Elementary School Assignment

Today in Teacher Cadet we read for 10 minutes during SSR, and after wrote our pot notes. Then, Mrs. Sutusky passed out random numbers to put us into groups. I was put into a group with Amanda and Murshay. Our project is to create our own elementary school. So far we came up with our name "Sunshine Elementary", and our mascot is the turtle. While I was working on the layout for our school, Murshay and Amanda worked on our schedule for the day. We decided to go with a round school to fit in with our name. We also have to create a 3D model of our classrooms, along with a oral presentation. I believe our project will turn out really good, and iIm excited to get the ball rolling.

Keri and Jill working on their project

Brittany and Amanda working on their project

Mini Lesson Presentation

Today in class we did SSR as normal then did our daily "pot notes". Afterwards we got about 15 minutes to get ourselves ready and situated to teach our classmates about our lessons. My group--Amanda, Courtney, and I--lesson was about Physical Development and we were first. We did our presentation in the form of a Prezi and it went well at first, but then we had technical difficulties with videos. Then everyone else had the same problems with their videos (the interent was being so slowwww!). The last thing we had were activites to go along with our lessons and some of them are kinda hard. The other lessons that we learned about were, Stages of Cognitive Development/ Cognitive Development According to Jean Piaget, Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development, and Erikson's Psychosocial Development Theory/Lev Vygotsky's Social Cognitive Development. All the lessons were interesting and done well.

Veta, Keri, and Josh presenting their mini lesson

Murshay and Amanda presenting their mini lesson

Mini-Lessons

Today was a calm day. Some students read the book, "A Child Called It" while others talked quietly. After the bell rang we did our "pot notes". When we got back to our seats, Mrs. Sutusky told us to break into our groups to work on out Mini-Lessons. My group is me, Murshay and Courtney. We have to make a presentation on Physical Development. So far, all the groups are done with their presentations and are looking for a video to represent their topic.

Still working on mini lessons

Today in Teacher Cadet, we got our test grades from last week's SPED test. The grades were pretty good, but I know that I could have done better on the test. We worked on our mini lessons all class period and thankfully we got a lot of work completed. The class worked extremely hard on their group mini lessons, nobody talked, and most importantly everybody took it seriously. Mrs. Sutusky told us to study our lessons, so when we teach the class we won't have to look at our PowerPoint. It is important to keep all eyes on the class during instruction so students are always fully engaged. This is going to be a great practice for us.

Jill, Brittany, and Parker preparing for their mini lesson

Mini Lessons

Today in class, we had our ten minutes of reading. We are reading “A Child Called It” as a class. Everyone seems to really be enjoying the book. Then after the bell rang we wrote our pot notes to one another. Pot notes are very good self-esteem boosters. We all love receiving nice notes about ourselves from our classmates. Then we all had to fill out an observation sheet about what we observed Friday when we went to different schools. Our class went to an elementary, middle, and high school. We had to discuss the differences and between schools and answer the question "When do kids begin to lose interest in school." We all had a discussion about what we thought. It was very interesting hearing what others had to say.

We continued working on our mini lessons in our groups. Each group has to make a PowerPoint on what they are teaching and a video that goes along with it. We also have to include an activity for the class to complete. They are due Thursday, and we have to teach the class about different stages of development. I’m excited about teaching the class because it’s going to help me learn how to be a teacher. It will also help me get experience before I have to go into an actual classroom and teach alone. 

Amanda, Courtney, and Murshay working on their mini lesson

Field Trip

On Friday, our class went on a field trip to several locations. Our first location was Mt. Pisgah Elementary. We split up into groups and went to different classrooms with different age groups. We helped and examined the teachers in their classrooms to see what they go through on a daily basis. After going to all the classrooms, we went to Camden Elementary School to see the severe special education students around the county. We split up into three groups between the self contained, autistic, and disabled classes. Our group started with the disabled class. We had to help them paint a drawing using different things such as paint mixed with grits or flour. The students reacted well to their senses and they enjoyed paining. It was an amazing experience to be able to help them.

We then went to the self contained classroom. A little girl with Edward's Syndrom immediatly approached me and gave me a hug. She stuck to me and I pushed her on the swing and sat with her. She enjoyed me and I enjoyed her. This was my favorite part of the trip. After that we went to the last class with the autistic children. It was an amazing experience for us to see them in their learning environment and how the teachers treat them as if they are their own kids. They love their job and even encouraged us to take the same road as them. We went to Sonic for lunch after leaving the Camden Elementary.

After lunch, we went to North Central Middle School to observe the 8th graders. We went to Mrs. Kahler's class, Mrs. Mathis' class, Mrs. Peake's class, and Mr. Leninger's class and watched them teach their lessons. We saw the different types of ways they teach whether it was interaction or simply relating their lessons to everyday life topics. After visiting the middle school, we went on to the high school. We visited Coach Deese's class, Mrs. Clinton's class, Mrs. Mitha's class, and Mrs. McGee's class. They teach freshman classes. It was amazing experience for us to see the differences in the age groups as everything changed from the way the teacher taught to the way the classroom was setup. I enjoyed the field trip and I think everyone in my class can agree.

Please enjoy our pictures from the Observation Day.

Courtney made a new friend

Mrs. Sutusky and Murshay

Brandon's first Sonic cheeseburger

Yummy! Lunch at Sonic



Veta working with Mrs. Kahler's students

                                               

Jill playing volleyball with students at the middle school

Jill helping a student at the middle school

Parker got to see his Mom at the middle school

Parker helping students at the elementary school

Brittany working with elementary students

Brandon helping students at the elementary school

All of us at Sonic

Josh helping a student at the middle school

Courtney working with a middle school student

TJ talking with elementary students about sports

Keri is ready to make those students work

Josh working with elementary students on their morning activities

                                              

TJ working with elementary students

Ally helping an elementary student

Courtney helping a student with his morning routine

Veta helping a student with his spelling test

Amanda helping a student with his test

The girls helping students with AR

Courtney getting ready to paint with her student

Brittany helping an elementary student

Brandon helping elementary students with math problems

Parker helping students with AR

Jill helping students at Mt. Pisgah

TJ helping a student paint

Murshay helping a student clean up after painting

Murshay paining with a student

Courtney helping a student paint

TJ loves to paint

TJ and his new best friend

TJ helping a student swing

Courtney helping a student with his classwork

Amanda and Jill helping students eat lunch

Josh helping a student eat lunch

Josh having a good lunch discussion with a student

Working on our mini lesson

Class began in a different way today. We had several students helping Mrs. Albright with a Beta Club stuff, so we did not get to write pot notes. I missed my pot notes. Today in Teacher Cadet we finished the movie "What's Eating Gilbert Grape." It was a great movie. My favorite part was when Gilbert stood up for his mom and no longer allowed people to call her fat. I think a few students in the class were crying during the movie. I am glad Mrs. Sutusky introduced us to this movie. We didn't have a lot of class time after the movie, but we got to spend a little time working on our developmental mini lessons. We have to create a lesson and teach the different stages of development. Yes, like teach the class! Our lessons are due Thursday. Our observation day is tomorrow and I am so excited.

Jill, Britany, and Parker working on their mini lesson

Amanda and Courtney working on their mini lesson

Types of Development

Yesterday in Teacher Cadet we read during SSR and wrote our pot notes. After the usual morning routine, we continued watching "Whats Eating Gilbert Grape." This movie pertains to dealing and living with a mentally disabled child. The social and environmental interactions of the movie involving this provide valuable in site to raising or dealing with special needs. After we watched about 45 minutes of the movie, we were split up into groups of three and started on Types of Developments. The idea of the exercise was to teach the rest of the class about our assigned area of development. This is our first, real oppertunity to teach our peers.

Test Day

Today at the beginning of Teacher Cadet, we did what we always do which is SSR and write pot notes. Then we took our SPED test and it was more difficult than everybody thought it was going to be. It took everybody a great bit of time to finish the test. The thing that got me about the test was how the questions were worded. Things can't always be simple. Mrs. Sutusky always gives us ways to get more points for the test and always does a good job of going over the test. She gave us the oppertunity to list anything that was not on the test for extra credit. Everything we learned about during this unit was on the test, and there wasn't anything that we didn't go over. After the test we started watching this movie called "What's Eating Gilbert Grape." The movie is about a boy who has a severe mental disability, and Gilbert's mother is massivly overweight. This movie so far has been great and a little upsetting.



Veta finishing up her SPED test



Review For Our Special Education Test

At the beginning of class we went through our normal routine of SSR followed by writing our pot notes. After that Mrs. Sutusky began reviewing for the SPED test with the class. We reviewed the special education federal laws, classifications of learning disorders, and other terms regarding Special Education by going around the class and asking each student a question. Then, after that brief overview of the topic she divided the class into two teams so we could play a Jeopardy game. I thought it was a great idea for us to play Jeopardy today not only because I like it, but because I think it helps to get students to interact with each other and participate more than they would in a more formal class setting. By the end of class I think everyone came to the realization that we all have some studying to do for our test tomorrow!



Veta studying for her SPED test



Seven Barriers to Learning

Friday in Teacher Cadet we began class like normal: pot notes and SSR. We are reading a book called “A Child Called It” and it is wonderful. The book directly ties in with our Special Education unit and correlated with the seven barriers of learning. After SSR, we unwrapped our tie-dye shirts and they look AWESOME. I can’t wait to wear them on Wednesday when we visit different classrooms. Mrs. Sutusky hung them all outside her classroom, and we picked them up at the end of the day. Our lesson today consisted of learning about the seven barriers to learning. Mrs. Sutusky broke us into several groups and assigned each group a barrier to learning. We used the Jigsaw Method to present each barrier to the class.

Here are the seven barriers to learning:

1. Abuse

2. Death, dying, and grief

3. Depression and suicide tendencies

4. Eating disorders

5. Latchkey Children

6. Sleep deprivation

7. Substance abuse

We have out Special Education test next week, and Wednesday is our observation day. I am looking forward to another great week in Teacher Cadet.

Our shirts drying outside of Sutusky's room

Veta and Amanda with their shirts