Field Experience: The Final Week

        I began going to my field placement with Mrs. R and Mr. B on February 20th and now knowing that I will have completed 50 hours on May 1st is a huge accomplishment. I remember when I first began going to observations I was extremely nervous and did not know how the students react to someone new in their classroom. The first week I remember sensing that the students were just as nervous as I was. Looking at how currently the students act towards me, they treat me as if I am one of the teachers. They ask me questions about college and why I want to become a Physical Educator. 

     I have learned a lot from both Mr. B and Mrs. R that I will apply to my own teaching styles and my future classroom. Each of these individuals are unique in their own ways and I find parts from both of them that I will use for myself. An example of this is Mr. B has a relationship with the students where if a game ends earlier than expected, he will play a game against the students. That is one thing that I personally would like to be able to do with my students. With Mrs. R, she genuinely cares about her students. An event that stands out in my mind is when the students had to run outside and we both noticed one of the girls who usually is very competitive was acting very sluggish and walking majority of the time. Mrs. R was concerned about this and wanted to make sure everything was okay with this student. It turns out the student could not breathe to the amount of pollen in the air. If a teacher did not genuinely care about their students, they could have seen that situation as the student just being lazy or having an off day. 

    Field Experience has showed me that I am meant to be in the education field. In the beginning of Education 203, Dr. Woo said that this class will show you that either you are to be in this field or not. I am so proud to say that this is where I am meant to be. 

  When I arrive at observations on May 1st, it will be a bittersweet moment. Knowing this will be the last time that I will be observing the students in both Mr. B's and Mrs. R's classes. Having the opportunity to watch these students and learn so much about my future as a Physical Education teacher has truly been a blessing. I will miss going to the classes and having so much fun with the students. 

   

Circle Urban Trip Two

  

  Before attending Circle Urban for the second time, I was less nervous than I was the first time I went. I thought that the students of Circle Urban would not remember who I was and that it would be like the first time I went. After attending Circle Urban, I can tell that my assumptions were completely wrong. The students not only remembered who I am they remembered everything I told them about myself. I did not realize that I made an impact on these students. We did not do the same activities as the first time either. We did introductions since there were a few new people in our group. The first game we did with the Circle Urban students was “the number game” where we had to work together and count to 100 to a beat.  It was great seeing everyone work together to get the closest to 100. The last game we played was “the beach ball game”. The beach ball is thrown and questions are written on the beach and the students have to answer the question. I learned a lot about the students at Circle Urban. They come from really big families. Before leaving, one of the students came up to me and she asked if I was the Trinity student that knew about the charter school before coming to Circle Urban and I was. She gave me a hug and thanked me for giving back to the community. At that moment, I knew I made a difference. I will never forget the experiences I have had with Circle Urban and their students.

  What I have experienced at Circle Urban will not only impact my field experience but will also impact my future classroom. One of my main goals in being a teacher is making an impact on one of my students and my experiencing that at Circle Urban, I know this is the field that I am meant to be in. Just being myself and knowing that these students are the future will help me become the educator I want to be for these students. Circle Urban has been an amazing experience and is something I will never forget. I hope that one day I will be able to go back here and work with this group again.

Circle Urban Visit One

         I visited Circle Urban Ministries for the first time on March 27th. I was extremely nervous about going to Circle Urban since it was a part of the Catalyst Charter School Network and it is a grade school. My reasoning behind my uneasiness about Catalyst is that it is the school that took over my high school once it closed. With going into a grade school, I am most comfortable with high school age students because I am able to relate with them more than grade school age students, I was nervous. I know majority of people would be nervous about going to the West Side of Chicago, due to it not being in the safest of neighborhoods. I felt at home. Being from Chicago, and going to high school on the South West Side and many of my friends are from the West Side, I was not worried at all.
      
       All my preconceptions about Circle Urban were wrong. Even though they are associated with Catalyst Charter School, the students thought it was cool that I knew about the school and once I told them I went to the school that was there before Catalyst they were in awe. Those students amaze me by how much they plan for their future. When I was their age, I thought I was going to be a fashion designer. We all see where that went for me. Education 203 prepared me for engaging with students and keeping them on track. Knowing each student is different, I could see that in the classroom, how some students were very outgoing and straightforward to those who were a little hesitant to us being in the classroom at first. Overall, I believe the visit was beneficial to both the Circle Urban students and to the Trinity students as well. I can not wait to go back on April 17th.
    
         What I have learned from going to Circle Urban will contribute to my field experience and future classroom. I have learned to create activities that will engage students and encourage teamwork. I learned to never judge my students from where they are from. These students have a bright future ahead of them and with they way they are going, I see that they will achieve all that they would like.

Professional Development

          On Tuesday March 24th, Dr. Erick Sierra delivered a lecture titled "With Eyes to See: Toward a Multi-Ethnic/Multi-Intelligence Pedagogy". This took place in the Ozinga Chapel Lobby. I was excited to go to this lecture since it was aimed toward education majors. Once I arrived at the lecture, I received a handout talking about Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. This caught my eye because we have discussed this theorist and his idea of multiple intelligences in Education 209.
         Dr. Sierra did an amazing job in engaging the audience with the story of his past in New York. He talked about how he learned about one of his intelligences, the intelligence of verbal-linguistic. This intelligence is the ability to use words/language skillfully, like writers and public speakers. Dr. Sierra then showed a video about a young man named Hugo. Hugo is a high school student being raised by his grandmother while taking care of his two younger sisters. Hugo fights in the streets but when he is at home, he is like a father to his sisters. Dr. Sierra asked the audience to identify what intelligences did Hugo possess. Everyone gave different responses since each person sees Hugo differently. I found this exercise to be beneficial but for some of the audience members, the length of the video made people lose interest. Overall, I enjoyed Dr. Sierra's lecture and found it beneficial to education majors and members of the faculty.
       I have learned from this Professional Development that every person has different intelligences that follow Howard Gardner. I can apply this to both my field experience and my future classroom by understanding the different intelligences and creating activities that can cover the intelligences of my students. Being a future Physical Education teacher, I may experience students of visual-spatial and bodily-kinesthetic mostly. Different ways that I can do this is by providing handouts for my students and demonstrating lessons that are to be  taught, e.g. how to shoot a basketball. This lecture has impacted the way that I would like to teach and how I will observe my classes.  
        

Field Experience Week One

   After completing one week of field experience in a junior high school, I have already seen and learned so much. I am observing two teachers as of right now, Ms. R and Mr. B, and I have been given the opportunity to observe both of their teaching styles for Physical Education.

Before beginning my field experience, I was very nervous because I have always had my heart on teaching high school and being in a setting with younger students I personally get very uneasy about. I always am both nervous and excited about meeting my cooperating teacher because knowing this person was in my shoes before creates some sort of relief.

Ms. R teaches both Physical Education and Science. For my time being at the school, I am only able to see one of her P.E. classes and was asked if I would like to either observe her two Sciences classes or two of Mr. B's P.E. classes. Both of these teachers are excellent. I love to see how they get the students involved. Recently, they have been playing the game of Pickleball, which personally is one of my favorite games.  After watching Ms. R teach I notice that she is gives her students the freedom to do their warm ups on their own and begin the lesson without being told. The only thing she does is tell them who is playing where but, I do notice the students connect more with her than Mr. B. Mr. B teaches his classes in a more structured manner. He times everything perfectly and is very organized. One thing that stood out the most to me about Mr. B that I want to do as a Physical Education teacher is participate with my students in the lesson. He told me about how once or twice every lesson he tries to play against the students to see if the students can score a point against him. That is one thing that I would like to do with my own students.

One thing that connects Education 203 to my field experience is I can see how much of an impact prior teachers have on educators lives. During class, we have talked about why we would like to be a teacher and many of us said that someone in our lives have influenced us and see this in a classroom setting outside of college students shows how true it really is.

The students were confused as why I was there at first. They thought that I was a substitute teacher. Once my cooperating teachers explained why I was there to the students they felt more comfortable knowing I was a student as well. They would come to me with questions and when I asked them for their scores they did not hesitate to tell me when they won.

Overall, my experience so far with Ms. R and Mr. B in a junior high school has been great and I am looking forward to working with them and their students for the rest of the semester.