Third Week in Field

This last week flew by! I can't believe we're already done with our field experience and are going to be back in classes. Carrie and I finished teaching the last lesson we had to teach, and were able to relax and participate in some of the fun things our school did this week. They had Junior Engineering Day where the students spent the day going from one activity to another. They got to shoot rockets made of 2 liter bottles, operate robots, and learn about sound. The day after Junior Engineering, they had someone come from some Gateway Center and that was way cool too. They had a "mad scientist" who did awesome experiements with the kids and had them predict what would happen. I'm glad we were able to be at the school for both of those days. The kids wrote us notes thanking us and telling us they enjoyed us being in their class. They're good kids. I'll miss them.

Second Week in Field

This second week in field seems to have gone better than the first. We started out the week by teaching lessons on Monday and Tuesday (Veteran's Day) that went well. Our cooperating teacher is still not planning much of anything from day to day. That has been so interesting to see. On Friday, he randomly had everyone go outside (it was about 40 degrees with a freezing wind blowing) and run around and play kickball. The kids were all shivering. That was strange to me that he randomly decides to go outside on such a cold day and run to the fence and back 3 times. It has definitely been interesting to see how one individual has structured his classroom.

I'm getting to know Carrie better every day and I absolutely love working with her. She is so great and has so many good ideas. I'm having a good time.

First Week in Field

This has been an interesting week so far! Carrie and I are in a 5th grade class in American Fork.

The teacher we areworking with is... different. He doesn't plan anything, and therefore the students have a LOT of time to just do whatever they want. Luckily, most of them like to read so they spend a good majority of their time reading. When we arrive in the morning they students do a little literacy activity where they correct sentences that are written incorrectly on the whiteboard. After that they spend 45 minutes copying spelling words out of the dictionary. Once the first hour of school is over, they get into groups where they read together. They do this until lunch time. It's the same thing every day. They do not have a morning recess. They don't even get out of their seats much. I have found it very eye-opening. I work in a different school that is completely the opposite. They have 3 recesses a day, and are constantly doing interactive things with the students.

We had our first opportunity to teach Thursday.. We did a lesson on Immigration and Emigration. I thought it went well. The students were engaged and were able to use a little bit of their creativity. I want to know what the students thought of it. They seemed to enjoy the lesson. Most of the students in the class are from lower-income families and a few have come from other countries. The lesson was something that many of the students could relate to. At one point we had the students share where their families or ancestors had come from. They were so excited to share. I think every student had their hand raised and wanted to tell us where they came from.

Friday's lessons also went extremely well. We did a lesson on Freedom of Speech and Press, and also an Art lesson. The students loved it and were all so engaged. Even those who do not typically speak up or say anything in class were involved. They seemed to have a lot of fun, and that made it fun to be teaching. I am liking the students more and more every day. They all have such fun personalities and are so different. It's been a good experience getting to know them so far.

We'll see what the next week holds!