Update >>> Sudbury Experience, Back as TA, and Students with Disabilities Cert

Hi All! 
Well, It's been awhile.. A lot has happened and changed.  I decided that I do not want to sub again next school year.  Not that I didn't enjoy it, I loved the experience and definitely think it was needed and worth it.  I just did not like not having something steady and anticipating the calls in the morning.  (Not to mention, I had to do overnights 3 days a week to keep my health benefits with my other job.  I was also growing tired of that.)  


Mid April, I decided to look into a new experience, The Sudbury School.  I found out about this school by picking up a post card in a restaurant in New Paltz.  It was an invitation to an open house.  I decided to check out the web site (which I linked above) and became interested in applying and finding out more.  Surprisingly, I do not recall learning about this model in my college experience.  For those of you who do not know, Sudbury is a democratic model in which student create their own curriculum.  There is also age mixing.  At this school, students really learn how to define themselves.  I decided to do an internship to learn more.  I've never seen students as happy as I did at the Sudbury  School.  Everyone there was so creative and so imaginative.  Students of different ages formed relationships and looked to each other for help and advice when they needed it.  Staff there was more of an equal.  Students decided how to spend their time, whether it be all day playing outside or all day painting.  Here, it is believed that learning will occur naturally, which I witnessed.  Students also learned consequences and responsibility through the JC (Judicial Committee) which met every day at 11.  Students had the ability to "write up" someone or something that went against the school code book.  The issue would then be discussed and voted upon by the members of the JC.  A sentence would then be discussed.  The sentence would always be related to the broken rule.  An accused student had the choice of pleading guilty or not guilty.  If not guilty was plead, the case would move to School Meeting.  School meetings happened every Thursday where different school activities were voted upon.  Staff were parts of different committees to help run the school.  (For example the playground committee or public relations committee.. ) There was no principal.  I enjoyed really getting to know the students and seeing them spend time doing what they had interest in and what made them happy.  Half the time in public school, students have learning forced upon them and might not even retain the information because they are not interested in it or it is boring.  Other adults that came to Sudbury to do special interest groups expressed that they had never seen students so creative.  Overall, this was a wonderful experience and if you have a student who is having difficulty in a regular school, I would definitely recommend looking into a Sudbury School.  Sometimes all it takes is a different atmosphere.  


I finished my internship at Sudbury in the beginning of June.  After that, I decided to go back to being a TA, where I know  I would have full time, guaranteed hours.  I stayed with in the agency where I worked before and did overnights so it was easy to transfer back.  I am not in the same classroom as I was a year ago, I am now working in a Tier 2 room.  It is pretty different, but nice to see how a new teacher does things.  I am also enrolled in 2 courses that I need to extend my certification to Student with Disabilities.  I really hope on getting a teaching job in the near future.  I am hoping that this extension will help.  In the mean time, I am still applying and keeping my hopes up!  I just feel good that I am in the field and getting the experience I need and doing what I need to do first.  

First Day Called To Sub

My first day called for a sub job was yesterday.  I was more excited than nervous.  It was a nice first day because I was asked to sub for a teacher's aide.  Since this was the case, I was able to get a feel for the school and classrooms.  I worked mainly with one student and took the whole class to recess, lunch, and gym.  Overall, the day went good.  I was able to work well with the student I was assigned to and get him motivated to do his work.  I learned that recess and lunch can be chaotic times.. Unfortunately, I did not have a whistle like the other aides in the lunch room had, so it was difficult to draw all students attention when it was so loud.  Students definitely did try to take advantage, knowing that I was new.  Getting this preview, I know that one of the most important things is to establish rules early and clearly.  

Behavior Management:

I liked an idea that the classroom teacher used to monitor behavior.  She had a bulletin board in the room with all of the students' names on it.  Under each student's name, there were three index (sized) cards, one red, yellow, and green.  They were layered on top of each other in this order.  After being verbally warned more than one time, the student would be asked to change their card from "green" to "yellow."  Each day the students start off at green.  Then after students got to red, there would be consequences.  I like this system because it teaches the students that they are in control of their own behavior and they are physically moving something to remind them of that.  Students can visually see where they are and how the majority of the class is.  

Continuing My Professional Blog

I really would like to continue to utilize this blog that I created with my Masters program for Integrating technology. I will be starting to substitute teach in the upcoming school year and would like to use this space to write about my experiences and put up any resources that I find or would like to share. I am going to put an effort into finding ways to use the web to benefit my teaching career.

As I probably have mentioned in earlier posts, I am unfamiliar with Twitter. Today, I logged in again (it has been a few months since I created it). I am going to use my Twitter site to follow educational posts. Here is a link to my page: https://twitter.com/Michelle0529. You can see who I have began to follow there.

Beliefs and Attitudes Influencing Teaching

A teacher's own beliefs, attitudes, and values can influence their teaching whether they notice it or not. These things are so built in to the person already, that they may not even notice how they come out in their teaching or actions. As a teacher, it is important to be constantly aware of what you are saying and how it can affect your students. In order to be aware, you need to first become aware of your own beliefs, attitudes, and values. In the article, "With New Eyes," Kelly explains that we must be willing to consider our own biases, including beliefs about social class (Kelly, 1999). Kelly (1999) states that "often erroneous assumptions about single-parent families, welfare, and conditions in the homes and neighborhoods of communities often translate into reduced expectations for the students who live there" (p. 2). Therefore, teachers should take time to reflect and become aware of there own biases so that they do not let them come out in their teaching. If you find you are bias of something, you can take the time to ask yourself, why do I feel this way? Determine why and for what reason you have those feelings. After that, look into that particular idea more and find our more about it. You may not feel the same way anymore. A lot of time things are assumed just from society and people around us, when we really just might not know enough. It is impossible to know everything about every culture and background. The key is to just be aware. A teacher might be confused about why a student does something the way they do or how they react to a certain situation. This could be a result of the student's own background and the teacher's unfamiliarity with it. For example, eye contact is a big one. In other countries, children learn not to give direct eye contact. It can be seen as aggressive or rude. If I found myself in a situation something like this, where I was unsure why a student was responding in a particular way, I think I would first talk with fellow teacher to see if they knew something more or a reason for it and then do my own research on that child's background to see if I could come to some kind of conclusion. I agree with Nieto (2008) that we should also be aware of beliefs that we have that "may be based on spurious assumptions or stereotypes" (p. 4). Stereotypes, I believe are a big issue. People are quick to assume things about groups of people who they really have know idea about. When working with diverse populations, I want to take the time to try and familiarize myself with as much as I possibly can about their backgrounds. This will help me be able to understand my students better and be more effective as a teacher.

References:

Kelly, Kathy. (1999). With new eyes. (Vol. 2, No. 7) Classroom Leadership, 3 pgs.

Nieto, Sonia & Bode, Patty. (2008). Affirming diversity. Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon.