if they did not want to succeed in both school and life.
This week has been crazy and I can not believe that it is over! Last week the students played Roll A Dollar in class and they have been asking everyday to play again so they played that on Monday to review money for the post test on Tuesday. Learning money has been very challenging for some students and I wanted to reward all of my students for their hard work this summer so on Monday we had a "candy store" in the classroom. I had given paper coins to students the week before and they used their money to buy candy from the store. The students were so excited to some to the "store" and pick out the candy that they wanted to buy. They students had to count of the correct amount of change before I they could purchase their candy from the store. The store gave me an opportunity to work more one-on-one with the students who needed individual help with counting money.
ReplyDeleteOn Tuesday the students took the post test. It was encouraging to me when I graded the tests and saw that some of the students who did not score well on the first test made a B on the post test. I was not focused on the test scores this summer but it is nice to know that the students did learn while they were in my class. I only had 2 of my classes on Wednesday because we were having to practice for the program on Friday. We were able to have fun with the students but I wish I could have had all of my classes since it was the last day we were at school.
The fourth week of the program was bittersweet. There was so many things to be done! But it was still an exciting week! Monday we started on our science fair projects. This was something we had to get donebefore the field trip on Thursday. We worked really hard to make sure that the students created the best project they possibly could. We made sure they knew exactly what they would be writing on the inside of their projects. The inside of the project took the majority of the first two days. On Wednesday we worked on decorating the projects. We brought in props for the students to add to the front of their projects to make them really stand out. We had so much fun,even though it was extremely stressful and time pressed at times.
ReplyDeleteI began using prompts at the beginning of each class and assigned seats to help me out with classroom management. This worked extremely well until I was sitting on the carpet working with a large group of students this week and a few students were coloring pictures to go along with their prompts. My students decided to draw Sponge Bob, his privates, and multiple piercings (EVERYWHERE). I learned that I have to monitor the children always and I need to always have something for them to be engaged in.
ReplyDeleteThe first half of the week absolutely flew by. All of my students and I were looking forward to the New Orleans trip and working hard in the mean time. Monday, I removed all of the desks from my room and did a summative review using coins and hula hoops to cover word problems, prime and composite numbers, expanded form and place value. Because of the break-ins that occurred at the school, I introduced the lesson with a discussion about trust and reputation. We talked about how when you do something wrong, even if it is just something small, people begin to question your reliability when something bigger happens. I told them that I trusted them completely, and I was eager for them to prove me right. I brought in twenty dollars worth of real coin money and distributed within the hula hoops evenly. The next day, each class had someone ask me if all the money was still there at the end of the previous day, and I was happy to report that every penny was accounted for. The last day I gave a speech that said that those kids have earned a tremendous amount of trust, respect and pride from me-- and I mean it.
ReplyDeleteThe last week was a little bit crazy. The students were working on their science fair projects, and we were trying to get everything finished. I am so happy with the way their projects turned out! They looked really good, and the students were excited about displaying their projects.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the students got to investigate their owl pellets on Wednesday. At first they were apprehensive about touching the owl pellets. However, they really got into it, and enjoyed the activity.
The final week arrived so fast! I am amazed at how much I learned and grew over these few short weeks!
ReplyDeleteThe last week came so quickly. It’s hard to believe that our time with these children has come to an end. Monday we worked with owl pellets, which was not only a new experience for many of my students but for me as well. I have to admit that I was really excited about the owl pellet activity. Many of the students were a little apprehensive in the beginning but once they saw that I was excited and willing to touch the pellets they became enthusiastic as well. We had a great time discovering the small animal bones and trying to figure out what type of animal it was. Rats were the most common find, but we did find a few moles as well. Several groups found three skulls in one pellet. I love watching the students work together cooperatively and with so much excitement! It was a really great day. In addition to the owl pellets, two groups began to work on the science boards to display during Friday’s open house. I was really impressed with the projects and the pride that the students showed in their work.
ReplyDeleteOn Tuesday we took the post-test and continued to work on the science boards. The students were exhausted from testing all day. I was pleased to see that all but two students had improved from their pre-test scores. I now understand the pressure on teachers when it comes to students’ test scores and my job didn’t depend on it, nor was I receiving pressure from the administration. My stress came from within. These scores were going to be a direct reflection of my teaching. I would have liked for the scores to have been higher but it was rewarding to see that each student with the exception of two had improved.
Wednesday, I brought cookies and white cheddar popcorn for each class. We spent the day playing games, drawing, and eating while talking and just enjoying time spent together. It was a fun day and just what we needed after the previous day of testing. I’m glad that we had time to just relax and have a good time for our last full day together.
It’s still hard to believe we’re finished with the summer enrichment program. It went by quicker than I could have ever imagined. Monday was mainly a review day. We played several of the games that helped us review: context clues, story elements, as well as the other concepts we covered the previous weeks. We also were in crunch time to learn our “Gotta Keep Reading Song” and make “books” for the closing ceremony. By the time we got all that taken care of it was already Wednesday. I could not believe how fast last week went. By the time we left school on Wednesday I was feeling pretty confident with my fourth graders. They knew and LOVED the song we planned to perform at the closing ceremony.
ReplyDeleteThe last week was very fun. I feel like we just prepared for the final program and had fun with the kids. I miss them already!!! They preformed the 'layers of the earth' song and it was a big hit! There were so many words in the verses, and they really worked hard to memorize them. I was very proud.
ReplyDeleteThursday’s field trip was as I expected it to be. The students really enjoyed themselves as did I (for the most part). The responsibility of being “the teacher” on the field trip was definitely an experience that I will never forget. It had its ups and downs. Making sure all 20 of my students were with me and accounted for every step of the way kept my head spinning. The zoo was amazing as well as hot. The students loved seeing all of the different animals and their habitats. I believe the aquarium, on the other hand, would have been nicer and more enjoyable if we hadn’t had to rush through it in 45 minutes. Many of the students were upset because they didn’t get to see the whole aquarium. The bus ride to and from New Orleans was great. The students had very good behavior. The buffet experience was better than I expected it to be. It went very smoothly. I was surprised that I was actually able to enjoy my dinner with my students. They could not believe that “Ms. Burrell” ate so much food.
ReplyDeleteThe last week was bittersweet for me. I felt like I just got to know all of my students. I had just figured out how each of my four different classes learned differently and how to adapt to them. I learned the different quirks of each student as well. And now look what I had to do-give them away to someone else who does not know them for the fall.
ReplyDeleteI was very pleased with my post test scores and proud of my students. Mrs. Bryd game me the opportunity to ask some survey questions at the end of my test to see what the students liked, what the y disliked, and what they learned. One of my favorite responses that I saw several ties over was "I like learning math this summer because we did not use worksheets." That made my heart smile.