More details of my frist week,
After my 8 hours of windowless class on Monday, I had a pretty short day Tuesday. I worked at my NYU Athletics job at Coles for a few hours and then went to my Spanish class. The class is good because I have it with my friend and suite mate Dasha but its terrible because its going to be the hardest class ever. The class is about reading literature and poetry and stuff and analyzing it and writing about it. The would be lame anyway but all this reading, discussing, and writing is in Spanish :( I would never take this class but its a requirement to take the other classes I need to have a Spanish minor, which I still might do.
So that was all for Tuesday :D I will babysit on some Tuesdays later on this semester.
Today was my first day of student teaching!
I'm at a wonderful school in Brooklyn. PS 10. Its actually pretty close to the school I was at last semester.
We met with the principal this morning and she told us all the awesome stuff the school has been doing to improve over the past few years. It was just an average school but a few dedicated teachers and the old pricipal applied for lots off grants and now its an amazing school that everyone wants to go to. It is a barrier free school which means that is is completely acceceable for anyone with limited mobility (think wheelchairs). They have the most beautiful library that I've ever seen in a school... or maybe anywhere. Its really nice.
I'm in whats called a Collaborate Team Teaching Class, or CTT. Basically this is a class with one general education teacher and one special education teacher but around the same number of students. Up to 40% of the students in the class are in special education. This is a really innovative setup that I have always been really interested.
Quick Lesson: Special Education is a service, not a place. Students are required by law to be in the general education curriculum as much as possible with any need supports. This is called the Least Restrictive Environment. So this is a really good way to do that!
In this classroom, the kids are completely integrated. The kids with special ed services are never separated from the others. I was there all day and I have no idea which kids are in what category! I'll learn because I can look at their records.
So there are 2 teachers, like I said, Sarah and Jimmy. They are so nice! They were really welcoming and enthusiastic. I absolutely love the way they work together and teach the students.
Oh and its a 2nd grade class.
After being in student teaching all day, I had 2 other classes- Teaching Elementary School Math and Language and Reading Instruction. The amount of work we have to do for those two classes is unreal.
Tomorrow I have Spanish again and then my first day of babysitting.
Also its snowing a lot.
Wish me luck!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Monday: 8 hours of classes
Hey yall,
I thought I would surprise you by blogging 2 days in a row! Surprise!
Today was the 1st day of classes. It was 7 degrees. The bus didn't come so I walked to class. I was still on time though because it was a really early bus. It was an NYU bus and they dont come here that often.
My first class was from 12:30 to 3:00 and it was the one about Students with Severe and Multiple Disabilities. The professor was very intense but I liked him. He paused and said INTERESTING really dramatically every time he said something interesting. He's done a lot of cool stuff and is currently in a law suit over some special education laws.
My next three classes were all in the same room with the same group of people.
The first one was Classroom Assessment where we learn about student testing, assessment and evaluation- specifically testing students for special education.
Then we had our Integrated Seminar about student teaching. We had a new professor for some reason (we were supposed to have the same lady as last semester- this one was a guy but he was really nice anyway).
The last class was Integrating Curriculum in Science, Health and Math. Its going to be a lot of work but should be pretty fun because honestly elementary school level science is pretty fun. Each week we have to write and perform a simple experiment with things we can find in our kitchen or easily buy at the grocery store.
That class got out at 8 and I came home and had dinner and then we had a floor meeting in the dorm.
now I'm super tired but since I don't have any homework to do right this second (its all due next Monday) I thought I would do this instead.
I thought I would surprise you by blogging 2 days in a row! Surprise!
Today was the 1st day of classes. It was 7 degrees. The bus didn't come so I walked to class. I was still on time though because it was a really early bus. It was an NYU bus and they dont come here that often.
My first class was from 12:30 to 3:00 and it was the one about Students with Severe and Multiple Disabilities. The professor was very intense but I liked him. He paused and said INTERESTING really dramatically every time he said something interesting. He's done a lot of cool stuff and is currently in a law suit over some special education laws.
My next three classes were all in the same room with the same group of people.
The first one was Classroom Assessment where we learn about student testing, assessment and evaluation- specifically testing students for special education.
Then we had our Integrated Seminar about student teaching. We had a new professor for some reason (we were supposed to have the same lady as last semester- this one was a guy but he was really nice anyway).
The last class was Integrating Curriculum in Science, Health and Math. Its going to be a lot of work but should be pretty fun because honestly elementary school level science is pretty fun. Each week we have to write and perform a simple experiment with things we can find in our kitchen or easily buy at the grocery store.
That class got out at 8 and I came home and had dinner and then we had a floor meeting in the dorm.
now I'm super tired but since I don't have any homework to do right this second (its all due next Monday) I thought I would do this instead.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
New Year, New Semester
Hi everyone,
As part of my New Years Resolution, I am going to try to blog more often.
I am going to try to post once a week.
Please feel free to call, text, or email me and complain if I am not blogging enough!
I have been back in New York City for a week now. All my roommates and most of our other friends are back too.
I went back to the school that I student taught at last semester and went on a field trip with them. It was one of the most tiring field trips I've ever been on! We went to the Queens Museum of Art. The class was supposed to have a bus but did not get one, so we had to take the subway! Three different trains and a pretty lengthy walk from the station to the museum. It only seemed lengthy because it had snowed 5 inches the night before and it was still freezing cold. The kids were pretty good, if they ever complained the teacher told them that they were New Yorkers and to act like it and stop complaining about 5 inches of snow. haha.
Well I will be student teaching again this semester. At another school in Brooklyn called PS10.
I'll be in a third grade class for 2 full days a week.
I'll also be taking the following classes:
So. I will be super busy! But, like I said, I am going to try to blog more anyway.
As part of my New Years Resolution, I am going to try to blog more often.
I am going to try to post once a week.
Please feel free to call, text, or email me and complain if I am not blogging enough!
I have been back in New York City for a week now. All my roommates and most of our other friends are back too.
I went back to the school that I student taught at last semester and went on a field trip with them. It was one of the most tiring field trips I've ever been on! We went to the Queens Museum of Art. The class was supposed to have a bus but did not get one, so we had to take the subway! Three different trains and a pretty lengthy walk from the station to the museum. It only seemed lengthy because it had snowed 5 inches the night before and it was still freezing cold. The kids were pretty good, if they ever complained the teacher told them that they were New Yorkers and to act like it and stop complaining about 5 inches of snow. haha.
Well I will be student teaching again this semester. At another school in Brooklyn called PS10.
I'll be in a third grade class for 2 full days a week.
I'll also be taking the following classes:
- Principles and Strategies for Teaching Students with Severe and Multiple Disabilities
- Classroom Assessment (I think this is another special education class)
- Integrated Seminar II(talking about student teaching, learning really usefull things like what to do when a kid throws up)
- Integrated Curriculum in Science, Health, and Social Studies
- Critical Approaches to Text and Cultural Analysis (Spanish)
- Language and Reading Instruction II
- Teaching Elementary School Mathematics II
So. I will be super busy! But, like I said, I am going to try to blog more anyway.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)