What a crazy semester. I hope I hit all the requirements in all of my classes...I guess I will not know until grades are posted. I am realizing that it is not easy, even with government aid and scholarships to get through college. I am working two part time jobs and barely pay for my gas!! I guess that is the only down side to all of this field experience.

I just taught my last lesson for the semester in a self-contained ESE classroom and it was amazing! I am so glad that I had that opportunity and it was so rewarding. I am now motivated to move forward and keep my chin high until I hear that graduation song.

I am now registered for all of my classes up to my internship, it feels good to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I feel like I learned a lot in my courses with Dr.Reed, and my experience here at Lake shore Middle. No just terminology and pedagogy, but more so I learned about me and my limitations/strengths as a future educator. I also feel like I am getting more from these classes then I got from any other class I have ever attended. I am really looking forward to next year!

I hope that Lakeshore makes some of the changes that Dr. Reed is suggesting because I have a gut feeling that it will be where I am placed for my internship!

Blah.

Today I brought in a lesson that I am also using in my field class. Of course I simplified it to a normal style lesson, not the crazy 12 page field version. My lesson was on positive and negative integers. Since they are done with FCAT it is a little late to make any changes to that score...I can tell that they are less stressed now that it is done. My worksheet ended up being a lot of fun, and would have helped a lot if it was before the big test. I noticed another small issue that my tutees are having and felt like I helped a lot. I did not realize how hard it is to teach adding and subtracting negative numbers. Since Rosely has a tough time visalizing quantities it is even more difficult for her then Javonte and Kiarha. Using the little cold computer room also made it a little harder, I know I can not focus with a million voices going at once, how can I expect them to.

Today went pretty well, I still am wishing that I had more time...or more opportunities to work with them. I brought in a worksheet on multiplying decimals and they seemed to really struggle. I am went over lining up the problems and knowing how far to move the decimal but they did not seem to grasp the concept. I do feel as if the extra attention on multiplication is paying off.

On a side note I really feel like they 2 math class thing is not paying off. I was looking at the homework that they brought with them and it was completely different. The sad part is you can not do the algebra they were assigned without knowing the order of operation that they are working on in another class. How about give them one skilled teacher, smaller class sizes, and let them enjoy an elective that can motivate them or point them towards a career.

Every other week is not the best idea.

When you add in breaks, absences, and school events it feels like we see our tutee so little. I want to see them every other day! I started to pinpoint where Rosely, and Javonte are struggling, and I am ready to make some changes. I know that FCAT is coming up and I really do not want them to get less than a 3. A 4 or higher would be ideal. My lesson today went well I made a fun graphic organizer with multiplication tables that they got to work with, they asked to keep it as a tool to use when doing their homework.  I guess when i am an actual teacher I will have the opportunity to work with my students everyday...but their will be about 15X more than what I am deal with now.

INTERNET ACCESS!

We need internet in the media center, there are soooo many awesome math games online!

I have not been keeping up!

This is a great course and I am learning a lot but I think that the students need us more than every other week with gaps in between. I am forgetting what I did with them and where they had strengths and weaknesses. I also am having a hard time knowing what they are currently working on. Maybe next semester the Professor can send out a document about what the students are currently working on the day before so we can tweak our lessons. None of my students have exhibited mastery of the original topics that I am working on so my lessons seem very similar. I do not want to move to more complex problems if they can not figure the basics of variables and expressions. My students are also on very different levels, before the lessons I am doing warm up sheets to address where they are when it comes to the big picture. For example one student is having a hard time with multiplication, and the other did not know what the terms such as "sum of or product of" meant in word problems. Without these skills they will not be able to do any of the algebra problems or solve word problems during the fcat. Overall I just wish I was more organized and knew what was going on.

2/6 Meeting the tutee

As the title implies we met one of the two students that we will be tutoring. I was nervous to meet my tutee because I did not know if they would want to work with me, or at what level they would be at. I introduced myself and to my surprise the girl I would be tutoring seemed to be nice! I started my lesson be introducing myself and doing a student inventory. In the inventory I found out that she likes math but she does not think that she can do the math this year. This got my hopes down because she obviously did not believe in her ability to do the math we were helping with. When asking about her family I found out that her mom is my age, and that she had her older brother when she was 13, and her when she was 15. She also does not know her father and lives with her moms new boyfriend. I asked if her mom helps her with school and she said that she is not home and that she works during the day and goes clubbing at night. I feel that she is not set up for success but it only motivates me to try harder and do more. The final question on my student inventory was to find out if there was anything special I needed to know about her. I was expecting a response about hobbies or music, or maybe even a story about something she has done. Instead she writes "when teachers make me angry the only way to calm me down is to call me mother to come get me". This intimidated me but I made sure to laugh it off with her when we read back the answers.
When it comes to planning our next meeting I came across some difficulties. She does not like electronics and I was planning on using my laptop or tablet to assist the lessons. I am hoping that she will be fine with it but if not I will do what I need to do to adapt my lesson to her learning needs. Another difficulty is that she does not know a lot of the basics. She had a hard time during my practice problem subtracting and adding multiple digit numbers. I am thinking I might have to add in some simple math skills for her to do as a warm up and assist her in using those skills in the lesson.
I am learning that even though I grew up in a low socioeconomic community north of New York City I am now far detached from that lifestyle. I want to be cool, I want to relate but I do not feel like it will be easy to do. I also know that if I am myself and maintain a good attitude and make the future seem working for my tutee will follow my lead. Hopefully I can find a way to bridge the differences and keep the material relevant and fun while still being a positive role model.
I look forward to meeting my new tutee next week, hopefully we will have a good start and be able to jump right into learning! I hope I get to have many good tutoring sessions with her!

My experience at Lakeshore Middle School

Lakeshore Middle is a school located in West Jacksonville. Each week I meet in the Media Center with my instructor Professor Reed and she guides us in instructing students with special needs on Math and Science curriculum.

Lakeshore is a Title I, IB, and community based learning, and professional development school. The school is very diverse and seems to have children of all backgrounds and ethnicity. I will provide more information about the school statistics at a later time.

I feel that tutoring math and science is extremely important. The skills acquired are not just to pursue some crazy science degree they are necessary to function normally in our society. I am very comfortable with the subjects and I think that I will do great when tutoring students who are struggling in these topics.

 I understand I will have to overcome many issues such as a lack of motivation and possibly have to teach certain topics from the ground up. Often teachers let student slide by and do not have one on one time to see if they really understand the concepts. Special needs students who have had bad experiences with these topics in the past will most likely want to quit before they even begin to indicate where they are struggling. Pinpointing the issues and figuring out where to start is going to be a challenge. Knowing how passionately I feel about these subjects I believe I will reflect this positive energy onto my tutees.


Working with the students at Lakeshore Middle is going to teach me more then just how to teach, but how to teach while learning how to communicate across disciplines and to make topics relevant to students who or continually told that they will not make it in society. I will have to learn to communicate in ways they show respect but also gain me respect. I will have to work as a team with the teachers, students, and my colleagues to create an environment which motivates and excites the students on the topics of math and science.

I would like to grow professionally in the sense that I will have a better understanding of socioeconomic boundaries created by society. I will learn to address these ceilings and learn to help students believe in themselves and understand that they control their destiny. I hope to acquire tools and techniques that will benefit everyone. I am never going to have a classroom that does not have people of all backgrounds and scholastic levels. This experience will do so much for me when it comes to these topics.