My First Day as an Intern

The response to the following blog post can be found here.

Selfie from Allison and I's
first day at our field site!

First Day back as an Intern!

Mr. Crawford

On September 13, 2016, I returned back to Walker Creek Elementary for my second year of interning. This year, I am interning in a First Grade classroom, with a teacher named Mr. Crawford. This is his 8th year of teaching. To see his website, click here. I prepared by adding and editing my "About Me" poster from last year. I made some changes, and brought it along with me. On the first day I wore jeans, my EAT button up shirt, and white converse. As soon as I walked in, I did my introduction, which only lasted about 2 minutes, but it did grab everyone's attention. When I first walked in, I felt extremely happy to be back in a classroom. I saw so many familiar faces and I was so excited to teach and learn with these new faces. During the time that I am in his classroom, I get to help the first graders with math. This worked out perfectly; math is my favorite subject! After talking to Mr.Crawford about the changes that take place in the students during a year in 1st grade, I think I am most excited to see how much the students will learn and develop during the 36 weeks in this grade level! I am most excited about being apart of their lives this year, and help teach them new things. This week in my classroom, I got to learn what the teachers and students do during a fire drill, see what responsibilities the first graders get in the library, listen in on their math book lessons each day, and I got to watch them quietly read alone for "stamina" for a record time of 12:00 mins. Many things happened this week, and I got to observe and see what happens in each new situation or lesson. After leaving, I was completely filled with joy. I cannot wait to go back this week and learn more about my new scholars, and see what they are capable of doing this school year!

Even though I am in the same school, last year and this year's internship is completely different! Last year, I was in kindergarten, and even though the grade level difference is just one year, 1st grade is way more complex. As of last year, the teacher continuously showed the students how to do things, but this year, the students are right next to the teacher, trying everything out and doing everything with him. The students this year have already greatly increased their maturity level, and they are way more self-sufficient than last year. Besides the students, the teachers also have big differences. My teacher this year is much more laid back, and relies on the students to problem-solve and work things out on their own. I can not wait to continue to see similarities and differences in these two classrooms and grade levels as the year goes on.

Picture of me in the classroom!

My Plan of Attack

The following blog post can be found here.

Last year, I competed in the Ethical Dilemma and ELF Test Competitions, and made it to the State Competition for the Ethical Dilemma contest. Last year, I enjoyed working with my team, and I plan doing it again this year for the Scrapbook Competition.

This is a picture of my classmates and I at the Region Conference from 2015.

Steps:
1. I will decide on the contests I plan on participating in. 2. I will decide who I will be working with on which contests (if they are group projects).3. I will plan what needs to get done, and work as hard as I can to get it completed before the Region Competition. 4. After I compete, and hopefully move on to the state level, I will work hard on preparing and perfecting my work before I compete again at state. 

Click here to view all of the TAFE Competitons.

•  I will be doing the Chapter Scrapbook Contest (guidelines), the Breakout Session Contest (guidelines) and the Portfolio contest (guidelines). The Scrapbook and Breakout Session Contests will be done in a group, but the Portfolio Contest will be done by myself.
• I believe the scrapbook and the breakout sessions will take a while to complete, because there are a lot of events and materials that need to be included. My group and I will need to work very hard to get these done on time.
• The portfolio contest should not take quite as long because, most of the information is already on the portfolio, I will just have to add in more information as the time goes by.
• To be successful, I will need hard work and dedication from each of the group members.

Welcome to My Blog!

The following blog assignment can be found here.

School year 2016-2017 is now started! As I start my Senior year, I am so excited to see what this year will consist of. 

I am a student at Birdville High School, and am involved in the Education and Training Program at Birdville's Center of Technology and Advanced Learning. I am so excited to be involved in school organizations and experience new things as I take on my last year of high school. In a few weeks I will be going out to a new field site classroom, and I am so excited to meet my new students. Last year, I interned in a kindergarten classroom, and this year I plan on helping out in a first grade classroom. I can not wait to learn more about this new grade level, and experience what teaching first grade is like.

Follow my blog to watch my journey through my year as a Senior in the Education and Training program.

2016 Education and Training Video

Below is our end of year Education and Training video!

Junior Year Animoto

The following is an Animoto that I made for my Junior Year.
Enjoy!

Book Study, Part 1 - The Smartest Kids in the World

Click here to view the following blog prompt.
Recently in class we started to read "The Smartest Kids in the World" by Amanda Ripley. I think this book is very interesting and a good book to read if you are interested in what it's like to be a foreign exchange student. I found interesting, and really enjoyed what I read through the first four chapters. I got introduced to the students: Kim, Eric and Tom, and I am very excited to read more about their experiences in Finland, Korea and Poland.

Out of the three characters, I think that I most relate to Eric. Eric is empathetic, and he always sees the positives in things. Even though lonely at the Korean school, he is very interested in the new culture around him. He enjoys math, and he worked hard in high school, taking rigorous courses. I view myself as Eric because I LOVE math, and I'm interested in new things. I am empathetic towards others, I try to stay positive in new situations, and I am pushing myself by taking difficult courses in high school. Eric's want for adventure stood out to me. After completing high school, instead of going to college, Eric wanted to try something new, and left his peers for a year. This took bravery and determination to travel and to study abroad.

The three different schools in Finland, Korea and Poland were very interesting to me. I learned that most of them are not like schools in the U.S., especially Korea. The way they taught and led things were very different. Out of the three schools, I think that the school in Finland would be beneficial to the United States. Finland offers a school that may be considered as "old-school". Even though the school does not use technology, I think that this would help the students in America to stay engaged and on task. The teachers in Finland are devoted and excited about teaching. I think teachers like this would benefit the learning envoiornment in the U.S., because if the teachers are promoting education, the children will enjoy it.

Click here to view an intrerview with the author of this book.

Tech Tools

These are all the tech tools that my class learned and used in class. 

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=1985434