Teaching

Teaching in Ms.Hood math class

Stages of Development

Learning the different stages of development.

Presenting

Kiara, Rachel, Kashawn, and I presenting Erik Erikson's Psychological Stages of Development

Reflection 6: Observing at Northwest

Cre’Shawn Owens

When I was observing at Northwest. I noticed that it was a summer school class. The student’s that were in summer school was behind mainly because, they had a disability. Although, some students were there because, they were always getting in trouble and misbehaving in class during the school year. Most of them couldn’t really stay focus because they were too busy playing, talking, and being disrespectful. While Ms. Hood was teaching, she always stayed calm, she never got loud with them. I noticed that they had to learn something new everyday, and take a test everyday. Most of the kids didn’t understand what she was teaching, they didn’t catch on very fast.

Most of the students didn’t ask questions, they just put their heads down. When it was time to take the test Ms. Hood helped them a lot, because she wanted to see them pass  and be successful. In my mind, I wished that some of the teachers at Washington did that method instead of just giving a test. That method kind of helped a lot of students.

Reflection 9 : Immigration

As a teacher, immigration and education should impact you as a teacher. Simply, because you’re just not a teacher in this day in age, you're a supporter. Sometimes there are children who are going through a lot at home and that affects the way they act at school. That's one reason why it is so important to get to know your students, and who they are as a person. Not only to be nosey, but to have a better understanding from the child's point of view. Today I learned that some kids that are about to graduate high school are just now finding out that they are undocumented, which means their illegal. That's really not fair because, the illegal student been here almost all their life and they been working so hard in school. Then they have all this opportunities in front of them, but they can't even take advantage of that because they are undocumented. 

Reflection 5: Teaching Experience

Cre’Shawn Owens

We were on our way to F.L. Schlagle Library for the second time. This time we were going to teach a group of twelve that were around the age of 5 years old. I statrted to get a little nervous as we got closer to the building. The reason I was scared because, I didn’t know exactly how to interact with them. As we were walking in the building I started feeling more positive about our Lesson Plan that we created. Especially when they gave us a tour and showed us where everything was at again.

When the kids came in, the first thing they did was put up their book bags and other things in their own crates. Then they sat at the table and started coloring birds. I noticed that the students already knew about some of the birds and knew the names of the birds too. These kids compared to the kids at Mcdaniel. The kids at F.L. Schlagle Library was much more faster than the students at Mcdaniel. I also noticed that the students were at the stage of “Industry vs. Inferiority”. This means that the students are at school needing to cope with new social and academic demands. The next activity we did was go on a hike and teach them about decomposition. Rachel and Kashawn led the hike. While we were walking the kids were picking up different bugs and insects to put into a container. When were close to the end of the hike, one of the kids found a turtle. Then one of the instructors picked it up and the kids wanted to see if it was boy or a girl, so we had to wait until the turtle took his head out of his shell. At the end of the hike we told all the kids to let out all the bugs out of the container, because the bugs are the ones who decompose the trees and other things in the woods.

The next activity we did was reading aloud. I led the reading part of the lesson. The book I read was called: “ Under One Rock, Bugs Slugs and Other Ughs”. While reading I asked them questions about the things that they see and what do they think was under the rock. I noticed that some kids were really interested in the book and some were saying things like, “when is this book over, and I’m ready to do something else”. I was really nervous while I was reading, because I thought the kids were going to ask me questions, that I didn’t have an answer to. Next, the kids ate dirt and worms, which were chocolate and oreos and gummy worms for their snack. The last activity we did was mud painting. Kiara led mud painting. It was very creative, and it seemed like they were actually having fun. I noticed that the girls were much more comftorable to play in the dirt than the boys were. I think overall, we did really good with our lesson plan.

Erik Erikson's Stages Of Development

We had to learn different Stages of Development and Theories.

Reading Under The Rock: Bugs Slugs and Other Ughs to Kids at F.L. Schlagle

My part of the Lesson Plan was to read a book to the kids, so that's what I had to do.

Reflection 4: Making Our Own Lesson Plan

Cre’Shawn Owens

6/17/2013

        When Mrs. Cooper told us that we were doing a lesson, I thought that I was going to do a lesson by myself. Then she told us that she already had our groups made up. So, I was in a group with Destiny and Keianna. I knew for sure that it wasn’t going to be complicated to come up with a lesson because, we were all very creative thinkers. Then she told us they that we can choose and make up any lesson plan, just be creative. They didn’t tell us anything specific to do; they just gave us a Madeline Hunter Lesson Plan.

       

Everyone started to come up with ideas for our lesson. At first we were going to do hair braiding, but then we figured out that everyone is not going to be able to do it. So we came up with the idea that we should do modeling and strutting. We made sure everyone agreed to have modeling as the Lesson Plan. Then we went outside of the classroom to make sure everyone knew how to strut. While we were out there practicing we came to the conclusion that each one of us should do a different strut. So we had a Male Strut, which was exampled by Destiny. Then we had a Classy Strut, which was exampled by Keianna. Lastly, the Ratchet Strut on what not to do, which was created by myself Cre’Shawn.

I think that we had a good lesson plan, but when it was time to present it, everything changed. The reason everything changed because, we had to deal with the whole class being disruptive and we barely had time to present our lesson. That really irritated me because, I know for sure every class that you teach is not going to be perfect, but it’s not going to always be that disruptive and disrespectful towards the teacher. Usually there are always like a group of three that is rude and out of control. I think  we had a good lesson, but if we had more power and control over the classroom, we could have had a  better presentation.

Getting everything done on time was our problem; we jumped from Bell Work to Modeling from that to Checking for understanding. I think what we could have did better was making sure we had put thought into the grade level. We had picked seniors, but then we found out that seniors are not going cooperate really because, they really don’t need the credit to graduate and they are going to be focusing on graduating. That’s usually the problem with Elective classes. If a student feel that they don’t need a class they’re not going to cooperate with the teacher. To solve the problems that we had while teaching, was to make the students calmer ; we could have turned off the lights and open one of the blinds.

Reflection 3: Observation at McDaniel

Cre’Shawn Owens

First Teaching Experiences

6/12/13

Today, when I went to Mcdaniel Elementary School, I really didn’t know what to expect. Nervousness was running through my body, because I always had bad experiences with Special Ed students. They would always be yelling, screaming, or running down the hall, and that would always kind of scare me a little. I can actually say that it was different.

When I first walked into the school, it was kind of dark because usually when you walk into a school the lights are very bright. It seemed like we were welcomed into the school. The first class we went to was the preschool class. There was only two kids in there at first. The first thing I noticed was that the lights were covered; I was really confused about that. In the middle school class the lights were not covered. There were two teachers in the preschool class, five teachers in the elementary classroom, and three teachers in the middle school classroom. The classroom was really colorful like a typical preschool class would look.

While sitting in the class, I saw that the students were not in the right stage they should be. In every class that I went to, the students all had to learn certain things in a different way than the other kids, not that it was a problem, but it was challenging for the students. Bobby, one of the preschool students seemed to be at the stage that he shouldn’t be at anymore, which was called the “Theory of Cognitive Development” by Jean Paiget at Stage 1. Meaning that’s when Babies and Toddlers begin to interact with the environment. This is not the stage he should have been at; he should have been at Stage 2 when the child begins to represent the world symbolically. In the elementary class, there were five different groups going on at the same time. The students were just now learning how to read. None of the students in the elementary class knew how to read fluently. As soon as the teacher told them to start working on their math, it was like math was so fun and easy for them. That was kind of confusing because usually people struggle in math and not in reading or English. Those subjects usually tend to be called the easy classes. I was watching two different students work on math. They both had different methods to help them. One of them had a number line and the other one used his fingers.

        The teachers had different methods for each student to help them try to understand what they wanted them to learn. For teachers to see what students are learning was to quiz them to see how many they get correct. The teachers were always patient with them, they never showed their anger towards the student. Having that kind of teaching job, you would have to be understanding, patient, caring, and know how to talk without hurting their feelings because, they are very sensitive. To keep the students organized they had timers, so they can make sure everyone gets a turn to do all the activities.

Reflection 2: College Panel Discussion

Cre’Shawn Owens

June 10, 2013

Being a college student is being someone who is committed to what you want to do. Dedication is a characteristic that every student should have to stay motivated. I believe that I will grow to gain these qualities to be a great psychologist. Personally, I will struggle with procrastination, because I like to do what I want to do instead of doing what i need to do. So, my senior year I’m going to work on that struggle because, I may get away with it in high school, but in college I’m not going to go very far if I continue to procrastinate.

I understand that I should apply for as many scholarships as possible. There are many scholarships that are available for students to apply for, so there’s really no reason you shouldn’t have scholarships to help you attend college, unless you’re literally not trying and again you have to be dedicated and committed to college. Try as hard as you can to try not to get distracted.

Time Management is most important in being a college student. For instance, you would have to schedule everything around college such as, work, family and friends, time to have fun and enjoying yourself. The kind of person I am, I think I would need to write down everything I need to do in one day to stay organized and focused on what’s important for me to get done, so I can know for sure I have my priorities straight.

Reflection 1- First Teaching Experience (Planning)

Cre’Shawn

When I was in the van, in my mind I’m wondering why they are having us jump straight into teaching little kids. We were not prepared at all. I also thought no one went to F.L. Schlagle library anymore. But when we got there they showed us a tour and they started telling us what we would get to do with the children. It was important for us to make things as simple as possible while we were going to be teaching. Then we found out that we were going to be teaching 5 year olds. In my mind, I’m thinking isn’t that the age when they are annoying? Then she told us that we were going to be teaching about decomposition. I was confused because, I’m wondering there’s no way 5 year olds will be able to understand what decomposition means. They barely know what STOP means.  

I liked the fact that when we got there we got straight to work, so we could have time to be creative with the lesson we will be teaching on Thursday. At first, I thought we were going to be teaching that day, but then I realized that it was going to be the next Thursday that will be coming up. I also liked the fact that we were going to be teaching a group of twelve. This usually means the group will be easily controlled as if it was 25 or 30.

I really didn’t like the fact that we were going to be walking in the woods and messing with dirt and trash, because I’m not an outdoor person. I’m scared of deers and other animals that live in the forest, but I am glad that it isn’t that long that we have to  be outside.  I learned that dirt is poop. The only part I like about being outside was that we were going to be reading to them outside.

I believe that we have a good lesson planned to teach, because we put a lot of thought into our lesson and creativity into our lesson. I think if we had a little more practice or time I think we would be better.

What makes a good teacher?

Cre’Shawn Owens

There are many teachers that are wonderful, although there are certain characteristics that will lead to be a good teacher, but not the perfect teacher. The first quality is to be open-minded. This is important because, being a teacher you should be willing to consider new ideas from other teachers throughout the school or on the other hand maybe even the students. Likewise, you should be able listen and understand how the student is feeling and what their thoughts are about the discussion you are teaching but, also it is important for students to listen and understand the full effect of the what the teacher is trying to get across to the student. In addition to these characteristics, teachers should have high expectations for their students, not only in the classroom, but outside the classroom also. This is most definitely important because, you as a teacher should have faith and belief in each student. You should believe that students are capable of being successful. Indeed teachers should be Intelligent. When teachers have this characteristic they will able to be creative with the way they teach their students. They would also have the knowledge to teach someone else in a different way. The last characteristic is more important than the others; this is one is called dedication. If you’re not dedicated to teaching, you won’t be dedicated to teaching others and you would more nonchalant about things. If you’re not dedicated to teaching then you should probably not be a teacher. When you’re a dedicated teacher you will look passed the amount of money you make or how long you have to grade papers. But, you will dedicate to teach wonderful students and get them to have a brighter future. Now that you know the characteristics you should have as a teacher, do you have what it takes to be the best teacher?