Note: This entry was written February 24, 2010 but was not published until March 21, 2010.

Wow, I didn't expect such quick replies to my blog posts during this week of frantic updatiing (I know my last post was rife with spelling and grammatical errors, I had posted right before I went to bed last night and was planning on going back and correcting it, but as soon as I arrived home today to fix it, I had already received feedback!), but thank you Dr. White and Heather, I'll have to make sure and comment on your blogs as well!

Today I was going to talk more about the more active/hands on class projects, specifically, the 100th Day of School project I helped my 1st grade master teacher with. For the 100th day of school we planned a "counting to 100" (as well as sorting and graphing) project for the students, using Froot Loops. We gave each student baggies of Froot Loops, and instructed them to count out 100 Froot Loops. This is were we encountered our first problem.: the students, while counting their Froot Loops, either silently or aloud, would constantly loose track of their count, and return to zero. We quickly found a remedy for this by showing/modeling for the students how to organize their Fruit Loops into piles of 10s (10 being a short and simple number most pre-K students can count to) and once they had made 10 piles of 10 they would have counted out 100 Froot Loops (we had already gone over counting by 10s up to 100, this aided in reinforcing this lesson).

Once every student had successfully counted out 100 Froot Loops, we instructed them to save the rest of their Froot Loops in the baggie for later and we passed out a graph sheet labeled with "red", "orange", "yellow", "green", "blue", and "purple" (all of the Froot Loop colors) and asked the students to now sort their 100 Froot Loops by color. During this process Froot Loops would be spilled to the floor, steped on, grabbed by other students, and of course, eaten (all of which we instructed the students NOT to do before the project)! The classroom was hectic and highly active but the students were enjoying the activity with sorting practice.

As soon as each student had sorted out their Froot Loop by color, we instructed them to count how much of each color Froot Loop they had and write the number next to the name of each color on the graph paper worksheet (we aided the students who did not know their color words by asking them to say the color names slowly "p-p-purple starts with 'p'! Which word on the sheet also has a 'p'?... good! Write the number of p-p-purple Froot Loops in the blank space by the word that starts with the 'p'." Not only were we teaching mathematic skills but language skills as well.

When each student had recorded their Froot Loop count data on their graph worksheets we showed them how to count out the same number of blocks by each color name and the number they wrote to create a graph. When the graphs were complete we asked the students to raise their hands to asked the students who had the most of each color (purple), who had the least of each color (yellow) and why was one color more found than other colors ('because yellow is light and purple is dark and when the other colors mix, purple gets made a lot because when too many color mix it get dark', a good answer)! We continued to discussed why graphing is important (for voting, for tracking grades, to see who won a contest) and how we can use/read graphs to see how information is easily found and organized.

It was a busy, messy, stressful project, but it helped the students understand a new concept in a fun and memorable way, as well as in a way they can relate to. It is hard for teachers be mentally and physically prepped for projects such as these but it is all in benifet for the students we teach and well worth the effort put in to see them walk away with new knowledge and expanded vision of the world around them.

My First Independent Unit...

I had planned on writing about this ages ago on my blog and am only now getting around to actually doing it. Well I am doing a bunch of catch up blogging all this week, so here we go!

The week of January 11th was a quiet week. My Early Childhood graduate classes were only just starting back that week and on top of that Charleston County Schools had an early release day for students as well as a student-free teacher workday, so I found myself with a lot of free preperation time on hand. I asked the master teacher I am currently interning with if I may plan a week long unit for the following week (a 20 - 30 minute long lesson for each day of the following week, which was a short week due to the students also getting Martin Luther King Jr. day off as well)! I noticed the other 1st grade classrooms had done projects on snowmen, gingerbread men, and the new years, and I wanted to come up with something thematically related to the time of year as well. I was sorting through my old "winter season/holiday" handout sheets... sheets with snowmen, sheets with gingerbread men, sheets with new years themed activities and lessons... and a single penguin puppet sheet.

Penguins. I wondered if it could be possible for me to create and entire week long lesson based around a penguin theme? So I did some research on penguins... and found out there are over 5 distinct genus of penguins each with their own unique traits. That was interesting. I also found an excellent selection of age appropriate literature on the subject of penguins both fiction and non. Using the information on penguins I found I was able to write up a week long lesson plan on the subject of penguins during the teacher-workday (great for planning lessons!) and showed it to my master teacher. She loved the idea and allowed me the time to teach the following week.

On Tuesday I began by reading the students the book "Penguin Pete" by Marcus Pfister. Penguin Pete was a baby penguin who could not yet do any of the things the other adult penguins could do, and one day, while all the adults were out gathering food, Penguin Pete met a migrating bird who wanted to know if Pete could do all the things other birds could do, and Pete could not (he could slide but not fly, he stayed in the cold and did not migrate to warm weather, he was taller and heavier, he had thick feathers, not fluffy, etc.). In the end, Pete learns that penguins are different, special, and unique than birds that fly and migrate. After reading the story I got a large notepad and assessed the student's comprehension of the story by creating word web for Penguin Pete (what things made him different from other birds, his appearence, his surroundings, his actions, etc.). When, I had called on each student, I hung the word web in the classroom for display. This was all in preperation for the project I had planned for Friday.

On Wednesday I had made a 5 column chart illustrating the 5 main genius of penguins (great, banded, little, crested, and brush-tailed) to go with reading the book "If You Were a Penguin" by Florence Minor. "If You Were a Penguin" goes into more detail on the behaviors, looks, and environments (and geniuses) of penguins to easy to follow rhymes. Starting with the very cover of the book I explained to the class that we will look at the picture, read the text, and write down what we learned about each penguin (banded penguins are live in caves, great penguins have fancy names like Emperor and King, little penguins have blue beaks, crested penguins have colorful head feathers, etc, etc). When the book and the chart was finished I also hung it up on the wall for the upcoming project.

On Thursday I told the class to recall all the information we have learned so far about penguins (they could also use the charts that we had created) and pick their favorite kind of penguin. The choices were varied throughout the classroom (some students had even gone has far as to remember specific species of penguins such as the great penguins Emperor and King, the crested penguins Macaroni and Rock-Hopper, or the little Fairy penguin discussed in the "If You Were a Penguin" text)! After the students had picked which was their favorite, they were to write a response to the statement "If you were a penguin" stating what kind of penguin they would be, where they would live and/or what would they do, all based on the data we had gathered about penguins from reading "Penguin Pete" and "If You Were a Penguin". There were many creative and imaginative responses such as "I would be a great 'Queen' penguin" and a student who choose a banded penguin saying "I would be friends with a zebra in Africa because we look the same" (because we had learned the banded penguins are from the southern cape of Africa)! Seeing the students activate their prior knowledge and make connections and inferences was really something incredible to see.

On Friday I had prepared a base penguin pattern (more elaborate than my puppet pattern, with a variety of colored contruction paper, crayons, markers, scissors, and glue, and we our own penguinsd (based on the student's chosen penguin writings). Each penguin was special, unique, and one of a kind for each student. The art project was hectic and messy but the students really enjoyed the unit and learned a lot about gathering data and using it to create a personal response. And they learned a great deal about penguins too. About two weeks later we were learning about people in our community, and were watching the children's show "Paz" (which features a young Emperor penguin) on his visit to the doctor's... who happened to be a Rock-Hopper penguin (and the students were quick to point this out)!

I can't wait to find more free time to plan another unit lesson plan, it was loads of work, preperation, and research, but in the end I enjoyed the process and much as the students and would love to do it again.

I know I haven't updated in ages, but I found a very charming book that has to do with child development and after reading a good bit of it, I just had to post about it. The book is called "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney. The book follows the 6th grade year of a student named Greg and the pressures in his life (at home and school) from transitioning from his early childhood years to his adolescent years. Granted the book's reading level is aimed at 9 - 12 year olds (the prime middle school years) and its quite a simple book with plenty of (quite entertaining) illustrations throughout, however the book addresses many of the issues that the average middle school student faces. Their changing appearance, handling their new maturity and the responsibilities that come with age, and how when growing up you do lose a lot of things you enjoyed as a younger child, however you do gain more power and control socially in your life (gaining more credibility from adults and more personal freedoms and responsibilities).

I realize that the subject matter in the book is a ways outside the realm of specifically early childhood (even as far as 2nd grade) the book is very charming and down to earth (realistic fiction) and a much more mondern take on growing up and school life, than, say, the "Fudge" or "Junie B. Jones" books series we had growing up. Even though its been more than 10 years since I, myself, was a middle schooler, this book really captured the essence of those years in growing up very well and accurately. A very good book to flip through and check out.


(click image for a larger view)

New Semester, New Goals

My goals this semester is to learn tighter classroom management and collect/learn to teach with a wide range of assessment tools (more than just worksheets or written tests, more hands-on group activities (perhaps dealing with the arts? Such as the visual and preforming arts).

I am really impressed with the behavior management system used at the school I am interning at. They use a reward system called "Blue Eagles". Every time a student does well during a lesson or class, they are rewarded with a "Blue Eagle", which is a blue ticket that the student writes their name on and places it in a raffle box with other students from their grade. Every Friday the principal of the school will pull 5 names out of the raffle box for each grade, and those students may go and receive prizes from the principal's office. This system not only encourages student's good behavior with an instant gratification (the "Blue Eagle" ticket), but it also teaches the students deferred gratification (rewards that require patience) and how good behavior may not be rewarded instantly (as with bad behavior is taken care of swiftly in the classroom) but over time one will be able to reap the benefits of their exemplary classroom conduct.

This is a system I would like to adopt/adapt to my own classroom management plan. I think it is an excellent and valuable system in teaching the rewards of model behavior. The classroom is not only a place for learning reading, writing, and arithmetic, but also good social, emotional, and community skills.

PS - here is a good way to get a classroom to quickly order itself if things begin to get a bit out of control: find a student who is following the rules correctly and precisely (standing in like quietly and still, in their seat focused on their work, reading silently) and announce to the classroom that how well that student is doing ("I like how [student's name] is reading/standing/working") as a means of showing the rest of the class model behavior, and young students love the attention of being recognized and will be quick to model this behavior themselves, and be sure compliment them when they do, so that the other students will "catch on" and within a matter of moments your entire class will be well in order.

Introductions: Field II

...and I'm back from a fun and exciting winter break and ready to start my Field II blog! For those just joining this blog, I'm Ken, and just for a brief background (you can find my full background in this post) I have been surrounded by teaching my entire life. Both of my parents are teachers and before I ever attended public school I was, literally, raised in a classroom. I've always enjoyed school and education and I simply want to share the excitement of teaching with others.

My experience in Intro to Teaching simply got me more excited and pumped for teaching. There wasn't a moment that I didn't enjoy, although I was, and still kinda am, nervous about teaching lessons, and how successful it will be, but I'm slowly getting my feet wet in the field, and getting more comfortable in the classroom (but you still gotta keep on your toes around those students or course, they do outnumber you 20 to 1)!! So I'm ready to get back out there to gain more experience (and confidence) and learn as much as I can!

Also, I recently attended a teacher's development session where they mentioned these interactive learning blocks called "siftables". I thought they could work as an interesting learning too:

My First Semester Teaching

This has been a wonderful first semester learning how to become a teacher. From making lesson plans to assigning students in the classroom I have truly enjoyed every moment of it. As sappy and corny as this sounds, this is the first real job I have been this happy to show up to work to do, even more so than illustration, which isn't simply drawing all day, you have to deal with clients who are not always the nicest and easiest people to work with. The same can be said with students, not every day is smiles and thank-yous, there are those rough and difficult days where a student will fight and drag you every step of the way, but rather than shoving your nose down to the grind stone, shutting up/putting up because it is the client's say that is the final say, just to get that commission check as with my previous illustration job, you work with the student, mediate to find a common ground where both the student and the teacher can learn from one-another, that way everyone comes away with something they can be happy and proud with, and as a teacher in training, I have learned so much from these students. Teaching is more than just telling students "this" and "that", but listening to their educational needs and wants and providing for them, modifying your teaching style to aide them, because you, as the teacher, are there for them.

I have learned so much this semester about teaching, students, as well as myself, and I am glad I have found a profession that I enjoy so much. It can be a bit scary and intimidating to stand up in front of a group of young learners, having to shoulder the responsibility as being the one they look up to learn what there is to know about, well, everything, and it does take kind of "traversing the unknown" kind of confidence to chart though rough waters, but after taking that plunge (as they say "you never know until you try") its something that I discovered that I loved doing, every step of the way and will work at to better myself in. I really want to become a better teacher and work hard for this, because, as they say, once you find work that you love to do, it no longer is work.

And on that note, I'm also very glad that I am also able to incorporate my art into the classroom. Creating projects and assessments that involve art making or I design myself are what I especially enjoy doing (we recently completed a writing assignment "Santa's Elves, Help Wanted" where the students had to write a "help wanted" ad for Santa's elves, and it had to describe a specific job the elf would have to do, reindeer feeder, sleigh polisher, present wrapper, doll dresser, suit clearer, etc. and I was able to create an elf patter the students could use to create their job elf. I had a lot of fun with it and enjoyed all the different ways the students modified the original elf pattern to fit their own artistic needs. As with everything else this past semester it was extremely fun and I had a blast every step of the way, and I am excited to continue on teaching and to continue on learning.

Public School Arts and Crafts (Let the Insanity Begin)

So far I have only been discussing the more educational (e.g. "writing, reading, spelling, math, etc.") side of my observations and time interning as a teacher, however I have yet to talk about the two instances where I have let some of my past experiences come into play into the classroom: the visual arts... well, not specifically the "traditional" visual arts like painting, sculpture, or even pencil drawings, no, these are more of the "arts and crafts" type of "visual arts".

Having 3 years experience working in a preschool (2-5 year-olds) with arts and crafts I thought working with first graders (6-7 year-olds) would be much more manageable. Not exactly. There was just as much chaos and confusion as there was with the younger students. Well, I thought, at least they should be able to follow more complex instructions that preschoolers, right? Again, not exactly. When teaching arts and crafts to preschoolers, I had to more-or-less make a completed project and simply have them "assemble it", which also seemed to be the case with the 1st graders as well (we were making spider hats for Halloween, I was going to show them how to cut the paper and put the hat together, however it I ended up having to cut the paper for them because they did not yet know how, that is to say, cut in a straight, folded, line... but trust me they knew HOW to cut paper, indeed, very indeed...).

On a positive note however the first graders were more aware of their behavior than the preschoolers. Preschoolers will get loud, wild, and excited during an art activity and while first graders will get excited, they have been in a traditional classroom environment long enough to know the rules about "inside voices" and "staying in your seats", which made managing the project much easier. Also cleanup went over excellent as well (this ties into my second instance, when recently we made construction paper holiday stockings complete with paper, scissors, glue, cotton balls and the messiest of all: glitter) whereas preschoolers will make a mess (but to give them credit are always helpful to get on their hands and knees and pick up every last scrap of paper, with one holding the trashcan, and all wanting to be a table wiper) the first graders were so efficient and tidy there was hardly any mess to clean up (they were actually very frugal with the glitter, one student would dollop a small pile of glitter in her hand and “pinch” it over her glue; so neat and tidy!) and they too were very helpful to also get down on their hands and knees to clean up every last scrap of paper as well as be a table washer!

Working with an older group of students with arts and crafts is very similar to working with younger students however I believe there are benefits of teaching students who attend school, specifically a school that has older students for the younger ones to model after. At the preschool I worked at the 2 - 5 year olds were all grouped together and all displayed similar behavior, however students, who attend school with an older and more mature group of superiors, have role models to look up and aspire too, which in turn is beneficial to the older students as well, who have an image of maturity to uphold for their younger peers.