Graduation Speech - Original Writing

Day one at Anne Hutchison Elementary School, I observed Ms. Biondi’s second grade classroom. The day started off by the teacher taking attendance, doing the pledge of allegiance, lunch count, collect homework, and pretty much getting all of the kids organized. After, the students were settled in the teacher started the class with a review of the spelling

As a child, I would image what my life would be like when I became a teacher. In this paper I will explore different developmentally appropriate approaching philosophies, theories, and concepts when teaching math, reading, science and the fine arts to young children across a developmental curriculum. Having to gain knowledge from the early childhood text helped me to create what I consider to be the perfect classroom plan. Preschool education is very important because this is their first experience towards twelve years of grade school. The knowledge they gather will increase as they grow and development.

Nine years ago, I never could have imagined I’d be writing this essay. I was a senior in high school, and, like the rest of my classmates, I was apprehensive about the future. Unlike my classmates, I felt like I had missed the proverbial “you need to get your life together” message. I watched my classmates apply to colleges, their majors already decided and their future careers mapped out. While I was an above average student, I felt I lacked the decisiveness my classmates seemed to have. I did not feel passionate about a career or even a field of study. I felt defective. This was compounded by the financial strain I knew attending college would have on my family. It seemed wasteful to try to “find my passion” at school while squandering

Journal one of the Westminster College class EDU 562 Field Experience was related to observation and participation with a first grade classroom, on Monday, January 4, 2016. Upon arrival the class teacher provided instructions to assist in the set up of the classroom January calendar, make a graph of the lunch choices, and to pass out morning work for the students to complete as they arrived in the classroom. At 8:30 a.m. the teacher welcomed most of the students with excitement as they entered the room. She informed the students in detail and repeated the routine and morning arrival instructions. Once everyone arrived, the teacher rang a bell which symbolized it

At the second primary tour that we visited, we were given a quick tour of various classrooms throughout the school, in which we spent about 5-10 minutes each. This school is newer, and the walls are very bright, with the teachers working hard to cover the walls with educational information and posters. Each classroom was working on studying a different country to put on display for the entire school, and each classroom would make a flag, talk about various animals, and some

Ms. Penn’s Kindergarten class consisted of 9 boys and 7 girls. This was the last hour of the instructional day, and as I walked in I noticed that the students were already working in centers in groups of 3-4. This class was a little noisy and unorganized as compared to other kindergarten classrooms I have observed so far at Krahn elementary. The students seemed to be enjoying their time in centers and were eager to pack-up after cleaning up in the end since it was close to dismissal.

Over the Fall Break vacation, I decided to conduct my field experience at CC Spaulding Elementary School. I had the opportunity to work with Ms. Sarah Ashley and Mrs. Williams’ Pre-K class. I had previously shadowed with Ms. Ashley, so she was eager to welcome me back. Over the days, I got myself acquainted with her students to make them comfortable with my presence. Luckily, they welcomed me in with no hesitation.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been volunteering in Mrs. Fritz’s first grade classroom at Oak Ridge Elementary. When I get to the classroom around 8:30 A.M., the class is sitting down in three rows on a big rug learning a new lesson from Mrs. Fritz. She is usually teaching them how to spell different words and how to sound them out. If they are not doing something in the language arts department, they are learning new ways of doing math. After they are done with the lesson the children either go into their centers and complete spelling worksheets for about 30 minutes, or they grab a book and read as a class. The first graders have been working on Wonder as well, which is a theme that they focus on for the week. The theme is usually something

I noticed that she tells the students to talk to each other when they are upset with each other. In her classroom, she has an area where the children can go and think about what they did and when they come out she said that they are calmer and ready to learn. The children also went to this area if they were having problems and were able to look at posters that helped them solve what they needed to work out.

On November 14, I shadowed Mrs. Spielmann, a second grade teacher at West Central Elementary School. I arrived at the school at 8:00 but she was in a meeting so I didn't go to her room until 8:25. When I went into the room she told me that when the students first came in they would do their morning duties. As the students came in they were telling me stories about their families. Some of the things they did right away was eat a snack, do milk count, mark if they read 20 minutes, and get ready for whatever station they were going to first. Mrs. Spielmann had a group of students that she would do a station with and the rest of the students moved from one station to another. I went around and asked them questions about what they were doing. One station was a geography station. They had a worksheet they had to fill out about the capitals and states. I helped them with any of the questions they needed. Another station was a spelling station. They had to transfer their spelling words onto the worksheet and then add up how many points the word was worth. I spent most of my time at this station explaining how to do the worksheet. Once they figured out how to do it they would show me their answers and they would be so happy that they got it right. It was interesting to see what made them excited and how happy they were to get the answer right. Another

When I went to the classroom I was shocked by how much work the students do. When they come in they must sign in on a sheet of paper by writing their name. Coming back from specials the students go to a certain seat and do the assigned group work there. I believe it was broken down into three writing tables and two math tables. After the centers students get to do dramatic play for about forty-five minutes to an hour. Then they watch videos over letters, numbers, and shapes and the teacher ask them questions as they go alone. I was not expecting for pre-k to do so much work but it makes since because even though they are babies they still need to prepare them for kindergarten.

The first day of kindergarten, we clung to our parents afraid of the new experiences that awaited us. We looked around at all of the other faces not sure what to think. Fear and doubt crippled us. Little did we know that this day was the beginning of a journey stock full of obstacles and rewards.

The first class I observed during my guided walk-through hours was Mrs. Corns kindergarten class located in the lower elementary wing. At first glance I notice that the room was vibrant and colorful. There were a few tables serrated around the room, along with an area rug and a rocking chair located in the front of the class. An assistant teacher gathered all students to the rug and began reading a story about the Cincinnati museum. During this time most students were engaged and participating in questions. When a student got a question correct the teacher would show positive feedback by giving them completes. I observed communication between peers, as they discussed their

At Meyer Elementary I first started with Mrs. Jessica Martinez’s class, overall I found her class to be well structured, organized and successful at most. But, She did not have her class quite under control, and had difficulty retrieving their attention span, which I found odd with the multiple teacher assistants she had, however I found that her lessons where quite intriguing to the students’ knowledge. One lesson I found extremely stimulating was her “word of the day,” in which the students compared and contrasted that specific vocabulary word throughout the activities in their school day. The second teacher I observed was Mr. Gabe Cortez’s P.E. class for first and second

The first thing you saw when you walked into the classroom was the daily schedule. I started to observe Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 11:00 A.M. There schedule looked like the following. Math From 11:00 A.M. to 11:30 A.M, reading from 11:30 A.M. to 12:00 P.M., Recess/Lunch from 12:00 P.M. to 12:55 P.M., Vocabulary from 1:00 P.M. to 2:00 P.M., I/E Time from 2:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M., Relaxation/Free Time from 3:00 P.M. to 3:30 P.M. Since the children in this class have both learning disabilities or behavioral issues, many tasks were louder than most classrooms. The three teachers did the best they could to keep the energy of the class positive even when children are screaming and crying. They had