The Ideal Classroom

In my Ideal Classroom, when the students come in they would work on vocabulary for about 10 minutes, to become more acquainted with the terms we will use in class. Everyday we will go over three new vocabulary words, then review the words from earlier in that week and before.

Then, we would do improv, or work on the scenes/monolouges that the kids would be doing. About 20 minutes before class ends, we would have volunteers go up to show what they've done.

Grinch or Santa?

     I think that we should celebrate the Christmas holiday in the classroom. Though Christmas is a Christian holiday, it is also a holiday that characterizes good cheer and happiness in the holiday season. Keeping it within the classroom emphasizes nice feelings and sense of peace.

     It also promotes a sense of unison and harmony within the classroom by those good feelings as well.

     While also, providing a well deserved break to the students for parties, gift exchanges, holiday snacks, ect.

American Teacher.

     The first impression I got after watching The American Teacher, was that it was very real. The movie didn't try to sugarcoat things to make them seem pretty. It gave facts, statistics and accounts of real teacher's stories to show how the 'american teacher' lives. My view of the teaching profession changed by just knowing how much time, work and money you put into your job. I think my view changed for the better, because now I know what to expect when I begin my career.

     I felt that the biggest frustration the teachers had about their job, were the lack of respect they were receiving. They put so much time and money and effort into their jobs, but many were not receiving the credit they deserved. They were mistreated by their student, parents, and also at times, their employers.

     I think one way for teaching conditions to improve without causing an increase in money is to be more involved with the student's parents. Because once you have the support of the parents, it makes teaching the kids more enjoyable.

Why do Students Procrastinate?

     I think students procrastinate because they feel swamped with work. We go to school 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Summing up to roughly 40 hours a week. Not including tutorials before and after school and also extracurricular activities. That's not even mentioning the excessive 4 to 5 hours of homework a night for many other classes. Students feel overwhelmed by all the work. So many, in hope of just taking a break, set aside their assignment in order to call their rushing brain to a halt. But, because of their overpowering work load, they are facing with yet ANOTHER assignment. Quickly casting the first one out of their mind and onto the back burner. Then, at the last minute they realize that they did not complete the assignment and that it's due the following day. So they are forced to stay up until wee hours in the morning finishing their work, most likely just to make a seventy or less. Today's students' overwhelming work load is a main reason why many assignments are hastily finished, or not even done at all.

     I think students now should set realistic goals for their school work. If you're not excelling in on-level English, DO NOT go into Advanced Placement, thinking it'll raise you're GPA. You will fail.

   

If I Could Change Education, I Would......

I  f I could change education, I would do away with standardized testing. I think that many students suffer from test anxiety, so even though they might know the material well, they still do poorly on the test. Also, I think that a child's knowledge of a subject cannot be decided on one test, alone. I think a fair replacement from standardized testing would be a collaboration of the student's work throughout the year. It would reduce the costs of thousands of tests being printed each year, just to be thrown away after the four hours of the actual testing. And with the money the school board saves, we would have extra money to spend on repairs to schools, salary raises, projects like Project Celebration, and other school activities.

Lesson Planning 101

Activity Number One:
   Engage kids in a fun, learning experience by exercising their descriptive writing skills. Have students partner up in pairs. Then have one student turn their desk facing the wall, and the other facing the board. The student facing the board will be the "writer" while the student facing the wall will represent the "reader". The teacher will put a picture on the board (i.e: a tree, teakettle, or bongo), then the "writer" will have to describe the picture to the "reader", using similes and metaphors. Once the activity is finished, the two switch.

Activity Number Two:
   Have students draw a venn diagram, comparing the two protagonists in "Walk Two Moons". Have the kids identify the differences and similarities in the two characters, while also honing their writing skills.

Activity Number Three:
  Have students act out a scene from the book "Walk Two Moons". Have kids memorize the scene, block it and present it to the class. It makes for a nice review game before the book test.
  

TEA link to TEKS

My First Week as a Teacher...

My First Week as a Teacher...

  My Site School is North Ridge Middle School
  The name of my mentor teacher is Wendy Kempe.

  Here is a link to her web page.

 Mrs. Kempe teaches sixth grade Pre-AP English at North Ridge Middle School.

On the first day in my intern classroom, I felt very welcomed and excited. my kids all asked me 

questions about myself, and my teacher was very nice about explaining classroom procedures and rules.

 I am most looking forward to helping the students learn English while also learning effective teaching 

methods.