Friday, February 17, 2012
Day 20: More Picts
Friday February 17, 2012 Blog Post
My K lesson was my second time with them. We got through drawing all 6 squares with pencil and toward the end of the class I gave them markers. At the end Mary Lynn just said I should focus on classroom management and raising my voice. At one point I told the class I was getting upset and did raise my voice to get their attention. They all wanted to do the song again but we started out by me saying two words and having them do the hand motions of "that rhymes" or "no way." I told them at the end we'd do the song once we finished the project. I asked Mary Lynn if I should come up with another lesson once this gets finished but she said to think about ways to continue it, so I thought we could perhaps color a background and create an environment for the objects in the drawings and write the title of our poem on the illustration.
My 3rd grade lesson went well. Mary Lynn took the papers away from some students for not behaving and made them wait and told everyone I bought the paper with my own money and made it seem like a reward to them to be able to use it. I think its worked out well to hold onto it and make them get approval from me before they get to work on it. I put feedback on all 3 classes packets. I told them where they needed to add 4 motion lines, I said good job when they had drawn nice symbols and bodies, and let them know if they had misspellings and what else they needed to fill in. So they knew what they needed to revise and I did also as I went over to check up on them. If they said they were done I knew easily what else they needed to revise. I think it worked well. I'm really excited to continue developing this project and can't wait to have them get their magnets and see how they come out once they are laminated. I also can't wait to do the subway drawings with them on the chalk paper.
The panel discussion for African American History Month was today. They had 2 famous speakers - a husband/wife team (again not seen as a personal agenda by stating that they were married multiple times). After the panel was over (I got to go for awhile while Mary Lynn taught), I walked by the principal and she initiated with me and asked me if I helped with the program. I told her that I designed it. She said it was perfect because it had Ebony Magazine and that the woman who spoke was just in Ebony Magazine. Somehow she turned it around as a compliment to herself that this is how Ed Smith does things, where everything just comes together like that. It was kind of funny how she said it but anyways I was glad she recognized something good I did and appreciated it.
Kevin Mixon asked Mary Lynn for Kathie's email and we were both curious what he was going to talk to her about. Also on Fridays the school has donuts and bagels with cream cheese for all the staff which is very nice and something to look forward to. I think small things like that go really far. The teachers organize it and pay for it. I brought in two bags of cookies from Corsos and everyone ate them. I think I'll bring in a bunch each Friday.
All for now. Next week when we have the week off I have a few Fagbug events so I can make money as I do during April break, but my goal next week is to do the online workshops and sign up for the exams and fingerprinting that I need to get certified. I've just not had the money so hopefully next week I'll be able to sign up for all of that and get it going.
My K lesson was my second time with them. We got through drawing all 6 squares with pencil and toward the end of the class I gave them markers. At the end Mary Lynn just said I should focus on classroom management and raising my voice. At one point I told the class I was getting upset and did raise my voice to get their attention. They all wanted to do the song again but we started out by me saying two words and having them do the hand motions of "that rhymes" or "no way." I told them at the end we'd do the song once we finished the project. I asked Mary Lynn if I should come up with another lesson once this gets finished but she said to think about ways to continue it, so I thought we could perhaps color a background and create an environment for the objects in the drawings and write the title of our poem on the illustration.
My 3rd grade lesson went well. Mary Lynn took the papers away from some students for not behaving and made them wait and told everyone I bought the paper with my own money and made it seem like a reward to them to be able to use it. I think its worked out well to hold onto it and make them get approval from me before they get to work on it. I put feedback on all 3 classes packets. I told them where they needed to add 4 motion lines, I said good job when they had drawn nice symbols and bodies, and let them know if they had misspellings and what else they needed to fill in. So they knew what they needed to revise and I did also as I went over to check up on them. If they said they were done I knew easily what else they needed to revise. I think it worked well. I'm really excited to continue developing this project and can't wait to have them get their magnets and see how they come out once they are laminated. I also can't wait to do the subway drawings with them on the chalk paper.
The panel discussion for African American History Month was today. They had 2 famous speakers - a husband/wife team (again not seen as a personal agenda by stating that they were married multiple times). After the panel was over (I got to go for awhile while Mary Lynn taught), I walked by the principal and she initiated with me and asked me if I helped with the program. I told her that I designed it. She said it was perfect because it had Ebony Magazine and that the woman who spoke was just in Ebony Magazine. Somehow she turned it around as a compliment to herself that this is how Ed Smith does things, where everything just comes together like that. It was kind of funny how she said it but anyways I was glad she recognized something good I did and appreciated it.
Kevin Mixon asked Mary Lynn for Kathie's email and we were both curious what he was going to talk to her about. Also on Fridays the school has donuts and bagels with cream cheese for all the staff which is very nice and something to look forward to. I think small things like that go really far. The teachers organize it and pay for it. I brought in two bags of cookies from Corsos and everyone ate them. I think I'll bring in a bunch each Friday.
All for now. Next week when we have the week off I have a few Fagbug events so I can make money as I do during April break, but my goal next week is to do the online workshops and sign up for the exams and fingerprinting that I need to get certified. I've just not had the money so hopefully next week I'll be able to sign up for all of that and get it going.
Day 19: Dust Bunnies
Thursday February 16, 2012 Blog Post
There is an art club that comes in once a week in the mornings. They came in today. I gave Mary Lynn a copy of Fagbug and also a copy of Florence and the Machine for her older daughter who sings. I thought she'd like to hear it and try to sing like her. She's got an amazing voice. Mary Lynn said she wanted to see him film so I brought her a copy. The kids came in from 8th grade for art club and all of them saw the DVD cover on the tables and were all saying how they loved the car and took pictures with it, etc. One girl's mom even saw it and had her watch the film with her afterwards. Mary Lynn told them there was a story behind and it asked them if they'd like to hear it. They all said yes and sat down right away to hear it. I told them what happened and how I drove with the graffiti for a year and interviewed people about it and made a movie about it and transformed the car after I did that for a year. They were all impressed. Mary Lynn told them I'm married to a woman and they asked where I got married and were all really cool with it. Mary Lynn said were treading on shallow waters but seemed fine with it and I think was glad to see how it went. It wasn't a huge conversation but Mary Lynn told them they could maybe see a part of the film and in general was just open and comfortable about it which was nice. The kids had to do an assignment on bullying and the girl who watched my film wrote a song with another girl on bullying and it was an Adele song they changed the words for. She had it on video on her phone and everyone was listening. It was really good. They all had to do something in their other class on bullying. I think just the older kids did the bullying curriculum. There are posters all around school from when they began doing it. One girl said that no one in the school gets bullied. I told her I'm sure they do. Mary Lynn also told a basketball player that I played D1 basketball on full scholarship and was kind of bragging to her. I asked the girl if she played down low and was a forward, and Mary Lynn was like I play down low and I'm a forward. She doesn't know basketball lingo so was playing around. I had a few of the kids help me roll 30 balls of clay for the 1st graders and toward the end of class I was cutting backings for the 3rd grade lesson matching the papers to the 6 colors the scratch paper is. Two girls asked what I was doing so I showed them the lesson and asked if they wanted to do it and in a few minutes they did it and had the backing on it. I told them I'd laminate it for them and they could keep the magnet. One said they wanted to put it in their locker. Mary Lynn invited us all to her daughter's opening. She's the lead act for Legally Blonde. The kids asked if I'd be going and I said yes.
Mary Lynn invited me to an art opening for SU and Fowler High School that was at the space downtown across from Redhouse. I rearranged plans to go. I told her Sonya and I would be coming and she said she'd love to meet her. We came and her and her husband and daughters were so inviting. They showed us all around and seemed really happy to see us there. Kevin Mixon was there talking to Mary Lynn when we walked in. He left right away otherwise I would've said hello. She told me she was telling him all about me and how well it was working out. We brought some cookies from Corsos Cookies where Sonya works and they seemed happy with that!
3rd grade lesson today was my second time with them. I thought they'd get done with the scratch paper but the pacing of things and everyone getting through the packet with proper understanding took longer than I initially planned. I wasn't sure if we should skip ahead to get there but Mary Lynn told me to wait so they understand and complete all the steps so that felt nice to have them spend quality time on the lesson and really work at it and make it so they couldn't get the black paper until they earned it. I think that was a good tactic.
My first grade class - we did a lesson on Rhyming Dust Bunnies. Mary Lynn told me about pinch pots. I really have no experience with clay or ceramics. She asked if I wanted to take on one more class while I was there and told me first grade was opening up and I said sure. She had the idea of doing a pinch pot. For my K class I got the Rhyming Dust Bunnies book from the library. We asked the librarian if she had the book Frog on a Log when I was going to maybe do the frog on the log rhyming illustrations. She didn't have that but told me about the Dust Bunny book and went and got it from whoever rented it out. I took it home and didn't think much of it. After school Mary Lynn's daughter saw it on her own and started reading it with excitement and you could see how much she loved it. I said well how about we do pinch pots that are dust bunnies. Sadie said that everyone in her class knew and loved the book and that morning we were making them I guess she told Mary Lynn, "Today were making dust bunnies!" right when she woke up.
I read the book and introduced the lesson and Mary Lynn helped explain the pinch pot part after I said what we were going to be making out of clay since I don't have that much experience. I'll lead it the next time. She said it would be good to have them split up and do the clay part with small groups to control it a little more. I made a handout that allowed the kids to draw their own dust bunny and name it and color it. They got to work on that while we had the small groups. It was fun to show the kids how to make the dust bunnies and see how they came out. They were super cute. We are going to be glazing them blue, green and or purple. 3 of 4 colors in the book. The red glaze is too expensive so we aren't using that color. The TA said she thought it was a great lesson and I guess the other TAs have complimented my lessons to Mary Lynn. One in particular said that the K lesson I did put the kids into a new light she hadn't seen them in before. I'm glad its going so well at this placement.
Here are some pictures.
There is an art club that comes in once a week in the mornings. They came in today. I gave Mary Lynn a copy of Fagbug and also a copy of Florence and the Machine for her older daughter who sings. I thought she'd like to hear it and try to sing like her. She's got an amazing voice. Mary Lynn said she wanted to see him film so I brought her a copy. The kids came in from 8th grade for art club and all of them saw the DVD cover on the tables and were all saying how they loved the car and took pictures with it, etc. One girl's mom even saw it and had her watch the film with her afterwards. Mary Lynn told them there was a story behind and it asked them if they'd like to hear it. They all said yes and sat down right away to hear it. I told them what happened and how I drove with the graffiti for a year and interviewed people about it and made a movie about it and transformed the car after I did that for a year. They were all impressed. Mary Lynn told them I'm married to a woman and they asked where I got married and were all really cool with it. Mary Lynn said were treading on shallow waters but seemed fine with it and I think was glad to see how it went. It wasn't a huge conversation but Mary Lynn told them they could maybe see a part of the film and in general was just open and comfortable about it which was nice. The kids had to do an assignment on bullying and the girl who watched my film wrote a song with another girl on bullying and it was an Adele song they changed the words for. She had it on video on her phone and everyone was listening. It was really good. They all had to do something in their other class on bullying. I think just the older kids did the bullying curriculum. There are posters all around school from when they began doing it. One girl said that no one in the school gets bullied. I told her I'm sure they do. Mary Lynn also told a basketball player that I played D1 basketball on full scholarship and was kind of bragging to her. I asked the girl if she played down low and was a forward, and Mary Lynn was like I play down low and I'm a forward. She doesn't know basketball lingo so was playing around. I had a few of the kids help me roll 30 balls of clay for the 1st graders and toward the end of class I was cutting backings for the 3rd grade lesson matching the papers to the 6 colors the scratch paper is. Two girls asked what I was doing so I showed them the lesson and asked if they wanted to do it and in a few minutes they did it and had the backing on it. I told them I'd laminate it for them and they could keep the magnet. One said they wanted to put it in their locker. Mary Lynn invited us all to her daughter's opening. She's the lead act for Legally Blonde. The kids asked if I'd be going and I said yes.
Mary Lynn invited me to an art opening for SU and Fowler High School that was at the space downtown across from Redhouse. I rearranged plans to go. I told her Sonya and I would be coming and she said she'd love to meet her. We came and her and her husband and daughters were so inviting. They showed us all around and seemed really happy to see us there. Kevin Mixon was there talking to Mary Lynn when we walked in. He left right away otherwise I would've said hello. She told me she was telling him all about me and how well it was working out. We brought some cookies from Corsos Cookies where Sonya works and they seemed happy with that!
3rd grade lesson today was my second time with them. I thought they'd get done with the scratch paper but the pacing of things and everyone getting through the packet with proper understanding took longer than I initially planned. I wasn't sure if we should skip ahead to get there but Mary Lynn told me to wait so they understand and complete all the steps so that felt nice to have them spend quality time on the lesson and really work at it and make it so they couldn't get the black paper until they earned it. I think that was a good tactic.
My first grade class - we did a lesson on Rhyming Dust Bunnies. Mary Lynn told me about pinch pots. I really have no experience with clay or ceramics. She asked if I wanted to take on one more class while I was there and told me first grade was opening up and I said sure. She had the idea of doing a pinch pot. For my K class I got the Rhyming Dust Bunnies book from the library. We asked the librarian if she had the book Frog on a Log when I was going to maybe do the frog on the log rhyming illustrations. She didn't have that but told me about the Dust Bunny book and went and got it from whoever rented it out. I took it home and didn't think much of it. After school Mary Lynn's daughter saw it on her own and started reading it with excitement and you could see how much she loved it. I said well how about we do pinch pots that are dust bunnies. Sadie said that everyone in her class knew and loved the book and that morning we were making them I guess she told Mary Lynn, "Today were making dust bunnies!" right when she woke up.
I read the book and introduced the lesson and Mary Lynn helped explain the pinch pot part after I said what we were going to be making out of clay since I don't have that much experience. I'll lead it the next time. She said it would be good to have them split up and do the clay part with small groups to control it a little more. I made a handout that allowed the kids to draw their own dust bunny and name it and color it. They got to work on that while we had the small groups. It was fun to show the kids how to make the dust bunnies and see how they came out. They were super cute. We are going to be glazing them blue, green and or purple. 3 of 4 colors in the book. The red glaze is too expensive so we aren't using that color. The TA said she thought it was a great lesson and I guess the other TAs have complimented my lessons to Mary Lynn. One in particular said that the K lesson I did put the kids into a new light she hadn't seen them in before. I'm glad its going so well at this placement.
Here are some pictures.
Day 18: 2nd Observation
Wednesday February 15, 2012 Blog Post
Mary Lynn separated boys in the 4th grade class who were misbehaving and also took away their artwork. They didn't get to do art. I thought that was a good idea. It shows doing art is a reward and gives an incentive to behaving. A girl in the 5th grade class sucks her thumb and one of the girls who got a camera from her said, "Ewe" because she just touched it after sucking her thumb. I asked Mary Lynn about it and she said for awhile people didn't say anything because she had or has a rough childhood but that they are starting to now and was glad to hear that her peers are attempting to help her realize she shouldn't be sucking her thumb anymore.
I like the mentor program the 5th graders are getting to do with the SU students. They are working on birds eye view, worms eye, etc and exploring working with cameras. The students seem to enjoy it.
The observation for my kindergarten lesson went well. I wasn't as nervous as I was the first time, but still feel somewhat inexperienced working with that age group. I feel like I learned how to adapt the lesson by trial and error the first two times, so by the time the third day came around a lot of the kinks were already worked out. Changing the lesson to have particular categories of words really made a huge difference. I did my teacher generated example the night before because with not having the words have a direction it was hard to do one not knowing what the kids would be writing. This lesson began with a lesson Daniela did where she had 3rd graders illustrate a paper folded with ten boxes that said things like frog on a log, puppy dog, window with a view, road that never ends, your best friend, something you can't reach, a day at the beach. When I showed it to Mary Lynn she said it seemed kind of superficial and thought of the idea of having them write it. I think at first it seems a little more difficult because you have to guide it and get them thinking more which in the end is tapping more into their creative sides and getting them invested much more. I thought about what I wanted to draw and came up with the categories of fruit, veggies, favorite toy, favorite candy, and favorite animal. I also liked the idea of having them only be able to come up with four options and making them pick their favorite from one of four ideas given by their classmates. This made them long to be able to pick their own and participate. Every time someone said they didn't get to pick theirs I told them I promised them I'd call on them first for the next category. Although we were going to start writing the poem collaboratively in the beginning and didn't end up doing it, I think in a way we really did but with a more specific process. It also went better to just focus on writing the poem and have that be something they looked forward to completing and getting to line six. Overall I think it went well and was excited to see it come together.
Mary Lynn separated boys in the 4th grade class who were misbehaving and also took away their artwork. They didn't get to do art. I thought that was a good idea. It shows doing art is a reward and gives an incentive to behaving. A girl in the 5th grade class sucks her thumb and one of the girls who got a camera from her said, "Ewe" because she just touched it after sucking her thumb. I asked Mary Lynn about it and she said for awhile people didn't say anything because she had or has a rough childhood but that they are starting to now and was glad to hear that her peers are attempting to help her realize she shouldn't be sucking her thumb anymore.
I like the mentor program the 5th graders are getting to do with the SU students. They are working on birds eye view, worms eye, etc and exploring working with cameras. The students seem to enjoy it.
The observation for my kindergarten lesson went well. I wasn't as nervous as I was the first time, but still feel somewhat inexperienced working with that age group. I feel like I learned how to adapt the lesson by trial and error the first two times, so by the time the third day came around a lot of the kinks were already worked out. Changing the lesson to have particular categories of words really made a huge difference. I did my teacher generated example the night before because with not having the words have a direction it was hard to do one not knowing what the kids would be writing. This lesson began with a lesson Daniela did where she had 3rd graders illustrate a paper folded with ten boxes that said things like frog on a log, puppy dog, window with a view, road that never ends, your best friend, something you can't reach, a day at the beach. When I showed it to Mary Lynn she said it seemed kind of superficial and thought of the idea of having them write it. I think at first it seems a little more difficult because you have to guide it and get them thinking more which in the end is tapping more into their creative sides and getting them invested much more. I thought about what I wanted to draw and came up with the categories of fruit, veggies, favorite toy, favorite candy, and favorite animal. I also liked the idea of having them only be able to come up with four options and making them pick their favorite from one of four ideas given by their classmates. This made them long to be able to pick their own and participate. Every time someone said they didn't get to pick theirs I told them I promised them I'd call on them first for the next category. Although we were going to start writing the poem collaboratively in the beginning and didn't end up doing it, I think in a way we really did but with a more specific process. It also went better to just focus on writing the poem and have that be something they looked forward to completing and getting to line six. Overall I think it went well and was excited to see it come together.
Day 17: Valentine's Day & Omar!
Tuesday February 14, 2012 Blog Post
Mary Lynn volunteered me to design a program for an event the school is having for African American History Month on Friday. I met with the woman in charge named Kim and she told me her ideas that she wanted to see on the program. I told her I'd have to take it home and do it on illustrator. I ended up spending 5 hours on it and she loved it and had it blown up large hanging around school and had 500 copies printed in color small for everyone to have in the audience.
Mary Lynn also connected me with someone at the Everson to have a job teaching kids art on Saturdays. The woman called me and we set up an interview for next Thursday at 11. She seems to really like Mary Lynn and called her after and said I must be good if she is recommending me.
Today the kindergarten class went a little better, we discussed it afterward and I think it will make more sense to limit the categories of the words they write. Also it will be good to write the poem first before drawing it. The first time I did it, I had the kids write a line and turn the paper over and draw it, but it seemed like a lot for them to keep turning their papers over and over, so to simplify it I think it will work better just getting through the poem and then illustrating afterward. I wasn't sure if they'd be able to read their words and remember them to illustrate later but we can review it somehow.
I went to the grocery store after school to get Sonya something and didn't have enough money so came home and then realized I forgot her laptop and the school so ran there and then back to the grocery store to get her a valentines day gift and after I got done cashing myself out I looked ahead and there was OMAR! I was SO happy to see him and couldn't believe he was standing right there in front of me. Such a weird string of events that lead to us being in the same spot in the same time. I don't think it was a coincidence. He was with his cousin who was translating some of the things I said. I got his address and apologized for leaving the school and told him I got switched to another school. He said, "What school is this, Miss?" I told him which school I was at and asked about the project we started and asked if he'd keep in touch if I wrote him. I gave him a big hug goodbye and plan to send him a letter in the mail with a collage. I would love to keep in touch with him and thought I would before I ended up leaving. I thought it would be nice to see how he grew up and to be able to help him with art and English. We had a really nice bond. So I hope to see if perhaps his family will allow me to tutor him once a week in art and English.
Mary Lynn volunteered me to design a program for an event the school is having for African American History Month on Friday. I met with the woman in charge named Kim and she told me her ideas that she wanted to see on the program. I told her I'd have to take it home and do it on illustrator. I ended up spending 5 hours on it and she loved it and had it blown up large hanging around school and had 500 copies printed in color small for everyone to have in the audience.
Mary Lynn also connected me with someone at the Everson to have a job teaching kids art on Saturdays. The woman called me and we set up an interview for next Thursday at 11. She seems to really like Mary Lynn and called her after and said I must be good if she is recommending me.
Today the kindergarten class went a little better, we discussed it afterward and I think it will make more sense to limit the categories of the words they write. Also it will be good to write the poem first before drawing it. The first time I did it, I had the kids write a line and turn the paper over and draw it, but it seemed like a lot for them to keep turning their papers over and over, so to simplify it I think it will work better just getting through the poem and then illustrating afterward. I wasn't sure if they'd be able to read their words and remember them to illustrate later but we can review it somehow.
I went to the grocery store after school to get Sonya something and didn't have enough money so came home and then realized I forgot her laptop and the school so ran there and then back to the grocery store to get her a valentines day gift and after I got done cashing myself out I looked ahead and there was OMAR! I was SO happy to see him and couldn't believe he was standing right there in front of me. Such a weird string of events that lead to us being in the same spot in the same time. I don't think it was a coincidence. He was with his cousin who was translating some of the things I said. I got his address and apologized for leaving the school and told him I got switched to another school. He said, "What school is this, Miss?" I told him which school I was at and asked about the project we started and asked if he'd keep in touch if I wrote him. I gave him a big hug goodbye and plan to send him a letter in the mail with a collage. I would love to keep in touch with him and thought I would before I ended up leaving. I thought it would be nice to see how he grew up and to be able to help him with art and English. We had a really nice bond. So I hope to see if perhaps his family will allow me to tutor him once a week in art and English.
Day 16: 2nd Lesson
Monday February 13, 2012 Blog Post
Today was my first time doing a kindergarten lesson at Ed Smith. I did one at Frazer, but this was my first time with this group. The dance went well, but there were a few students who didn't feel comfortable dancing. Mary Lynn asked that they at least do the hand motions. The other kids asked if we could do it again and seemed to love it. The video I had didn't work for some reason the computer wasn't playing it so I just ended up telling them what the story was about and going from there. I've spoke so many times with Fagbug and had technology issues that I've had to adapt and just be fine with doing things on the fly when necessary. It doesn't really phase me. I tried to write the poem with them as a group so the lines they filled in and the images they drew would all be the same, but after two lines they complained about how they didn't want to pick or have to draw a baby doll or dog, so we did the first two lines together. I had asked Mary Lynn about this and she suggested doing it together so we started with that idea. She wasn't sure how what they were capable of with writing. I think it was new to her to do a lesson like this with writing with them so we explored the best way to go about it. After two lines of writing, she said to try having them write their own words so we moved to that for the last four lines. Next time I will let them write their own words, and will check again to make sure the video plays (I did earlier in the day and had it up so assumed it would).
The 3rd grade class was much more talkative than the first class I had. They shouted out answers and didn't really listen to each other speaking. I feel in general more comfortable with the older kids but after both lessons Mary Lynn asked me which went better and I said that probably 3rd grade did. She said she loved the Kindergarten lesson and that it went really well so that was nice to hear. She said I just need to work on raising my voice and classroom management. The kids laughed in 3rd grade about Keith Haring's face so am not sure if I will keep saying that or not. Next time perhaps I will tell them we are having a discussion and to raise their hands when they have feedback to share.
Today was my first time doing a kindergarten lesson at Ed Smith. I did one at Frazer, but this was my first time with this group. The dance went well, but there were a few students who didn't feel comfortable dancing. Mary Lynn asked that they at least do the hand motions. The other kids asked if we could do it again and seemed to love it. The video I had didn't work for some reason the computer wasn't playing it so I just ended up telling them what the story was about and going from there. I've spoke so many times with Fagbug and had technology issues that I've had to adapt and just be fine with doing things on the fly when necessary. It doesn't really phase me. I tried to write the poem with them as a group so the lines they filled in and the images they drew would all be the same, but after two lines they complained about how they didn't want to pick or have to draw a baby doll or dog, so we did the first two lines together. I had asked Mary Lynn about this and she suggested doing it together so we started with that idea. She wasn't sure how what they were capable of with writing. I think it was new to her to do a lesson like this with writing with them so we explored the best way to go about it. After two lines of writing, she said to try having them write their own words so we moved to that for the last four lines. Next time I will let them write their own words, and will check again to make sure the video plays (I did earlier in the day and had it up so assumed it would).
The 3rd grade class was much more talkative than the first class I had. They shouted out answers and didn't really listen to each other speaking. I feel in general more comfortable with the older kids but after both lessons Mary Lynn asked me which went better and I said that probably 3rd grade did. She said she loved the Kindergarten lesson and that it went really well so that was nice to hear. She said I just need to work on raising my voice and classroom management. The kids laughed in 3rd grade about Keith Haring's face so am not sure if I will keep saying that or not. Next time perhaps I will tell them we are having a discussion and to raise their hands when they have feedback to share.
Day 15: 1st Observation
Friday February 10, 2012 Blog Post
This morning when I came into the class, Mary Lynn's daughter Sadie pointed to a bottle of white wine and said, "Isn't this for her?" Her mom said, "Yes, honey it is." I said, "You got me a bottle of wine?" She said, "Yes for making it through your first week."
I looked at the bottle of wine and it was Pinot Grigio which is my favorite. I never mentioned liking wine or anything to her so it was very intuitive of her to know what I'd like and to be right on and very sweet of her to do something so nice for me. I really appreciated it. I've been kind of cautious about things and wanting to not feel too comfortable until I get to know her but she's extended herself a lot to me so it really doesn't seem to make much sense to be guarded because of a bad experience last time.
I was very nervous to have my 1st observation. Until it was happening/over, I had a lot of nerves. It's like putting an event together. I love doing it but you feel so excited about the unknown that until its over you really can't relax much. The kids really seemed to enjoy the images of Keith Haring. When I said that he made people laugh at his face alone they all laughed when they saw an image of him as an adult. I think I gave them permission to by what I said or how I said it. One of the kids said a subway was a restaurant which also made me laugh. It was nice to see the assignment come together. Next time I want to use the side wall to demonstrate what to do. I was unexpectedly surprised with all the positive things Kathie had to say about my teaching. It felt nice to discuss it and review how it went and think about ways to improve and to have things I did right be noticed or pointed out. Some things I wouldn't even notice myself, just things I may do by instinct, but it was nice to have them be acknowledged as positives.
Mary Lynn is doing a lesson which involves looking at images and text alone and combined from Shepard Fairey for her national certification. I thought the lesson was great. She needed her lesson video taped and had to have the video show the entire class, but show her speaking and them talking as well. She wanted to have the camera on a tripod but I told her the best way to do it would be to let me walk around and film her. I looked at the specs for the video requirements and that was only to prevent shaking and told her I could handle it and do a really nice job for her and she trusted me to do it and it ended up turning out well. With filming things turn out really well when you are able to be in the moment and be intrusive on some level by being right there. It feels when you watch it that you were there and you aren't missing anything. You are having the experience and it is as if you were there. Setting up a tripod really wouldn't have the same outcome.
Mary Lynn is doing a lesson which involves looking at images and text alone and combined from Shepard Fairey for her national certification. I thought the lesson was great. She needed her lesson video taped and had to have the video show the entire class, but show her speaking and them talking as well. She wanted to have the camera on a tripod but I told her the best way to do it would be to let me walk around and film her. I looked at the specs for the video requirements and that was only to prevent shaking and told her I could handle it and do a really nice job for her and she trusted me to do it and it ended up turning out well. With filming things turn out really well when you are able to be in the moment and be intrusive on some level by being right there. It feels when you watch it that you were there and you aren't missing anything. You are having the experience and it is as if you were there. Setting up a tripod really wouldn't have the same outcome.
Day 14: Observation Tomorrow
Thursday February 9, 2012 Blog Post
Stop - Look & Listen seems to work really well. Shutting the lights off, and clapping seem to be really great ways to get the kids attention. I got a chance to talk to the 3rd grade class I'm having tomorrow. I told them I was going to be teaching them and being observed and that I hope it would go well. Mary Lynn wanted me to have some interaction with them on a teaching level so she let me introduce the milagro title card part of their assignment. I got to ask them what they thought would go on an artist's title card and they seemed pretty hip to the groove, medium, name, year, title. The title seemed to be a treat for them to come up with since the assignment was to make a symbol that had meaning. The symbols have a lot of sentimental meaning to them. Through the assignment their personalities have come through. I like that Mary Lynn has them taking their art seriously and titling their work and getting experience with showcasing their work and taking those final steps in mounting their work and having a title card. I'm a little nervous to have my first observation tomorrow.
Stop - Look & Listen seems to work really well. Shutting the lights off, and clapping seem to be really great ways to get the kids attention. I got a chance to talk to the 3rd grade class I'm having tomorrow. I told them I was going to be teaching them and being observed and that I hope it would go well. Mary Lynn wanted me to have some interaction with them on a teaching level so she let me introduce the milagro title card part of their assignment. I got to ask them what they thought would go on an artist's title card and they seemed pretty hip to the groove, medium, name, year, title. The title seemed to be a treat for them to come up with since the assignment was to make a symbol that had meaning. The symbols have a lot of sentimental meaning to them. Through the assignment their personalities have come through. I like that Mary Lynn has them taking their art seriously and titling their work and getting experience with showcasing their work and taking those final steps in mounting their work and having a title card. I'm a little nervous to have my first observation tomorrow.
Day 13: Rhyming Song
Wednesday February 8, 2012 Blog Post
The kindergarten class that came in today is one of the kindergarten classes I'll be working with next week. I want to do a lesson with them about rhyming and illustrating and writing their own poem. I wasn't sure what they knew so Mary Lynn asked them if they knew how to rhyme at the end of class, and they did. They answered questions like what rhymes with cat? Dog? After class I talked to their teacher and she told me they knew a dance that goes along with a song about rhyming. She told me to stop down to her room and that she could give it to me. Mary Lynn told me I could go down with her so I went and the teacher asked the kids to show me their dance to the song. She played it and they did the rhyming dance. The song has a gesture of what to do when two words rhyme and what to do when two words don't rhyme. I thought it was really cute. The kindergarten teacher gave me a copy of her CD and asked me to make a copy of it. I told her I had extra blank CDs at home and said it would be no problem to make her two copies. She told me she was going to give me $5 if I did it. I told her it wasn't necessary to pay me to do it. The song she introduced me to is called, "Make A Rhyme, Make A Move" by Jack Hartman.
I bought two packs of scratchboard for my Keith Haring lesson. I'm excited and feel confident about that lesson but feel I have some kinks to work out for the kindergarten lesson. I enjoyed seeing Mary Lynn's style of teaching today. She says things like, "Are you ready to see the magic happen" when dipping heart shaped paper into water with starch and food coloring. I like how she calls the tables by the color of the paper lantern cover above them, flower table, peace sign table, pok-a-dotted table, striped table, blue table.
Mary Lynn is working on her national certification and was doing a submission on a Shepard Fairey lesson and asked my advise on how she could grade the discussion and I took some notes and gave her my feedback on it. I like that she asks my opinion on things.
The kindergarten class that came in today is one of the kindergarten classes I'll be working with next week. I want to do a lesson with them about rhyming and illustrating and writing their own poem. I wasn't sure what they knew so Mary Lynn asked them if they knew how to rhyme at the end of class, and they did. They answered questions like what rhymes with cat? Dog? After class I talked to their teacher and she told me they knew a dance that goes along with a song about rhyming. She told me to stop down to her room and that she could give it to me. Mary Lynn told me I could go down with her so I went and the teacher asked the kids to show me their dance to the song. She played it and they did the rhyming dance. The song has a gesture of what to do when two words rhyme and what to do when two words don't rhyme. I thought it was really cute. The kindergarten teacher gave me a copy of her CD and asked me to make a copy of it. I told her I had extra blank CDs at home and said it would be no problem to make her two copies. She told me she was going to give me $5 if I did it. I told her it wasn't necessary to pay me to do it. The song she introduced me to is called, "Make A Rhyme, Make A Move" by Jack Hartman.
I bought two packs of scratchboard for my Keith Haring lesson. I'm excited and feel confident about that lesson but feel I have some kinks to work out for the kindergarten lesson. I enjoyed seeing Mary Lynn's style of teaching today. She says things like, "Are you ready to see the magic happen" when dipping heart shaped paper into water with starch and food coloring. I like how she calls the tables by the color of the paper lantern cover above them, flower table, peace sign table, pok-a-dotted table, striped table, blue table.
Mary Lynn is working on her national certification and was doing a submission on a Shepard Fairey lesson and asked my advise on how she could grade the discussion and I took some notes and gave her my feedback on it. I like that she asks my opinion on things.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Day 12: Unit Plan Ideas
My second day at Ed Smith went well. I shared a little with Mary Lynn about why things didn't work out at Frazer my first day and she was very open about things. She told me I could do the car lesson if I wanted to but to maybe have another teacher example and not have fag for the age group. She wasn't offended or closed off to it but was more like a suggestion or discussion. I told her it was for 8th grade so probably wouldn't do it for the younger grades but appreciated that. She has K-5. I told her that I asked to be placed with someone who was okay with having a gay student teacher. She said she didn't know what the procedure was as far as being openly gay but told me change happens gradually and that once I get a job she's sure it will all take its course naturally with me being open about it in the school and was supportive. She told me her mother is an activist and stopped going to a church they attended when a person that lead the church married a gay couple and got kicked out of the church. She also told me her mom had her protesting and boycotting things regarding gay rights for a long time and that her previous job was to raise money for AIDS with kids jewelry and that she had her own studio. Her brother in law is gay and although her brother is marrying a woman soon she thinks he's gay as well. She also informed me she went to graduate school with Daniela and was surprised with how things went while I was there. She told me that her X-husband was a womanizer and that's why she told me she has trust issues and that when she came to the US she didn't have a license and was dependent on him, and has worked hard to get her independence. I really respected that about her, and can see that perhaps she isn't a bad person just overly protective of her job and afraid to lose what she has. Sometimes people act and react overly negative because of whatever it is they are afraid of. Daniela was sick while I was there and took two days off because of it with a sinus infection, and although I am no longer there, whatever she had was passed onto me. I've been sick the past five days with a terrible sinus infection, non stop blowing of my nose. It hasn't been fun, but am getting through it. I even brought in a role of toilet paper my first day and one of the kids asked for a tissue and there weren't any so i gave him some of my toilet paper. A lot of the kids have runny noses right now as well guess it is just going around.
My second day at Ed Smith was positive, and I am glad to not hear anti-gay comments by the kids all the time. Mary Lynn said she hears it everyday, but I am glad to so far not be hearing it. The students are very well behaved in her classroom and engaged.
In one of the classes today one of the girls who has down syndrome had a birthday today. I kind of wished we could've sang happy birthday to her or thought when I get my own class and its someone's birthday perhaps we will work on making cards for that person during art. When I used to work for Syracuse Cultural Workers they always made really great collage birthday cards and think it would be something really nice for the kids to do for each other, something to look forward to doing and having done for you. Mary Lynn asked me to work with Gracie who has down syndrome on coloring a tertiary color wheel. She said she is very independent but should have someone with her 1 on 1. I explained to her that with the colored pencil she was supposed to color the color that was listed first, so if it said orange-yellow she had to put the orange down first or vice versa. She understood it and did it very well on her own. She told me it was her birthday and we talked and had a nice time working together.
In the 3rd grade class the kids are working on symbolism and made aluminum drawings that were colored and had texture drawn into them. They each picked different symbols and had to make an artist museum card with their name, title, date, and medium. They were stapled onto matt board that was donated from Commercial Art Supply. We glued them on the first day but stapled them today seemed to work better. The kids were working on free drawing while her and I called them up one by one to have them pick out the color matt board they wanted. Then we double checked their spelling and taped their artist card onto the back of the matt board hanging from underneath. Before they got to draw Mary Lynn talked to them about the meaning of their symbols and one boy told the class his was going to be called Heart Skates and was a present to his uncles fiance and explained that his uncle is getting married this month and told the class the date and said it is for his fiance because she takes him ice skating every weekend and that she was an olympian ice skater in the state of New York. He was so matter of fact about it and cute and sentimental. Another boy who came up to work with me had a symbol of a shield and it said safety. I asked him why he made a shield and he told me his grandfather was having surgery and that he made it for him to protect him. It was really endearing to see how sweet and thoughtful the kids were in their art making. I really liked that they did drawings of their symbols, then put them onto the aluminum, then put them onto matt board, then titled them and put that on. I talked to Mary Lynn about it and she said she thinks she does art projects slow which can lose some kids but that its important to her they get the concepts and are invested in the projects. I really picked up on that and feel I would be the same type of teacher. You really can't dive into an idea or concept in one class period. I would like to do things that have many levels, layers, and steps so there is a reward by the end and it shows the thought and time that goes into creating art. I also like that almost all the artwork gets to a finished point to have it hanging in the hallway or classroom. I overheard that their artwork is in one of the local hospitals and the 8th grade club is painting designs on the Newtimes newspaper holders. They have about 6 in their room that are in the process of getting painting.
Now that I'm settled into the school and only have two more weeks after this week I went over what I needed to have in my binder and saw I have to have written journal as well so have that in there, but need to start over with my unit plan and conceptual framework of the school for my candidate work sample. As part of that i have to have a unit plan that is five lessons. Because my placement got switched mid placement, I am not really able to carry that through with one group so I have to figure out how to write it for the first group I was working with or how to write it for the second group or how to combine the two. It requires a pre and post assessment which I did the pre assessment at the first placement and kind of saw how the art was turning out with the international flag, but didn't really get to do a post assessment. Either way I'm not really able to do it properly which stinks.
I also talked to Mary Lynn about which classes she'd like me to take over and she wants me to do K and 3rd grade with my own lessons for two weeks but really doesn't want me to take over the other classes since I'm only going to be there such a short period. She asked if I could see her do a lesson and try doing the same lesson with some of the other classes so they could stay on track with what they're doing. Some of her classes are in the middle of projects and obviously she didn't have any advance notice knowing I was coming.
She wants me to do 3rd grade on Friday and pick up K and 3rd next week so I told her I'd work on my ideas for those two classes tonight. She is very laid back and said no problem get it it if you can. We signed the contract of agreement for lesson plans and she just put do them ASAP since we don't have a lot of time and didn't care about stating a specific day ahead of time.
We also talked about my unit plan. At first I was going to do my Keith Haring lesson with the 3rd grade class which required I buy this scratch off paper at the art store, but when I told her about the unit plan idea she brainstormed ideas of how I could do the flag lesson with the kids and say write the first couple days that I didn't do with them but pick it up at the end and just do a part of the until plan with them, what I could fit in in two classes. She had the idea of making a classroom flag that represented their class. I really worked hard at Frazer to make the lessons for my 7th graders be catered to them specifically so feel I am somewhat getting thrown in with kids I don't know with little time to do that type of personalizing with the lessons, which really is what I would've preferred to do, but will make the best of it.
I am going to try to flesh out ideas tonight to see what would work best. The 3rd graders were doing symbolism so something with flags or my Keith Haring lesson would fit in, they are both on symbolism. I kind of want to do something different with them and do the Keith Haring lesson to elaborate on the symbols they were using. The lesson idea is to have them pick a symbol from a list of symbols I have as a hand out. Then they pick their favorite and put that symbol on a body as the head. Then they write about their symbol and describe it. It's a fun lesson especially with the paper and scratching the black off to reveal the color. We'll see how I figure out how to incorporate something into a unit plan and what makes sense with my two day lesson here.
Also in my Sage Student Teaching Folder I noticed that it says that I will work with my supervisor to do something with IEP on index cards. I asked Mary Lynn about it and she doesn't really want that information to be in my binder so we'll have to talk about that.
Lesson Plans, she is very relaxed about what she wants to see and gave me a handout and told me to fill it out with pencil what I'm doing and doesn't want to see the Sage formatted lesson so I will just do that for my binder and fill out the info she wants for her to see.
Thanks for reading.
My second day at Ed Smith was positive, and I am glad to not hear anti-gay comments by the kids all the time. Mary Lynn said she hears it everyday, but I am glad to so far not be hearing it. The students are very well behaved in her classroom and engaged.
In one of the classes today one of the girls who has down syndrome had a birthday today. I kind of wished we could've sang happy birthday to her or thought when I get my own class and its someone's birthday perhaps we will work on making cards for that person during art. When I used to work for Syracuse Cultural Workers they always made really great collage birthday cards and think it would be something really nice for the kids to do for each other, something to look forward to doing and having done for you. Mary Lynn asked me to work with Gracie who has down syndrome on coloring a tertiary color wheel. She said she is very independent but should have someone with her 1 on 1. I explained to her that with the colored pencil she was supposed to color the color that was listed first, so if it said orange-yellow she had to put the orange down first or vice versa. She understood it and did it very well on her own. She told me it was her birthday and we talked and had a nice time working together.
In the 3rd grade class the kids are working on symbolism and made aluminum drawings that were colored and had texture drawn into them. They each picked different symbols and had to make an artist museum card with their name, title, date, and medium. They were stapled onto matt board that was donated from Commercial Art Supply. We glued them on the first day but stapled them today seemed to work better. The kids were working on free drawing while her and I called them up one by one to have them pick out the color matt board they wanted. Then we double checked their spelling and taped their artist card onto the back of the matt board hanging from underneath. Before they got to draw Mary Lynn talked to them about the meaning of their symbols and one boy told the class his was going to be called Heart Skates and was a present to his uncles fiance and explained that his uncle is getting married this month and told the class the date and said it is for his fiance because she takes him ice skating every weekend and that she was an olympian ice skater in the state of New York. He was so matter of fact about it and cute and sentimental. Another boy who came up to work with me had a symbol of a shield and it said safety. I asked him why he made a shield and he told me his grandfather was having surgery and that he made it for him to protect him. It was really endearing to see how sweet and thoughtful the kids were in their art making. I really liked that they did drawings of their symbols, then put them onto the aluminum, then put them onto matt board, then titled them and put that on. I talked to Mary Lynn about it and she said she thinks she does art projects slow which can lose some kids but that its important to her they get the concepts and are invested in the projects. I really picked up on that and feel I would be the same type of teacher. You really can't dive into an idea or concept in one class period. I would like to do things that have many levels, layers, and steps so there is a reward by the end and it shows the thought and time that goes into creating art. I also like that almost all the artwork gets to a finished point to have it hanging in the hallway or classroom. I overheard that their artwork is in one of the local hospitals and the 8th grade club is painting designs on the Newtimes newspaper holders. They have about 6 in their room that are in the process of getting painting.
Now that I'm settled into the school and only have two more weeks after this week I went over what I needed to have in my binder and saw I have to have written journal as well so have that in there, but need to start over with my unit plan and conceptual framework of the school for my candidate work sample. As part of that i have to have a unit plan that is five lessons. Because my placement got switched mid placement, I am not really able to carry that through with one group so I have to figure out how to write it for the first group I was working with or how to write it for the second group or how to combine the two. It requires a pre and post assessment which I did the pre assessment at the first placement and kind of saw how the art was turning out with the international flag, but didn't really get to do a post assessment. Either way I'm not really able to do it properly which stinks.
I also talked to Mary Lynn about which classes she'd like me to take over and she wants me to do K and 3rd grade with my own lessons for two weeks but really doesn't want me to take over the other classes since I'm only going to be there such a short period. She asked if I could see her do a lesson and try doing the same lesson with some of the other classes so they could stay on track with what they're doing. Some of her classes are in the middle of projects and obviously she didn't have any advance notice knowing I was coming.
She wants me to do 3rd grade on Friday and pick up K and 3rd next week so I told her I'd work on my ideas for those two classes tonight. She is very laid back and said no problem get it it if you can. We signed the contract of agreement for lesson plans and she just put do them ASAP since we don't have a lot of time and didn't care about stating a specific day ahead of time.
We also talked about my unit plan. At first I was going to do my Keith Haring lesson with the 3rd grade class which required I buy this scratch off paper at the art store, but when I told her about the unit plan idea she brainstormed ideas of how I could do the flag lesson with the kids and say write the first couple days that I didn't do with them but pick it up at the end and just do a part of the until plan with them, what I could fit in in two classes. She had the idea of making a classroom flag that represented their class. I really worked hard at Frazer to make the lessons for my 7th graders be catered to them specifically so feel I am somewhat getting thrown in with kids I don't know with little time to do that type of personalizing with the lessons, which really is what I would've preferred to do, but will make the best of it.
I am going to try to flesh out ideas tonight to see what would work best. The 3rd graders were doing symbolism so something with flags or my Keith Haring lesson would fit in, they are both on symbolism. I kind of want to do something different with them and do the Keith Haring lesson to elaborate on the symbols they were using. The lesson idea is to have them pick a symbol from a list of symbols I have as a hand out. Then they pick their favorite and put that symbol on a body as the head. Then they write about their symbol and describe it. It's a fun lesson especially with the paper and scratching the black off to reveal the color. We'll see how I figure out how to incorporate something into a unit plan and what makes sense with my two day lesson here.
Also in my Sage Student Teaching Folder I noticed that it says that I will work with my supervisor to do something with IEP on index cards. I asked Mary Lynn about it and she doesn't really want that information to be in my binder so we'll have to talk about that.
Lesson Plans, she is very relaxed about what she wants to see and gave me a handout and told me to fill it out with pencil what I'm doing and doesn't want to see the Sage formatted lesson so I will just do that for my binder and fill out the info she wants for her to see.
Thanks for reading.
Day 11: New School
Monday February 6, 2012
I began Ed Smith's placement today. Mary Lynn Mahan is my cooperating teacher. My first day was a positive experience. Her classroom management is really wonderful. She doesn't yell but has a calm demeanor and I let her know I like how she handled the class. She replied, "I think my kids know I love them." A boy fell down in one of the classes and she didn't hesitate to give him a huge hug and kissed him on the forehead. He was crying and really upset. At my first placement there was much more reservation in touching any of the kids. The art room itself is inspiring and visually organized. There are quotes all around the room, like "Think it. Be It. Do It," "Be the change you wish to see in the world," "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams," etc. They were spread out all around the room. Instead of having four desks grouped together with four people grouped at Frazer which made 8 tables, this classroom was laid out with only 3 groupings. One was a long rectangular table, and two square tables. Above these tables are circular patterned light covers hanging from the ceiling. One has peace signs another flowers. Mary Lynn refers to the tables in terms of which pattern is hanging above their heads and says flower table line up, peace sign table line up. I thought that was a creative way to do it rather than just a table number or color. On one side of the classroom there is a visual organizer dedicated to visually represent what the students are working on that has key terms and images as a visual reminder, so K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 have their own columns and you can see a reminder of what each grade is working on. I felt it was helpful for me to know what the focus terms and ideas were as well as the lesson, and think it was helpful for the kids to have as well. The kindergarten class was working on symmetry and they all seemed to understand what it was, and all of them want a chance to participate and are excited to be called on. I noticed that Mary Lynn takes time to hear them out and engage with them and get them invested in the concepts they are learning. When they are finished with projects they get time to free draw which they seem to thoroughly enjoy. The 4th grade class is working on Manga drawings and she had them line up to show her the drawings in pencil before she would give them a sharpie marker to outline their drawings in. If they did the drawing too small she would send them back to revise it and told me this was her way of assessing what they had learning. I liked that they were able to have one on one time with her and get that individual attention. I also liked that she withheld a material they were excited to get until they showed her they earned the right to use it. She always demonstrates her expectations on one wall in the classroom where everyone can see and for the most part everyone pays attention. She took on a group of special needs kids who weren't regularly scheduled to come in because she felt they needed to come. She had a lesson planned for them working with clay and texture, so they were able to touch it and feel it. She had them roll the clay and then roll the texture onto it and used heart cookie cutters to make the clay into heart shapes and then punched a hole into it and was going to put it into the kiln and give it to their teachers to glaze it. There were about 8 kids that came in from all spectrums, one in a wheelchair with some social skills, one blind, one I think paraplegic, another in a wheelchair with no motor skills, another fixated on one thing on the board and noticed I knew what he was referencing and kept giving me eye contact and coming back to it, he didn't seem that able to construct thoughts concretely or rationally, and a few other kids with various issues. There were 1 TA to 2 kids it seemed. The one paraplegic boy was ignored by the TA and they just said that Austin would share with another boy and were doing it for another boy and just letting Austin sit there the entire time. The young girl who was blind, the TA just did it for her and didn't even let her touch or feel anything the entire time. I jumped in to help and worked with Austin after seeing how things were going for a minute or two. He was a very handsome boy and looked off into the distance most of the time and was drooling kind of but every now and then he would laugh. I tried to talk to him and asked him what his name was, and found out by the TA next to me. I put the clay onto his wheelchair stand that he must have to write on or do work on, kind of like what's on a hi-chair. At first I felt it might break but kind of put my leg up under it and didn't pressure it that much. I put his hands on the roller as I did it, and talked him through us doing it together. I also had him feel the texture and do that with me and cut the heart shapes out. It was neat to talk to him and feel his hands and see that we were doing it together. I could feel when I'd ask him to do something when he'd push down or move his hands and try. He didn't reassure me much that he enjoyed it but I did. The TAs didn't seem very proactive with helping the kids who weren't able to wash their hands wash their hands so with Austin I wet paper towels and washed his hands for him and told him it was nice working with him. Mary Lynn told me it really bothers her how the TAs with that group don't let some of them do things or help them in the right way. She told me it was good how I was working with Austin. It was something small but it felt nice for her to tell me I did something that was good. I also felt what she was saying with how they weren't going to do anything with him and noticed while I was working with him that the girl who was blind didn't even get to touch anything. I thought the lesson Mary Lynn had in place for them was perfect and one everyone from their various stages could get something out of. I'm glad to be in a new setting and hope the days to come go well.
I began Ed Smith's placement today. Mary Lynn Mahan is my cooperating teacher. My first day was a positive experience. Her classroom management is really wonderful. She doesn't yell but has a calm demeanor and I let her know I like how she handled the class. She replied, "I think my kids know I love them." A boy fell down in one of the classes and she didn't hesitate to give him a huge hug and kissed him on the forehead. He was crying and really upset. At my first placement there was much more reservation in touching any of the kids. The art room itself is inspiring and visually organized. There are quotes all around the room, like "Think it. Be It. Do It," "Be the change you wish to see in the world," "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams," etc. They were spread out all around the room. Instead of having four desks grouped together with four people grouped at Frazer which made 8 tables, this classroom was laid out with only 3 groupings. One was a long rectangular table, and two square tables. Above these tables are circular patterned light covers hanging from the ceiling. One has peace signs another flowers. Mary Lynn refers to the tables in terms of which pattern is hanging above their heads and says flower table line up, peace sign table line up. I thought that was a creative way to do it rather than just a table number or color. On one side of the classroom there is a visual organizer dedicated to visually represent what the students are working on that has key terms and images as a visual reminder, so K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 have their own columns and you can see a reminder of what each grade is working on. I felt it was helpful for me to know what the focus terms and ideas were as well as the lesson, and think it was helpful for the kids to have as well. The kindergarten class was working on symmetry and they all seemed to understand what it was, and all of them want a chance to participate and are excited to be called on. I noticed that Mary Lynn takes time to hear them out and engage with them and get them invested in the concepts they are learning. When they are finished with projects they get time to free draw which they seem to thoroughly enjoy. The 4th grade class is working on Manga drawings and she had them line up to show her the drawings in pencil before she would give them a sharpie marker to outline their drawings in. If they did the drawing too small she would send them back to revise it and told me this was her way of assessing what they had learning. I liked that they were able to have one on one time with her and get that individual attention. I also liked that she withheld a material they were excited to get until they showed her they earned the right to use it. She always demonstrates her expectations on one wall in the classroom where everyone can see and for the most part everyone pays attention. She took on a group of special needs kids who weren't regularly scheduled to come in because she felt they needed to come. She had a lesson planned for them working with clay and texture, so they were able to touch it and feel it. She had them roll the clay and then roll the texture onto it and used heart cookie cutters to make the clay into heart shapes and then punched a hole into it and was going to put it into the kiln and give it to their teachers to glaze it. There were about 8 kids that came in from all spectrums, one in a wheelchair with some social skills, one blind, one I think paraplegic, another in a wheelchair with no motor skills, another fixated on one thing on the board and noticed I knew what he was referencing and kept giving me eye contact and coming back to it, he didn't seem that able to construct thoughts concretely or rationally, and a few other kids with various issues. There were 1 TA to 2 kids it seemed. The one paraplegic boy was ignored by the TA and they just said that Austin would share with another boy and were doing it for another boy and just letting Austin sit there the entire time. The young girl who was blind, the TA just did it for her and didn't even let her touch or feel anything the entire time. I jumped in to help and worked with Austin after seeing how things were going for a minute or two. He was a very handsome boy and looked off into the distance most of the time and was drooling kind of but every now and then he would laugh. I tried to talk to him and asked him what his name was, and found out by the TA next to me. I put the clay onto his wheelchair stand that he must have to write on or do work on, kind of like what's on a hi-chair. At first I felt it might break but kind of put my leg up under it and didn't pressure it that much. I put his hands on the roller as I did it, and talked him through us doing it together. I also had him feel the texture and do that with me and cut the heart shapes out. It was neat to talk to him and feel his hands and see that we were doing it together. I could feel when I'd ask him to do something when he'd push down or move his hands and try. He didn't reassure me much that he enjoyed it but I did. The TAs didn't seem very proactive with helping the kids who weren't able to wash their hands wash their hands so with Austin I wet paper towels and washed his hands for him and told him it was nice working with him. Mary Lynn told me it really bothers her how the TAs with that group don't let some of them do things or help them in the right way. She told me it was good how I was working with Austin. It was something small but it felt nice for her to tell me I did something that was good. I also felt what she was saying with how they weren't going to do anything with him and noticed while I was working with him that the girl who was blind didn't even get to touch anything. I thought the lesson Mary Lynn had in place for them was perfect and one everyone from their various stages could get something out of. I'm glad to be in a new setting and hope the days to come go well.
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