SL Weblog III

As I did for the last SL Weblog, I kept a journal of what happened in each of the last three SL trips.

November 8 - My experiences this time were different than my experiences prior to today. Jayden, the boy who I work with on sight words, has another tutor who meets with him on Tuesday's to reinforce the words. The tutor did not show up last week and so I had to do more work than usual. I do not mind doing more work because I enjoy working with Jayden, but I do not think it is right to not show up to service. I do not know why he missed his service last week, but it did not sit well with me. Other than that, Jayden is making a lot of progress and it i good to watch his understanding.

November 15 - Jayden's other tutor did not show up again last week so I had to do more work again. I do not understand how he can just not go to two weeks of service. The service is meant to benefit us, but when he does not go to service Jayden does not get the work he needs. Our job is to help Jayden learn, but if the other tutor does not show up then he is inhibiting Jayden's learning. On the bright side working with Jayden went well again and he is still eager to work and listen to what I have to say. I also got a taste of what it is like to teach a lesson to a group of students. In a different part of my service, I had a group of first graders and I was told to teach them about proper nouns. The first graders did not have any prior knowledge of proper nouns so I was teaching them something completely new. I think it went well, it seemed like they were beginning to understand it. It was tough teaching them about it though because I did not have any time to prepare or think about how I would I approach teaching them. Even though I did not have a chance to prepare I feel like I did a decent job of getting the information across to them.

November 29 - I worked with Jayden for the last time today. I was a little sad about it because I feel like we had a good relationship and he was learning very well. He told me his other tutor did not show up the last time again. This is three straight weeks that his other tutor has not shown up and it makes me feel bad for Jayden. We are here to help him but his other tutor does not come. I also worked with a group of students with proper nouns again. I feel more confident in what I did this time because of the practice I had last time. I think the kids gained a good understanding of proper nouns. My service was very rewarding for me. I feel like I learned a lot and that I had a good relationship with the kids. I enjoyed doing this service.

Time Line III

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/95002

Bibliography:

Sass, Edmund. American Educational History Timeline. http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass.educationhistorytimeline.html. 2010. 1 December, 2010.

The National Center for Public Policy Research. Brown v. Board of Education. www.nationalcenter.org/brown.html. 1 December, 2010.

The Freeman Institute. Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream Speech. www.freemaninstitute.com/Dream.htm. 1 December, 2010.

Timetoast. www.timetoast.com. ! December, 2010.

SL Weblog

For my blog, I have been keeping a journal of my experiences each week rather than posting after every service learning visit. This blog will have all my experiences thus far for my service learning.

October 4 - My first day of service was just meeting the principle. The purpose of my service will be tutoring students who have difficulties in sight words. I did not meet the students this week, but I think that this will be a great learning experience for me, both in helping students who have difficulties and also in general teaching.

October 11 - There was a mix up with the students schedules and it caused some confusion as to what I should do. It took a while to find the students and get them out of their class to work with them. I only got to work with three of the five students today. They seemed willing to learn and were cooperative. I am going home this weekend for fall break and I am going to talk to some of my teachers from grade school to get help with ideas to make the tutoring fun for the students.

October 18 - The school changed what I am doing when I get there for my service. I am only working with one student who has difficulty with sight words. His name is Jayden. He is smart and energetic and willing to work. Some of the things I am doing with him are going through the flash cards and having him write the words to help him learn them. We also play tic tac toe where I lay all the cards down like a tic tac toe board and he flips the cards over. If he gets it right then he gets and X, if not he gets an O. He seems to enjoy it. I read a story with a group of first graders who are ahead of their class. They all want turns to read.

October 25 - I worked with Jayden again. He is really energetic again. He seems to enjoy learning. There's a tutor on Wednesdays who tests him on the words and he if pronounces the word correctly then he gets to move onto the next set of words. He got almost all new cards this week. That made me feel good because it made me feel like he was really starting to understand the sight words and that I'm doing a good job with him. When I worked with the first graders we were given a new story and some worksheets to work on. I was told to only do one worksheet a week. We read the story and the first worksheet which was just a poem. The students all took turns reading it. It was good to see how they enjoyed getting involved.

November 1 - I worked with Jayden again and he had new words again this week. I am glad he is progressing so well with his words. He told me that the Wednesday tutor copies how I work with him. This made me feel good because it meant that Jayden enjoyed the way I work with him and that my games helped him learn. For the first graders, we reread the story that we did last week. They are starting to listen better to me, I think it just took some time for them to get used to me. We then worked on the next worksheet related to the reading. The enjoyed working on the worksheet because they all got to contribute something to completing the worksheet. This was my best day of service so far.

Web Log 6

For my prop I am going to bring in the movie, The Blind Side. I own the book also, but the book is at my house in Pittsburgh. The reason I chose this is because I think it best shows school culture. At Michael Oher's previous schools, the teachers would just give him the minimum passing grades to just pass him onto the next grade level. When he was enrolled in a private school, the teachers began to start caring in how he did and when he was given the individual attention he needed, his grades went up and he was able to graduate from high school and go to college at Ole Miss. I think this movie best shows the two polar types of school culture that are evident today.

Web Log 4

Chapter 6 talks about different types off assessment and how it was carried out through history and how it has changed. In the early 1800's teachers used recitation as a means to test students knowledge. This knowledge was largely how well the students could memorize what was said in class. This influences me as a teacher because I don't like the idea of just memorizing information. I think that what is taught in class should be understood not just memorized. If a student understands the information, they are more likely to be able to remember what is taught. I think that if information is memorized, it is not properly retained. I know that the ways of testing have changed since the early 1800's, but I think memorization is a major part of how students prepare for tests today. I think we need to break students away from memorization and move them more to understanding what is taught. I think that this will benefit the students better than just memorization.

Time Line II

1635- The first free school in Virginia Opens. Without the first school opening, then the field of education would never have been developed. With the opening of the first school, the United States ushered in a very important part of society today.

1636- Harvard College opens as the first higher education institute. The importance of the first higher education institute is clearly evident today. The importance of having a college degree is very important today. It is unlikely for a person to have a comfortable life without a college degree. Most jobs today are reserved for those with some form of a degree.

In preschool and kindergarten I had the same teacher for both years. She was the nicest teacher I have ever had. She cared about every student and treated every student like they were special. She was one of the biggest influences on my life. She helped my adjustment to starting school when I was young. She made the transition easy for me and I think I ultimately benefited from her kindness.

Web Log 3

1. Thinking of her learning in this way allowed Jennifer to see it(Service Learning) as valuable to who she was becoming as a teacher in Ankara, and in the words of Ays,e it was imperative for her “to be careful for her care” in her attempts to do so. (p. 1164)

2. I'd seen them [in the youth club] every week, week to week.just to see things through their eyes I think was, an eye opener. .I think seeing their reality through their eyes, I could get past some of my negative opinions on their parents and what must be going on. (p. 1165)

3. I guess I was just really glad to be able to look at these (pictures) and think about

people. They are not just a bunch of faces on this photo sheet. I can look back and know a little bit about all of them and others to a greater degree. There are good wonderful people everywhere. It doesn't matter where you are from. (p. 1166)

4. Restorying is different from and more than the completion of a self-evaluation or an evaluation check-list. In narrative inquiry, restorying is considered identity work for it is the process of articulating how an experience has been educative. We advocate a narrative inquiry stance for service-learning engagements because, as evidenced by our inquiries, we and participants encountered, not only an aspect of the world, but also the opportunity

to examine who one is in the world. (p.1168)

5. Situating service learning in a narrative inquiry framework suggests those involved learnways of being that reach forward as individuals consider who they are in the present while creating beginnings to who they might be in the future. This kind of self-learning realized in relation with another not only helps reach the goals of service learning, it is also profound teacher education. In an attentive-relational way, thinking narratively repositions the learning in service learning. Connecting with teachers and students in the context of their lives, rather than in the traditional contexts of subject matter and evaluation, asks individuals to consider their identitiesdto inquire into them as a way to understand how their teaching and learning lives were and

continue to be shaped. (p. 1168)