Reflection: If I Could Do It All Over

Coming into this class and learning everything there is about teaching was overwhelming. My first day at my field site I was nervous and I didn't know what to expect. 

    Being placed in the right classroom with the right mentor will make the experience that much greater!  If you are lucky enough like me and end up with an amazing mentor with great kids you will be wanting to spend every waking moment with them. You will learn the in's and out's about teaching and you should be able to know whether or not you want to pursue in becoming a teacher at the end of the year.
   Being the type of person I am I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe with my first lesson I presented to my field site and it ending up going south I believe that that happened for a reason. If it wasn't for me having the worse experience of my life I would have not told myself that I would never let that happen again. From that day forward I wanted a new mentor, and to have a fresh start, and I prepared my lessons more thoroughly which turned out to be a great success!

I know that I will become a teacher. I will do whatever it takes to become what I want to be, which is a math teacher. Being in this class for two straight years has only made me even more eager for the future and what is to come. I can't wait till I have my own classroom with my own set of rules and arranged the way I want it. When that day comes I will thank the people who have helped me get to this place. I walked into this class being a shy young girl, and I will be leaving a confident young woman.

I wouldn't change a single thing that has happened in my past. 

In Reference: Mrs. Kallas's Blog

Part 2: Classroom Management

Transportation

Once enrolled in the Education & Training class each student will have to read and sign the guidelines that pertain to this class. For transportation the guidelines will be precise and clear, such as:

Students who want to drive:

Transportation Rules

• May only drive if their parents allow them to.
• Must arrive at their field site 5 minutes prior.
• You cannot drive during bad weather.
• Must text instructor once you arrived at field site.
• NO TEXTING.

Students who ride the bus:

Transportation Rules

• Bus monitor must take attendance to who is all there. 

Students who ride with a friend:

Transportation Rules

• Must sign a paper that states the parent is fine with their child riding with a friend.
• Must not distract the driver.

If any of the "Transportation Rules" are to be broken they will have to deal with the instructor and however he/she feels on how serious the situation was they will determine the students punishment.


Discipline Rules

1. Warning
2. One week suspension
3. Lose privileges till instructor says.

DRIVE SAFELY!!!! BE SAFE!!!!

In Reference: Mrs. Kallas's Blog

Part 1: Select a TEKS and Corresponding Activity

The TEKS for this activity: 

(9)  Organisms and environments. The student knows and understands that living organisms within an ecosystem interact with one another and with their environment. The student is expected to:

(A)  investigate that most producers need sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make their own food, while consumers are dependent on other organisms for food; and

(B)  describe the flow of energy through food webs, beginning with the Sun, and predict how changes in the ecosystem affect the food web such as a fire in a forest.

The URL for this activity :

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/explorer/ecosystems/be_an_explorer/map/form_wildcats.htm

In this activity the students can learn how to build a food web. They will understand which animals are predators and which are prey. Once they develop that skill they will build their own food web which will help determine if they understand the concept. 

     Once everyone has had a chance to build their own  food web, I would get the classroom together and discuss why everyone did what they did. And as a class we would create the correct food web that will show which animal eats what.

In Reference: Mrs. Kallas's Blog

In My Opinion - The Best Virtual Field Trip

 Arctic Adventure!

If I had to pick a virtual field trip I would choose the "Arctic Adventure." I like the format of the website and the way that it is. It has blown up pictures of different things going on and a little paw print at the bottom right corner so you can click on and it will tell you all about the picture.
      I believe this virtual field trip would suit 4th graders that are in science class. You could learn all about the climate and type of weather that goes on in the Arctic, and how the animals have to adapt to that certain life style. You could give the students an assignment to read up on the virtual field trip and at the end the students have to write on what the animals and humans had to do to adapt to their surroundings.

  In Reference: The Best Virtual Field Trips

How Do We Keep Our Students Safe and Secure in School?

I send my condolences to all the victims in the Sandy Hook tragedy. 

Stronger Gun Reform?

After everything that happened with Sandy Hook a bunch of civilians believe that a stronger gun reform should be taken in place. In my personal opinion I believe no matter what we do will not prevent people from doing crazy stupid stuff like that. I can go either or yes we can get a stronger gun reform. Will it matter? Probably not. It will make people feel a little safer psychologically but it won't really matter in my opinion. 

          

Guns at School?!

 I absolutely believe teachers should not be able to have guns at school. There are so many ways it can go wrong if a teacher has a gun in their classroom. Depending on where they put it a student can easily access it and accidentally shoot themselves. A teacher can also accidentally shoot a student. I believe teachers should have a mandatory defense training class if they were to get attacked. 

Another Option?

I believe there really isn't a super effective way to keep our children safe. I believe that a buzzer should be place at the front of the school. Before anyone can enter the school they need to buzz in in order to enter the building and they can be viewed on the monitor to see whether or not they are safe. 

In reference: Sandy Hook mom speaks out

Teacher Toolbox Featuring Glogster

http://bmendoza901.edu.glogster.com/fractions

Defending Your Decision to Teach

Becoming a teacher has it's pros and cons. 

• Mainly pros but a couple of cons. 

Money

Most people say "Why would you want to become a teacher? They hardly make any money!" This may be true but in my case I'd like to think I have the rest of my life to gain a lot of money. It's not about the money to me, it's about the students. Being able to teach them something that they never knew how to do in the first place, that's pretty incredible. Being able to change their lives every step of the way, you just can't put a price on that. 

Doing Something That You Love!

Becoming a teacher you are able to teach a subject that you might have a passion for. Take me for example I absolutely love math. I have always been a fan of math since I was in the 2nd grade! I could teach high school or middle school classes everyday about a subject I have a passion for. Being able to teach a student about a subject that I love and seeing them understand it, that to me just reassures me that this is the profession I love to be in. Little moments like those are worthwhile and won't make you think twice about the question "Why would you want to be a teacher?"

Summer Vacation!

Teachers might not get paid what they should get but they also have a whole three months of vacation plus a spring, Christmas, and Thanksgiving break. People who make 100 figures work all year round with little days off. If you ask me I think that's a pretty sweet deal.

Am I a Procrastinator?

Out of all the years that I have lived, I have established that I am in fact a procrastinator.
In my high school years almost every time that I get an assignment I have put it aside and waited till the last minute to start working on it. 

In my AP English class we are constantly reading books such as The Scarlett Letter, The Great Gatsby, Death of a Salesman, Othello, and Heart of Darkness. In my opinion these books are extremely boring and there is no way I would ever read them on my own. Normally we would have a reading schedule that you should follow, but me being a procrastinator obviously put it off and was struggling to read 10 chapters in one night. These books are very detailed, complex, and hard to understand in just one night. I found myself doing poorly on quizzes due to this problem! I just found reading boring.


In the webpage Overcoming Procrastination I have found a strategy to help me stop putting things off. In the fourth bullet it states "Discipline yourself to use time wisely: Set priorities". With that being said I have gotten a gift from my mentor over Christmas that is a "To Do List Whiteboard" so I have been constantly updating it from things that should be done immediately to things that can wait till I'm done with my first priorities. This "To Do List" has helped me out a bunch, I have been doing things more efficiently and I don't forget about other homework since it's right there in front of my face. Lately there has been no more piles of homework waiting for me!

                            In Reference of: Overcoming Procrastination