Last Day with ELL

Today was my last day with my ELL. I received an email from Jose with the information from Mr. I  for our Ell.  As I approached the the young ladies I stated the objective and the goal of today’s lesson.  I gave them power point over South Asia and let them know the type of strategy that will be used today.

I restated the objective to the ladies again letting them know we will be using graphic organizers today to break down the power point slides that you have in front of you.  I first  gave them an assessment by asking them several questions about organizers.  I asked if they knew what a graphic organizer was and they responded yes.  I then ask who taught you how to do a graphic organizer and they said Mr. I.  I asked them to draw a graphic organizer to make sure they knew what I was talking about.  Once I found out they knew what I was talking about this made my lesson a little easier to teach since they already had an idea how to do so.  I gave them the power points and I told them to read the first view slides and create a small graphic organizer.  As they created the graphic organizer I created one to.  Once we all finished we compared the graphic organizers to see if any information was the same or different.  It turned out that each graphic organizers had the same concept.  As we moved on to the next set of slides I had to remind them not to write out the whole sentence about different ideas and concepts just the key points. Overall the idea of creating graphic organizer worked they were able to understand the use of the strategy.

As I look back on the experience I can say that I have grown.  I am not that intern that was unsure how to teach someone who did not speak the same language.  I am an individual that has succeeded in teaching another individual who could not speak English very well. I gained confidence in teaching someone of a different language.  I will be up for the challenge any time. 

 

My first day with my cooperating Teacher!

My first day was great.  Yes, I was a little nervous but once I started talking to some of the students and the teacher  the nervous dissipated.  Our class was  hour in a half, the first part of our class was spent in the classroom where we looked over the book they were using and the topics one can use for the unit plan. The second part of class was spent in the weight-room where I was able to assist both males and females  proper technique to lift weights.  As I moved to the gym I started talking to one particular individual and we got on the subject about popping the question.  As I continued to talk to him I asked him what question are you talking about and he said the question.  I said you want to get married is that what you are applying and he said yes.  I was surprised, I told him you have your whole life to get married and he replied “you only have one life to live and you might as well get married early. 

Emotions

Today was my last day an emotional day full of different emotions.  Today I observed my personal fitness class where we played basketball for the whole period.  Today was like any other day a free day and no structure.

I have learned through the weeks at Akins how important structure is and without the structure in place the students run the class and that is what I observe everyday that I visited the class.  I remember telling the professors and fellow interns about the class and how bad the class was structure wise.  When I was speaking to the class I felt the class as a whole did not believe me until I had a different intern join me in the class and face exactly what I was talking.  She could not understand why we just walked laps and played basketball and did no book work to improve learning.  The same question I asked myself everyday that I observed the class.  The only thing I could get from this experience is not to coach or teach my class in fashion he did.  Even though there were times I saw a positive learning environment the negatives on how the class was ran out weighed the positives.  Some of the positives were taking several students to the library to help them with their study guide which was by far the most learning that was provided.  But once again that only happened once because there were so many negatives.

As the day concluded I noticed the students want to learn and today was one of those days I did not want to leave knowing I can not make a difference any more because I’m going to leave.  I had several students ask me about college, which meant a lot to me knowing I had something to do with that.  As I left and wish the students luck in their feature endeavors I sensed a since of sadness.  The students knew that I cared about them even though it was developed in a short period of time.  The time spent with the students is a moment I will never forget. 

 

When 4 went to Africa

Today I went over the geography in Africa.  I gave the students two maps of Africa one blank and one with the names of each country.  I had the students look at the map to prepare themselves to fill in the blank map.  I modeled for the students exactly what I want them to do.  As I gave the students the maps I went over the maps with them answering any question they might have had about the spelling or the exact location of the countries.

The lesson went well, was not sure exactly what and how I was going to teach just a map but I accomplished what was necessary.  As I progressed through the lesson I started to figure out ways to engage the students a little more by applying some of my competitive spirit in the mix of going to Africa.  As they looked at the map I had them look over and over to place the countries on the blank map by memory.   Now that I have a second to think about it, I should have used another strategy with the one I was using to help them commit the countries to memory.  As I was teaching the lesson the, we got off task a little and I had redirect their focus on the map.  As we continued the lesson and refocused the lesson came to an end.  For this lesson thier was only so much one could talk about a map.  The previous material that was given for the ELL students was to complex to teach without having the right materials.  Therefore I did my best to teach them the map and the benefits of that map.  As I previously stated about getting of task, they asked me about the word nigga and nigger in relation to one of the countries that was labeled.  It through me off task so I redirected there attention and told them we can talk about that after we finish our lesson.  That is exaclty what we did.  Talked how the word should never be used no matter the situation.  Overall the lesson was not bad.

I had a good time with this lesson learning how to approach different situations with the correct frame of mind.  The four individuals that I worked with appreciated the lesson that was taught.  I had a great time and learned how to deal with certain situaiton that unexpected.

Should of been a Substitute

Today in persoal fitness class we had a subsitute, another day I should of teached.  At the begining of class I walked in the classroom and coach said he will be leaving today and here is our sub.  I explained the objectives to me and left.  The objective was to go to the track and walk five laps for a grade.  Once the laps were completed we were to go to the gym and finish the fintess test that is required.

As I approached the class and stated the objectives the students had an idea what we will being doing today. Very similar to the way the professors present their objectives. The students knew what was going to happpen therefore allowing the class to run smoothly.  I would have to agree wtih one of the teachers here at Akins that rapport is one of the best things ever develpoed.  As the students walked thier laps and finished their laps there were several students that only wanted to complete four laps for a 80 when all they had to do is walk one more get an 100.  I think being the person that I am in creating rapport is why I get along with the students. I would ask the students to do another lap to get an 100 and they did.  There was very little resistence in the begining but overall they did what I asked.

We also went to the gym were I had someone model what we were going to do for the raminder of the fitness test.  I expalined to them again restating the objectives what exaclty we will be doing today.  At first they were not listening therefore I had to be a little stern with my voice and my face to get my point across.  As the period progressed the sturctue of the class ran smoother.

The day was great, as I continue to learn everythings seems to fall in place.  Every time I teach my confidence grows and the nervous dispate.