Journal # 5:

Educational Philosophy/model integration

I have learned in my Clinical Practice I and the beginning of my Clinical Practice II how important it is to keep you students engaged throughout the whole lesson.  As I saw some of in-class presentations I felt that all the presentations were very engaging and as my classmates presented their model, I could not help but think on how I would incorporate each one of them into my classroom.  How some of these models might work in my subject area or with my high school students.   There was one model that really stood out to me the most; the memorization model.  We start to memorized new things, events; mainly, we memorize what came before something and what came after it.  We learn on how to use cues, to help us memorize certain things or specific aspects of something in particular.  As a future Spanish teacher one of the things students s are required to learn vocabulary words that look and sound familiar.  One of the aspects of learning another language is to memorize certain aspects of it.  For instance During today's model presentations, one of the things Mrs. Brandenburg had us practice was the use of memorization and the use of rhymes to help us learn the names of the Presidents of the United States of America.  I thought this was a really neat idea and it also incorporated fun into it, so it is a win-win learning experience for the students; because they may be learning something while having fun  at the same time.  When you combine learning and fun, you can not go wrong, especially if you have active, very interactive, social high school students. 
Being able to memorize requires certain skills, skills that need to be put into practice in order to increase our learning power.


What I Know and What I Believe About the Development and Learning Needs of Adolescents.

Student Diversity

     "Students in today's classrooms are far from homogenous.  They come with ethnic and racial differences, exhibit learning abilities and styles, and speak languages other than, or in addition to, English.  they come from different social classes.  They may be gay or lesbian, or may come from gay families".  (Grant & Gillette, 2006, p. 14)

      In order for us future educators to develop the best educational program for our students we need to understand their diverse backgrounds.   

Attach rubric !!! 

Reflective Response.
Here I am sitting on on the couch and my two little ones next to me.  I'm struggling to find the words to reflect and express my feeling about my experience this semester.  To be completely honest I did not feel like I got as much as I had hoped to get from this semester.  I wanted to learn so much about how to become a great teacher, techniques, strategies and from personal experiences others might share about their Clinical Practice/Observations.  Most of all I think I needed that interaction with my teachers, with my classmates; I'm not saying I did not come out with a great experience and a lot of learned lessons which I did.  I must say that my main struggle is based on the kind of learner I am.  I considered myself to be a 'visual" learner .  Most of the time in order for me to "do" I need to "see" how it is done then I would practice and eventually learn how something is done.  I did not get that collaboration or interaction with my fellow classmates and instructors.  Our courses were mainly on-line.  For the first few weeks of the semester I was unable to have internet connection at home, so most of my homework/assignments I had to go somewhere where I can get internet access to get them done.  This issue held me back a little bit and made me feel a bit stressed.  Not to say that our teachers were not available for us if we needed help, which they were, it was more of an option if we needed to come and seek help.  I know that we should take responsibility of our learning, and do what is best for us; but just for me, at this time in my life this kind of instruction did not seem to work that well.   Perhaps, the thing that  learned the  most about this semester is that it is ok to seek and ask for help if you are struggling. I am the kind of person who is a bit shy when it comes time to ask for help; I usually try to solve the problem myself, but if I see that I cant, then I will "think" about seeking help; then I'll "decide" to ask for help, then  I "will ask" for help.  I know I need to change my way of thinking and seek help if I need to.  This past week was one of the hardest weeks of my life, i learned a valuable lesson.  I asked for help when it was too late, this is something I will regret for the rest of my life.  I thought I could do everything myself and solve my own problems, I did not know the consequences of my stuburnes and my

Journal # 5:

Journal Writing 5: Respond to the following prompts :

• Looking back at your teaching last semester, what did you discover about the needs of students in your classes? What kinds of “needs” surfaced that surprised you?

• To what degree do you think you really understand the needs of your students? How wide is the “gap” between them and you?

• What might have surfaced in the reading or in your teaching (about the realities of students’ needs) that triggered a negative response in you? Try to identify why this response was triggered and how it relates to your biases. 

Last semester I started CP I,  very excited and full of ideas and strategies I would like to incorporate or practice in student teaching practice.  

One of the things that I discover the very first few days of being at school was the fact that not many of the students had textbooks, paper and pencils.  Other students were separated from their parents and were living with other relatives.  These are some examples of the things  I learned about my students the first couple of weeks of my CP I.

The first issue was very surprising to me, students,  came unprepared for the class.  How do you expect t to teach a class when half of your students don't even have the book to work with.  I asked them, "why don't you have books? what happened?  My students came up with a variety of answers:

  - they lost the book

  - it was stolen

  - they share a book and their partner forgot or did not come to class that particular day

  - some students said that they could not afford the book, that it was very expensive.  

Needles to say, teaching a class with out a book was a challenge I faced every day of my CP I.  I know my students could have benefited from having the right resources to at their reach.  I was very surprised to learn that some of the teachers were aware of his situation and yet, they did not do anything about it.  

I know I was very frustrated and I often felt helpless but I think I did the best I could due to the circumstances.  I would often print out material for all students, and present them with copies of all of the activities we had planned that particular day.  
One of the things I can remember affected me the most and triggered a negative response in me was the fact of lack of respect students had for their peers, their teachers and sometimes even themselves.  I guess I expected everyone of my students to behave the way I was raised, to be respectful of others, my peers and myself.  I did not not stop to think that some of my students did not grew up in a safe, grounded and loving environment.  So, to have such expectations from them was a bit unfair of my part, something I knowledge and will take into consideration for my CP II. Not every student is created equal, there is a diverse group of students and learning how to identify their particular needs and my job as a future educator is to address those needs.  The problem was that I "assumed" that everyone had parents who where there for them, encouraging, loving and very supportive of their child's education. I have to think of the student's needs and specific circumstances before I make this type of assumptions.

Journal # 4: 

Respond to the following prompt:

What are your biases and how do you mitigate your behavior when working with students?
 I don't think I have biases, but  I do think I have certain expectations from my students. I have a strong opinion on the importance of raising respectful and educated human beings.  To me respect starts in the home,with your parents, and that should carry on to your classroom and any other environment where respect for others should always be part of you.

One of my struggles have been classroom management  I considered myself a very respectful human being: My parents taught me to respect others the way I want others to respect me.  In another words "you get what you give".  So, whenever I'm in a classroom, giving a lecture, instructions or simply talking to another student, and another student is talking, interrupting, I found this to be extremely rude and disrespectful.  I try not to show it, or let my students see that I get upset and disappointed.  I try to immediately address the issue and talk to that particular student as soon as this behavior occurs.  I think that if a person is capable of interrupting someone, either the teacher or another student must have no rules or has not been taught how to show or to have respect for others.  I know I should not judge the students' behavior and make anyone else responsible for the way they behave other than  themselves, I know it is not right and I'm trying to learn on how to deal with classroom management in better was so that I don't judge or blame others than the one responsible for that particular behavior.  This is an issue I need to work on and separate it form my own personal beliefs, and as a new teacher I know  I will need to adjust my way of thinking in order to be unbiased towards my students.

Journal # 3

To what degree do you think you really understand the needs of your students and what they need for the 21st century? How wide is the “gap” between them and you? In what areas are the gaps? What can you do to make connections?

        As we have been talking in this semester, it is not longer about how much you know, or how fast you can cover the material.  It is about using those materials to enhance your teaching abilities.  I can honestly say I understand the needs of my students and what they need for the 21st. century.  This for me is the first step towards helping my students achieve success.  The question is: do I know how to meet those needs?  Honest answer, would be, no. I'm learning so much as to how to help my students and how to fulfill those needs.  As a future educator is up to me to provide them with the necessary tools as well as to show them the different ways they can utilize those tools/resources in order to facilitate learning and creation.  

          The  "gap'  I think lies on the fact that education is now utilizing a lot of technology resources and tools that by the time you learn to use one them, they become old, and you have to learn the "new version'. Now students seem to be more knowledgable than the teachers when it comes to technology resources; The gap is not that wide if we keep up with the changes and the new technology.  I have always encouraged my students to express and to explore the world (in my case, Language) around them.  With the use of technology we can go anywhere we want and learn from different Spanish speaking countries.  Technology is so big and offers lots of opportunities to learn from so many different ways; variety is one way of keeping students engage in the learning process. Do not be afraid to learn and to ask; I'm a learner, and always will be.

Journal # 2

Quote from the text/ video	What it means	Deeper thinking
"kids do well if the can."	If a child could do well, he would do well.	As adults it is our responsibility to figure out what is the cause of such behavior;  a child knows what is right and what is wrong.  Do not punish them  for something they do not have control of, or the necessary skills to "do well".  If you know what skills are needed to better that particular behavior, than you know what skills you need to teach that child so he/she can do well.  Teach them how to do well!
"education is meant to take us into the future that we can not grasp."	We do not have a clue what education is going to be in the next 5 years.  .	I believe that the future of education lies in the hands of our students. Education is constantly evolving along with technology; Technology now in day is changing rapidly, and the things that teachers and students can do with it are so vast.  The future of our classrooms should not be about how much technology we have, but rather how teachers and students are able to use that technology to facilitate learning and creation.
"abundance."	The storage business  is a big and million dollar industry.	We have too many unnecessary things; I believe we are capable of living a more simplistic kind of life.
"employers value workers who can think critically and solve problems."	If you have the capability of thinking critically and solving problems, employers are looking to hire you .	As parents and educators our job is to provide our children/students with the best education to prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow.  As we have seen many companies/employers are now more interested and value those employees that have the ability to think critical and solve problems.  Education is a key aspect on developing such skills.  We need to make sure that they receive a strong and effective education.

Journal # 1

Reflecting on your CPI teaching, respond to the following questions:  What is it like to be a student in my class?  What is it like for a student to move through classes in a day at our school?  (Use your CPI school as reference).

CPI in a nutshell was one of the most incredible challenging and rewarding experiences I have had as a Teacher Candidate.  This being said, every time I went into "my classroom" I would always get excited to try new things , to put into practice a new lesson plan, a new activity, to experiment, to find out who needed help, who needed differentiation, etc.  One of the things I remember telling my CT about a lesson plan that did not go so well, was that I feel like I let the students down, I felt like a failed them.  My CT was extremely supportive, and my US, was nothing but words of encouragement and positive feedback.  My CT used to tell  me that in this profession you do not get it right every time, she said that sometimes you miss the mark and sometimes you just know you made it.  That the important aspect of it is to know what you did wrong, what did not work and try something new to make it work.  I had some great times as well as some really down ones.  Some of the greatest are those where I felt like I connected with the students and made a positive impact in their learning achievement. Some of my low times are those where I felt I failed them completely.  I wanted to find out more about what it was like to be a student in my class, and they responded that I gave them too much work, and that they liked the games and the different activities we did in the classroom.  They told me that they were not used to do so much work and that I pushed them too hard.  Now, looking back at my CPI experience I can see what they mean when they say " I pushed them too hard".  I remember being very specific on what my expectations were and telling them that they were more than capable on completing any assignments I would give them.  I had confidence in them, but some of them did not have that confidence and those are the ones that I did push a little.

What is it like for a student to move through classes in a day at our school?

I remember asking this particular question to a couple of ELLs.  They said that it was very difficult and sometimes very confusing.  They were not used to changing classroom every time they had a different  class.  They said that were they came from teachers are the ones that come into the different classrooms. This was something I could relate to; I remember back when I was in high school, it was the exact same set up.  Students would go into just one classroom and the different teachers would come to that classroom.  Over all, they just said that it would get some time to get use to the new schedule and the new system.  But they were not complaining.