Field Experience and Hours

1. How many hours did you complete?

Five

2. In a short paragraph or bulleted list, how did you spend your time?

*Observing
*Passing out papers
*Preping the classroom
*Preparing lessons
*Discussing literacy movements
*Discussing PD hours

3. How did the experience help you to strengthen at least one Kentucky Teacher Standard? (be sure to name the standard)

Standard 8- Collaborating with colleagues/parents/others
I spent most of my time collaborating with Mrs. McNabb and having her give me advice on how to make a good math lesson that would be good for literacy and good for students that are younger and not as advanced as other students. We also talked a lot about Standards Based Grading because she was the person who began the start of SBG

4. Talk a little about one thing you learned because of this field experience.

I learned that working in a good environment with support from your co-workers is a key component as to whether or not you succeed in the classroom and as I worked with Mrs. McNabb I found that there was an abudance of support in her building for her initiatives to move in SBG and I thought that it was great to see that within a school. I also learned a lot about SBG as well because I didn't realize that it had become so popular in elementary and middle schools.

Book List and Wiki Post

Reading Log for 30 books (to paste into your blog in at the end of the term)

• Instructions: List the titles and authors you read under each Genre, and use checklist below for Wiki posts. Then, highlight this material and paste it into a final blog post. I have already included (in the 30) the ones we read for discussion. Feel free to read more in each genre as you make time. Failure to read and list at least 30 books will results in grade being lowered one letter.

 

Genre / Titles you read (Hit enter after each one and a new number should pop up)

             I.      Non-fiction/Informational (1 chapter book or photo essay book reflection required on blog)

1)      The Boy Called “It” by Dave Pelzer

2)      The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer

3)      Achoo: The most interesting book you’ll ever read about germs-Trudee Romanek

 

 

          II.      Poetry (1 chapter or picture book reflection required on blog)

1)      Hey, Diddle, Diddle and Other best-loved Rhymes

 

       III.      Modern Fantasy (1 chapter book reflection required on blog)          

1)      I, Jack  by Patricia Finney. (required for discussion – do NOT use on blog)

2)      The Hunger Games- S. Collins

3)      Catching Fire-S. Collins

4)      The Mockingjay- S. Collings

5)      Ender’s Game- O.S. Card

 

 

       IV.      Historical Fiction (1 reflection required on blog –can be a picture book)     

1)      The Teacher’s Funeral by Richard Peck. (required for discussion – do NOT use on blog)

2)      The Color Purple by Alice Walker

3)      The Signers: The 56 Stories behind the declaration of independence- D.B. Fradin

4)      In the beginning: Creation stories from around the world- Virginia Hamilton

 

          V.      Multicultural/Traditional (2 reflections required on blog – one can be a picture book)         

1)      Hiroshima: A Novella by Laurence Yep (required for discussion – do NOT use on blog)

2)      A House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisero

3)      Monster- W. D. Myers

 

       VI.      Realistic Fiction (1 chapter book reflection required on blog)

1)      Baby by Patricia MacLachlan. (required for discussion – do NOT use on blog)

2)      What happened to goodbye? By Sarah Dessen

3)      Maniac Magee-J. Spinelli

4)      The Hello, Goodbye Window- N. Juster and C. Raschka

5)      Flat Broke- G. Paulsen

6)      Hatchet- G. Paulsen

 

    VII.      Picture Books (5 reflections required on blog during the first two weeks of class. There should be a total here of at least six.)

1)      The Wednesday Surprise by Eve Bunting. (required for discussion – do NOT use on blog)

2)      Chicka Chicka Boom Boom–Bill Martin JR

3)      Barnyard Banter–Denise Fleming

4)      Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear–Bill Martin JR and Eric Carle

5)      The Artist who Painted a Blue Horse–Eric Carle

6)      Little Cloud –Eric Carle

7)      Alphabet Under Construction – Denise Fleming

 

Wiki Checklist

Instructions: Write the number of entries for each category you posted into on the Course Wiki (requirement is four total posts, in four different categories)

 

____ Social Studies

____ Science

__1_ Math

____ Music

____ Art

__1__ Reading/Language Arts

____ Physical Education

__1__ Other

A Child Called "It"

Pelzer, D. J. (1995). A child called "It" one child's courage to survive. Deerfield Beach, Fla.: Health Communications.

A Child Called "It" is a moving and inspirational novel by Dave Pelzer. This young boy barely survives his crazy mother's torture and torment and manages to come out with barely enough skin and bones to survive being moved from foster care to foster care. The real life connections that this book could have in a classroom are unreal. Students could easily learn how to write a personal narrative with this book, whether good or bad. Students could learn how to read into the tone of the narrator and other characters with the way his mother talks to him and his father. Students could use this book to learn different moods as well because there are many times in the book where the young boy goes from hopeful to hopeless. This book would be a great way to introduce informational and non-fiction lessons at the beginning of the unit as well.

The only worry I have with this type of novel is the way it would impact those students who deal with abuse at home, and whether or not it would bring in a bad feeling to the classroom. I would hate to produce more worry and concern for students than was needed or was already in their lives.

The Signers: The 56 Stories behind the Declaration of Independence

Fradin, D. B. (2002). The Signers: 56 stories behind the Declaration of Independence. New York: Walker & Co.



Who signed the Declaration of Independence? Can you name them all? 56 people from 13 different states is a lot of information to know and take in but after you read these awesome accounts from D. Fradin it is easy to figure out who played part in what! Where did the ole saying "sign your John Hancock here" come from? Find out through the story of John Hancock! Who was the financier of the Revolution? I'll give you a hint, it wasn't Carter Braxton. You don't know who that is either? Think of him as the confused party. Check out the book, it is worth knowing where your freedom came from and what America's past leaders were like!

Flat Broke

Paulsen, G. (2011). Flat broke. New York: Wendy Lamb Books.

Think about this scenario:

You're 14, you want a super cute girlfriend but all the girls like boys with cash, and you have none! Not only do you have no money, your in big trouble for lying but your learning the hard way that hard work pays off. Girls like boys that can bake, girls like boys that are entrepreneur types, but are you? Flat Broke is the book for you to learn how to be all these things but to also learn how to swing the ladies. You can learn the ropes of mayhem, misunderstanding, and a good solid working foundation for your life. If you are the least bit concerned about being successful, Kev, and the characters of Flat Broke, can help you!

Hey, Diddle, Diddle and Other Best-loved Rhymes

Gerlings, R., & Weber, P. (2009). Hey diddle diddle: and other best-loved rhymes. New York: Alphabet Soup ; Windmill Books.

This children's book is very neat because it has ten well known nursery-rhymes in one book. It contains the following:

• Hey, Diddle, Diddle
• Old King Cole
• Pussy-Cat, Pussy-Cat
• It's Raining, It's Pouring
• Hush, Little Baby
• Ding, Dong, Bell
• One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
• Pat-A-Cake
• Jack Sprat
• Star Light, Star Bright

I am only going to discuss a couple of the nursery rhymes but I wanted to be sure that each one was listed. "Hey, Diddle, Diddle" shows an example of ASSONANCE in the nursery rhyme because it shares words with similar vowel sounds like diddle, fiddle, spoon, and moon. "Hush, Little Baby" is a lullaby that is often used to put sweet little ones to sleep but it has a good example of REPETITION in it. "Hush, little baby, don't say a word, Papa's going to buy you a mockingbird, and if that mocking bird won't sing, Papa's going to buy you a diamond ring..." The lullaby goes on with "And if that ________ won't _________, Papa's going to buy you a ________" It is soothing but easy to understand because there is that constant repetition of the basic verses. RHYMING is also a key ingredient to successful nursery rhymes and is found in just about all of the ones within this book but is very easily seen in "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe". This is also a good rhyme to help students start counting and would be very convenient because instead of buckling a shoe they could tie the shoe, and they could knock on the door after three and four, etc...or you could have small students draw what each number and then phrase after the number looks like. It would be very easy to use this in an K-2 math class.
 

Monster

Myers, W. D., & Myers, C. (1999). Monster. New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins Publishers.

 

 

I absolutely LOVE this book. It is great for students who are struggling and have had a hard time being in and out of trouble regardless of race, sex, or even age. The young boy witnesses a crime in a drugstore but you never find out if he was ever actually involved in the ordeal. It has FLASHBACKS in the novel when the boy is sitting in jail awaiting trial, it is considered a MULTI-GENRE novel because it has the boy writing a screenplay in jail, writing in a journal in jail and then it has many different types of writings from the court reporters to the newspapers. The novel is very much young adult literature because it takes things that happens in high school all the time and really expands on how they could be dealt with before now. The boy mentions over and over that if he had just stayed away from "those people" that he wouldn't be in this situation. It also deals with person vs self because the young man stays conflicted with himself when he is writing in his journal. He talks about how this will affect his mom, affect his brothers, etc. The novel is an easy read and hard to put down once you are really involved with the reading but it is one of those books that leaves you with a lot of unanswered questions.

I could see this book being used in my classroom every year, regardless if I was teaching 8th grade or 12th grade. It is a great book to show children different types of writing and that all novels aren't just times new roman on 400 pages. I would ask the students to reflect a lot with this book so possibly asking them to keep a reading journal along with each chapter wouldn't be too much to expect. They could write about experiences where they connected, or they could write to Jamal and tell him what they would have done differently in those situations. I feel like it would be a great project that students could really connect with.