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.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
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.
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.
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