Field Post 1

Descriptions	interpretations	Parking lot
Students were being taught about phonics, specifically the    -th sound	Children are struggling speaking those words.	Children who are younger struggle with pronunciations and need to learn what sound those letters make
The students are practicing spelling by having the teacher say the word.	They do not know which word to spell. If there are 3 forms of the word there, their and they’re
The teacher has a stop light for behavior	Some kids are misbehaving badly	Some of the kids I thought were misbehaving were not listed as in the bad zone
There was a woman who walked in and focused on one child	She is helping the kid who is struggling in the class	I have witnessed in my old school that specialized help means the child is behind
Students were pushing chairs and calling names	The kids were bullying the other child	The boy who was pushing the chair and calling names was in  the red zone meaning he was in trouble. I am presuming he is causing this.
Students are reading to themselves	Students are not comprehending	The teacher says they are not doing it, but from what I saw, they were.
The students read out loud as a group but you could only hear a couple voices	The students are still struggling with reading	They are in second grade so I do not know what level they need to be reading at.

My Reflection:

This past Thursday, we visited Noble Elementary School. It was very interesting. I am from a suburban public high school and I have little experience with urban schools. Observing the class opened my eyes to a whole world outside what I perceived as school. When we walked into the school, we had to have our licenses for identification. My old elementary school was very lenient. To enter the school, you just had to sign in. We listened to the principal of the school describe the school and give us information about the school. We then went and observed classes. Chloe and I observed a second grade class. Being in this class helped me realize that I do not want to be an elementary teacher. I do not have the patience needed to teach phonics and teach kids how to read. A special kind of person is needed and I am not that person.  I also observed a teacher giving special attention to a boy. He seemed to be struggling paying attention and with basic reading. I also know that I could not be that kind of a teacher because even more patience is needed. I know that teachers need to be patient, but I would rather teach harder concepts. I also enjoy science more than teaching others how to read. We went back to the principal and learned that Noble Elementary School is a focus school and has to pay $5,000 dollars to families who send their children to private schools in the district. I think that that is wrong and the school should not be forced to do that. I also learned that there is a third grade reading guarantee. This means that in order to move to 4^th grade, you have to pass a reading test. I think that stresses teachers out but it is a good rule. This makes sure everyone can read.

Blog Post 3

One question that I came across during my reading of, To Teach,  was, ”Should schools start diagnosing children with different disorders?”  I think that there is some good and bad that can come out of the spike in the diagnosing of disorders. Some children really do have a disorder such as ADHD or a learning deficiency. Those children need to be able to have special attention and accommodations made for them. I do think that we diagnose kids too willingly. When people are questioning if there is something wrong with a kid, they think the worst. They believe the kid has a disorder. I have witnessed this when I worked at a daycare. The teachers and workers would always diagnose the children with disorders. If a child acted out just once, they would say the kid has some disorder. The problem is that sometimes kids are just being kids. They have to learn from mistakes. There's an idea that if students do not fit in a box, then they are broken or messed up. That is not true. Everyone is different, and teachers need to realize that. Kids have lives outside of school. Those lives could be affecting their performance. Before we say a child has a disorder, we have to listen and talk to the children more to understand their home life. Teachers need to be understanding of each student and not expect each kid to be perfect all the time.

Why Teach?

My family is full of teachers. My dad is a high school English teacher, my aunt is a middle school English teacher, and my cousin is a fourth grade teacher. Teaching is in my blood. I want to become a teacher so I can help students understand the world and inspire them. I really enjoy biology, math and science, and I would like to help kids enjoy those subjects too. The best teacher I ever had was my sophomore biology teacher. He made biology interesting and fun. He covered great amounts of material, but it never got boring. He assigned lots of homework and projects but it never felt like busy work. I enjoyed the discussions we had on the ethics of biology and on the biological world. He inspires me to be a teacher. I want to inspire kids just how he inspire me.

In Chapter 3 of the book, Educational Foundations, there were ten questions asked and discussed. The most important question to me was, “What do you know that you can teach to or share with your students?” I think that the answers to this question really explains what you can do. My answer to this question is that I can understand people from different backgrounds and be equals with that person. I can share my past experiences to teach others how to be respectful. In today’s world, learning to be respectful is extremely important, but hard to learn. Hopefully, I could change that.  

Another question that was asked was what age do you want to work with. I want to teach high schoolers because I want to go more in depth on discussions. I do not have the patience to teach second graders the rock cycle for a month.

Hi!

I'm Madelyn McBride, but you can call me Maddy. I am from Brecksville, Ohio. It's about 20-30 minutes away.  I am majoring in Biology, but I think that I want to be a High School biology teacher so I plan on getting a Teaching license.

I am on the JCU Dance Team and part of the Honors Program at JCU.  I used to dance competitively, and I would be a dance assistant for some teachers. I helped teach little girls around the ages of 6-9 how to dance, and I really enjoyed it. I also worked this summer at a Daycare center and I worked with infants to 5th graders. This experience helped me realize that I do not want to teach younger kids. I would rather teach middle school to high school.

To me, being happy is what matters most to me. In the book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Dumbledore says, "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." This is very significant to me because it helps to remind myself that I can always be happy if I remember that I can choose to be happy.

For me to feel comfortable in a classroom, I have to have students around me who are kind and respectful of others opinions. I also enjoy teachers who listen to students and realize that there are different ways to learn.

When I was a junior in high school, I was taking an honors chemistry class that was run by a teacher who did not care about teaching her students. She missed over 20 days of school and when you asked for help she would tell you to ask a friend first. This has inspired me to not be one of those teachers and to help all students.

Some issues that the education field is facing right now is that teachers are forced to teach toward standardized tests instead of teaching other items. Teachers are forced to focus on the same concepts and are not able to expand students minds.

Have you always wanted to be a teacher?