Entry #56

Final Journal

Student teaching has been great.  For any aspiring teacher, student teaching is the best experience to get a teacher prepared to have their own class.  I have learned more about myself than anything else during my time with Dan River High school and Forest Hills Elementary.  I have learned to manage a classroom, handle students throughout a classroom setting, and work with other teachers. 

Going into my Master’s degree I was not sure what to expect.  I was not completely sure whether I wanted to work with children for a living.  I have gained great respect for teachers and people who work with students all day.  I have grown a passion to teach students health and physical education.  I have learned throughout the student teaching that students like to learn in an environment that they feel comfortable in and also feel as if their opinion is valued.  I feel that I can provide that environment for students on a daily basis. 

                I could not have chosen a better set of host teachers and school placements.  Both placements challenged me and both host teachers helped me along the way with anything that I needed.  Through them I learned that doing the bare minimum is not acceptable for a teacher that is aspiring to be a great teacher.  Both my host teachers demonstrated that work ethic when I went in to observe their classes and they instilled and inspired me to be a great teacher. 

                Hopefully I can get a call on a job soon.  I am anxious and looking forward to having my own classes and getting to work with students.  Not once during my placements did I feel that I was doing a job.  I had fun coming to work every day and getting to know my students and help them learn things about health and physical activity.  I think the most strenuous part of student teaching was writing the daily journal after each day of teaching.  Of course lesson plans weren’t the most fun, but it definitely prepared me for my classes. 

Entry #55

Entry #55

School Placement:  Forest Hills Elementary

Cooperating Teacher:  Crystal Boyd

Grades/Subjects:  K-5 PE

Date:  12-4-14

Summary of Today’s Activities

Today was a very busy day.  The day started with bus duty in the morning.  The kindergartners came into class and I started off the class with asking them to develop a snow dance.  They all said they wanted to snow so I had four volunteers come to the front of the class and determine one move for the snow dance.  Afterwards we performed the snow dance together.  Then we went into our Christmas games.   I had every grade level today.  The students warmed up by playing musical hula hoops and then we went into the dog sledding activity.  With the kindergartner and first graders we played Snowball fight.  With the second through fifth graders we played a game called Snow Monsters. 

Reflection

                Dr. Brenner came to observe me during my first and second grade classes.  I feel like everything went as planned and the students had a great time playing the Christmas games.  She told me today that I passed my Comprehensive exam and that pretty much solidifies me graduating next week.  I am very excited and tomorrow cannot come quick enough.  Tomorrow is my last day of student teaching.  The ladies in the cafeteria said they have a special lunch planned for me.  I have met some great people and students at Forest Hills Elementary.  Hopefully I can have a similar experience at the next school that I had at Forest Hills. 

Entry #54

Entry #54

School Placement:  Forest Hills Elementary

Cooperating Teacher:  Crystal Boyd

Grades/Subjects:  K-5 PE

Date:  12-3-14

Summary of Today’s Activities

                My morning started off by helping the ladies in the cafeteria with their Christmas decorations.  My job was to hang up the snowflakes from the ceiling in the cafeteria.  By the time I was done, the first graders were walking into the gym.  The students had the same activities the kindergartners had yesterday.  Therefore, they warmed up by playing musical hula hoops, played dog sled relay and then ended class with the snow ball fight game.  The first graders then came to the gym and we played the same activities except I exchanged the snowball fight with the game Snow Monsters.  The students were considered elves and I had a set of students that were considered “Snow Monsters”.  The snow monsters had taken over the North Pole and the elves had to take the toys back from the North Pole.  If the elves were tagged they had to sit and the next person on their team had to attempt to get to the North Pole without getting tagged.  They then had to get back to their toy bag without getting tagged.

Reflection

                The students were very sad to hear that this was my last week with them in the gym.  At the end of class many of them hugged me and told me that they would miss me.  These students at Forest Hills have been great and they have been great to teach.  They have taught me a lot along the way and I have learned a lot about myself while teaching the students.  Today I walked in on a conversation that Ms. Boyd was having with one of the students.  Evidently, the students’ father was just released out of prison, but her mother will not allow her to see her father.  The student was very upset and said that she wants to see her dad.  It’s crazy to think that some students have to go through these types of things in their life.  As teachers we have to take into consideration what these students have to deal with at home and we must take the time to get to know our students.

Entry #53

Entry #53

School Placement:  Forest Hills Elementary

Cooperating Teacher:  Crystal Boyd

Grades/Subjects: K-5 PE

Date: 12-2-14

Summary of Today’s Activities

                Today we did not have much going on in the gym.  We had a lot of classes rehearsing for the school play so the only classes we had in the gym today was the kindergartners.  The students came in and we warmed up by playing musical hula hoops.  We had three winners and then we went into our next activity, which was relay dog sledding.  The class was split up into teams and we had a relay race on scooter boards.  The first person in line was the puller while the second student was on the scooter board.  The team that pulled their teammates the quickest down to the other end of the gym and back won the game.  After the dog sledding relay, the students played a snow ball fighting game, in which the students had to hit the other team with yarn balls (snow balls).

Reflection

                Since this is my last week at Forest Hills Elementary, I was a little upset that I would not be able to have some of the classes this week.  I was looking forward to playing the Christmas games with them, but I understand that they have to rehearse for their school play.  It is a little upsetting that they get pulled out of physical education class.  It definitely makes the day go by slower, when I am sitting around in the gym working on my ePortfolio.  Either way, I can’t really complain much because my school placement has been great and my host teacher has been great.  I have had a great experience and I am looking forward to having my own classes hopefully soon.

Entry #52

Entry # 52

School Placement:  Forest Hills Elementary

Cooperating Teacher:  Crystal Boyd

Grades/Subjects:  K-5 PE

Date:  12-1-14

Summary of Today’s Activities

                Today we had the 3^rd graders.  Since Christmas is almost upon us, we will play Christmas games with the students for the next few weeks.  We started the day with the Musical hula hoops game.  Students pretended to be Christmas characters while walking around the gym.  When the music stopped, the students would find a hula hoop to stand in.  Afterwards, the students chose a partner and one partner sat on a scooter and the other partner had a rope and pulled them around the gym.  The last game we played was called Snow Monsters.  The class was broken up into 5 teams.  Teams one through four were considered elves and the fifth team was considered snow monsters.  The elves had to get to the opposite end of the gym (North Pole) and take a toy (bean bag) and bring it back to their toy bag (original spot with hula hoop) without getting tagged by a snow monster.  The team with the most toys by the end of the round would win and then become the snow monsters for the next round.

Reflection

                The third graders had a blast with the Christmas games.  Ms. Boyd told the students that this would be my last week with them and they were all really upset.  They asked if I would come back and of course I said yes.  I hope I have made a good lasting impression on the students and faculty of Forest Hills elementary.  I feel like my time here has flown by, but I’m excited for what the future holds for me.  I have had a great experience with the students and I have learned a tremendous amount from Ms. Boyd and I have learned a lot about myself and what I am capable of accomplishing with elementary students.  

Entry #51

Entry # 51

School Placement:  Forest Hills Elementary

Cooperating Teacher:  Crystal Boyd

Grades/Subjects:  K-5 PE

Date:  11-25-14

Summary of Today’s Activities

                The only class I had today was the kindergarten class.  I set up stations for them instead of letting them have free time, because I was told that kindergarten has a tough time with having free time.  When the music started the students would perform the activity at the station and when the music stopped the students would stop, clean their station, and on my cue they would rotate to the next station.  We had a station in which the students had to toss a beanbag on a mat and then hopscotch through the mat and try to avoid the beanbag that was on the mat.  The next station was a bowling station in which they tried to knock down as many bowling pins as possible.  Afterward the students rotated to the corn hole station in which they attempted to toss the beanbags through the hole on the board.  The last station was a jumping station, in which the students had a ball that was suspended from a rope that was attached to the ankle.  The students would jump and try to avoid the rotating ball.

Reflection

                Since we only had one class today it was somewhat of a boring day.  I am looking forward to seeing all of the students next week and hearing about their exciting thanksgiving break.  I am also excited because Christmas is almost here and we get to start our Christmas games with the students next week.  Ms. Boyd gave me some good ideas for Christmas games that she normally plays with the students and then I also researched some games and plan on using some of them with the classes next week.  Next week is the last week of student teaching and I can’t tell you how excited I am to finish my Master’s degree.  

Entry #50

Entry # 50

School Placement:  Forest Hills Elementary

Cooperating Teacher:  Crystal Boyd

Grades/Subjects:  K-5 PE

Date:  11-24-14

Summary of Today’s Activities

Today Ms. Boyd and I only had one class.  A third grade class came into the gym and warmed up with the Turkey Tango.  Since we didn’t want to be ahead and start Christmas games with them, we allowed them to have free time for 15 minutes after the Turkey Tango.  The students had the choice to shoot basketball, jump rope, or use the scooter boards.  After free time was over we played Spider Ball with the class.  Two foam dodgeballs were thrown out and the game started.  The students had to hit each other with the ball until the last person was standing with both balls.  Once the students were hit they had to sit in the spot they were hit and if a ball happened to roll in their seating area they could throw the ball and hit the remaining students in the game.  After Spider Ball, we played Teacher Ball.  This was another variation of dodgeball, but Ms. Boyd and I were the only people throwing.  The last student standing would win the game.

Reflection

Ms. Boyd and I spent most of the day planning for next week’s lessons and watching and helping with the rehearsal of the school play.  The students had sort of a free play day since we weren’t seeing the other classes for the rest of the week since Thanksgiving was coming up.  I’m looking forward to next week since it is the last week of student teaching and also because we are playing Christmas games with the students.  When watching the rehearsal for the school play, I did notice that students were really misbehaving and talking while the music teacher was trying to instruct.  The students responded very quickly when I told them to listen and be quiet.  It is good to see that I have that respect from the students outside of the classroom.