Opening Convocation 2008

Luther's opening convocation was held on September 4th, 2008. The keynote speaker was David Treur. David Treuer is an Ojibwa Indian from northern Minnesota. He grew up living on Leech Lake Reservation. His father was also a holocaust survivor, which I found to be very interesting.

Treur talked a great deal about the hardships that he dealt with because he was of Native American descent. Kids were constantly picking on him because he was different. He has become a very successful individual. He graduated from Princeton, and is now an author. I think that he can be a motivation for children who feel like they are different than everybody else.

I think that David's message can be tied into education. As future educators, I think we can all learn something from what he went through as a child. We, as teachers need to make sure that we are embracing ALL children, despite of their differences. It is very important for teachers to create a classroom environment in which children are taught that differences are not a bad thing. As a future teacher, I know that one of my main goals will be centered around making sure that children do not feel uncomfortable about being different.

Like I said earlier, I think we as future educators can all learn something valuable from David.

Some Thoughts About Ed. Psych.

I really like my educational psychology class so far. The class has a very relaxed atmosphere, which is really comforting to me, because I know that I do not have to feel intimidated to speak up during a discussion. We have been talking a lot about No Child Left Behind, and the measures that teachers need to take in order to accommodate different types of learners. In class, we did an activity regarding our thoughts about education before we read chapter one, and then our attitudes after we read the chapter. We had to act out different situations that we may encounter when we become teachers. This was very beneficial for me, because I am more of a visual, hands-on learner. To see examples being acted out helped me to apply the ideas to real life. I really learned a lot during this exercise.

We watched a great movie called "Lions for Lambs." Doug and Jim encouraged us to pay attention to the teacher in the movie. He had a rather laid back style of teaching. He invited a student into his office, to have coffee and discuss what had been going on during the semester. I really liked how Robert Redford's character talked to his student as though they were on the same level. He did not talk down to him, he treated him like an equal. The teacher also did a good job of challenging what the student was saying. I feel like that is an important part of being a teacher. Making a student defend what he or she believes, will get the them to think more deeply about the given topic.

I want to be the type of teacher that Robert Redford portrayed. I want my students to feel comfortable talking to me, and I want to avoid being an intimidating teacher. I have already learned so much in Ed. Psych., I cannot wait to see what else I will learn!

My Thoughts on Assessments

While at West Elementary, I have experienced quite a few assessments. Each day, they do "Rocket Math." This is a series of timed subtraction tests. The first level is "A," and when they get all 40 problems correct, they get to move on to "B," and so on. The purpose of these are to test their subtraction abilities.

I also got to be there for the Math Fluency Assessment. This was a series of three parts, regarding coin value. First, they had to identify the different types of coins. Then they had to show us values using play money.

There was also a Reading Fluency Assessment. I got to do these. We timed them for one minute, and they had to read as far as they could. We then counted the amount of words they could read. (Any missed words or words read incorrectly were not counted)

The last assessment is one we are going through right now, which is the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. I have been working with one individual boy. My job is to sit next to him the intire test and point to each question, because otherwise he gets distracted by looking around the room. For the Reading portions of the test, I take him and work with him in a separate room. We go somewhere that noone else is, because he can concentrate much better in that type of environment. This child cannot read very well at all. He can sound out each letter separately, but when it comes time to combine the sounds to make a word, he ends up either saying something that isn't even a word, or he will say a word that sounds nothing like the letters that he sounded out.

Basically my opinion on assessments is that they are great for the bright kids, but those who struggle even a little bit will not have much luck with them. In my opinion, I found all the assessments to be extremely stressful situations. First of all, you are limited on your time. 3/4 of those kids were probably thinking more about how much time was left, than how to complete the task they were assigned. I think it would also be stressful because for the majority of the assessments done, the kids were called to sit alone with the teacher, so she could watch them work. I hated having teachers stare me down while I was working. I always remembered having a harder time on tests that were timed, or tests that were done individually. They put tremendous pressure on me, and I don't think I am alone in feeling that way.

In my experience, all assessments are unfair. I know a lot of kids who are so bright in class. I witnessed it in my cooperating teacher's classroom. I would call on them for a math fact, and they would nail it. But when they were forced to take a big, stressful test, they missed almost every question. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do assessments, but they shouldn't be made into such a big deal. It's not fair to basically tell kids "We are going to judge you on how you do on these timed, standardized tests." All kids learn differently, and I would think that especially in today's society we would realize that. I guess I can't really offer an alternative, because I don't really know one, but all I can say is that we need to find a different way of measuring a child's intellect than by giving them all the same, timed, fill-in-the-bubble tests.

Student Interaction

This week was my first week of leading a math lesson. My teacher has the students do a set of math facts that must equal whatever the date is. For example, today was the 16th, so their answers had to be 16. Pretty simple, right? All was going well. Students were shouting out "1+15!" "10+6!" Then a little boy threw out "100-15." I'm not really sure where he got this from, but clearly this was incorrect. The thing about first grade, is you can't explain this to them the same way you would explain it to one of your peers. I started to stammer at first. Here were 16 sets of eyes, staring up at me, just waiting to soak up whatever I had to say. I decided to use the number chart. I talked them through it, while explaining that if we counted 15 spots backwards from 100, we would get 85, not 16. I then explained which number we COULD subtract from 100 to get 16. I remember being so nervous when all this was happening! But once I had "conquered" this incident, I got a huge rush of confidence in my abilities to become an educator.

I think if I could change anything about my experience, it would be to have kept my cool, and not gotten nervous. This is easier said than done, because getting up in front of an audience is an intimidating thing, even if they are only six years old! I did not feel bad about getting so nervous, because my teacher told me that I handled it really well, and she could tell that I would be a great teacher some day.

That was an amazing feeling =)

2nd Week of Ed. 115

This week has started out really well. I am starting to get the hang of this teaching thing! I am keeping really busy working with the kids, making bulletin boards, checking papers, and running errands. My students are starting to open up to me, and be comfortable around me. Today was fun. I did the calendar in the morning, which consists of finding the date, and distinguishing the differences between month, date, year, and day of the week. I also gave a timed math test, led a math group that was learning about coin value, and led a reading group. I am experiencing many rewarding feelings while helping the students. The days are going a lot faster now, and I am enjoying my time a lot more!

First Day of Ed. 115

Well, today was my first day of Ed. 115. We had a 2-hour delay, so I didn't have to show up until 10:30. That was nice =)

So far I really like my cooperative teacher. I can already tell that she is an amazing educator, and I can tell her students really respect her. This is something that I believe is very important.

In regards to space, I noticed some good examples of space, as well as some bad ones. At the beginning of the day, the students were allowed free time to work on assignments that they had not finished. I saw how diligently the students were working, simply because the teacher gave them the responsibility to do what they were supposed to.

I also saw some bad examples dealing with space. I noticed that when the teacher gave the students free time, several of them used this time to look around the room, or organize their desks, or draw pictures.

I think that in the first grade classroom, space should be limited. These children are young, and are still looking to the teacher to put some structure to their routines. I am not implying that they shouldn't be given any free time, but I think it needs to be limited, because that is the only way that they will learn how to deal with time management.

All in all, today was a great day. I learned a lot of teaching ideas and strategies, and I can't wait to go back tomorrow and help out!