My Work Is Cut Out For Me!

This first week I didn't really do a whole lot with the children individually. I just got to know the kids and I learned about Mrs. Laney and chatted with Mr. Stan, the substitute aide. I helped Mrs. Laney with all that I could. Mrs. Laney is a second grade teacher and has four kids of her own and a husband of 16 years I believe. Don't hold me to that. In my classroom I can tell who is going to give us problems and who won't. There are some very bright students in this classroom and some who just need to be pushed in the right direction. There is a little girl who will be called Mallory throughout my blogs if you happen to keep up with them. She is going to be the challenger she is a very outgoing talkative little girl which is good sometimes. However, since she is a girl she has a major attitude. She causes quite a few distractions. I am hoping maybe I can get through to her and maybe push her in the better direction. There are two boys that I think will be a handful but that is a boy for ya. I am very eager to learn how to work with these kids and see if I can make their second grade experience more enjoyable. Mrs. Laney is great I absolutely love her. She has a passion for seeking out the problem child and leading them in a better direction and I love that about her. She is a very straight forward person and I think we will get along great. I apologize for the delay on my blog I had a family emergency and I could not get to it. Once again I am sorry.

Comments?

Don't forget to check in with your peers' posts and comment now and then. Remember the 3-to-1 rule: for every post you make, write three comments. Since you all should have posted at least once so far, you also should write three responses to other people's posts. While I hope the fact that commenting is generally good motivates you, don't forget that it is also part of your grade (sorry for pulling the teacher card on this count).

Let's set a goal. Right now there should be at least one comment on each journal entry since I tried to ensure that I wrote a comment for everyone. Before you post your next journal, do your part to make sure each post has at least two. Try to make sure no one's posts are getting ignored; it's just not nice.

Oops! I forgot!!

So I totally forgot to post last week and just remembered. So anyways I'm in Mrs.Cogorno's 8th grade art class. There were only 4 girls in my class, but now we have 5. The rest are boys. Let's just say it's an interesting class. They are quite loud and hyper and are typical middle schoolers. They are working on two-point perspective right now. They ask a lot of questions! The questions sometimes have to do with art. But anyway, I'm having a lot of fun and learning a lot! Oh yeah! My kids call me Miss. Em. It's interesting and kind of hard to get used to.

Journal 1 Kori Copeland

Last Monday I started cadet teaching 6th grade special reading with Mrs. Flick. Monday was the first time i had ever met her so i was a little nervous as to how things would go. I was surprised to see that there were only 5 kids in the class, 4 boys and 1 girl. I was expecting more than that but I really like the small class so each child can get some individual attention. Each morning they say the pledge, then fill out their agendas. You'd think that we were asking them to cut their hand off with how much protest some of them give about filling out their journals. Then we do a reading comprehension page and have them answer the questions. It kind of surprised me as to how smart these kids are, they just take a while to figure out what they're doing. She has one student that likes to protest almost everything you say, and sometimes I wonder how she doesn't get frustrated with it. There's still alot to learn with these kids but I think it's going to be a good year.

Journal 1

This first week of cadet teaching was in no way what I expected. Rather than fumbling awkwardly through clerical work, day in and day out, I found myself incredibly intriuged by how different my classroom was from any other I had been in before. After inquiring about this my second day, Mr. Conklin informed me that with special education, it isn't a matter of teaching a group, but teaching a group of individuals. Later on in the week I began helping the students with their homework, and realized fully what he was talking about. While on student's problem was getting frustrated and confused when she didn't imediately know the answer to her problem, another was dealing with the issue of simply rushing through her work and forgetting minor steps. At first, I tried to help them in the same exact way, by having them fill in the blanks of the instructions I was giving them, but only the former responded positively to that.

I realize now that I am going to learn a lot from this year, and I can not wait. Onward to more cadet teaching!

NOISY BUT SWEET( I guess that's just girls)

So I have begun to learn not only the names of the girls in my computer class, but the different personalities mixed into the class. some are very quite and their work in silence and very fast, and others are very chatty and enjoy being very very loud some more than others. None of the girls are trouble makers and all do their work in a timely manner. I think they are starting to warm up to me and sort of starting to get used to calling me Ms. Hindes (I'm still working on it). I really enjoy m teacher and have very interesting and some times random conversations. He has been very helpful with giving me tips on how to survive the rest of my high school career. I still believe that this will be a good class to be in. I am so excited to see where else the year will take me with this class!!!

Beginning anew

The beginning of the second year of teaching started much smoother than I anticipated.  Not having my summer readily available to sit down and plan, that is to fully actualize lessons, left me feeling anxious and uneasy. With just under two weeks of proper preparations, albeit very intense, I was able to get a much needed head start on the upcoming school year. I have to admit to being utterly thrilled at having a cadet teacher, as I am heavily geared towards personal development and collaboration.  This year I will be teaching mostly math courses but as the year progresses I will likely take on more courses each period. My goal with week one was to establish the overall tone of my classes; concentrating on modeling behavior, establishing meaningful positive relationships, and enforcing expectations. I am very much looking forward to week two and all the uncertainty it brings!

Cadet teaching week 1

This first week of Personal Finance with Ms. Kelly turned out really good. I had Personal Finance with a different teacher last year so it was cool to see how another teacher taught the same class in a different way. I helped some students one on one last week as well. I helped them with their first assignment. The assignment was on Chapter One, which was about careers. Then I helped some other students on Friday in the library. Week one went very well and I can't wait to be in that class again this week and help the sudents.

cadet teaching

the first week of cadet teaching was fun. Not sure that i like 7th graders but it is still fun. I get to go over the math minutes with them and tell them the answers to their homework. its a lot of fun

Cadet Teaching

I love working in the library at the middle school and the high school the first week is just getting everything set back up for the school year. At the high school I have been sorting internet agreement forms and at the middle school I have been helping out with the testing for math.

Journal 1

The first full week of cadet teaching came and went really fast, I am very much enjoying the cadet teaching experience right now i am mostly doing paper work and hanging things up around the room but i hope I will start working directly with the students. On my first day of cadet teaching Mrs.Keck was explaining how soil once its been damaged it wont hold water as well the next time and to illustrate this she dropped a jar of water on the ground, half of the class, myself included about had a heart attack when we heard the Glass break. I think it was a great way to show her point and get it to stick out in their memory.

Journal 1

Well, Horizons doesn't start for another week at least because Mrs. Stanek is still doing testing to see what new students she will get. So, even though the time is useful for me to research for Science Research class, I'm a little impatient. I want it to start. Those were the good ol' days, back in elementary school, skipping class every couple days to go to Horizons... Oh, the nostalgia...

Anyway, for anyone who doesn't know what goes on in the gifted program, a typical class would go something like this:

We begin class with a logical reasoning exercise of some kind. Usually, it's a paper with clues that must be used to apply characteristics, such as favorite color, type of car, food eaten, etc. to various fictional characters, such as turtles named Annie, Andy, Andrew, Audrey, and Arthur.

After this is graded, we move on to the lesson/activity for our yearly/semi-yearly unit. This subject may be anything, such as medieval times, flying, Native Americans, World War II, or whatever else it is that has been chosen for the year. Activities may include educational videos, research papers, lectures (though not usually), or anything else that improves knowledge of the subject.

The class will often end with a mental game of some kind, such as Set, Blokus, or... gosh, it's been so long that I can't remember all the other games we played. Set was my favorite. I usually won that.

So that's what last block will be like for me beginning (hopefully) sometime in the week-after-next.

Journal 1

It's the first full week of cadet teaching, and mine is going well. We got off to a really slow start... I was basically observing everyone- whether it be the girls talking in the corner, the boys staring at the girls, the texters and the sleepers... Expected enough, but it picked up Thursday. Mr. Bauer introduced short stories, and even read "The Gift Of The Magi" to his class. After assigning questions, he also gave them noun worksheets (which, I haven't worked on since middle school...or maybe it seems that long ago.)
I got to answer questions and help the students who need it, which was really fun to do- I was "cheating" at learning their names because I didn't (and, still don't) really know them. I also got to collaboratively help plan next weeks assignments, which include reading "Little Red Riding Hood" for a possible essay/short story test for exposition plot...(I think that's the correct name for it). That is super exciting, because I now feel like I am being beneficial to both Mr. Bauer and some of his students.

Beginning #7

Students: You need to post your weekly reflective journal sometime between the end of your cadet teaching period on Friday and the end of the day on Monday. While the length and content will vary, ensure that you have some of what you did during the week (the what) and some reflection/thinking/speculating/etc. about the what (the so what). Also, be sure to label your post with the word Journal and the week number (this week is number 1). Further, ensure that you check the blog to read and comment on other people's entries. If you are having trouble creating a post, see my first post of the year.

Below is my journal for the week.

*****
So for the seventh year in a row have established myself in my second home (Room 203 of PHHS). It has been a rough start in many ways, but things are finally starting to turn around. Finally. I missed two of the three work days prior to school and was utterly not ready to start, but perhaps in a couple more days I'll actually know what is going on. Maybe. Anyway, I am really excited about my classes. For the most part I am teaching the same courses that I have the past couple years, but I hope (as always) that the groups of kids will impress and inspire me in diverse ways. One difference is going back to using a blog for cadet teaching journals. I am hoping that will enable me to better keep track of what's going on with the young pedagogues in the district.

I am interested in seeing if/how using the blog changes things with the cadet teaching program. While the assignments we do are mostly the same, having them available publicly and with the option to comment upon them will certainly affect things, right? My biggest goal is to promote a sense of community among cadet teachers. In past years CTs might become connected to each other if they happen to be in the same building at the same hour, but generally they were alone in their adventures (for better or worse). I know that contact online is not the same is contact in person, so I'm not sure how that affects community-ness (okay, so I'm making up words), but perhaps since the high school students are so used to technology it will be kinda the same. I don't know. Perhaps we will figure out together. Anyway, I hope you have something to say to each other (if not now, eventually) and become an active participant on this here blog.

I hope you've had a great first week! Let me know if you need anything.

getting started

so today was my second day of cadet teaching, and so far I really enjoy it. my teacher is super funny and nice. this semester the computer class is all girls they are very entertaining and love to giggle and talk just about the whole time they are typing. I think I am really going to enjoy cadet teaching!!!!!!

Welcome to Blogotopia!

Dear Cadets,

You have successfully found our blog! For those of you who are unfamiliar with blogging, a blog is a website that is generally updated frequently with the most recent additions being added at the top of the page (i.e., reverse chronological order). Show that you are officially a member of the community and can follow instructions by leaving a comment on this post that tells people what grade level or subject area you will be working with this year.

As an invited author you may create and respond to posts by following the instructions below.

1. Create a post by logging in to Blogger and selecting "New Post" in the top right corner.
2. Enter a title/topic in the box below the tabs.
3. Type your post into the white box.
4. Use the tools along the top of the white box to adjust the post (change fonts, add links, adjust alignment, add a list (numbers or bullets), check spelling, or add a photo or video).
5. In the box in the lower right corner, enter labels to tag the entry. This will allow similar entries to be grouped together. For example, I have tagged this post with the words "instructions" and "assignments." If you need to review some instructions or assignments, you will be able to search by the tag and find any posts tagged with those words. Pay attention to instructions for how to tag certain assignments. If I ask you to tag your first journal as Journal 1, you need to ensure your entry has the exact same tag (otherwise when I go to read entries sorted as Journal 1 it will not include yours with ones that are correctly tagged. Some tags will be assigned, while others you can create based on what you are writing about. For example, if you are writing your journal for week three about student behavior you can type in the label box Journal 3, behavior, discipline (anything you think someone else might use would be a good tag). Students have historically been horrible about figuring out the whole tagging thing. Restore my faith in humanity by figuring it out.
6. When finished, use the spelling checker. Please.
   
7. When finished checking your post, select the orange "Publish Post" button.
8. Check the blog again some time after posting to check for comments and respond to comments left by other users.

Stay tuned for further instructions on blog use and clarifications (if needed). Also, feel free to ask questions in class or in a post or comment on this post.