journals

Journal One 

Finally the day has come, its my first day at my service learning placement.  Unlike many of my peers I choose my own school instead of getting placed in an unfamiliar and somewhat random school placement.  The school I am placed in is also the school in which I attended 4th and 5th grade and had the first really good school experiences in my life.   As I make my way to the placement i cant stop entertaining all the thoughts and questions going through my head like what if my kids are afraid to open up to me or what if i make a fool of myself in front of the class.  When I get to the school a wave of nostalgia washed over me .  I went through the typical visitor protocol at a school, I buzzed to gain access to the school, I signed in as a visitor and gave my ID to the office.  Next was the task of finding my class, the secretary that assisted me provided me with a very rapid and confusing route to get to my teachers class so I was stuck having to look for the teachers names on the door frames eventually finding my correct room.  As soon as I entered it was as though time had stopped for all of the students as they stopped everything to inspect the stranger entering their class.  The teacher came over and created me then introduced me to the class. Since the class was having a spelling test i asked if I could walk around and look at the setup of the room and what the teacher put up for wall decoration.  I immediately noticed the class rules on the chalkboard in the front of the room.  As I read the rules i got more and more impressed at what I was reading.  The rules covered the overall themes of maintaining awareness of how ones actions affect the other students and the teacher, and how their actions can affect the overall class.  For 2nd graders I feel though the semi-constant self moderation of ones behavior may be a hard task to do alone.  The teacher came up with a behavior chart that is displayed for the whole class to see and has  different categories based on the kind of day the student is having.  Each student has their name written on a clothespin on the side of the colored bar chart, after each activity if students excelled in that particular activity with educationally and followed the rules maybe even helping others, the chosen students may raise their pins on the chart.  Same goes if a student is being negative or acting out in class yet instead of moving their pin up they move it down.  Yet the teacher was careful in her wording of the different levels as to not be too mean in the negatives and not too praising of the good ones as to form rankings amongst the kids.  The class is split into 5 groups of 4 kids that allows for the students to collaborate and have a chance to work through  their possible questions b before having to ask the teacher for help, in turn making the students start to become more independent learners.  It was very interesting to observe the young students go about their writing centers and see how their brains process things differently then my more mature brain.  This classrooms far different from how my second grade experience was as I went to a Jewish Day School and i find the class to be more inviting and the students communicate better than my class did.

Journal 2

Off pure visual observation I would estimate that the second grade class in

which I am doing my service learning project is at least one third of the students in the class are non white, and at most one half of the roughly 22 students are non white.  I have yet to observe any other languages being spoken amongst students during class.  What i have noticed and remember from my time at the  school is there is a major support service for special needs children and 504 and IEP students, providing services such as a speech tutor, physical therapist, occupational therapist, and all the other student support services a school provides.  Students who need this type of help can receive a meeting with the required support at least once a week.  Teachers are also very helpful in the extra help as there is always great constant communication between the teacher and support services.  Since the work on providing a solid comprehension of reading and vocal, having the students be able to sue words to convey what they mean, and of course properly spell, there is no want for the students to speak in a second tongue as the y actively try to tackle their tough words and reach higher understanding. One thing I have noticed to be a problem amongst certain students amongst my class is a problem with reading and pronouncing words.  The majority of diverse races seems to be hispanic and african american students with a small precent of other races and ethnicities.  The students however are exposed to other cultures all throughout their curriculum through literature, for example recently the students read a Chinese children's story that was written in english.  The students were doing  unit on fairy tails and eventually had to compare the Chinese fairy tail to the american fairy tail Little Red Riding Hood. The school is in the Fox point neighborhood which is mostly made up of young adults around the ages of 20-35 years old.  The school is right next door to a Boys and Girls club in which the students use as an after school activity provider.  It also has a public park and water park attached to the side of it.  The school itself is seemingly tucked away in the back of this neighborhood with a goal of promoting and raising the community.  When I was in fourth grade at the school there was a program my teacher set up that allowed students to work towards an ice cream social with some of the elderly folk at the assisted living establishment across the street.  As a kid it didn't feel like anything besides talking to an old person while eating free ice-cream and not having to sit in class which was always fun.  But as I  reflect on it now this was a great way to have students forget their outside lives whatever they may be and experience a moment of joy while talking to someone who would happily listen and show genuine interest in them.  If a student had a bad home life and parents weren't around or didn't show attention, the student could have a safe space in that ice-cream social.  What appears to be more of a separating factor amongst the children is their families income.  I saw an example of this one day and it was the classic book fair scenario.  One student was looking at a book fair catalog, eventually anther student made their way to the student to converse. When I was able to over hear the students I heard the first student say respond to the question of how much money they had with them with “50 cents”.  The second student said “ You only have 50 cents, you cant get anything with that you need more money.”  The first student immediately looked puzzled and upset as they realized their hope of getting a new book from the fair was squashed.  Another student made their way over as they witnessed the interaction as well and offered the first student some of her money to make up for what they didn't have. 

Journal 3

When I become a teacher I would like to give myself some guidelines to follow before I give my students rules for the class.  I think that a good teacher is more than just an educator, they wear many hats n the class.  A teacher is sometimes unaware of a students home life which is the right thing to do until a problem arises.  Teachers should be vigilant to their students as children do not always come forth with their problems which may have an affect on their performance in the class and their attitude towards the class and fellow students.  A teacher is not responsible for being a guidance counselor yet they should feel comfortable talking with students in a professional yet personal way.  As a teacher i will try to get to know each of my students well so that I can relate to them about more than just the curriculum.  When I was a student I felt as though the classes in which i did my best were the ones in which my teacher made the class interesting and made a safe space for students to voice their opinions.  As of right now, I would have to say that when it comes time to teach the required ciriculum I will try to change the way in which it is taught so that the students have more to do with both the learning and the teaching then just the learning.  If a class breaks down a unit on vocabulary for example,  the class could be broken into groups and each group would be responsible for presenting important information on their given topic like “what is a verb?”  Students who are put in charge of their learning instead of being constantly spoon feed the information seem to do better as they can learn it on their terms and maybe even in a way that makes more sense to them than how I would of taught it based on the curriculum.  When you teach to the whole class a teacher should use the push and pull method as much as possible as this gets both the students involved yet leaves the control and lead with the teacher.  The push and pull method is something that I learned while going through my lifeguard instructor certification.  It was presented to me as a good way to get the required information across while not dominating the whole conversation.  The teacher either asks a question and gets the students responses or the teacher gives the answer and the students share how the answer was established.  The children of the class think very differently and to allow them to demonstrate how they think and go about problem solving is important to let everyone feel included, as well as getting to know how you’re students think as to further avoid any possible mistakes or confusion.  It may also give rise to a new way to look at the reading, solve the problem, as a student may find a new angle to go about the problem to produce the same correct answer.  Limiting students is something I'm going to try not to do, if there is something the whole class as a collective likes doing i will change around our class schedule to provide time to do what they like almost everyday. How school is viewed by a student very important to a child, if the child thinks school is boring and they can excel in it they may be more likely to fall behind or start goofing off in class to avoid facing the problem of not understanding, whereas if they think school is fun and engaging they may be more willing to go school and participate.  I am not aware of the rules I will post for my class but I know the rough ideas for them.  Students must be mindful of other students and of how their actions affect the class discussion and the class in general.  I also want to give myself posted rules as to try to equal out some of th power but as to not give away too much of the power.  

Journal 4

One day whilst I was in my field placement I was given he job of chaperoning the class, which was split into groups, to the scholastic book fair going on in the school sandwiched  near one of the exits to the school and the auditorium.  With the first few groups there were relatively no problems except for the students being so overwhelmed by the fair and taking forever to pick their book so the next group could have their turn.  Finally on one of the last trips there was a pair of boys in the back of the group walking slow and looking at money while conversing.  When I was able to overhear what they were saying I found out that one of the boys named Rob was extremely excited to see if the book fair had any new robot books as robots were Robs absolute favorite thing ever.  His peer named Eli informed Rob that the amount of money that he had was insufficient, unknowing of the emotional effect his words just had on Rob.  I watched the light of excitement and creativity of whats to come at the fair drain from Rob’s face and the dark could of sadness take over as the realization of his peers statement being  the truth.  Rob then replied with a slight hint of disbelief that that was all the money he got get for the book fair.  Suddenly a third student, who must have been overhearing the same conversation as I, decided to stand on Rob’s side and seemed to defuse the situation by saying that she would give Rob some of her change so that he could get something more than a shaped eraser or a bookmark.  As the group turned the corner and walked down the hall to the book fair there was a few file boxes full of books in the corner that were free books.  The school had implemented a community events in which community members, facility/staff, and parents could donate unwanted books that they would give out to students who could not afford to buy a book from the fair.  Although it was a great idea and it did help students who couldn't afford it get new books I found that the students who had to chose form the free book piles had a harder time finding something at their appropriate reading level and that was interesting to them.  Where as Eli who had money for a new book had a much wider selection of appropriate books that were interesting and even a chance for multiple books.

Journal 5

My mentor teacher is pregnant and due at he beginning of June.  I bring this up because the whole service learning project I was hoping I could finish my hours before she started missing days so I wouldn't have to deal with a substitute teacher, a stranger with whom I had no bond yet.  Yet when I went to my last placement I walked in and noticed that there was a substitute teacher checking the students morning work.  At first i did not recognize the sub but with further conversation I found out that she was a former special education teacher that I have seen helping out throughout the school.  I was expecting the students to be on the same behavior they use with their teacher with the substitute as the sub used to teach them last year.  But to my surprise the students took advantage of every opportunity they could to try to bend the rules or see what they could get away with.  It all started off with one of the students trying to switch the routine of how the class was going to run that day and then after the student tried to explain o the sub what the day would look like normally he felt like he needed to explain the game they used to practice their spelling.  The student seemed to do this repeatedly as I was in the class.  He did not stop trying to run everything or explain in his way until the sub told him that she was well aware of what she was doing and didn't need any help.  Then during the students spelling test another teacher came in needing help with a technical problem on her school chromebook.  as the substitute teacher was helping her I witnessed the students start talking to each other and in some cases the students even left their desks.  When the sub turned back around and saw what the students were doing she got very angry and told the class she was disappointed in them as she knows they normally follow the class rules very well and how they shouldn't treat the sub different then their normal teacher and show both the same amount of resect.  To me it was very interesting seeing the students trying to get away with things that they couldn't with their teacher  as they seemed to be testing the waters.  After the spelling test came the reading test.  I thought that the student attitudes would be better this time around but if anything they were worse.  Students tried cheating, they wouldn't give their peers quiet to finish tier test, and students constantly disobeyed the simple instructions the sub gave.

Journal 6

While in my site placement I can make connections to many of the authors we have read about in class.  One of the authors I can connect to is August, and the idea that marginalized students can not learn at the same rate as non marginalized students and especially less if the learning space is not seen as a safe place.  There appear to be a few students in my class who have various levels and types of learning disabilities.  Some have reading and writing issues and some have language issues and get extra speech help.  When the students who may stutter try to answer or participate their fellow students may cut them off early or make comments about how long the child is taking to answer.  I do not think the students mean it intentionally as students all over do it but i don't feel as though that is a reason to dismiss it as the students who are being interrupted and down get to speak as much may form false views of themselves and the learning environment.  When I went to ask one o the students why he wasn't answering the questions I knew he had the correct answers to and he told me that he wouldnt get to answer if called on anyway so there was no point.  I immediately told the student that he should never worry about the others opinions of him and that he goes to school to learn for himself not to be like everyone else.  This experience made me wonder what I can do as a future educator to make sure that my class is a safe space for all my students to express themselves and question freely.  At what point do teachers stop getting involved and let the students talk it out amongst themselves to form their own independence in life.  It also makes me think about SCWAAMP and how the “normal” kids who may not struggle with speaking or articulating their emotions or beliefs appear more dominant and this separation is so unnoticed until its too late and a student of “lesser value” is falling into the many negative stereotypes that fall into students who do no feel safe in their learning environment and in turn don't participate and take a back seat approach to learning.  This backs eat approach may seem like the answer to the students, but it prevents them from fully exploring their creativity and what the world has to offer for them as well as not helping the learning disability by not prating conveying points to the class or teacher.