Tie-Dying our shirt

At the beginning of the class we began to read our new novel "A Child Called It" for SSR.  Afterwards we did our daily pot notes. Once we got done doing our pot notes we got our shirt and went and wet it then put rubberbands around it. Then we went outside and tie-dyed our shirt. Now we are just waiting for them to dry. This activity was fun and i cannot wait to see how my shirt looks when its dry. I cannot wait until next Wednesday when we go to all the schools. I think it is going to be a great experience. 

The girls getting their shirts ready to be tie-dyed



Ally and Murshay reading "A Child Called It"



Jill, Murshay, and Ally working on their shirts



 





Presenting our Big Books

Today in Teacher Cadet we went to Mt. Pisgah Elementary School to read our big books to Mrs. Joyner's class. We were so all pumped up and excited that we got to class before the first bell even rang. While we were standing in class getting ready to leave, we made sure our books were all ready to go. We also got to see our awesome Teacher Cadet shirts. We are going to tie-dye them tomorrow, so keep posted for those pictures! Finally Keri, Veta, Amanda, and myself got into Mrs. Sutusky's car and headed to Mount Pisgah. The other girls and boys rode in three separate cars. On our way to Mt. Pisgah we were laughing, and getting excited to meet the students. When we got there and were waiting on the others to arrive, we get to see Mr. Branham's new office and took a tour around the school. He was extremely friendly to us, and we even got to see him interact with some of his new students. Once everyone got to Mt. Pisgah, we finally went into Mrs. Joyner's first grade class. Each group read their book to the first grade class. While in the classroom, we got to mingle with the students and get to know them better. I think that everyone had a good time, and we were aware of the different types of students. When we were leaving I noticed one little girl being very fond of Jill. The little girl just hugged her and didn't want to let go. While they were hugging Jill's earring got caught in the little girls hair. After the earring was out of her hair, we left to come back to North Central. I really enjoyed getting to be in the class with those kids, and I can't wait to go into my placement.



Reading with the first graders



Showing the first graders "Molly"



TJ showing the students "Molly"



Murshay, Josh, Jill, and TJ working with students

Josh reading "Molly the Mess Up"

Amanda showing the first graders "Penelope"

A first grader reading "Jerry and Mary's" Big Adventure"

Jill made a new best friend

The students showed us how great they can read!

Ally reading "Penelope the Pig"

Courtney, Parker, Amanda, and Ally reading about "Penelope"

First grade students reading "Molly"

Brandon, Veta, Keri, and Brittany reading "Jerry and Mary's Big Adventure"

2012 North Central High School Teacher Cadets with their Big Books



How it Feels to Have a Learning Disability

Today started off like any other day with SSR then our daily "pot notes". I really love doing those every morning because it makes me feel good to write someone a compliment. After we did our normal morning routine, we watched clips from a video called F.A.T City which explained how it feels to be a child that is learning disabled. In the first video clip the instructor explained how when a child without a disability is asked a question starts processing an answer, but a learning disabled child has to process the parts of the question first before even responding. The second video clip was about having a reading disorder, they showed images of sentences from a story where the letters were jumbled up, turned upside down, and the spacing was off. It was really hard to read and made me understand how hard it truly is for them to really read it. The third clip was a picture of a cow, but you couldn't tell what it was until the instructor told everyone what it was, it was to show us how perception differs in people.The last clip we watched was from Mean Girls where they were talking about how the cafeteria was divided up by cliques. After the video clips were done Mrs. Sutusky had a surprise activity for us. She put labels on our heads (we weren't allowed to see our own) with things like, "treat me like a child", "I'm deaf", and "value my ideas". We then had to talk to each other and treat each other by what was on the other person's head without telling them. Mine said "ignore me", it made me feel bad when everyone walked away and wouldn't talk to me. The idea of this lesson was effective it literally put us in the shoes of those kids we all know, and showed us how they live their lives everyday.

Murshay with her "ignore me" label

Amanda with her "Laugh at my ideas" label

Veta was a "slow learner"

Josh and Ally

Brandon and Parker in a deep conversation

Special Education

Today started like any other day. We did our 10 minutes of reading and our "Pot Notes." After our pot notes, we started going over a Power Point about the laws and different catogorties that deal with Specail Education. We learned about self-contained and inclusion classrooms. The difference between those classrooms are students in a self-contained class get little or no exposure to other classrooms because their disability is more severe compared to an inclusion student who is exposed to the regular classroom enviroment most of their day. I personally enjoy learning about Special Education. I have people in my family that have some sort of learning disability, so I am always around it. I can't wait to dig deeper in the lesson so I can understand Special Education better.

Disability Day

Today in Teacher Cadet we got to actually experience special education first hand. Mrs. Sutusky planned for us to have a "play day." We did activities to help us better understand what special needs students go through every day. Mrs. Sutusky set up several different stations, and each station had challenges that we had to go through. In the first station we had to get in a wheel chair and roll around the hall way. We also had to go in the bathroom and actually get in a stall. In station two, we had to get on crutches, walk around the Annex, and open a door. It was extremely hard to open the door when you can only use your hands while sitting down. In station three, we listened to static while your partner talked to you. I could not understand anything Courtney was saying to me. Then, in station four we had to put marshmallows in our mouth and try talk and see if our partner could understand us. In station five, we had to put on glasses with Chap Stick on them and try to put peanut butter and crackers. I couldn’t see anything through those glasses. It gave me a better understanding of what students with visual impairments go through. In station six we had to wrap our dominant arm to our body and pack and unpack a book bag. I loved these activates because it really demonstrated to me what special needs students go through on a daily basis. I finally figured out what it is like to be mentally disabled and not be able to do what I want. We had a great day in the class and I love special education.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several pictures of the Teacher Cadets at each special education station

Introduction to Special Education

We had a very productive day in Teacher Cadet. We started an introduction to special education. Mrs. Sutusky had us read a story titled “A Wicket’s Wad.” No one in class understood it because it wasn’t meant to be understood. While reading the story everyone made comments like “huh”, “what does this mean”, and “I don’t understand.” Mrs. Sutusky wrote all of our comments on her dry erase board so that we could see our response to the story, and that was cool. She had us read “A Wicket’s Wad” to better understand the everyday struggles special education children face. They have a hard time understanding things such as reading and we experienced that first hand today in class. Then she gave us all a note card and told us to answer the question “If I was a parent of a special needs child, I would…..” on one side and our response to the reading assignment on the other. Mrs. Sutusky loves to hear our responses. After that Ms. Moak, the North Central High School resource teacher, came in to give us a better understanding of her job. It seems to me like her job would get frustrating due to having different age kids on different levels in her room at the same time. She has to ensure that she helps every child with their specific requirements. Ms. Moak clearly loves her job. We asked her “What age children do you enjoy teaching most” and she responded “when you love teaching as much as I do, it doesn’t matter what age group it is.” The class really enjoyed hearing what she had to say. It gave us all a better perspective about special education. When Ms. Moak left we all got out our big books and continued working on them. We’re all putting the finishing touches on our books. The class is so excited about the books, and we can’t wait to get in the class room with elementary children and show them our hard work.

Student's comments while reading "A Wicket's Wad"

Ms. Moak speaking to the class about Special Education

Brandon, Jill, and Courtney extremely frustrated with "A Wicket's Wad"