August
August 14, 2012
My first day at practice and I’m very nervous because I
don’t know what to expect from the
co-workers and students. The
Director, Dr. Roberto Olmeda was very
friendly and made me feel very welcomed.
He oriented me in some school stuff and then proceeded to introduce me
to Mrs. Davidson. I also meet the
secretary, the librarian and the two
third grade teachers. Everyone has been
really nice and friendly. They also have
offered their help in any way they can.
I’m happy right now where I am.
August 15, 2012
Second day still nervous, but not that much today. The day was a normal one. Observing class, doing paperwork so I don’t get too behind, because is a lot
of work.
August 16, 2012
I’m getting more comfortable every day in the school. I’m getting acquainted with the students so
that they get to know me and me, them.
There are some students that are very talkative and don’t like to write. Everything went normal. The students are starting to call me Mrs.
García.
August 17, 2012
Friday, last day of the first week! I feel good and happy. I hope this is going to be a great academic
and professional experience. I’m getting more into the school life.
August 20, 2012
Mrs. Davidson indicated that she was going to review some
basic stuff that they are supposed to know by now. She gave orally first the alphabet, numbers
from 1 to 10,000 (after 20 it went 1 x 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000) days of the
week and months of the year. She has
very good control of the class, she and I help them understand.
August 21, 2012
In 3-1, where I observe, Mrs. Davidson review orally what
she already had given them: alphabet, numbers, days of the week and months of
the years. Then she proceeded with the
regular class. Today she sang with the
students “If you’re happy and you know it…” all the students including me sang
and dance the song before having them writing the lesson. She gave them ordinal numbers, colors, shapes,
family members and classroom (materials).
Everything went fine.
August 22, 2012
No class Tropical Storm Isaac.
August 23, 2012
No class Tropical Storm Isaac.
August 24, 2012
Day after Isaac, the
tropical storm, so there was practically no students at all. No class was given we mostly shared
experiences with students and their parents from different teachers.
August 27, 2012
It was a regular day at school today. I observed the 3-1 class. I talked to Dr. Roberto Olmeda first thing in
the morning about the idea I had for the Special Project and he gave me another
idea also. She gave them 12 questions
about them and she also gave that to the other third grade. Dr. Anibal Muñoz come for the exploratory
visit and talked to Mrs. Davidson and me about how everything is going. Today I wrote on the board the 12 questions
for the third grade. Mrs. Davidson asked
me if I could write on the board “cause she had to go to the office before
going to class 20”. The kids where happy
that I was the teacher and I had group control.
August 28, 2012
Today like every day I went to school very excited to see my
students and my peers. On the first
group 3-1 everything went normal. Some
kids talking more and writing less. Most
of the students didn’t want to repeat after the teacher went she asked them
What is your name? and How old are you?
After she said that it was ok to talked and to try they started talking
more. With my group 3-2 we did the group
profile. Mrs. Davidson let me use the
class today for it. Everything went well
the kids like when I’m in front of the class and I do too.
August 29, 2012
Mrs. Davidson started with the first unit: What make us famous? Everything went fine. But, when we got to the 3-2 class, two
students, girls, were arguing and then they started shoving each other. Mrs. Davidson got the first, she separate
them and asked what was wrong. They started
talking at the same time and crying. When
they calmed down and Mrs. Davidson got everyone seated one of the girls
explained why she shoved the other girl.
Mrs. Davidson explained to the students, in Spanish, that violence don’t
solve anything and we shall not use it to resolve things, that they have to
call a teacher instead. After that
incident everything went back to normal.
Esta fue una experiencia de aprendizaje para mi.
August 30, 2012
Mrs. Figueroa, 3-1 home room
teacher, didn’t came to school so the students didn’t come either I didn’t had a group to observed. The Director, Dr. Olmeda, asked me to go to
the office so I went. He said to me that
he had a Special Project for me since I have to have one for my Practice
teaching class. He asked me to help a 6th.
Grade student, who came from the United States and doesn’t speak Spanish
fluently, by being a link between him and his classes and, of course, I accepted the challenge. I met the student and sat to talk to him a
bit because he got class. He feels very
comfortable in school and with his peers, everyone had make him feels welcome.
September 4, 2012
Back to school after a long weekend. Mrs. Davidson asked about the homework and no
one talk or said anything, she asked like 2 more times before she said it in
Spanish. Then the students started to talk but only 2 students had done the
homework out of 24, it made me wonder if they hated so much the class that they
didn’t even do the homework. One of the students even said that his mom had
revised his notebook and didn’t find anything. The teacher look at his notebook
and it said: “Look for these three words in Spanish and a definition in
English”. What had that mother see, did she not understood it because she it
was in English or because it didn’t said homework?
September 5, 2012
First seminar day! Today we spend the entire day at UPR-H.
We talked about our experiences in the school so far. We also took 2
presentations on with Dr. Aníbal Muñoz about writing behavioral objectives it
was very helpful, I understood it better and another one with Dra. Nilsa Lugo
about how to have an effective environment in our classrooms, it made some
things clearer. In the afternoon we took the workshop of the blog we have to do
as an electronic portfolio. This time was more effective than the first time.
So even though I didn’t got to see my students it was a day well spend.
September 6,2012
Mrs. Davidson asked me to read what was left of the Sonia
Sotomayor’s story so I accepted. The kids really liked the way I told the
story, I could see it in their face they were paying attention, so it was a
plus for me. When I finished I started asking questions about the story to the
kids, surprisingly they started to answer them. They were responding to me, it
felt good.
September 7, 2012
Today I gave the short test to the students, I was kind of
nervous. Everything went very good, I gave them the dictation and then I wrote
the questions on the board so that it wasn’t something that took the focus on
the dictation. I took some kids individually that I saw where having more
difficulty with the questions. They are responding very well to me that makes
me happy.
September 10, 2012
Today we went to the library because Mrs. Davidson had a
Power Point Presentation on the story “Sonia Sotomayor: a judge grows in the
Bronx.” First she reviewed the alphabet and the numbers and then she went on
the presentation. She had problems with it because her laptop is a Mac and the
library’s is Windows. She then moved to
plan b ask questions about the story since she already had read it to them. We
went to fix it so we could show it to the next third grade groups but without
any result.
September 11, 2012
At last we could do the Power Point Presentation! She seated
them as she thought best. The director entered the library to do some school
stuff and the students’ didn’t saw him till he gave them a scolding because
they were a bit hyper. Everything calmed down and the presentation flowed very
nicely. Since Mrs. Davidson had a problem with her voice she asked me to
continue reading the story so I did. The students where very attentive with me,
I guess try to make it not just a reading but a fun reading came out
right. All the other classes went by
fine.
September 12, 2012
Continuing with the team teaching been like a week now. The
kids are responding to me but I got to get tougher with them. Trying to handle
22 kids at the same time is very hard, very time consuming and tricky but I can
handle it. The kids are talking to me about some of their personal things like parents,
movies and they things they like to play. I can definitely take advantage of
this to get to know them in a more personal level.
September 13, 2012
I really like to work with Mrs. Davidson, she’s very helpful
and friendly. Today like every day she helps me become more comfortable with the kids and with the other teachers. I hope that she helps me even more when I have to give class to the third grade I have been assign too.
September 14, 2012
September 17, 2012
Official first day teaching the third grade class! I have
been team teaching for like 1 ½ to 2 weeks now so they have seen me in the front;
they are comfortable with me and asking my help if they need it. I don’t know
how this change in teacher is and teaching style is going to affect them
especially in the test this Thursday. That is the one thing that got me really
worried and that the test I make would be too difficult for the majority of the
students. I plan to keep reviewing with
them all this week and review the test in the format I’m doing it to see if
they can do it or not.
September 18, 2012
Since it was so much and there some of the students that are
slow writing and some that you have to be on top of them so they actually write,
I wrote the details of the story again so I was sure that they all got it and
study it for the test. They were very
grateful that I wrote it again and they could actually finish it. Definitely if
they have to write I will have to use almost the whole class just to be sure
they have it all.
September 19,2012
Mrs. Davidson was in a reunion from the BEC-21 so she asked
me to fill in for her and I did. I gave class to both 3th grades today and of
course their homeroom teachers stayed with me. The students really like me;
they almost didn’t let me go when it was time. It felt good to have the students
likening me so much. The other teachers, both of them, gave me feed backs on
how I did and how I handle things and it was positive.
September 20,2012
Today was the test of the Sonia Sotomayor’s story. Mrs.
Davidson explained to them what they have to do, give them the instructions, on
the test. I helped some students individually because they needed more help
than the others. It was very satisfying to see so many students asking for my
help rather than Mrs. Davidson I think they feel more connected to me. I really
feel happy here.
September 21, 2012
BINGO DAY! It was the first day of BINGO and it was fun for
them and for us. It was kind of chaotic because the keep asking what was the
number and the letter, some we frustrated because they didn’t understood even
though Mrs. Davidson explained it to them before they began, and gave them the
example on the board and left it there to see. I know that when they get to do
it again they will do it better.
September 24, 2012
Gave class to the first third grade class because Mrs.
Davidson was in a meeting with a student’s parent. I feel comfortable in front
of both groups, they feel the same way, they show me how much they feel for me
and grateful they are. It’s a very good feeling to have the students and some
of the teachers support and making me feel like I belong in the classroom.
September 25,2012
Today was a special day because it’s my birthday! The kids
from the first third grade, they sang to me in English and Spanish, I got
cookies and a juice as a present from the kids, and a gelato from Mrs. Davidson
it was very nice. But at good as those things were in my class I had 3
situations on 30 minutes, I got a personal situation with one of the students,
two boys almost cry and the practice students from UPR-H of the nursing
department came and took 7 of my students. So it was definitely not a boring
day at all and everything was handled with care.
September 26,2012
Today we started a new story for the new Unit. We gave the
vocabulary words they had to study and the sight words for them to have a
dictation later on. I really hope that they study this time because I have seen
that they just don’t study as much as they should for this class. This is kind
of frustrating because I’m giving my all so they can get as much learning as
possible and I don’t see that they do the same with me. I’ll have to see what
else to do for them to actually study for my class.
Today we start with the new story, it was short but very relate able to them and we review the sight words. I asked them questions about their
friends around their home and about family traveling. They were very excited to
answer and to give their opinion on the subject. Today was a very good day in
the classroom. They have to study for a quiz on the sight words.
September 28, 2012
BINGO DAY! We had a bingo day schedule for today and it went
really fun. Before we went to the bingo we had a dictation practice so they
would know what to expect on Monday. They are trying to get the hang of it, to
hear the letters and numbers in English and look for them in the card. At first
they were like not that convinced that they could do it but as the numbers pass
and they saw that the numbers aren’t that difficult and that they repeat they
did better. I was very proud of them today.
October 8, 2012
Today
we started working with the alphabet and how to arrange the words in
alphabetical order. I observed that they
still have problems putting the words in order, which for me is odd. This is a reminder that there are “teachers”
out there that don’t do the job how it should be. I’m going to try and put the lessons as
visual as possible to see if my ideas are going to work or not. I really hope they do.
October 9, 2012
I gave
them more basic stuff like putting letter in order. This they did well but when we went to words
it became a little bit hard. I use the
board and some index cards with the alphabet and on the other side words. The starting letter was in blue or green and
the rest of the word in black. This was
so that they can observe which is the letter they have to be on the look out
for. The class went well and entertaining.
October 10, 2012
We were
going to start working with the oral reports bat the teacher from the Nursing
Dept. of the UPR-H came to get them to a conference they had so we went. The conference was on the importance of a
beeing prepared for natural disasters. They behaved well , they pay attention and
answer some guestions.
October 11, 2012
Today
we started with the oral reports and it went smooth. They seemed to like it even though it was in
English. There were volunteers, most of
them, this is something that surprised me but also made me very happy. Tomorrow we will continue since there are 22
students and time is limited. Looking forward
to the ones that are left.
October 12, 2012
We
continued with the oral reports. The
surprised was that Prof. Aníbal Muñoz came to visit me so, of course, I got
really nervous. We got on time to the
class room, the students behaved excellent, they were motivated to do the oral
report. As class passed my nervousness went away.
I even forgot that Prof. Aníbal Muñoz was there. It was a very awesome class.
October 15, 2012
Normal
day at school. The students know I’m not
coming on Wednesday day and they are suffering . We started with the 2nd letter
alphabetical order with the index cards as examples so that they could
visualize it. Them I gave them exercises
to do and the ones that didn’t finish in the class room had to finish it at
home. They participated very well and it
seems that they did understand it.
October 16, 2012
As I
got to the personnel parking some of the 3-1 F group came to me that a specific
boy was violent again. I send them to
the principal’s office since their homeroom teacher hadn’t arrived yet. This is a situation that’s been going on for
a lot of time. His father and aunt have
several times to school to talk to the teachers, social worker and the
principal and things don’t change. Let’s
see if from now on it doesn’t get worse.
My group went to a Hygiene Conference in the Library. Overall good behavior, they pay attention and
participated.
October 17, 2012
Second
Seminar in UPR-Humacao today. We shared
over experiences, over reactions to several things among other things. We had two presentations one by Prof. Aní bal
Muñoz and the other one by Prof. Nilsa Lugo. “ Motivational techniques” was
Prof. Muñoz’s conference, for me this was great. I understood better the relationship between
Motivational techniques and a class. They mesh so well together that the
student reacts better to the lesson.
Missed my students but the “mini-vacation” was good.
October 18, 2012
Normal
day at school, nothing out of the ordinary.
Today we had an earthquake simulation on school grounds right before my
class. I use that to start the
class. I talk to them in English and
just a few minutes. Everything followed
well in class and the rest of the day.
October 19, 2012
There are
some days that the students are more hyper than others. Today was one of those days were you spend
most of the class trying to control them and make them pay attention. This is very energy draining and mentally
draining. I know this is part of it in
because we all have bad days, regular days and good days too.
October 22, 2012
Today a
girl from 3-1 started to wait for me in the entrance of the personnel
parking. That was so cute, she really
won my heart. Everything went on normal throughout
the day. As the days passes I get more comfortable
with them, being their teacher, being in control of the class room.
October 23, 2012
Normal
day at school. I’m feeling more and more
as a teacher as the days passes. I’m
very excited to have a real job so I can star my journey as a teacher.
October 24, 2012
October 25, 2012
I’m trying to get to each and every one of my students but
it’s very difficult. I try to take it day by day because like us they have
their days. Some they come hyper, some are very happy, others don’t want to pay
attention. This makes it difficult for me because some days they get me to
doubt about me being a teacher but then they come to me and hug me, give me
candy, or do a good job in class and the doubt goes away.
October 26, 2012
Thinking
of what can I do to make the class better.
It’s so frustrating when you do something different in class and they
don’t appreciate it. Even though I’m
going to do it because maybe at least once they will appreciate that I’m trying
to make a more fun and friendly environment in class.
October 29, 2012
They
were hyper today. I don’t like it too
much because it’s very difficult to give a class and to have control of the
group. I try not to get angry and
control myself because I know that if I do they are going to be more out of
control and that cannot happened.
October 30, 2012
Normal
days at school today. Everything went
well. I know my students are having
problems with identifying declarative and imperative sentences. I’m thinking on doing an exercise with those
two only so that they can see the difference better.
October 31, 2012
Happy
Halloween! In our school they had a breast
cancer awareness day. We all had to go
in a pink shirt. They gave us pamphlets
with information and a cancer bow. I
still gave my students Halloween candy and in a class used a handout of
Halloween with two activities one that had to do with the lesson and the other
one so they could have fun. They like it
a lot.
November
November 1, 2012
I swear
that one day an accident is going to happened with me and the students. Not to worry too much because the worst is
that we are going to fall down. They all
hug me so tight. I have some that get jealous
and start trying not to let they others hug me.
I love to see how much they love me because is one of the things that
makes everything worth it.
November 2, 2012
I’m very
excited because I have 2 to 3 extra days that are free from students. I love them and love what I do but vacations
like this are needed to refresh over mind and organize all over again. At this point in the semester is much needed
because the pressure is getting to you and you don’t have much time because you
realize that it’s almost over.
November 5, 2012
No
students in school only teacher. We had
a Sexual Abuse Conference by Mrs. Medina the Social Worker. It was very interesting, and got to learn a
more about such a delicate subject. They
shared some stories and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. We really have to be more careful with this.
November 7, 2012
Today
one of the 3-1 drew me in my notebook, actually twice. He says that he is my son. He’s so cut and he “fights” with the girl who
also says she’s my daughter. This is my
everyday morning routine. This actually
makes me want to wake up and go to work which turn outs to be not so much
work. Didn’t had class since is the day
after elections and not so many kids came to school.
November 8, 2012
Normal day,
nothing out of the ordinary. The only thing
was that a mother of a third grader that was in school thought that I was the
mother of the girl in 3rd grade that waits for me in the
mornings. For me it was very funny and
cute al the same time because we are somewhat a parental figure in school.
November 9, 2012
I
started a new story today. I remember to
be almost a clown so I act it out. They
really paid attention and when I asked questions they responded to more than I
thought. It made them understand better
the story.
November 13, 2012
La
Semana de la Puertorriqueñidad started!
Today my dad will be participating for the opening. The student dents of third grade were excited
when they knew that those people in from of them where my parents. Some said that I looked like my mom, others
like my dad. Two of the teachers and the librarian knew one or both my
parents. Also my parents were very happy
to be in my practice center, had seen and meet my co-workers and the
principal. Then the teachers had a lunch
and they invited me too. I felt like one
of them.
November 14, 2012
Today
was a wet day. I thought that they would
be hyper but they were actually calm.
The class went smooth. When class
was over they invited me to a lunch they had in the classroom and of course I
accepted. It was so nice to be a part of
their activities. I love them and they
love me.
November 15, 2012
More
activities this week. There where artisans
with bows, necklace, hats and cultural candy.
There was a lunch with the other third group and their homeroom teacher
invited me. The students were excited I
was with them in their activity. I also
spend time with some parents like in my third grader’s activity yesterday.
November 16, 2012
Today
was one of the girls of my third grade birthday. Her father surprised her by throwing a
surprise birthday party in the classroom.
She was so happy and everything went well. In my class we watch the video I found about
the story we are reading in class. I had
to show it twice because they wanted to see it again. I hope they do better than the test they are
going to have.
November 20, 2012
The
students are stress because I’m not coming tomorrow. They don’t want me to go and I don’t want to
go either but such is life. They also
know that my time to go is coming soon and I won’t be here anymore. I have to organize myself to come visit next
year.
November 21, 2012
Seminar
at UPR-H: We’re almost there!!!! I’m so excited to be almost at the end of this
journey. This week has been very short, just yesterday in school and today
here. All of these days free are sort of
a mini vacation well deserved after this semester. I missed my students of
course but a brake is in order.
November 26, 2012
Today
Dr. Aníbal Muñoz came for his last visit of the semester. I was nervous as
always but it was different. It was my first time teaching sounds so it was
kind of like a challenge. The professor was happy with my work and gave me an
advice to do it better next time. At least I know they understood it more than
I thought they would.
November 27, 2012
Came to
school with a truck in front, thank God I got in time. When I got to school one of the girls from
the other third group told me she was ready for the test. Another one from the
same group said she didn’t study because she was doing homework and she didn’t
remember. I told her that she had time to study because the test was announce
with enough time and that they are supposed to be responsible for that. This is
something I have observed though out the semester with the same students. So I
ask myself, do parents are really engaged with their kids’ education? This is
very disappointed to see.
November 28, 2012
Gave my
test on ‘The Garden’ today. I was so surprised, not in a good way, with how
they did it. They have been taking the same kind of test with the same parts:
match, order of events and multiple choice. Today was as if it was the first test
they had seen, they didn’t understood how to do it, most of them didn’t do too
well either. This is very frustrating for me because I know there was more than
a week for them to study and they had a lot of free day so what did they do?
They knew and their parents knew there was a test so what went wrong?
It was a though day emotionally
today. Just as I was about to enter the first classroom of the day a
grandfather told me: “Missis mira a ver si ayudas a estos niños que la maestro
los tiene colgados a todos, la vamos a sacar.” My reply to that was, I smiled
and enter the classroom. I could not believe what I just had heard specially
because his granddaughter in doing fine in the class. They still don’t
understand that English class is in English and that they had to give their
kids time for them to adapt to that. It feels like the parents prefers for
their kids to have A’s than to have them
actually learn, which means, they have to work for their grade, have to be
responsible for it, the grade is not a present.
November 30,2012
Today was a normal day. The kids
behave well, did the work. One of the topics of the day was that I’m going now
and sadly I’m not coming back to teach them. They don’t want me to go, some of
them even say that I’m just not going because I’m going to be their teacher
even through fourth grade. It’s very rewarding to hear them express that kind
of feeling towards me. It makes me feel like I have reached them, I’m an
example to them even in the tiniest of thing.
December
December 3, 2012
The students were very hyper today.
I so don’t like days like this because I spend more time trying to have them
calmed down than giving class. Still I gave my class on the new theme and it’s
an easier one for them since they have took it in Spanish class. The part of
the class that I did the actual teaching, my students worked on very well. I
really hope they continue like this.
December 4, 2012
Today the practice students of the
Nursing Department on UPR-H had their closing activity with all of the
students. The activity was from 9:00 am to 10:30 am on the basketball court.
The kids had a blast, they even danced and did the choo-choo train. The
practice students had presents for all the teachers, social worker, special
education personnel and the director.
Guess what, they even gave me one. When they said my name on the
microphone I was surprised! My students were on the front of the crowd and
started screaming like crazy at the top of their lungs. When the activity was
over I saw that I still had time left to give the class so I did. Everything
went well.
December 5, 2012
Today I did the video of my class. I
was very nervous because I wanted them to be on the best behavior they could be
because of course they still are going to act like the kids they are. They had
fun doing the activities I had plan for them. We first work as a group and then
they work individually.
December 6, 2012
Today we did my evaluation and I
still had time to give my class. The tension of the: “this is coming to an end”
is getting to me. Part of me wants to finish so I can get a job but another
part wants me to stay because of the students and teachers I have made a
connection during this semester. All I know is I’m going to keep in touch with
them.
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