Service Blog #2

This week of my service was much more useful both for myself and for the students of my class. We arrived on time this week and had the full hour and a half to instruct the students of the class. The full hour and a half was something that I thought was a good thing, and it was, well not completely. We had about a full hour of valuable class time and about 30 minutes of dead time. This is the first time that I have taught this lesson, while my fellow JCU mates have taught the book for at least a year, so I don't place all the blame on myself. I think we understand as a group have a lot to work on. I'm looking forward to next week.

Blog 4

                While reading chapter 6 I was kind of shocked on how far back the idea of assessment traveled. From Chinese civil service exams to present day OGT’s, exams have forever had an impact on most human beings. I am no exception. The first idea that impacted me as a student has been the idea of recitation. As a student I always hated being on the spot in front of the class, especially when I did not know what the answer to the question being asked to me was. I have always believed that there are better ways of assessing children than through recitation. In the same sentiment I do not think that high stakes testing is the best way to assess student either.  In the same sense that recitation puts children “on the spot,” high stakes testing does the same thing. In 1845 testing began being switched from oral to written, which at least in my opinion was an improvement. I have always preferred the opportunity to sit down and think through things, as opposed to being forced to stand in front of a teacher or class and talk my way through questions. 

Blog 3

How do you feel past experiences shape us as future educators?

Is being dis-positioned a positive or negative thing?

Are the education classes that we are taking currently doing anything to shape “our stories to live by”?

I think that it is very important to know one’s ideals and principles before they can teach another person to do anything.

What happens when a teacher has nothing to relate to their students? If the “stories to live by,” very cross paths?

Service Learning Blog #1

As expected, when I woke from bed Monday morning I was extremely nervous. Monday morning marked my first service learning experience. The meeting time for my trip to St. Monica’s in Garfield Heights was scheduled for 7:45 a.m. However due to a mishap in the scheduling department, something I guess I shouldn’t be surprised about, our van didn’t leave until 8:30. In the We the People program there are three college students assigned to a room, and none of us consulted each other. Call it a rookie mistake on our part. When we finally entered the class room we were in no way, shape, or form prepared to be there, at least not collectively. Luckily because of our late depart from the school we only had to be in the classroom for a half a hour instead of the normally scheduled hour. Being in the front of that room with 28 pairs of eyes, including the teacher, staring at you was not a great feeling, a feeling I would like to avoid in the future.

Blog 2

As with every new experience I have, for the most part, I always get nervous as the event approaches. My service project is no different. This Monday I had my orientation meeting for my project which is “We the People,” at St. Monica. From what I learned about We the People, it is a project teaching students, in my case 5^th graders, about the constitution. I decided on this project for the obvious reason that I wish to become a social studies teacher in my future. This project offers me the opportunity to get some real life experience, something I’m sure I will need plenty of.

                The We the People program is a government funded program that teaches students about the constitution. Since most schools use the program there is a need for a lot of volunteers, like me.  St. Monica School is located in Garfield Heights, Ohio. From what I have been told it is one of the nicer and wealthier schools that we provide service to. I’m looking forward to the project for many reasons. The first is that I have yet to do service at a catholic school before. At this point I’m somewhat curious if there will be any change in the demeanor of the children due to that. Also I have never done a considerable amount of service at a wealthy school either. Even thought I attended Perry as a student, I have never gotten to look at a class from the other end of the perspective. Even though I did my field observations at Perry I never actually had the opportunity to teach a lesson. At St. Monica’s all have all the opportunities I could hope for.