BlogPost10-THE FINAL BLOG

Wow, it feels like it was just yesterday I was typing up my first blog post! I came into college not really knowing what I wanted to do in the future, whether it was education or business. I am so glad that I took Edu 100 because it taught me so many things not only about education but about myself. In my blogs, I felt very comfortable writing whatever I wanted. I like expressing my opinions and I feel like I did that very well. One occurring theme I typically saw in my writings are that I talked a lot about feeling comfortable in the classroom. I believe that this is a very important thing for a student to feel and a very important thing a teacher should solidify. In my placements, I tended to always look into that and see what Mrs. Nemeth or Mrs. Bishko did to make students comfortable. I have learned a lot about myself from this class and from my blogs. I typically did not like note taking, but for some reason I really enjoyed going to Gesu and other schools like Shaker, Mayfield, and Gearity and observing and taking down notes and transforming them into a blog. Overall, I enjoyed Edu 100 and all the lessons I learned. As of now, I still plan to try and pursue a career in education, I just do not know what level yet. I am excited to see what the future holds as I continue education classes and discover more about myself!

FieldBlogPost-Gearity Elementary School

Our Edu 100 class took our last field trip to Gearity Elementary as our final placement. Overall, the school seemed fun! there were a lot of activities going on and a lot of intriguing learning. I sat in on Mrs. Bishko's fourth grade language arts class with three of my classmates. I was excited because I did all of my field experience in a fourth grade classroom at Gesu. When we walked in, she was very welcoming, she shook our hands and introduced herself. Her classroom was very creative because she had a lot of fun and academic posters. When we arrived, they were in homeroom. The homeroom class had thirteen students and they all had iPads, along with all the other kids in other classes. At about 9:15, the kids switched for the first class, language arts. In the first language arts class, 1A, there were only ten students, which surprised me. The class split into two different groups. The first group went with Mrs. Bishko and talked about "I can" statements, kind of similar to what Mrs. Nemeth had, and they also drew conclusions from text they read. Before we arrived, we had to formulate another question, and mine was how does the teacher offer equal opportunities? She answered that for me by calling on every student at her table and giving equal chances for kids to answer. The kids cut out their conclusions and glued them on a piece of paper and put facts underneath them. Mrs. Bishko has a lot of fun with her students, while still maintaining their attentiveness, and that is a very admirable trait in a teacher. In the other group, they went with another teacher who seemed to be an aid. They talked about why writers write stories and the purposes for writing. She gave the kids a chart and had them write down ideas that they could formulate a short story out of. She called it their "bank of ideas." She also said something that seems critical to what we have been learning this year. She said, "it's okay to use your imagination and be creative."

What Does A Good School Look Like?

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1y2pTmYe_aasTSmFvS5j5bkesubv5xKCEAf-7W5S-YoY/edit?ts=56322904#slide=id.p

FieldBlogPost8-GESU

Today was my last day of field observation at Gesu Elementary School. It was a Friday, and it was the day before Halloween, so we did a lot of fun Halloween activities. When I got there, I had a great conversation with the lady in the front office. It is always a good thing to be outgoing because you never know what kind of connections they may have. When I walked into the classroom, the kids were making Halloween birthday/get well cards. They were making the cards for the custodian at Gesu, Mr. Eugene, who is currently sick. While they were making the cards, Mrs. Nemeth had me and another student observer, Haley, look up educational Halloween games on the iPads for the kids to play. The next class then eventually came in and they had to take their bone/muscle test. She gave them the test, which looked like a model of a skeleton where the kids had to name the bones and muscles, Along with the model of the skeleton, she wrong additional questions on the chalk board. When the kids take tests, Mrs. Nemeth asks for complete silence and all eyes on their own papers. If she sees a kid look around or talk, she will move them to another desk. It is very proper of her to do this because then the kids will learn to study and take in information on their own for evaluations. After the test, that class made their Halloween birthday/get well cards. While they did that, Mrs. Nemeth had me and Haley go to the bookstore to get orange paper. We then went to the meeting room and made a giant jack-o-lantern because Mrs. Nemeth was planning to play pin the nose of the jack-o-lantern later in the day. When I returned to the classroom, the next class was in for reading. They were sharing all the things they found and learned on the word they looked up Wednesday. Some of the stuff was very interesting!
Two important things Mrs. Nemeth stressed today was that technology is huge and you must be flexible. We were on the iPads a lot and there are so many forms of technology around her classroom that are helpful, such as microscopes, iPads, the document camera, etc. You must be flexible on days like Friday. There are so many things going on and it seemed very hectic because of Halloween, but it seemed like Mrs. Nemeth had everything under control no matter what and was going with the flow, but still managed to have a lot of activities planned.
Overall, my experience at Gesu was unforgettable. I was able to not only learn from Mrs. Nemeth, but also from the kids. Before the experience, I was just thinking I wanted to get my feet wet and see how things were at an elementary level. By the end, I seemed to really enjoy the atmosphere and the way the kids acted towards me. I made many connections within the school and am very grateful I got to work with the kids and help out Mrs. Nemeth!

FieldBlogPost7-GESU

Every day at Gesu is another opportunity to learn more I feel like. It was rainy outside today, so the kids had indoor recess. I had a lot of fun hanging out with the kids and playing heads up 7 up. They were so energetic! For some reason, when they stay inside they get more talkative I feel like. Mrs. Nemeth told me that conferences were coming up. Their conferences are just like any other conference. The only difference is that the kid writes a letter to their parents about their progress and what they think. Mrs. Nemeth does this so the conference is still all about the kid and not parents and teacher. When the first class started, they began by sharing some of their food pyramids that they made on the document camera. A document camera is kind of like a more advanced overhead. The food chains were super creative and I loved seeing that! After they all shared, they took time to review for their test, which is on Friday. Mrs. Nemeth told me that she always gives the kids about a weeks notice for a test because the kids are also very busy. To review for the test, they played an online game on the smart board where they had to put all the bones a skeleton. It was on a very convenient website called ABCya.com. After that, the kids got on the iPads and took bone and muscle quizzes and played games on Brain Pop. In reading, I made a poster with 8 Halloween words on it. I then lettered them from A-H. We gave each kid a letter and they had to research the word and write down fun facts on a notecard. Mrs. Nemeth touched on one important thing today with the kids. They went on to talk about missing assignments and how important being prepared in. Being prepared reflects your grade! Also, the kids who were prepared for the day got candy. Lastly, the most important thing that I learned today would be that you must be patient! if you are not patient, there could be a lot of chaos in a classroom. Mrs. Nemeth is very patient with her kids and that is a very admirable trait in a teacher!

FieldBlogPost6-GESU

I decided to go over the minimum amount of hours for this project because I wanted more experience. My sixth day at Gesu was great! I was out of my seat almost the whole time! I got to make a bar graph on excel with owl pellet information and I got to teach the kids how to make the graph. Then, Mrs. Nemeth showed them how to make a graph on Microsoft Word. I got to help a boy look at his rick in a microscope. I went to the copy room and put the walky talky's back on the chargers and then went to count the Halloween raffle prizes so Mrs. Nemeth would know how many winners to choose. As I walked through the hall ways, every single teacher smiled at me and said hi! All of the kids that are in Mrs. Nemeth's class when I was there said hi and waved to me in the hall ways also. The kids definitely seemed more outgoing towards me every day. When I got back to the class, Mrs. Nemeth announced they were having a bone quiz on Friday. I thought it was good that she told them 4 days in advance! After science, they had reading. The kids read a biography on Washington Irving. After they read that, they read his story, The Legend of Sleep Hollow. I had to eave in the middle of that, but regardless, my day was great!

FieldBlogPost5-GESU

My fifth day I had to arrive at Gesu a little bit late. When I walked in the room, science class was going on. They were talking about the owl pellet dissection and they all said hi to me. When I sat down, Mrs. Nemeth had me help three kids with an owl pellet dissection because they were absent the previous day. All of the other kids then got in their groups and discussed what they found.Then they created a chart/graph with all of their data from the owl pellet. I got to walk around the room and check on the kids and ask about their numbers. The kids seemed very open and comfortable in the classroom. It was a Friday again, so of course the kids had a lot to say other than science. They got a little hyper at times too. After they talked about their data, I got to go to the front of the room and teach them about food pyramids and food webs. After I was done, they got to make their own food pyramid. It was a good feeling to know that the kids understood what I taught.
I learned two new cool things today. One thing I learned is that there is a great opportunity for me to get more involved with helping with after school care. Also, she showed me eMaze. It was a website that is like an art gallery. You can make your own power point and it is in 3D. Overall, I had a short day, but I got to help and teach a decent amount! I can't wait for more work on Monday!