A Week of Teaching and Achievements

This past week had been an amazing experience! My team teacher

(Celeste Loveland) and I taught the whole week (except for Thursday) until last Friday and we were done with our observation by Monday. However, the most amazing and best News of all is that we have and opportunity to make some positive changes and effects in some students in our classroom.

I am in deed having so much fun!!! I never thought that, besides the longer hours of planning, teaching could bring me such joy. I know that teaching is the most rewarding profession in the world, but experiencing and witnessing the changes in the students faces when they learned something new or make a project tat they really enjoy it is PRICELESS! I have received thank you cards from our students!!!!

In one of the lessons, we required that students must work with a partner a nd make a poster about one of the mountain men or government explorer or Dominguez-Escalante and mentioning why they consider those personages to be their heroes and write 3 facts about them.

We never thought that they would

be so excited about that. Even many students asked to do their post instead of their "Fast Finishers" which it is the free time for them to play games or play in the computer. They had been working for 2 days till Friday.

Tomorrow Monday, we will post them on the hall wall outside of the classroom and pick some winners for the best representation of their hero. I would say that our lesson plans were good and fun too! Any student with learning disability or ELL student can express themselves by Arts. We thought we should give it a try. Here some IDEAS

In addition to our teaching time, we have been assisting students during other subjects (Language Arts and Mathematics). I personally have been working with a student who does not read either English or Spanish. This student is really having a hard time trying to understand her homework by herself without any help from another student or even teacher.

It is hard to see this student coming to school crying all the time, crying through homework while others are playing until I started to help. I read with these students, I explain assignments, and even have request a change of sitting for this student. But not anymore.

Now this student is coming to class smiling, happier, and willing to participate. This student have finished homework without help or limited help and had time to play with others. My team teacher and myself have set a goal to help this student as much as we can. We also work with other students too and do the same, when is necessary.

Throughout this wonderful experience I personally realize how important it is not to neglect students assume that all students are capable to learn the same way. I have use and tried to use all the technique that I have learned in Educational Psychology to understand all the students in this classroom.

I also have use technology to find out the information that I can use to help this ELL student. I know that this student is smart; the only thing missing is a personal (teacher-student) teaching time.

I am so thankful for technology. I can see now important it is to keep us, teachers, trained with the latest technology available and workshops techniques to educate our student’s o and ourselves succeed. I know that because, when I taught my first lesson I made and used a Power Point and ALL ELL students were participating in class by making more connections between pictures and words; and answering correctly the questions that we asked them to answer in their journals. Also technology helped me to know how to approach this student's situation. I read and Google for ideas how to help this student and I found some great ones!!!

This is ONLY the beginning of a great journey. I can see the importance and the power of influence that we, the teachers have. I just hop that the flaming energy for teaching never goes away. I wish I can teach other teachers understand how important it is to do our best to reach out to all of our students, to use technology for good teaching experience not for free time playing.

I understand that some school are limited in technology equipment but, teachers should use what they have and different and various ways. Just use them to make your teaching a great, and fun experience.!!!

It makes me nerves and sad to think about the end of our field experience. I just hope that these students will have more positive and fun experience in their classroom. For now, my goal is to make the best of my time there and help as much as I can. And Remembering always that ...

The aim of education, should be rather to teach us how to think, rather than what to think."

-James Beattie