It's Been Real!

I really wish I could've put the peace finger emoji in my title because that's how I feel right now. Also, serious question here: do contractions apply when we're using the past tense of is (as in, has)? Cause that's exactly how I just used it in my title and I'm not quite sure if it's correct. Ah well.

Today we did that whole categorizing thing and that was a nice catch because it would definitely be helpful to know when to use each specific strategy. Dr. Clark demonstrated NCTCS 5c: teachers function effectively in a complex, dynamic environment. Sometimes, actually, not even, most times, college classes are hectic. They tend to get off schedule a lot and this is especially true during spring semester with all of the snow days and fun trips. Some teachers wouldn't modify their set class schedule to accommodate these changes, and I'm just grateful that Dr. C does, instead of moving on into new topics and subjects. It's the actions of a person that teaches you, just as much as the knowledge that a person gives you. With that being said, thanks Dr. Clark!

I have enjoyed every minute of you guyses during this class! Ya'll are the absolute best! Now we just have to get through this week and finals and I have total and complete faith in all of you that we're going to pass and have an amazing summer.


IT'S BEEN REAL 316!!! *insert party favor emoji's*

Stealing Third, Heading Home!

"I see... I see a light" -Dory, from Finding Nemo.

As if you couldn't tell by my lovely hints, I really want to watch Finding Nemo ( and can't wait for Finding Dory!!!) and I'm having softball withdrawals as my high school team just made regionals! Bittersweet, because I'm not there to celebrate with them and I promised to come to a game and I haven't been able to! But, anywho...

Dory's quote is very relevant to today, as I can see the light that is the end of the semester! I'm trying really hard to push through and finish strong! Thursday's class was eye opening and also a little disappointing. Right when I thought I had the hang of planning effective lessons, assessments included, I realized that I didn't. And all in a matter of 17 minutes. Our group had a complete "aha, lightbulb" moment, and it was awesome! I choose to look at the bright side and be thankful that it was brought to my attention BEFORE I began to plan in the real world.

I taught my first lesson today in the classroom, and it went well. I was so nervous before I started but the student caught my drift and I became more relaxed as the lesson progressed! I think the biggest thing it taught me, was how important NCTCS 4a: Teachers know the ways in which learning takes place, and they know the appropriate levels of intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development of their students, is. Seeing first hand how nervous my student was made me mentally check, okay what can I do to make them calm down?. That was the biggest thing I took out of teaching today.  I teach again tomorrow and I honestly can't wait!

The End is Near.....I Think?

Today we talked about analyzing data, which is cool because I'm working on a data analysis for my ESL class. It was really interesting seeing real live data from the natural habitat and looking over what all of that means and how it affects stakeholders. Collecting, analyzing, and using data helps to reflect on their practice (5a) and analyzing student learning.

Confessional: more and more as the weeks go by I question whether I really want to teach. Like, in real life, teach. I've felt this way before, but it was also due to a lack of confidence. Now, I'm feeling this way because of the work-load. I feel like something new is presented every minute, of every hour, of every day and I'm just a tad bit over it. OR maybe I'm just over school in general and to think that this is about to my whole life. Either way, I'm in need of a serious break.

Greetings from our Nation's Capitol

Washington DC was absolutely amazing!!!! There was just so much to take in- from the memorials to the museums- we didn't even get to experience everything. My absolute favorite part of Washington was touring the Library of Congress. The funny thing about it is that I didn't expect to like it. I mean, I work in a library and all and books are a passion but, when it was first presented to us, I wasn't, like, jumping for joy on the inside. However, stepping into that building, my mindset changed COMPLETELY! The amount of art, skill, and patience put into that building is absolutely phenomenal. I strongly encourage those who haven't been or who find themselves in DC to check it out!

Of course, we saw Dalton's fasces (spell check) almost everywhere! I have to admit that it was pretty fun looking for something that a fellow student taught us in all of the places we visited. Dalton, you would've loved it! My second favorite place was the Lincoln Memorial, cause that's bae! I have an unhealthy obsession with Lincoln ever since I saw the movie Lincoln in 10th grade. This memorial was really cool because we definitely saw Robert E Lee's face carved into the back of Lincoln's head, we saw his hands signing out his initials "A" and "L", and we really considered climbing on his lap to take a picture, but we decided not to get shot.

A few more tidbits before I head out: Georgetown cupcakes are absolutely AH-MAY-ZING, stay to the right when riding the escalators, don't use your metro pass for the metro bus, but the circulator is ohtay, and sometimes, you'll find yourselves getting directions and life stories from really nice Indian men! Also, I encourage you  to finish all schoolwork BEFORE you go on a school-sponsored trip where you'll spend all day walking and you'll come back to no wifi at the hotel! Fair warning, it'll save you a lot of stress.

If you really want to make teaching about American History relevant for your students (NCTCS 3d) plan a field trip to Washington: it's a trip they'll never forget!

Now is NOT the time to Procrastinate...

As I type, it is currently 11:25 pm and I have literally just turned in my interview write-ups. "/

Here's the story behind that:

I literally sent those interview questions out in early March. It is never my goal to procrastinate, btw. So I sent them out in early March- with the due date and all attached. I received the first interview response like 2 weeks ago and the entire time I told myself to go ahead and complete the write-up. Did I listen to myself? Of course, I didn't; nobody listens to me! However, to be fair, I had a ton of work to do and I kept thinking to myself that it could wait. Well long story short, I guess I waited too long. Also, with Easter break being last week, I really didn't want to do anything and I kept saying it could wait. Well, again, I don't ever listen to myself because I definitely remember telling myself to work on it over break (and I even got like half of a paragraph done that I eventually erased later on, but that's beside the point).

Guys, I encourage you to NOT be like me, and actually get your work done in a timely and fashionable manner so you're not having low-key panic attacks in your dorm room at 11:30 trying to calm yourself by quoting scriptures and listening to Gospel music as you frantically try to type a blog and get it turned in by 11:59. That is not demonstrating NCTCS 4a. I can't demonstrate this with my students if I can't demonstrate it with myself.

That is all.

Goodnight.

iTeach

Today in class we started teaching our lesson plans. I realized as I presented mine, just how well it sounded on paper versus how well it sounded when I taught it. I almost felt bad about mine, because I felt like I forgot everything as soon as I began, but then I remembered that we were only allotted 20 minutes, so I decided against beating myself up. Before, I couldn't see the point of presenting our lessons in class besides to make a fool out of ourselves, but now I'm starting to become grateful for these moments. It gives us a chance to practice and practice and practice before we are thrown out into the real world. I have to teach the introduction to a lesson tomorrow to high school ELL's and I'm pretty nervous, but I can say that I'm becoming more confident in my abilities after doing mini lessons in most of my EDUC classes. It's a great method that allows teacher candidates to practice NCTCS #5: reflect on your practice. Doing these mini lessons allow me to sit back and say, "okay, I probably should change/tweak this; maybe I could change this and do it this way instead" and also it shows me where my strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to talking in front of a class.

And, We're Back!

Today in class, we made info-graphics, which are really cool btw, and I enjoyed it. It was really refreshing to have a class where we just reflected, and we didn't have to learn anything new. I think that if I put anymore into my brain, it might just explode. But oh well. 

I've never had a class, where we stopped in the middle of the semester to self-evaluate where we are personally. If I did, I either don't remember or I didn't take it seriously. I like how Dr. Clark substituted the info-graphic for a standard pencil and paper write-up. It made the project more interesting and I was more willing to take it seriously! I don't mean to sound harsh when saying that, but with a boat-load of work to do, I'm at a place where anything that's not meaningful or important, probably won't get done. 

The info-graphic is centered around NCTCS #5 as a whole: teachers reflect on their practice. The cool thing about this is that while we're reflecting on our progress and linking it to how it can help us with future teaching, Dr. Clark can also use our information to reflect on herself and her class. She can use our reflections to determine what she needs to go back over, what she needs to focus on in the near future, is her pacing accurate to continue throughout the semester, etc. It's amazing how much you can get out of one simple assignment!

In Desperate Need of an Actual Spring Break

I am swamped with work and all I want to do is run away from it all. I cannot express how relieved I am that the lesson plan got pushed back again! I have so much to do this week alone that it's already spilling over into Spring Break :(. Who wants to do work over spring break? Not I.

Needless to say based off of today's reaction that I didn't watch the Teachscape videos. It's not so much that I forgot to, as much as it was that I pushed them off because of other things that were due. There just wasn't enough time last week. I had huge midterm projects and 1 huge midterm that just about made me cry. I don't see how people stay up studying all night, because I tried it Friday and Saturday and let's just say that I am not about that life.

Anyway, I'm planning to watch the videos today because I don't like being behind at all and I wasn't very happy with myself today. Unfortunately, it's safe to say that I did not meet standard 3 since I didn't know what cooperative learning was in order to teach it. The only thing to do now is to move forward and not let it happen again.

Deep Breaths, People

So today, our group met for a while to discuss our BPH. While meeting, it was brought to my attention that our LEARN lesson plan was due today, and well, by that time, I couldn't even have a panic attack. I just kind of let it marinate that I was going to be up all night scrambling to dish out a lesson plan. After all, teachers are expected to do this on a daily basis, so we better get used to it. Needless to say that I ecstatic when we got that remind text saying that the date was extended.

Looking over the teacher candidate standards, I see that today fit perfectly into 5c: teachers function effectively in a complex, dynamic environment. Even though we had ample amount of  time to complete it, and we had the countdown, it still caught me off guard. I'm sure this standard isn't talking about procrastinating, but it spoke to me because I didn't meltdown and have a panic attack, I just took it all in and made a plan. I had other things to do, and other plans made for the day but I had to take my complex and dynamic environment and make it work. If teachers are supposed to function in these situations, then I'd say that I'm growing as a teacher! :)

The Proof is in the Blogging (Pudding)!

So we didn't have class today but we're continuing on with our 6 point lesson plan. I'm hoping to finish it tonight, or tomorrow at the latest. I'm anxious to turn it in and get feedback as I haven't done one this extensive before. I'm very nervous to present it to the class; I'm not sure what to expect. I've had some interesting experiences giving lesson plans in my classes and with every new education class I take, the nervousness comes back full force. However, I refuse to worry and I'm going to choose to make the best out of it!

On another note, I'm starting to see some overlap between my classes as we're now discussing the NCTCS in my ESOL methods course. One of my assignments is to go through all of the standards and provide proof of our demonstration at the proficient, developing, or emerging level. This blog is really saving me in that aspect as we have to connect all of our posts to a standard, so I'll be able to use my blogs as proof! Speaking of which, this reflection practice is a demonstration of standard 5b: Teachers link professional growth to their professional goals. My goal as a teacher is to meet all of these standards at the developing level and by tracking my progress of meeting these goals, I am fulfilling this standard!

The Week of Planning!

So, this week I feel like all I've been doing is lesson planning. I guess it's just one of those things you have to get used to in the life of teaching. The one thing that I love about this class is that Dr. Clark is really good about explaining everything she expects us to do. When I first started learning about the 6 point lesson plan, it was explained, but not in depth. Those videos were really helpful and I'm thankful that they're there for us to revisit when needed.

The most helpful video for me was the one talking about objectives and essential questions. I still don't feel confident with writing essential questions. I honestly feel like EQ's are only for science and social studies classes. I guess my struggle is trying to understand how to apply EQ's to ESL classes; how do I go about creating them for this specific class? It's funny because, in high school, I didn't pay any attention to the EQ and I didn't see why they were necessary. Now that I've been taught about them, I can see the impact on relevancy that they hold, which is important since we as teachers have to make instruction relevant to teachers (NCTCS 3d1). I don't think my previous teachers took this course when getting their degree. :)

My goal for the lesson plan required for this class is to first unpack standards and create an essential question. I definitely want to approach it this way especially since I've never planned a lesson this way before and I believe the practice will be beneficial to me as I continue to grow in planning. Previously, I've just grabbed a standard and tried my best to teach it correctly and in a manner that students will get. I'm hoping I'll be able to intake what I've learned with this one and apply it to other methods of lesson planning I'm required to use throughout my career here at the Webb.

Honesty is the Best Policy!

Okay, so since last Friday, I have been in this rut of not wanting to do anything. Like, anything at all. And the bad thing is, I have sooooo much to do this week, and that's all the more reason for me to not do anything. So today, I honestly went into class today with the mindset of just sitting there because I already can't stand going in for those computer lab sessions. (I'm way too honest sometimes, guys.) However, I somehow mangaged to pull it together and participate, and I learned a lot.

At first glance, I dreaded the process of this Best Practice Handbook project. I didn't understand what was being asked of us and, let's be real here guys, 40!!!!!! entries? But, after working on and with it throughout the class, i'm feeling better about it. Also, I see how it helps us fufill NCTCS 2d. We as teachers have to adapt our classroom and our methods to the diverse needs of students. This BPH will give us the tools we need to be able to differentiate between our learners and use multiple strategies. Also, this handbook will come in handy when we graduate because we won't have as much access to scholarly articles and databases as we do here at the Webb. 

That Moment When You Actually Understand What's Going On.

I was actually kind of disappointed that we didn't have class today- this class has officially become my favorite class out of all that I'm taking this semester. I'm starting to appreciate and adapt to how untraditional of a class this is. I've realized that the problem behind teaching how we've been taught is fear and lack of exposure. Everything so far that we've been learning about this class scares me, because I've never been introduced or even exposed to these methods and I constantly fear that I'm going to mess something up. So instead of embracing it, I choose (or I'd like to choose, that's not really an option here) to revert back to what I know, or what I've been taught. However, like I said before, I'm starting to appreciate this class because it not only exposes me to new methodologies, but it forces me to experiment with them, which lessens my fear.  I'm actually starting to like some of the methods and I'm trying to think how I could incorporate them into my future classroom.

I still don't understand unpacking standards too much, but I have a better understanding than when I first read about it. Last week, I asked a question in another education class about what KUD stood for. The professor told me to look it up and have an answer for her during the next class meeting. Shout out to Dr. Clark for getting me that definition because I totally forgot to do it! In my head, I was trying to think of all of these fancy words that could make up that acronym, who would've thought that they were three simple words. Those three simple words sure did help me when we did the practice unpacking activity in class. They made me stop overthinking, which I have a HUGE problem with!

While completing the Backward Design module, I realized that the reason that I struggle with writing Essential Questions and coming up with Big Ideas is because I've never had a teacher who correctly used these concepts. During high school, my EQ's were always factual questions or way too broad for me to even try to understand. I like how the speakers used the analogy of the standards being the answer to a question that has yet to be asked. That honestly did way more for me in being able to grasp what was being said than anything I read!

Goals, and Standards, and Flips, Oh My!

From the modules we've completed this week, I've learned a lot about goals, unwrapping standards, and flipping the classroom. I'm still uncomfortable with unwrapping the standards and flipping the classroom but I'm pretty sure it's because they are new concepts for me. With practice, I plan on becoming better at flipping the classroom because after completing the tutorial, I'd have to say that I really enjoyed it and I would like to use it in my classroom. Using the backward design for planning is definitely helpful as it does force me to organize my "lecture" so that I cover only the important points rather than ramble on. My discomfort comes with videos and screencasts, but a goal of this class is to try new things so I'm not going to give up on it!

Unwrapping the standards, however, is another story. I get the finding concepts and skills concept but my struggle comes with the graphic organizer. I also don't feel confident in finding the big idea or creating the essential questions-I'm guessing it will come with becoming more familiar with the standards. After completing the module, I was kind of frustrated because I didn't really understand and I feel like that's an important skill to possess as a teacher. I'm anxious to discuss this topic in class to see what others are feeling and getting out of this topic. 

As for the goals module, I'd have to say that I am definitely a learning-oriented goal setter. I never really looked at it in a "goal setting" mentality; I just knew that if I didn't understand something, I had to figure it out eventually or I'd probably lose it! I'm always looking to learn. The sad thing is, I know a lot of people and classrooms that are performance-oriented. It's sad because students are so focused on passing that they aren't learning to their full capacity. My goal is to have a learning-oriented classroom for my students so that they'll understand the importance of  intaking knowledge rather than regurgitating facts. I'm sure this won't be a problem for me because I literally cannot stand to leave a student or even a friend confused when I'm asked for help. I have to make sure that the person I'm helping gets the answers they need and understands how to do it for themselves before I'm satisfied. My only concern would be getting students who are performance-oriented to become learning-oriented and as long as I can meet the 'facilitate learning teaching standard', I should be able to do that. 

EDUC 316 Blog #1

Today was my first time in this class and I have to admit that I was muy nerviosa leading up to it. It didn't help that I didn't realize we had videos to watch before class and was, therefore, unprepared. I'm really big about being organized and staying on top of things so I HATE being unprepared- it's just not my thing. Besides the video scare, I quickly became excited about this class. I love the conversational setting and I'm ready to see what the rest of the semester has in store for us.

I'm glad we're talking more in depth and dealing heavily with the NCTCS as I'm not familiar with those whatsoever. It's probably my first time dealing with them honestly. Upon first glance, they scare me, but I'm sure that's because of reasons aforementioned. 

I absolutely love the Candidate Learning Communities! Even though I've had two years of education classes, I still feel like I don't know anything. Also, with not many people in my specific field, I feel like I'm at a disadvantage. I say all of this to say that I rely heavily on the word of my cooperating teachers that I've observed from previous clinicals, and more times than not, I've been told that ESL teachers have the hardest time getting content teachers to collaborate with them about anything; It's almost as if ESL teachers are in their own little world with students and they do shut their door and just teach what they want. These communities allow hope to surface for ESL teachers. If content teachers hold these meetings then ESL teachers can sit in as well so that they will know what exactly students are struggling with and can offer extra help during their time. By participating in these communities, teachers are recognizing the importance of collaborating according to NCTCS 1b1 and are improving the students' learning in not one, but two mandatory classes, and that deserves all the effort.