Today's Work

Today in Teacher Cadet we did the usual things like read and write pot notes. Jill and Parker presented their quotes at the beginning of class and they were great. We were going to continue with learning styles, but since most of our classmates were taking senior portraits Mrs. Sutusky let us work on our big book. My group has been working hard on our big book trying to make it look good. About half way through the class, I noticed that I was the only member left of my group. This made me work even harder on my book. I love this class and hope we continue to have fun activities. Mrs. Sutusky is a great teacher. (:

Jill and Parker presenting their quotes

Multiple Intelligences

We started our Teacher Cadet class today with SSR followed by our pot notes. After that Mrs. Sutusky taught us about the eight types of multiple intelligences.They are: verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, intrapersonal, bodily/kinsthetic, interpersonal, naturalist, musical/rhythmic. The point in this lesson was not only to figure out which type of intelligence we each have, but to be aware of the variety so later on we will be able to plan our lessons to effectively teach all types of children. After our lesson we each took individual surveys to pin point our individual intelligence. I scored highest under intrapersonal which really did not surprise me. The next type I scored highest on was musical/rhythmic. We then went around the room sharing what type we were and then had to draw out our intelligence on a sheet of paper to display around the classroom. Once we completed our paper we gathered with our group members and continued working on our big books.

Parker, TJ, and Amanda working on their multiple intelligence illustration

Learning Styles and a visit from Coker College

Today in Teacher Cadet was the first day we did not get the opportunity to work on our Big Books. Several students continually asked to work on their books, but we were on a time crunch today. We did the usual SSR and pot notes, then Mrs. Sutusky introduced our lesson for the day. She told us we were going to begin learning about different processing styles. She us “Can anyone tell me the different kinds of learning styles?” A few students in the class answered immediately, but some had no idea. We learned that there are three kinds of learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Visual learners learn best from PowerPoints or graphs, auditory learners benefit most from a lecture, and kinesthetic learners benefit most from hands on activities. After the presentation, we took a learning styles questionnaire. Several students were surprised with the results. Every student shared what type of learner they were, and some even disagreed with the results. We also had to fill out a learning style pyramid. Mrs. Sutusky surprised is with a pop quiz after the lesson, but I aced it. Two women came to visit our class from Coker College today. We partner with Coker College to receive college credit for our class. One was an admissions counselor and the other was from the College of Education at Coker. They told us all about the cool things at Coker College and about the Teacher Cadet program as well. The women also informed us about college day on November 2^nd. I am excited to attend college day in November! 

Big Book

In Teacher Cadet today, we read for ten minutes as usual and after reading we wrote our daily pot notes to our friends in class. After writing our pot notes, we began to work on our "Big Book" project again. Today was the last day Mrs. Sutusky gave us the entire period to work on our books. My group made a lot of progress today. We wrote out our whole story and added color to the book, but we still have to add the pictures. Our book is finally coming together, and it looks a lot better than it did the other day, I can't wait until we are finished with our children's and have everything put together. It is going to be great to interact with the kids when we are reading our book to them. I can't wait to see what they think. 



Amanda coloring letter for her book

Ally coloring letters for her book

Courtney coloring letters for her book

Jill coloring "Molly"



Jill making "Molly's" bow



Still working on our Big Book

This morning in Teacher Cadet we read for 10 minutes during sustained silent reading which is a daily ritual in our school. After SSR, we wrote our daily "pot notes" to two of our fellow students. Once we wrote our pot notes, we began working on our children's book. We picked up right where we left off on Friday. My group went to the library to look for pictures, but returned to class without any luck. When we got back to class, Mrs. Sutusky helped us find the perfect images for our book. We finally found our pictures and are now making great progress on our books. We are extremely excited to finish and read them to elementary students.



Veta getting her book ready



Brittany writing her Big Book

Tracing their pig

Josh cutting out "Molly"

Murshay drawing "Molly"





The Big Book

We began class Friday just like we did Wednesday and Thursday; writing pot notes. I can’t wait to check my pot in the mornings, and I am really going to miss this morning ritual when we are in our student teaching placements.

The boys love checking their pots

TJ checking his pot

Amanda and Brittany checking their pots

To begin our lesson, Mrs. Sutusky modeled three huge children books. She asked us “Do you have any idea why I am showing you these books?” Since our class has been studying self esteem, we automatically knew what we would be doing: making a children’s book. Not just a regular children's book, but a book about self esteem. The first thought that went through my mind was “Am I going to have to do this alone?” Mrs. Sutusky handed us out apples with random numbers on them. Again, I thought “Is this how many page numbers I have to have?” We soon came to find out that the numbers on the apples represented our groups. This was Mrs. Sutusky’s different way of breaking us into groups. She reviewed the project criteria and the rubric for the children’s book with us as a class. Once Mrs. Sutusky finished her short lesson, she directed us to begin making a rough draft of our children’s book. I thought this project was going to be easy, but once again it really made me think. I thought coming up with a plot was going to be easy, but it was actually extremely challenging. Coming up with rhyming words was also challenging. All the groups finished, or came close to finishing their rough draft. I am excited to begin constructing our children’s book on Monday. When we finish our books, we are going to read them at the local elementary school. I can’t wait. Mr. Thomasson also stopped by to see what we were doing. I think I heard him tell Mrs. Sutusky that he wanted us to record our books for his children - wow! Oh, and the best thing about our class today – Mrs. Sutusky brought us fresh Strawberries!

Amanda's group drafting their children's book

Jill, Josh, and TJ working hard on their book

Veta, Brittany, and Brandon working hard on their book



The Self Esteem Fraud

Today at the beginning of Teachers Cadet, we started off by putting a special note in two of our classmate’s pot. We do this so each student will always contain high self esteem. After we distributed our “pot notes,” we started on a packet called “The Self-Esteem Fraud.” The class got in groups and we all read it together.  While reading the article, we went through and highlighted important facts along with picking a specific statement. We had to reflect on why we chose this statement and what it meant to us. Of course we answered questions in the packet, and they really made us think. Mrs. Sutusky always makes us answer questions that makes us think; it makes my brain hurt. It I never thought self esteem had such an impact on our lives. We all went over the questions together as a class and held the usual class discussion. The article described global and earned praise and why it is important not to give unearned praise. One student even disagreed with aspects of the article. In our groups, we made a T chart on the about the positive and negative effects of negative self esteem, and tell why. We had an extremely productive class today in Teachers Cadet. I am excited to see what tomorrow holds.

Making a T chart

Parker reading "The Self Esteem Fraud"

The Full Pot

To begin class, we had to answer the question “Should teachers have a specific dress code?” After a lengthy class discussion, we discovered that some people disagreed with the writing prompt. They thought teachers should have the same dress code for students. Other students thought that teachers should dress in a professional manner so students will take them seriously. Today’s lesson focused on self esteem.  First, we had to identify our life accomplishments by going on a “shopping trip.” We had to identify our accomplishments as learner, individual, or community. We also discussed the effect self esteem has on students in the classroom. Mrs. Sutusky also told us about non-verbal gestures and the positive and negative impact they have on students. Finally, we read a passage titled “The Full Pot.” High pot symbolized good self worth, and low pot symbolized no self esteem. Each student personalized a pot, so the other students in the class could write them a “pot note.” We will write “pot notes” every morning to boost our self- esteem throughout the day. A “pot note” is a simple, positive message that comes from one student and is delivered to another.

Reading about self esteem

Keri's Pot

Murshay working on her pot

Brittany working on her pot

Reading the "Full Pot"





Our completed pots



Quilt Squares

When class started this morning, we had to answer the question “Is it important for teachers to establish a positive learning environment?” We had a class discussion about the question, and everyone agreed it was indeed important for teachers to establish a positive learning environment. As a form of a KWL chart, we wrote on the board “A great teacher is….” to identify what qualities make a great teacher. Some answers from the class were: good sense of humor, goes the extra mile, and does not give up on students. We will do this again at the end of the semester to see how our answers change. Before we began our lesson, Mrs. Sutusky told us the history of quilting. At first, we were clueless about the relevance of quilting but we soon found out. We each created a personal quilt square with different criteria for each square. When we finally put together our quilt squares, we were each represented on the quilt in a different way.

A great teacher is......





First Day of School

Today was our first day of Teacher Cadet. We received tons of paper work! At the beginning of class, we watched a back to school clip from “Finding Nemo.” We also watched a video clip titled “What Teachers Make” by Taylor Mali. The inspirational video was about teachers making a difference instead of the suggested title of money. Our teacher, Mrs. Sutusky, reviewed the classroom policies and procedures and informed us of what is expected from a Teacher Cadet. Towards the end of class we had an assignment titled “Through the Eyes of a Friend” in which we had to write about how our best friend would describe us.  Finally, at the end of class Mrs. Sutusky showed the Teacher Cadet Promotional video. We watched students at Dutch Fork High School in an actual Teacher Cadet classroom. We were also able to see Teacher Cadets working with young students at their elementary and middle school placements.