handwritten on January 14, 2014
This week is my very first week working in an Autism Support Classroom. I must say, I was extremely anxious going into this placement. However, I soon learned that my head teacher as well as the two paraprofessionals were wonderful people and were going to train me as best as they could.
The Autism Support Classrooms at the Conroy School are extremely unique in that they run on a very organized/rigid philosophy such that the entirety of the program is based off of Skinner and Pavlov's theories. In other words, it is about encouraging the students to ask for things or objects be it sign language or through a picture communication board. The goal is for students to come to a point in their...
handwritten on December 18, 2013
I cannot believe that my third semester of teaching flute lessons has ended. Where has the time gone? This semester I had a mixture of both old and new students. Most of my students had already been playing for at least two years. I had one beginner this semester who was absolutely wonderful. By the second week she had learned almost all of the notes and by the end of the first month she was able to play both low and high notes successfully! My semester can be best summed up in a series of new lessons that I learned alongside my students.
Lesson #1: Consistency is important. This was the first semester where I found that I had been teaching some students for three semesters in a row. Other...
handwritten on December 3, 2013
I recently started taking over a large portion of the classroom including classroom transitions, transitioning to and from the bathroom, morning circle time, afternoon circle time and small group activity time. I must admit that taking over the classroom in the midst of three other teachers was a bit intimidating. Nevertheless, I do think that I have learned many things that I did not expect to learn during this student teaching process.
Overall, taking over the classroom a little bit at the time has greatly improved my classroom management skills. I began my student teaching experience only using a whisper to get the student's attention. However, by watching Mrs. Armbruster, Mrs. Perovich...
handwritten on September 27, 2013
In reflecting upon my experience at the Carnegie Mellon Children’s School thus far, I have come to realize that in four short weeks I have become more confident as a pre-professional teacher and a better problem solver. This confidence stems from the variety of activities I have completed, the lessons I have taught as well as my weekly observations of my two outstanding mentor teachers who have guided me through this process.
It is fascinating how much can be learned by watching another expert in the field.
One of the goals that come to mind when I think about my development as a teacher, is to learn how to use quick and effective classroom management techniques. After teaching 8th graders...
handwritten on September 6, 2013
This semester I have the wonderful opportunity of working in The Children’s School located on the Carnegie Mellon Campus. The Children’s School has three specific programs and classrooms including the Three-Year Old Preschool, Four-Year Old Preschool and Kindergarten. The Three-Year Old Preschool and the Four-Year Old Preschool have both a morning and an afternoon session while the Kindergarten goes for a full day from 8:30-2:30. In order to successfully enroll in the Three-Year Old Preschool program, students must turn three by December 31st of the same year. Similarly, in the Four-Year Old programs students must turn 4 by December 31st and the in the Kindergarten students must turn 5 by...
