#9: Review/Do I want to be a teacher?

After completing the course and my service learning, I've decided that I do want to be a teacher. I was pretty sure at the beginning of the semester, but this course, along with the time I spent in my service learning classroom, has convinced me further. I saw things in my service learning that I want to use in my own future classroom. I saw things I would do differently in my future classroom. The importance of teaching as a profession was also re-affirmed to me. The course showed me more evidence that teachers can have a huge impact on their students' minds.

One thing my first service learning teacher said really impacted me. He said that he's had to report abuse he's seen happen to his students. That's not something I'd considered as part of teaching, but it really showed me that a teacher not only serves as an advocate for a student's mind, helping them learn and grow mentally, but a teacher can also serve as an advocate for a student's safety. The teacher I was talking to said that knowing some of your students are having trouble at home is one of the hardest parts of teaching. I know it'll break my heart if I ever do see or hear of something like that happening, but I'm glad I might be able to help stop it.

On a less serious note, I'm excited to be the kind of teacher who can make a positive difference in kids' lives. I know I had a few of those, and the thought of being one, making a difference, just fills me with joy and makes all the hard work it'll take worth it. Unfortunately, I won't be going into the UVU Professional Program. My plan for the next few years includes an LDS mission, so that delays things a bit. As soon as I get back, however, I'm going to Utah State to get a degree in Elementary Deaf Education, so I'll still be in an education program.

All in all, I'm glad I took this course. It helped me become sure that I want to spend my life teaching. It helped me see the hard/tedious parts of teaching as well as the good parts. I've begun to learn about being a good teacher and engaging the students, and I'm excited to continue in the USU education program when I get back from my mission.

#8: Self Reflection

I made a lot of connections between my service learning and course material. I liked being able to see the concepts from the course material in the real world. It also helped me explain what I was seeing. Reflecting on experiences in the classroom has helped me notice things I wouldn't have if I didn't have to write about it. 
I saw improvements in understanding of what it means to be a teacher. I probably would've seen more improvements if I had spread my service learning out over the whole semester so that I had new experiences every week to write about. 

All in all, the service learning I did helped me see what it would be like to be a teacher. It helped me see what I'll want to use in my future classroom and what I don't want to do in my future classroom. It helped give the course material real-life context, and it engaged my mind more than the lessons and work online would've. 

#7: Standards

In my first service learning classroom (5th grade), the mornings when I was there were devoted almost entirely to math. This could be a reflection of the requirement by the state of Utah to have students be tested on math from 3rd to 8th grade. I also saw the difference between standards in WHAT to teach and a teacher's choice of HOW to teach things. Instead of teaching traditionally, the teacher had them watching instructional YouTube videos about the math concept for homework, and doing some supplemental work and a small quiz in class.

In my second service learning classroom (2nd grade), I saw more emphasis on English Language Arts. They did grammar worksheets, read with a volunteer parent in the halls, and worked on fixing faulty sentences. They also worked on some math in the mornings as a starter. Both math and Language Arts are core subjects with standards on where the students need to be by the end of the year.

#5: History of Education

In my service learning classroom, I saw students who appeared to be from different ethnic backgrounds, which comes from Brown v. Board of Education. One thing that actually bothered me a bit is that I saw one student, who I'll call Jake (that's not his real name), who was having a lot of trouble focusing, following instructions, and sitting still. My brother has severe ADHD that he's learned to manage, but in elementary school, he acted a lot like Jake. I'm definitely not qualified to diagnose him, but if I were his teacher, I would've recommended that he be evaluated. Under IDEA and section 504, he could've gotten help to learn how to manage it, as well as things like extra time on assignments, individual instruction, and even counseling. They also learned about science, which comes from Sputnik making science more of a priority in schools.

From the research I've done on No Child Left Behind, it was actually replaced by the Every Child Succeeds Act in 2015. This law moves to give education to the states, rather than the federal government. It also gets rid of an accountability system that punished states with underperforming students. However, it keeps standardized testing in place. 

#4: Engaged Learning

My cooperating teacher engages her students pretty well. One activity involved play-doh. She had the kids make letters out of play-doh, then had them form words with the letters, similarly to the video we watched where the kids had letters on little pieces of paper.
Another activity she did was a "guess what number I'm thinking of" game while they were waiting in line to leave for lunch. She gave them clues like "it's an even number, it's greater than 100, the number in the 100s place is a 2," etc.
A third activity she did was on the class iPads. The students went to a website called Prodigy, where they can play math games.

One activity she does that didn't engage the students as much as it could've was a worksheet on grammar and spelling. She could have made it into a game where the first person to find all the mistakes in the sentence wins.

Entry #3

Describe a time your cooperative teacher has offered choice to students.  

He has explained to the students that after their assignment is done, and after they finish any current and missing work, they can choose to read, draw, write a story, or play a math game on the computers if they're available. 

What clear routines are established in the classroom?  How do they support a productive learning environment?

When they first come into the classroom in the morning, they're supposed to sit down, take out their math supplies, and quietly listen as he starts the math lesson. This routine allows them to immediately start learning, rather than having to wait for everyone to get their materials out and quiet down. 

What does the cooperative teacher do to encourage a positive classroom community?  

His number one rule is to be respectful. This rule might not work as well in a very young classroom, but in a 5th-grade classroom, it works really well. 

He also asks the students to "popcorn", or raise their hand and quickly put it back down, to check understanding. This helps him check understanding without other students having a chance to look around and see how many hands are raised and feel bad for not understanding. It also prevents students from seeing a specific other student's hand not raised and making them feel bad about it.  

His other rule is "hands and feet to ourselves". He explained to me that some students, especially boys, will roughhouse with their friends and accidentally hurt them, hurting their feelings and their friendship in the process. Having the rule to not touch each other helps that to not happen. 

About the School

The school that I'm doing my service learning at is Traverse Mountain Elementary. It's located in Lehi. On the outside, it looks like a lot of other elementary schools, but as I walked inside, I noticed that the gym is on a lower level that can be seen from the hall, which I thought was interesting. The surrounding neighborhood is made up of upper middle class homes. It's really close to the Traverse Mountain Outlets.
I'll be working with a class of 29 second graders. I'll likely be helping out in the early afternoon.
My understanding of service learning is that it's a good opportunity to serve the community, while also learning more about teaching in the real world. I get to help a teacher and see what teaching is all about and whether or not I like it.