This Year's Class Picture Characters

On Tuesday, May 24, 2016 I observed Mrs. Megan Mayer and her kindergarten class at Roosevelt Elementary School. When I got to her class, they were preparing themselves to go to the school garden and learn about fruits, and planting. For this activity they partnered up with another kindergarten class right next door. With the two classes we all walked outside to the back of the playground where Roosevelt has a miniature garden. Between both of the classes there were three groups, A, B, and C as well as three sections of the garden activity. One group would sit down with the other kindergarten teacher Mrs. Peterson and they would draw what they had learned in class previously, another group would go with a different teacher who worked at the

I observed the kindergarten classroom of Sarah House. During my observation, Ms. House completed a language arts lesson with her students. Ms. House used both whole class instruction and one on one instruction during her lesson. I felt that she did an amazing job with classroom management and created lessons that were not only engaging, but fun for the students.

The teachers profiled in “Unforgettable Miss Bessie”, “My Favorite Teacher”, and “And the Orchestra Played On” are remembered and admired by the narrators. Miss Bessie, Miss Hattie, and Mr. K. possessed significant qualities that made them remarkable educators. They inspired and encouraged students. They only wanted the best for their students and prepared them for their futures, enabling them to overcome difficulties in school. Besides the content of their subject matter these educators their taught students to believe that their lives and future all depends from themselves: whether they would choose the clean asphalt road or dirty, bumpy one.

I have had the pleasure of teaching Fantashia Felder during her sophomore year. It is because of students like Fantashia that I prefer teaching tenth grade over any other. What makes this year so special is that teachers can truly see the transformation of their students from children, to young adults. It's a pivotal moment in a child's life where they must decide if they want to become focused on their academic and professional careers or become super apathetic. Fantashia chose to turn her life around and I am so happy I was able to witness such a beautiful transformation.

She was unapologetic about treating her students, especially her honors ones, like adults. She was strict about plagiarism and demanded our full efforts. Within our social studies curriculum, she found ways to infuse valuable life lessons and talk

In a desperate need for teachers, California offered provisional teaching certificates to those with a related degree, and Mary accepted. She was immediately assigned to students with severe developmental delays. She didn’t know how to teach them and there were no resources to draw upon. Eventually she motivated the children’s creativity by dancing and singing for much of the school year. When Mary was re-assigned, she got a Special Education Class and found that it had a

High school teachers have to teach multiple students over different class period throughout the day. This can be a difficult challenge as the have the put up with 15 to 25 students per class. However Mrs. Hess-Bolte had to deal with 40 to 50 students in some of her class period. As one might imagine when that many people are gathered in one room it can often lead to some loud and chaotic situation and it is in these times that Mrs. Hess shows her ability to be patience. When child being to talk even after being told not to she simply takes a breath and wait for it to stop. These would drive many, me included, to insinuate but Mrs. Hess-Bolte takes it all in stride. Likewise another instance in which she shows her Patiences is through her directing. Leaning a choir song can be a long process that takes many hours to fully complete. However Mrs. Hess-Bolte isn't afraid to take that time to make the selection the best it can be. When something is wrong with a song she will patiently work through the problem until it is solved. It is in theses way that Mrs. Hess-Bolte shows her Patiences in the classroom and is deserving of the best teacher award.

This year I had the prestigious honor of being in Ms. Brown’s class, and let me tell you, it was anything but normal. Ms. Brown’s cheerfulness (and maybe a bit of messiness) really helped me realize that teachers actually have lives. They’re not just some robots who are only activated to teach, and then turned off when the class leaves, as much as we might think they are.

Ms. Gerson is coming to us from Woodland School, where she started the year as Long Term Sub in a 2nd grade classroom. Prior to that, she was a 1st grade teacher at the Jewish Community Day School in Watertown, MA. Having had the opportunity to

This classroom was very organized and it did have a lot of things labeled. I recognized that the teacher had a lot of things in her classroom labeled. She had words like door on the door in the classroom. She used a lot of bright colors. I also recognized that the teacher did a lot of one-on-one with her students. For example, she did very small group activities and a lot of the activities consist of one-on-one activities. She allowed the children to experiment with the project. She stated that she like to have children to participate in morning discussion. This time allows her to introduce the new letter of the week. She believes that children learn a lot of literacy through song and dancing. The children would sing the songs as they played in the classroom. Some of them would dance to music.

Mrs. Smith was the high-ranking “officer” at our middle school, whose sole purpose was to whip her “gifted but undisciplined kids” into shape. I take that back. Introducing sixth-graders to ulcers was another likely item on her agenda. She had a natural march in her step, setting the admired and ideal pace for others to follow. Mrs. Smith performed classroom procedures as though she had repeatedly

One of the strongest connections that we can observe in The Little Prince is between the Prince and the Pilot. Ever since the Pilot crashed in the desolate Sahara, the only person who has been there for him was the Prince. Their relationship started out rather rocky as the Pilot heeded no concern to the Prince’s childish desires for drawings and stories. However, as the story progressed, the Pilot and the Prince became inseparable, establishing an everlasting bond. This can be seen in the Prince’s quote on page 59 where he begins to detail how special the Pilot is. In this quote, we can truly see that the bond between the Pilot and the Prince is something unmatchable and unbreakable.

In that class, the student learns about different teaching methods and how to care for children. As part of the curriculum, we volunteered at Long Elementary as teacher aides. Working with 4th grade students and observing an everyday class room was such an awe-inspiring experience. I had a completely new perspective about teachers. I have so much more respect as before. Teachers put so much time and effort into helping children for their benefits. I knew from the first day I helped with Ms. Williams’ 4th grade class, how much a teacher is a positive influence on children. There is an overwhelming feeling when you help a student with a problem and in return they give you the most heart-warming smile. The experience at Long Elementary helped me make my final decision on whether I wanted to teach elementary or secondary school. As much as I enjoyed helping elementary students, in my heart I knew secondary school was the path God had in store for me.

Ms. Gruwell was more dedicated and determined than the other teachers at Woodrow Wilson High School. Even though she was warned by other faculty and staff members, she went in with an unbiased opinion of the students in her class. She led the classroom by not showing her frustrations when something went wrong or if a fight broke out. Instead of complaining about the lack of resources that the school provided her with, she found ways to get it herself by working more jobs. In order for her to lead the classroom, she tried to find common ground between her and the students. She tried to make them feel comfortable with her as their teacher. Her

Marva Collins view of her students is what made her to be so successful. She treated them as equal human beings and held them to higher standards that nobody else did. Marva could not have made her children successful, though, if it was not for her meticulous different method of teaching. Marva was always a unique teacher that demonstrated her love for teaching and for her students by creating her own method of teaching that is so different from other teachers that it often was viewed as crazy or wrong. In the book, Marva Collins Way, it was said that “Marva could lead with her eyes and her voice, winning control by a look or an inflection.” (Collins, 23) Marva was able to gain control of her class because of the tone of her voice and how she expressed herself to her students. Her method of teaching was simple, she never was angry and she always talked in a kind manner to all of her students. Marva realized, in the beginning of the book, that “A teacher had to sell children on the idea of learning.” (Collins 31) A way to sell students on learning is to express one’s own love for it, and that is exactly what Marva did. Instead of introducing a basic book or lesson, Marva made an effort to explain the importance and put her whole heart into winning the students into wanting to learn. Her method of teaching was like nobody else’s in her era; she always worked off of praise, even if a student made a mistake. Marva explained in the book, “To me an error means a child needs help,