Is Teaching for Me?

During my time in this class, I learned a lot about teaching. I learned that it is hard work, isn't the best paying job in the world, but is the most rewarding career choice. Based on my experiences in this class, actually spending time in the classroom especially, I believe that teaching is what I want to do. I am excited to learn more about teaching in different aspects. I do think that this is the path for me, it will involve a lot of coming out of my shell, but with time and exposure to classrooms, I am sure that will happen.

Service learning has been a major factor in my decision to become a teacher. I absolutely loved being in the classroom, it gave me a first person view of a classroom. It was hard to see the rough parts of teaching, like disciplining students who are misbehaving or seeing a student that struggles not have the support of parents. It also gave me some insight to how lessons are planned and how a classroom runs, and ideas for a future classroom.

My next steps are to start in the Elementary Education program at UVU in the fall. I have been accepted into the program on the conditions that I finish my prerequisites and I begin with my cohort in the fall. I am so excited to dive into this program and stretch my limits to see how far I can stretch. This is going to be a stressful and exciting path to take, and I cannot be more excited to get started and see where I end up!

Service Learning Connections

Throughout the duration of thi course, i have learned a lot. I have learned that there are ways to connect the things we learn in the classroom (or online format as it is here) and the real world (being in school classrooms). As we have learned new things in the class, it was interesting to see how the teacher I observed applied those things in her classroom. 

As I have learned, i have been able to get my thoughts down on this blog. It has been a great way for me to reflect on the things that I saw in the classroom and figure out how they applied to the things I learned in the readings or discussions.

I believe that it really helped to have a blog to point out (often to myself) that the things in the classroom are actually concepts that I will use in my own classroom someday. Also, through the course of this experience, i have been more open and willing to express my opinions on this blog without worry. 

I definitely can see connections a lot more than in the beginning. It probably has something to do with the fact that I was learning how to be a teacher, while also watching a teacher relatively closely in their won classroom. It is a lot easier for me to see similarities in my learning and real world application

Assessments Response

Assessments are a crucial part of learning, but often times, both teachers and students question their validity in the classroom. In this article, it talked about three ways that we can make assessments more effective. These are:
1. Make Assessments Useful
2. Follow Assessments with Corrective Instruction
3. Give Second Chances to Demonstrate Success.
I think that if these three things would have been more prominent in my schooling, then I probably wouldn't have disliked assessments as much as I did. These ideas about making assessments more effective can be used by all. Now that I have seen these for myself, I will definitely try to have these as important aspects in my classroom.

Standards in the Classroom

As I was doing these few assignments, it did get me thinking about how standards are used in the classroom, especially in the classroom that I got to spend time in. Every time that the teacher would teach a lesson, she would mention how it matched up with the standards that are written for those in her grade (5th grade). On a couple of the concepts, it was interesting to me to be able to see how she was teaching a concept in a creative way so that the students in her class would learn it most effectively.

One thing that I did notice is that science has been taking a more front seat role in the classroom. Now, science is taught in every classroom, but I felt like the students were learning so much from the activities that included lessons that I got to see as I was observing. The subject that I think is the most prominent one was spelling. There were days when spelling was the lessons that were taking up the most time in the classroom, and over the course of the months I was there, I was able to see a little how the students were improving. When it comes to one subject seemingly more addressed may also depend on the class. I do know that in the classroom I spent time in, students struggled with spelling, so it would be more important to spend more time on spelling, where science is a more easily understood project, so the students learn it easier. Although I didn't have too many conversations withe the teacher about standards, the ones that I did, she made a point that the standards are so important to make sure students are on track of where they should be. Standardized testing is one thing that she doesn't love though, it takes up a lot of time, and students often don't do as well as they know how because the stress of testing doesn't play well with some.

Overall, standards are what shapes the entire curriculum of a classroom, so they are important, even of the smaller details seem like a nuisance sometimes.

Diversity in the Classroom

In my classroom that I have done my observations in, there is a bit of diversity. The students in the class come from similar lifestyles, but their backgrounds are different from each other. From what I have been able to see, without knowing too much information, there are students who have some sort of learning disability. I have been able to tell because the way that they do their assignments is a little different than the other students- namely, they are allowed more time to complete assignments.


There are also students who have living conditions, one in particular is in the foster system, so he has a hard time staying focused because he has more to worry about home than most of the other students. In this students case, sometimes his guardian comes into the classroom to make sure that he is getting the work he needs and so it can get finished and he can stay caught up in the class.


In addition, there are also a couple of students, from what I can tell, whose parents may not live together, so they move from house to house on occasion, which can make keeping track of homework more difficult and also getting it finished in a timely manner.


Overall, the diversity of the students isn't terribly broad, but there are small but important things that I have seen in the classroom that make a large impact.

Culturally Responsive Teaching

In these articles and information, I found the topic of culturally responsive teaching to be very important.

From what I read and saw, culturally responsive teaching is taking into consideration that not all students came from the same backgrounds and lifestyles. Making sure to include aspects and topics that may not have been important in the past are crucial to talk about now. Bringing many cultural perspectives into the classroom makes for a more productive learning environment for all.

One strategy of culturally responsive teaching that I saw is bringing many styles of learning into the classroom. This helps everyone have the opportunity to learn.
Another strategy is making sure that expectations of the students is clear, and with their expectations clear, they are more likely to succeed in the classroom.
Additionally, communication as whole - especially with parents, as I have been learning with my in class observation, is absolutely critical in success for students. If there are language barriers, there will need to be more work done to communicate, but having those channels open is important for the student and the teacher.

I think that preparation for teaching in a diverse classroom starts with the knowledge that there is going to be diversity in the classroom and to mentally prepare for that. Having a general idea of the diversity that can be in the classroom and having general ideas about how to deal with it can be effective int he preparation that will go into teaching those culturally diverse students. Another thing teachers can do, is to react when those diverse students are actually in the classroom.

Service Learning Connected to History of Education

In my service learning placement, I have seen some things that have come from the history of education. As I have been in the classroom, the class that I am in is predominately girls. There are definitely more girls than boys in this classroom, which would not have been the case a couple hundred years ago. In addition to this, the fact that it is an elementary school classroom is also important. These children are just getting to the most important part of schooling, where they are learning more application of the things that they are learning, which in turn will help them when they are older. So girls being able to be in school instead of just the home, and having an education as a child is a great step that was taken by brave people in the past.

Since I studies Sputnik in the past assignment, I have noticed the sciences and math aspects of the classroom. The students love to get in there and do experiments themselves instead of just having the teacher do it. Today, for example, the students got magnets and a material and used the magnet to see how many paperclips the magnet would move. They loved it. They had general instructions, then they were on their own to determine the ones that were stronger than others.

I have loved being able to see these aspects of history in the classroom, and I am definitely trying to learn from the past so that my future students are able to love learning, because it is a privilege to be able to go to school and learn as part of their daily lives.

Engaging Learners in the Classroom

I have loved being in the classroom and this lesson really made me thing about the methods that teachers use to get and keep their students attention during the day.

One way that Mrs. Day engages her students in her classroom is by testing them on their spelling words. At the beginning of each week she has a comprehensive spelling list. This list contains words that are on the easier side, and ones that are much more challenging. So the majority of the class takes the test on these words, and the words that the misspell (up to a certain number) becomes their list for the week. This helps all of the students learn at their level, and those who are better at spelling are challenged more with more challenging words. 

In another instance, the class was doing Literature Circles, and each time they met, they got to meet in a different part of the classroom. This helped the students be more engaged because they are not just sitting in desks talking to their peers, they are able to sit on the floor, or at the back table, or even on the bean bags on the corner. This just helps them to experience new things, which definitely helps 5th graders focus.

In quite a few projects that I've seen in the time that I have seen in the classroom, there have been quite a few projects going on. And the way that Mrs. Day does it is that occasionally she will put the students into groups based on where they sit, which enables them to work with people other than their friends in the class. This helps them to work harder because they may not know those in their groups as well. I like the aspect of switching between assigning groups and letting the students choose who they want in their group.

Just this last time I was in the classroom, there was a time when the students were working between spelling and reading and as Mrs. Day was giving out instructions of what the next tasks were, I could tell that is was something that was very part of a routine, and that some students weren't paying attention and not doing what they were told. This was easily fixed with their classroom method of discipline (pulling cards), but I think that changing the routine a bit could be beneficial for the class to refocus and regroup on occasion. 

Having to think about this has given me a little bit of a shifted perspective on how hard teachers really do work to keep learning appealing to students enough that they actually want to learn and participate. 

Observations - Student Choices

I have been having a very enjoyable experience with my service learning observation.

On one of the first days, I definitely saw that my teacher does give her students choices. On Friday Afternoons the classroom is a lot more relaxed than other times, so that was interesting. This choice had to do with recess, but did involve figuring out. It was the last recess of the day and so she let the students input ideas as to what to do. The main choices were: going outside, personal reading, or a class game. They ended up choosing the class game. Not all students wanted to play, and once again, they had the option to do something else, those particular students just had to be in the circle of the game, they just watched instead. So overall, everyone was content with the choice. This was obviously something that was common because it happened quickly and there wasn't really any complaining.

So far as I have seen, the teacher that I am observing actually takes a lot of time to compliment her students. Whenever they have finished something and are switching subjects or are turning something she points out a specific aspect that a student did well. One that I remember was she complimented a student's handwriting because it was neat and orderly on the page. I think this helps all the students because I can imagine that it would encourage students to do well to get that kind of praise, and it makes the student to feel good that the teacher noticed something that they may have been working hard on.

This one aspect of this classroom is one that I definitely want to put into my classroom in the future. Each week they have a compliment jar. At the beginning of the week, they hand out the compliments that they are for and the person that gives them gets Buffalo Bucks (the classroom reward system). This encourages students to notice the things that those around them are doing or the attributes that they have. Looking outside of themselves causes them to have a better relationship with their peers and therefore a better classroom environment. I think that the relationship that they have with each other causes them to get along better, therefore learning is able to happen because they aren't at odds with each other or causing troubles when the teacher is trying to either start or continue with a lesson.

I have already learned quite a bit, and this is just the beginning of my time in the classroom.

Teaching Observations

This past week I had the awesome opportunity to go and observe a 5th grade classroom. It was quite the delight for me, as I love children, and a school setting is a fun place to see them. The teacher that I went to observe used various learning methods. The most prominent learning "theory" that we learned about that Mrs. Day uses in her classroom is definitely Behaviorism. She has expectations for her students, and they are aware of them and if they aren't following those rules, they aren't rewarded for their actions. I saw this in her class multiple times. On one occasion, two students were roughhousing with each other while preparing for the next lesson. After this occurred, they were told to "pull cards" which, if it happens multiple times, they lose privileges. This makes forming their behavior something that they are in control of.

In the time that I was in her class, she had used multiple learning strategies. The students, certain ones, were allowed to be on the computers and do their own learning that way (they were playing a game). During this time, she was reading the students a book, a read aloud. Later, there was a science display about water erosion. During the presentation, Mrs. Day asked the students about their predictions about what they thought was going to happen, and then they watched and saw what happened. In all of these activities, there were students who left the main group and went to other parts of the classroom.

Overall, it was a very educational experience and I am more than excited to spend more time in the classroom begin able to see how she teacher her students in all of the subjects. I am sure that I am going to learn a lot about the methods to teaching that I may want to use someday and to be able to see ways that a teacher teaches that I don't think would flow well with the way that I am.

Service Learning Opportunity

For Intro To Education, we are required to write blog posts. So this first one is about the service learning experience that I am choosing to do.

For my service learning opportunity, I am deciding to observe in a 5th grade classroom. I have observed in a younger class, and I am excited to see how the older kids are in class. I have chosen to do my observing at Grovecrest Elementary in Pleasant Grove. The neighborhood that Grovecrest is in is close to Pleasant Grove Junior High School, and it is nestled in a neighborhood. The students in the class, from what I have heard are quite the group. I've heard good things about the class and I'm excited to get into the classroom and experience it for myself.

From what I understand about service learning, I think that immersing myself into a classroom is one of the best things to do. And serving is something that makes people better, and when you volunteer for things, I have found that the desire to be there is stronger, so I always want to learn something from it. With this chance to put the things that I am learning, and being able to put them into action in an actual classroom. In me experience so far with service learning, I am excited to get back into a place where I am able to learn things from experience instead of just reading about things. Especially in classrooms, where getting down to the hard stuff is the most effective way to learn if something is the right thing or not. This opportunity to serve and learn is one that I am very excited to take on and get started with.

Miss Jasmine's Blog!

Hello! So this is a blog that is being used to describe some assignments and things that I am learning about teaching.

I hope to be able to look back on this blog and be able to learn from all of the things that I have learned and don't remember, but also be able to use the things that I have learned.

So enjoy, I hope you all can learn something too.