-->

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Earth Day!

Teacher: Chelsey Hann
Subject: Science
Grade Level: Third Grade
Date: April 27, 2011
Time Frame: 1 class period, 35 minutes

I. Content: I want my students to be able to know the definition of "pollution", develop personal actions to solve pollution, and learn ways to practice reducing, reusing, and recycling.
Kansas State Standards: Third Grade - Standard 6: Science In Personal and Environmental Perspectives -Benchmark 2- Indicators 1, 2, and 3.
1. Anticipatory Set: Eco the Butterfly!



II. Prerequisites: Students must be able to give a vague description of what they think "recycling" is, and how they can help. They also have to be able to write a complete sentence with correct spelling and punctuation. 
III. Instructional Objective: Students will all be able to write one sentence describing how they personally can help stop pollution/start recycling.
            1. Purpose/Objective: The purpose of this lesson is to teach students the importance of taking care of the world they live in; that unless something is taken care of, it will wither and perish.

IV. Instructional Procedure: 
9:25-9:30: Watch Youtube clip of Eco the Butterfly, and find out what the students already know about pollution and recycling.
9:30-9:40: "Michael Recycle" by Ellie Bethel, and introduce extra credit spelling words: "pollution", "environment", "ecology", and "recycle" (the actual definitions of the words can be explained during spelling time).

Michael Recycle by Ellie Bethel

9:40-10:00: Writing one sentence on how the student personally can help save the earth, and coloring the "Love the World" picture.

Coloring Page


V. Materials and Equipment: "Michael Recycle" book, smartboard for youtube video, and colors, markers, and pencils for "Love the World" picture.

VI. Assessment/Evaluation: The spelling and punctuation will count for 5% of the total grade, otherwise, if there is a sentence describing how the student can help the earth by either stopping pollution or by reducing, reusing, or recycling - then they will get an A.

VII. Follow-up Activities: For homework, the students will take home a "Think Green" word search, and if the student tells their parents what recycling is and have the parent sign the word search, then the student will get 5 extra minutes at recess.We will  also color and label different boxes and set them up throughout the classroom, for paper, plastic, and aluminum cans, and students will be expected to use the correct boxes throughout the year.

The Word Search!


VIII. Self Assessment: I rock. I think the video is a strength, because there is a song involved and it's catchy. The only downfall of this lesson is the fact that Earth Day is towards the end of the school year, so students won't be setting up the recycling boxes until the end of the year. Maybe Earth Day should be celebrated at the beginning of the school year instead.


Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Dr. Seuss Week!

Teacher: Chelsey Hann
Subject: Writing
Grade Level: Third Grade
Date: April 13, 2011
Time Frame: I  week, 25 minute classes

I. Content: I want my students to be able to practice writing by composing a short poem based upon personal experience.
Kansas State Standard: Third Grade - Standard 1:Writing - Bench Mark 1 - Indicator 2:
"Practices writing by using (1) personal experience (2) observations (3) prior knowledge."

II. Prerequisites: Students must be able to identify rhyming words, and must be able to write a short story using proper punctuation and capitalization.
Anticipatory Set: Reggie the Rhyming Rhino (http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bll/reggie/index.htm)


III. Instructional Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of the state standard listed above by writing a poem based upon a personal experience. The purpose of this week's lesson is to find and experience the fun of poetry. Poetry is a hard subject to find enjoyment in later in life if it is not properly introduced early on. My objective is to show the fun of writing a poem, to prepare them for later learning.

IV.  Instructional Procedures: The first five minutes of each class will be spent using the smartboard playiing "Reggie the Rhyming Rhino" each day - focusing the kids onto rhyming and poetry, and refreshing their minds on what they already know.

Monday: Intro to personal experiences
9:00-9:05 Reggie the Rhyming Rhino
9:05-9:10 Explaining the day's objective: writing a short story based upon a personal experience
9:10-9:12 Modeling my own short story:
Last summer my family and I went out to the lake, and while I was out there I became very sunburnt. I was so sunburned that it hurt to lay in bed! From now on, I will listen when my mom tells me to put on sunscreen.
9:12-9:25 Students will write their own short story.


Tuesday: Poetry Introduction
9:00-9:05 Reggie the Rhyming Rhino
9:05-9:20 "Boa Constrictor" by Shel Silverstein and "Daisy Head Mayzie" by Dr Seuss.
9:20-9:25 Smartboard - "Boa Constictor"- Circle the rhyming words as a class.

Wednesday: Personal experience poetry
9:00-9:05 Reggie the Rhyming Rhino
9:05-9:25 Modeling my poem, and guided practice, based upon fake personal experiences.
I went out in the sun,
and that sun ruined my fun.
Now it hurts to sit,
But I guess that's what I get!

(Remember: rhyming usually happens at the end of the line, but it definitely doesn't have to. Make the poem your own.)

Thursday & Friday:
9:00-9:05 Reggie the Rhyming Rhino
9:05-9:25 Working on their own poems.


V. Materials & Equipment: Smartboard: used for Reggie the Rhyming Rhino as well as the worksheet over "Boa Constrictor" and the guided practice. "Daisy  Head Mayzie" by Dr Seuss. "Boa Constrictor" by Shel Silverstein. Construction paper: to glue the poems to after they're finished.

VI. Assessment: Every misspelled word will be counted off, name on the paper, punctuation on both the story and the poem, and at least one pair of rhyming words.

Story: 50 Points
Personal Experience: 25 Points
Spelling: 10 Points
Punctuation: 10 Points
Name: 5 Points

Poem: 50 Points
Personal Experience: 15 Points
1 Pair of Rhyming Words: 20 Points
Spelling/Punctuation: 10 Points
Name: 5 Points
VII. Follow-Up Activities: Decorating the poems, gluing them to construction paper, and hanging them up outside the classroom.

VIII. Self Assessment: I think this is a fantastic week of writing class, if I do say so myself. Maybe it should have been a Haiku instead though. Writing a poem based off a story is actually a little harder than I thought.


The smartboard worksheet!

My story & poem!



How I Got To Where I Am: A Reflection

Chelsey Hann
Intro to Teaching
Why to Teach: A Reflection

I am going to be completely honest: my introduction to teaching class almost broke me of my will to live. There were a lot of times throughout this semester that I almost thought about  dropping the class, or changing my major, or giving up on life altogether. It took me the majority of the semester before I realized that the attempt to break me of my will to teach was intentional, and now nearing the end of the year, I can say with complete confidence that I still want to be an educator.

I'm positive that there will be hard times, and I am certain that there will be children that make me want to scream and cry. I am equally as confident that I can change the lives of the children that I teach; I am ready to be the inspiration to these children that they can carry with them past their years in school, and throughout life.

It was a surprise to me to find out that I would be able to teach any level with the same level of competence. For the majority of my life I was sure that I would only want to teach elementary school, and then, only recently, did I decide to do special education. Never did it occur to me to want to teach general education at the middle or high school levels. After my observations though, I realized that I would not mind it too much. I still think that what I can provide to an eight year old would be more worthwhile than what I could provide to an eighteen year old, and I enjoy younger children more - but I do not dislike the older students and in fact, had a lot of fun being around them.

This semester in school made me face the fact that there will be hard times and that I will face situations that I have never had to face before, but it also confirmed that this is what I want to be doing with my life; I want to teach.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

FDR & Other People.



I parked next to police car. I cannot even begin to explain how weird it was to be parking next to a police car, preparing to go into a high school and observe. I got the eye from a security guard, who told me I needed to get to class, and I passed a bank. A real bank, where these kids used their debit cards and got out money. After the first five minutes of being there, I was completely weary of being in Derby High School.
Derby High School is where I did my ten hours of high school observations. Molly Pourhussin is an English teacher there, who also teaches ASL (sign language). She's been working in the high school for three years, and before that she worked in Winfield as an elementary teacher, also as a translator. The first day started out alright. Both days I skipped going through security, because they weren't ever in the right place, and I didn't want to have to wait for ten minutes, and then be late for class.
First hour for day one was English 11, and they were going over Local Color Writing, which is not about african-american writers, which is what I originally thought. The desks were grouped up, and the kids all had assigned seats, from what I could tell. Every child in the class had an IEP for one reason or another, as well as every other class she taught. To be honest though, I didn't know that at first. Some of these kids were just brats, but they had a "behavorial problem". Molly handed me a textbook, and a sheet of paper with questions on it, and suddenly I was being paired up with a 17 year old named Chelsea, and we were looking up answers to the questions. I had to explain a lot of what we were talking about to her, and I also had a break down a lot of words that I used into something more understandable to her. I loved feeling like I was maybe imparting a little bit of knowledge to her, even if she did just copy off of my paper in the end.
I'm pretty sure that each class was ninety minutes long, and second period was English 10, and the Holocaust. I was pretty impressed with what the kids knew already, since it was a new unit. I think the para Allison and I might have answered quite a few questions though. I was very amazed at how much I remembered once I started thinking about it. We started listening to "Night" by Elie Wiesel on audio book, and I admit, I started reading ahead. I was really into this class, and was sad when it ended. But it did, and that was the end of my first day back in high school.




      

I'll just say now, white people are almost a minority in this school. Maybe it just seemed like that to me, because until college, I never went to school with more than one African-American at a time, there was maybe one Asian in my high school, and he was younger than I was, and very few Mexicans, if any.
My second day in Derby High started with a planning period. It was also a food day for the teachers, because their principal was leaving, and they were saying goodbye, with donuts! So I spent the ninety minutes writing a permission letter for the 10th graders to take home letting their parents know that they would be watching Schindler's List in class, googling videos of Hitler's life (do you know how hard it is to find a useable video when youtube is blocked?), and eating a donut! Second period was Advisory hour, which is just study hall with a fancy name. The majority of the students in the class were the same kids from English 10 the day before, and maybe a few others. I spent the hour with a junior, helping him with his Government homework. It was kind of heart-breaking. He was such a nice kid, and he was making a clock in shop class that looked like a human eye, so he was creative and thought outside of the box - which I think is a really good characteristic in a kid. He couldn't spell "Thomas" though, and he didn't know who FDR was, and I don't know why - but none of these kids seemed to understand that all you have to do is look for the bold words in the textbook, and that's where all the answers are.
Third period was my favorite. It was ASL (American Sign Language), and the kids spent the time preparing to share what they did over Spring Break in sign language. There were 2 or 3 hearing impaired kids in the class, and one was completely deaf, and had a para in every class with him, signing what the teacher was saying. I learned how to say "blockhead" in sign language. Only a couple of the kids actually got up in front of the class and showed what they did, but it was so entertaining to watch them practice, and so inspiring! All of the kids seemed to be working really hard on it. They also are preparing a song, of their choice, to perform in front of the class - but they didn't practice that during that class.
Lunch was spent in the teacher's lounge, which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. All the teachers are really nice, and they only talked about a few kids. Mostly they talked about themselves, and joked around. It was a different atmosphere from the middle school teachers lounge, where the talk was all about men and Zumba. The last class of the day was English 10 again but with different students, so they were just starting the unit of Local Color Writing. 
The thing I do like about middle school and high school is that you don't have the same students all day long, and I do like variety. I still prefer elementary though. All in all it was a good two days, and I enjoyed my time very much.