Intern Experience Week #13

The work in my PDS's this semester was drastically different. I spent the first 5 weeks of the semester in a self-contained middle school classroom working with students in grades 6-8 and then the remained of the time I was in a 5Th grade social studies/science classroom teaching all 5Th grade students. I believe that I am a more well rounded pre-service teacher because of my experience in these very different placement, and the opportunity to work with such a diverse group of students.
For my 5 week placement I was teaching all subjects to students with a variety of needs in grades 6-8 all in one classroom. This was very challenging because I wasn't just providing support to what the students were doing in the regular classroom like I had in previous special education experience, but instead in charge of their every curriculum need. My mentor teacher and I built a relationship very quickly because of the necessity of getting me teaching right away since I was only there for a short amount of time. The work was challenging at first because I needed to create whole group instruction as well as small to reach every student and every learners needs. This classroom was also the first time that I was working with students that had sever behavioral and emotional disabilities. It was also very important for me to build a beneficial relationship for my mentor teacher as well so I made sure that I was keeping track of students work, grading assignments and doing anything and everything she asked me to do. Also turning my lesson plans in early to her helped build the professional relationship needed so that she would trust me in her classroom. I really value everything that she taught me in her classroom I definitely grew from our experience working together.
Then when I returned to my home PDS I was placed in a 5th grade social studies classroom in order to provide me experience in teaching middle school social studies since I have a 5-9 certification. This was the first time in a while that I was placed in a general education classroom. Also these 5th grade students were on the highest level that I had taught thus far. Even though I was placed in a middle school those students were working on a 3rd and 4th grade level, so working with the general education population at this academic level had me a little nervous. I had also never had a class that instructed me on teaching social studies at this level so with all of these factors playing a part I was anxious to see what would come. I was very lucky to be placed with a mentor teaching that was understanding of my lack of experience in teaching social studies and very willing to work with me. Instead of teaching right away I would observe him teach one block then I would teach the same lesson in the next and we would discuss what I did well and then improvements. This was very beneficial because I was able to readjust or try new things in different classes because I was teaching the same lesson three times a day. Sometimes it got a little boring doing the same thing, but it was a nice change as well. It was also beneficial to have my special education background because sometimes I would use some of the techniques I used with that particular student population in my general education classroom if a concept was giving them trouble. I believe that my mentor teacher and I were able to form a beneficial relationship because I was able to share my knowledge about special education and he about science, social studies, and behavioral management in the classroom. I also was able to form a professional relationship with my teacher by always being prepared for class with lessons, material and grading assignments. We would co-teach often and discuss planning as a team. I hope to return to this classroom and other 5th grade classrooms in the spring and continue building my professional relationship with my mentor teacher. I plan on using technology to enhance teaching in the classroom and plan on introducing different ways of using technology with my mentor teacher.

Intern Experience Week #12

This past week at my PDS I wrapped up a 5 week unit on the Civil War. We spent a great deal of time on the battles that played a very important part in the ending of the war and focused on the important individuals during this final stretch of war. The first half of the week the students learned about the battles at Vicksburg and Chancellorsville. Each battle was covered because of their significant to the side the victory was for. The students spent equal time researching each battle and then were given the option to choose one or the other to complete a battle summary on. The students were also provided with additional books to use as resources for their summary. The books had a lot of paintings and real like pictures of the battles that students could use in order to recreate their battle picture.
After this we went straight into the battle of Gettysburg which was the first battle in our entire unit where students had some prior knowledge about. I took advantage of this and held a lot of large group discussions where students could share information they knew and if they had ever visited Gettysburg. I used a teaching style of lecture mixed with technology. I felt that if I lectured about a particular topic or event then showed a brief video clip the students may comprehend more compared to watching one large video where they would loose focus. The students seemed to do well this this and were able to recall a lot of information about the battle.
Finally on Friday we came to an end of our Civil War study with a section on Appomattox. For this section I lectured and held discussion on the topic and then showed an 11 minute video clip that lead up to the next section we will cover after Christmas, which was the assassination of Lincoln. After this students were given 4 options which were to be their final grade in this unit. Students were given directions and explained that this project needed to represent their best work possible. They could either write a Gettysburg battle summary, Gettysburg newspaper, Sherman's march newspaper, or Appomattox newspaper. After receiving the assignments turned in today I was presently surprised to see a variety in topics were chosen.

Intern Experience Week #11

Last week at my PDS was a very exciting and rewarding week of teaching. I taught a lot of lessons that went very well and the students seemed to be into them. We focused a lot on major battles and important people during the war. My students worked on computers one day researching an individual that they chose from a list provided. The had the choice of either Union, Confederate, or Civilian. I provided students with a guide to help aid in their research because with the information they found they were going to be creating a type of information card, modeled after a baseball card to represent their person. The card needed to include all of the information they needed to find from their guide, a picture and then either the confederate or union flag as the background behind their person. Over all the students did a really good job with this assignment, and it is always nice to use technology.
The following day I introduced a lesson where we explored important battles like Bull Run and Antietam. We read from the text, did reading questions and watched video clips to help aid students in comprehension. Once we did all of these instruction steps the students were then again given a guide for them to fill in information and they were to pick one of the two battles to create a battle summary. My mentor teacher also had a lot of Civil War books in his classroom so the students were able to use these as a resource to look at pictures which helped in the picture portion of the summary. I think the students liked it because they get interested into the bloody aspects of war, but they had a lot of trouble writing a summary. They have written summaries in other classes and I did explain it, but a lot of them just presented the information like a baseball card. It was frustrating because I know they just weren't listening. I am doing all of these different activities with them but they still seem to be bored with the content.
Finally on Thursday and Friday we spent two days using the book Pink and Say. The students loved it and were really into the story. One the first day we did a picture walk and discussed what they thought the book was going to be about and then I introduced them to important new vocabulary that we would come across in the book. Next we started to read the study and got about half way done on day one and then finished it on day two. As we read, a lot of discussion developed and the students had a lot of questions. When they found out it was a true story at the end of the book a lot of them were astonished and it prompted even more questions. I was very happy with the outcome of using this book and plan on using it in my own future classrooms.

Intern Experience Week #10

This past week at my PDS I was able to integrate creative arts into a lot of my lessons. This worked well because I was able to see my students work with regular textbook assignments vs. creative assignments on the same content. The week really focused on the Civil War and I introduced students to the first battles and important figures or people in the war. These important people were both Union and Confederate as well as citizens. I tried to switch up my instruction by having students use their book for a source of information and then watch videos about the same content in order for them to have a visual to go along with the information in the text.
First we worked on the election of 1860 and the students were introduced to Abe Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. We read about a lot of their differences in political views as well as their physical differences. The students also used a Venn Diagram to organize the information about their similarities and differences. Then they used this information to create a political cartoon. I was able to show students examples of political cartoons and we discussed why they were important because at this time newspapers were the only way to get information. Newspapers were also a popular form of entertainment. Then we watched and read about the Battle at Fort Sumpter. The students were then given guidelines to create a front page of a newspaper to inform people on the battle. We held a discussion on appropriate names for a paper and eye catching headlines.
Lastly I created an activity where I used digital photos that I had taken from the field trip the week before. I explained to my students that I saw a lot of them using their own cameras on the field trip so I used the photos I took as a way for them to see that they could use their photos in an educational way. I made several hard copies of the photos and numbered them. The each student picked a photo and had to write about the photo plus three sentences about the field trip. My teacher also played a slide show of his own photos for the students to watch as they worked on their own photo. I think that the students really enjoyed this activity. A lot of them wrote more then what was asked of them.
Overall, pretty good week. I am getting more comfortable in my teaching of social studies so I am starting to enjoy it a lot more.