Reflection

After every lesson I've taught or pretty much anything I've had to do ever in the education program here, I've had to reflect on it. This has seemed so repetitive and frustrating until now when I realize the importance of reflection. Each time I reflect, I find things that I like or did not like. This may be within classrooms or within my own teaching. This is incredibly helpful as I can learn from it and implement it later. There's always something that I would like to change or do differently. Reflecting and actually taking time to think about it really has helped open my eyes to that.

Journal 6.3

From whom or what do you think children acquire their expectations of relationships? If htey don't have models in their families, what other sources do they have? Reflect on the potential for those influences.


I think that children acquire their expectations of relationships from their parents or whoever they live with. This serves as a model for them to see every single day. This would be the most influential factor. If they don't have models in their immediate families, then they probably pick up their perception of relationships from their grandparents or other family members. Another source of a model could be from the media or television. Many different types of relationships are modeled on television that children may watch. Hopefully their first model for a relationship can come from their families.

Journal 4.1

A parent of a 5-year-old comes in to talk to you about his child's learning in your classroom. "When I watch him with his friends in the neighborhood or at home, all they do is play. They play with those little cars and trucks, build things with Legos, and use a lot of cardboard and tape to make garages. I can see that it's kind of creative, but how is he learning?" Practice what you will say to this parent and to others about the value of play.



I would tell this parent that his child is learning through his play. By playing with blocks and cars, his child is developing hand/eye coordination. His child may also be learning about shapes and properties of blocks. He is also using his imagination. When using tape for his cardboard garages, he may be using some fine motor skills to manipulate the tape. A child's play is extremely valuable. They are constantly learning through play even if it doesn't look like it. Children should always be encouraged to play as they are really learning valuable skills.

Positive Checklist for the Semester

• Having friends in each class (because we had all of the same classes!)
• Feeling like all of my classes are actually applicable
• Staying in the same class at elementary school all semester
• Teaching actual lessons (and doing a pretty good job!)
• Feeling like I can actually teach
• Getting good grades
• Doing projects rather than lots and lots of homework
  

Poverty

I know that when making up blogs, we don't have to do the original ones, but I really want to write about the video we watched. Tammy (the mother) worked extremely hard every day. She was trying to play the roles of both parents and keep a full time job. This was especially hard as she also walked to and from work each day. She led an extremely difficult life and I can't imagine having to take on what she did. Although she led such a rough life, it's also hard to justify her treatment of her children. It's obvious that they wanted more than the poverty that they lived in. She almost discouraged them by telling them how they wouldn't get out of it. I would never want my children to be ashamed of me, but I would always want them to do their best and try their hardest.

Here's what I like about where I'm headed with my Long Range Plan 3...

So far, the Long Range Plan has kind of been a challenge. My teacher doesn't actually have a long range plan. She's answered a few of the questions that I have had, but not been as helpful as I would have liked. For the third part of this, it requires what the lessons or units will be about. I feel like I could certainly come up with units. If my teacher does not give me any ideas about her units tomorrow, then I will just have to design some that I think would work. This shoudl not be hard as they just have to follow the standards.

Playing Catch-Up! Part Three: In my field placement, which of the assessment tools would I like to use? Why?

In my field, I would mostly like to use observations done with checklists. This would allow students to learn but not have to show their learning through worksheets. I've realized that often when I plan lessons, I feel that I must do my assessments with worksheets. I really hate this. I feel like the kids can show their knowledge without doing a worksheet. I'd like to have the students play a game or do something fun where I can see that they have learned the material.