Week of 9-23 through 9-27

This week we focused on traditional literature and how graphic organizers, among other forms of comprehension activities, can be incorporated into the classroom without making it seem like "busy work." This was kind of a new concept to me because when I heard the word "worksheet" in elementary school, I got excited. I was (and still am) a person that can't really sit there and read 30 pages and be expected to learn a whole lot. I learn by having discussions, listening to people talk, looking at powerpoints during class, etc. So when I got a worksheet in class, it was awesome. However, there were exceptions. You could always tell with a couple of different work sheets that it was definitely busy work, such as redundant and mundane writing activities where you were so bored because you were writing about things that had been drilled in your head through discussions, books, and different interactive activities with the teachers and the class. I can't seem to wrack my brain and think of any right now in particular (watch, I'll think of them in the middle of the night), but you could always tell it was busy work if the teacher was mad at the class. Teachers love to give out homework and in-class assignments with a rather short timestamp when kids misbehave. Some teachers live for it. When I was coming up in school, we had a lot of obnoxious and disrespectful students in my grade. We were known as the "bad class" because of all of those kids that never could behave. So, to say the least, I know what busy work is. Most of the bad kids in my class dropped out before senior year, but a few of them made it to graduation (and that was only because they got it super easy), and that's rather sad, but it makes me think of how I want to approach teaching some day. I don't want to be the teacher that makes busy work for their kids when they get upset or are just annoyed. I want to be the teacher that their class wants to be engaged and willing to learn and if there is a behavior problem or a bad day, to be able to approach it in a way that will avoid further conflict. From my experiences with my classmates, all I know is that being a teacher takes patience. I went to a school where I graduated with a class of 35. I can't imagine what a large school would be like, especially with different settings (such as in Cedar Rapids, where you have more troubled families, more minorities, higher poverty rates...), and will I ever find out? Who knows. That's the adventure and the learning experience in teaching.

Reflection Journal Entry 9-9 through 9-13

It was our first full week of classes this week. Unfortunately, I missed two of the three meetings because I was sick. However, I still read the book that we were supposed to read for this week, "Schooled." "Schooled" was a book that I personally wasn't looking forward to reading. I mean as a college student, how often do I get handed a book that's actually interesting and makes me want to read it? Never, that's when. When I picked "Schooled" off of the table at the end of last week, I was pretty skeptical to even read the first chapter. I did it anyway, of course, but I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't a boring book about bullying or inclusion or anything like that. It was a pretty great book about a hippie child that gets put into public school with no prior information to the "real world" and gets a rude awakening. He eventually wins over the eighth grade class of "C Average Middle School" and teaches everyone that different is okay, learning about the real world and all of its wonders in the process. I enjoyed the book, and I surprised myself all in the same week. It all came together Friday in class when I took part in our test trial of our group summary that we did at my table. I not only got to see the opinions of everyone in my group, but I also got presented a new way to put together information using everyone's thoughts and ideas, and that's pretty cool. More times than not group projects and discussions are ran by one or two people while everyone else just sits back and lets it happen; even if the other members of the group have different thoughts or ideas, they don't get brought to light because of the few people in the group that took the reigns. It was a great learning experience, even if it was just one small thing. Discussions make my blood boil sometimes because it's usually only lead by a few people and it's mostly listening and being bored, especially if you don't agree with their viewpoints or they're not providing adequate information. There's so much I could say about group discussions about books and my experiencs in the past, and I only hope that as I move through this class, I'll learn many new techniques to use with my classroom someday so they don't have to go through what I (or I'm sure the majority of most students) have. Now I'll be a lot more eager to read a book when I get it in K-12 lit as well as discuss it. :)

Reflection 1 - Library Visit

Yesterday I visited the Marion Public Library; a place I've been before, but never really actually paid attention to what's inside because I was being drug around by my grandma, who just stopped in to browse the fiction section and get a few more books to read. I had never actually "looked" at this library before. The setup is actually pretty neat. When you walk inside, the check out counters, the reserves desk, and the CD collections are off to the left. If you walk past the counters and go towards the back, you pass shelves of DVDs and books on tape. It's actually quite amazing how many people check out books on tape - there were several people browsing the section. Past the DVDs, you walk right to the information desk, which sits in the middle of the library instead of at the front of the library, where they usually are. Then you have your fiction, non-fiction, and young adult sections that sit behind the information desk and wrap around to the back of the building. The computers sit right by the young adult section, where you could of course find the greater part of the library crowd. If people weren't at the computers, they were either browsing the fiction section or the DVDs. There weren't many kids around because most of them are either at daycare or school, but there was a set of parents and their toddler sitting at a table reading together (which was adorable). The age range of the people around would be by my guess about 19-80, and since I went at 11, the crowd was small. 

     So what about the children's section? The children's section was actually really nicely sized. It's to the right when you walk in the front entrance and it's neatly separated into sections. Along the wall you have your chapter books and children's magazines. Then, in rows stretching to the back of the area, there are non-fiction books, novels, and graphic novels, as well as resource books (dictionaries, thesaurus, etc). Across from that area are smaller shelves filled with picture books and picture story books, and then perpendicular to those shelves are the toddler books and the "I can read" books. In the middle of that entire area is a brightly painted sitting area filled with tiny tables, chairs, and an area for children to sit and listen to a reader read books aloud, or even watch a puppet show (I believe they also show movies sometimes as well). It was a very cute and quaint little area, and I liked it a lot. It was easy for me to find books that I wanted to check out. 

     Then, there's the Young Adult section, which was set up very poorly and had barely any organization. The books were in alphabetical order by author, but the shelves weren't together really at all - there was one over on one side, two on another wall, and it was really confusing. I didn't like it at all. They had a small book award section, but it was only for Newberry and Caldecott. The children's section didn't even have a awards section from what I observed. It was interesting to see that peculiar set up compared to the organization of the other sections. The computers were right across the way, but other than that, there isn't technology available to use. Unlike the new CR library, there aren't iPads or TV areas. It's just a simple library with about 12 public computers for everyone to use, and you know what? That's okay, because simple is better in my eyes. You don't need all of that stuff to have a decent library. As long as there's lots of books of all shapes, sizes, and genres, what else matters?

     I found a lot out about the library yesterday. I found out where everything is, what my resources are (computers, books, the ability to check out all sorts of DVDs and CDs and what they have to offer for entertainment for children), and how to use those resources. I had a fun time walking around and checking out books because it brought back memories for me with every familiar title I read. It made me think of what I remembered about those authors and those books that shaped my childhood, and everything I had forgotten as well. I loved it, and I'm actually excited to go back in a couple of weeks and add to my functional bibliography.