Last Day at Westwood :(

My last day at Westwood was a very sad day. The kids mean so much to me so it was really hard to leave. The students and also the teacher have made a huge impact on me. I knew that i wanted to become a teacher but now im for sure that i am going to be a teacher no matter what. I made cupcakes fro the students and i made the teacher a letter and cupcakes. They all said some sort of " thank you" to me it was really nice. Im going to miss the students and also the teacher. Im glad that i got to expirience this wonderful class with an amazing teacher and some of the best kids I have ever met.

Free Day at Westwood

Yesterday at Westwood the kids were testing at teh beginning so I didnt have to work with any of the kids. The teacher gave me these fake flowers and pens and tape so I could make flower pens for mothers day. Thats what I did the whole time at westwood. I also talked to the teacher the whole time because the students were doing things that were self explanitory and they didnt need help from either of us. So while they were working we just made flower pens and talked. Even though I wasnt teaching I learned something because a part of teaching is discussing problems and solutions and opinions about different things.

Spelling Bee

Westwood:
On Thursday at Westwood i had to do things for the teacher like cut paper and glue it onto a folder because the students were having a spelling bee so thats what i did at westwood.

Alternative Assignments:
Alternative assignments are a good idea if a student is absent the day of the test or just need to make i tup for whatever reason bc they aren't able to copy other students answers and its in a different format that way the student can still be accountable for what they learned and how much they paid attention.

Westwood

Yesterday at westwood i was helping the students with an area activity. They had to find the area of different things by using bunny marshmallows. After they did that activity they got into their word work groups and and my group played jepordy. While my group played jepordy i had to separate papers for the teacher. It was a good day at Westwood. Assessments are used to test students on what they are learning and to see how much each students knows so the teacher can help the students that need to be helped. The students in my class have been assesed by being"quized" on certain things such as additon. The students have been doing this since the first semester and it has helped them a lot because some students have learned so much by doing that.

A Very Productive Day At Westwood

I had a very productive day yesterday when i went to westwood. The students needed help with the activities they were doing. After that they had to go on the floor and listen to what the teacher taught on the active board. While they were on the floor i graded papers. When i was done with that they were ready to move on and do a measuring activity. As they did that i went around and helped the kids. When the kids got into their word work groups i graded papers and then i assembled booklets that the students were going to do later on. I would have to say that yesterday was a very productive day at westwood .

Westwood on Thursday :)

When I went to Westwood yesterday the kids were looking at different animals like snakes, walking sticks, and beetles for an assignement that they had been doing. I wasnt out there with them that much while they were looking at animals so I was cutting out laminated paper. After a while I went out there and helped them build a bird feeder and the kids had so much fun. When they were done with that assignment they had to do a clock assignment and I helped the kids that were behind put their clocks together. Overall it was kind of tiring but fun at the same time and i feel like I got a taste of what a teacher really goes through. In my classroom there are some students that are a little behind everyone else so the teacher has them in a group  and she spends extra time with them until they learn that certain concept. If I were a teacher I would handle it the same way as she did because it helps the students understand that concept better.

Fractions

When i went into my classroom at westwood the students were doing an activity with a partner but it didnt take long until they were done with that and were ready to move on to a different activity. They had to take a little "quiz" and the teacher would help students and make them correct the answeres they got wrong. Three students would call out my name "Ms. Joann" because they needed help so i went over and helped them until they were done. When they finished that they had to get into word work and the students played jepordy like they do every thursday.

Objectives

When i was at Westwood yesterday there were objectives that the teacher had. One of them was to teach the students a lesson about fractions. She told the students to go to the floor and she taught them how to find out the denominator and how to find out the numerator. When she finished teaching the lesson she planned an activity for the students to do. They were told to make a burger and make fractions for each part. After the lesson of the day they always go to word work, the objective every thursday is to play jepordy on the active board so the students got into their teams and started to do what they needed to do.

Westwood

Yesterday when i went to Westwood the kids were on the floor bc they were having a lesson on the active board. When they were done they got into their work stations and i had to help two boys with firguring out which numbers came before and after a number. When it was time to clean up they had to go back to the floor and do another lesson on the active board then they got into groups to do an activity. I had a group of 5 boys and two of them wouldnt stop talking and they were being really disruptive because we couldnt start what we were supposed to be doing because they were talking. When it was time to go into word work i taught the kids by doing jepordy. The kids are starting to get more comfortable with me because they are from other classes so they were kind of hesitant at first and im getting more comfortable with them as well.

Tardy Policy

Westwood: My day at Westwood yesterday was good. My students went to a program and i helped the teacher cut out laminated folders. After the students program was done and after i finished cutting out the laminated folders we went back to the classroom and we played jepordy and once again i taught and i loved it. 


Tardy Policy: The new tardy policy is somewhat effective. If a student is tardy for no reason then its a good thing that this policy is in effect but if a student has no control over being tardy,for example, a flat tire, then they should be let in class and they shouldnt have to suffer the consequences of something they had no control over. The whole new tardy policy is kind of ridiculous when you really look at it because not all the students are late for no reason and some teachers need to look at the other consequences.

Teachers Procedures

When i got to westwood on Thursday my teacher was about to give the students a test. She did it in a specific order what she did was told all her students to get their student offices (which are covers for their test) then she told everyone to put their name on their paper and when they were done to be silent. After the students were silent she began the test and told the students when they were done with the test to raise their penicl in the air so she could know they were done and so she could collect their test and tell them what to do next. My job that day was to help the students pratice counting numbers and to figure how much of each was left. After that my job was to go to the active board once again and teach the students while my teacher went to go make copies. im so glad that my teacher trusts me enough to leave me there by myself and when she told me " i know you can handle a group of kids" it made me realize that i really could handle a group of 1st graders and i can do this for a living because i love it and im good at it.

Real Teaching

Yesterday at the elementary i helped the teacher give the students an addition  test. After they were done with the test i helped two boys with their digits using rods and units. One boy was having a harder time understanding so i kept going over it and had him repeat it over and over again until i knew he got it. Then the students went to the floor so they could take a quiz as a class on the active board and when the teacher called the little boy i was helping to the board he got it and she told him to tell me thank you for teaching him. It was great! when they switched into word work groups some kids went to different teachers, today i stayed with my teacher and i helped her. She asked me if i would like to teach the kids on the active board and of course i said yes. I was shocked at first because it was new but then it all came natural to me and i taught the kids. My teacher left to a different class and left me in charge for about 10 min while she was out and thats when i really felt like a teacher. When she came back and saw what we had accomplished she was very happy and told me i did a good job. I would have to say that made my whole day because i kept smiling after that and i kept thinking about it. I loved knowing that i was trusted to stay with a group of kids by myself and it made me realize even more that this is definetly what i want to do.

Safety and Equality

I think safety is a number one priority for a teacher. When kids have to evacuate the school it is very important that the teacher knows where their students are. Yesterday the fire alarm at school went off while all the seniors were in the  auditorium for an assembly. All the students had to evacuate the auditorium at once. It was hard because it was so crowded and everyone was trying to get out at the same time. Overall i think that everyone couldve taken the fire drill a little more seriously.




Stereotypes. Everyone has either done it or expeirienced it at one point in time. Why do we do it though? We dont know how much we hurt people when we stereotype. This has been going for years and years and it hasnt stopped yet. People sterotype everything these days. Ex. black and white, women and men, poor and rich,gay and straight, pretty much anything you could imagine. The only way to stop this is to think of everyone equally and not judge.

First Day Back To Westwood!

Going back to Westwood was great! It felt really good seeing the kids again, i missed them and they missed me too because some of the kids gave me hugs. When i first got there she had me help 3 boys with naming the different solid figure shapes. They were having so much fun learning the names. After they were done they did an activity on the active board. When they got done learning that lesson they went into their math stations and i went and played dominoes with a little girl who was by herself. It was so much fun and i could tell she was having fun as well. After math stations they split up into different groups for word work and i went into another teachers classroom to help those students. Overall i had a great time going back to Westwood and i look forward to going back next week!