Old vs. Upgrade

September 26, 2013

 I feel the "Internship" stage of a person persuading to be a teacher is the most vicious and important time in their education. The intern is in a sense in the "Middle School Stage"--they are the student yet they are the teacher. The intern can be in the students shoes or in the teachers shoes and relate. This role is important to take notes for future reference when they eventually are only in the teachers shoes. The intern will be able to look back and remember what it was like being the student and not the teacher to help engage and educate the students to the fullest.

Asylum vs. Classroom

Walking through a 10 foot wooden door, every square inch of the walls beaming white, and the minimal amount of items in the 25 by 32 feet room--this is how most "students" feel while being bond to class--or in their mind a school asylum. I remember how back in the day, when I was in their shoes as a student, I felt school was another version of an asylum--forced education. Although, in the teachers shoes, their classroom is a home away from home. Teacher's do everything they can do in their power to have their classroom active and creative. Whether that is putting educational stuff up or involving their students art work. In room 133, every wall has some sort of educational item to make the room feel more active and cozy! There are the Language Art students creative posters hanging up and bulletin boards with educational items from the teacher. The room gives off a welcoming, colorful, active, and cozy environment, to keep the kids engaged in their education.

Do you have cooties?

That first crush--taking extra time in the morning to primp your hair or to smell good. Middle school is the end of the "cooties" stage and the beginning of the "dating" stage. Middle school is the age level that the girls stick with other girls and boys stick with other boys; however, there is a minimal amount of flirtation between opposite sex induced in the air. In room 133, the students do not have assigned seats; therefore, the students themselves divide the room into opposite sex like the other has cooties. The twisted part in this situation is that even though they sit separate sex, by choice; they choose during "free time" or "messing around" to express their flirting skills. This being said, Middle School is the beginning and practice of dealing with the opposite sex.

How old is to old?

I remember always making fun of how my parents childhood and education ways; while I observe room 133, I feel as if my Middle School years would be considered "old times." Back in the day--everything was through textbooks and paper and pencil. If the teacher needed to have the class use computers, the teacher would have to schedule a block of time in the computer lab in advance. Now today--the teachers have a kart with mini laptops on them. They assign each student with a laptop to use when the teacher wants to incorporate technology into their lesson. Today, the kids used their laptops to read a story and then do an activity. While the kids were logging onto the computers, I noticed that after the kids logged on the desktop was personalized to what they wanted--such as a background picture. The 21st century has a lot of benefits through technology; however, getting all the laptops up and running and keeping the kids on track is quite the time consumer. Technology is a blessing and a negative aspect to the education of the 21st century. And to think, all of the technology will just keep getting upgraded as life goes on. I feel as teacher's, we should use this advantage; knowing that technology will just keep upgrading and become a bigger part in every child's life down the road. However, I feel it is necessary to involve the students in face-to-face interaction, so there still is humanity in the kid's lives.

A Family Operation

Structure and acceptance are key elements to build a family. A classroom is another form of a family for students. The teacher and maybe if there is an assistant or aid teacher in the room would be the parents and then the students are the kids. Today the average number of kids a family has is 2.5 kids. But as a teacher, they parent approximately 15-30 kids at a time. Not a lot of people would find that appealing or fun. How do these teachers exhibit a structured classroom family and stay sane? Some techniques that have been around for a while are raising of the hand, using tools around the classroom to educate and stay entertained, and asking questions to the students. There are a few techniques I have observed in room 133 that was not inner-twined during my Middle School years--allowing the kids to chew gum, they do not have to sit in their chair all primp and proper, and they focus on teamwork. The teacher's have established a system that they they call "elbow partners"--this is where you work and help the person that sits next to you. I feel these added techniques have made a great difference in helping the students to stay focused when they need to. Not only are the kids engaged in teamwork, but also the teacher is engaged in teamwork with the students. For instance, when the kids read aloud from their textbooks they incorporated the technique "popcorn"--somebody reads a section of the text then says, "popcorn and a classmates name" that will read the next section of the reading--this gives each child the opportunity to read and be engaged. When the students came across a word they did not know the teacher would sound out the word with the student, instead of just telling the kids what the word was. Along with this, the teacher would take any given opportunity she/he had to give a vocabulary lesson on words the kids may not know. Lastly, the teacher stays after school as much as she needs to, so she can correct their notebooks--this way the students will always know where their notebook is and that the notebook will not be misplaced.