Friday, November 07, 2008

moving on...

So on another note.  I am currently in the middle of my "field experience." At UVU they have us go into elementary class rooms for a few weeks each of the 3 semesters before student teaching. This is a great opportunity to try to use the things we have been learning in our classes in real life.  We actually write lesson plans and then teach them to real elementary school children instead of to our classmates.  We get to see real teachers in action and note the things they do which are effective  (and the things they do which aren't effective).  Most of all I get the joy of kicking myself for my mistakes after giving a lesson-- but I can do it with out too much stress because, it's only one lesson a day and kids aren't even tested in social studies anyway (math, english, science only... thanks NCLB).

Seriously though, I like it a lot.  I am working with 4th graders right now (10 years old).  They are adorable. 

5 comments:

Juliette said...

That's cool that you get all of that experience before you are the real deal. I think that would make it much less intimidating when you meet YOUR very own class for the first time.

Emily A. said...

I so wish I had a chance to do something like that. I have been trying to teach primary and failing miserably. I keep thinking I need to try taking a class about elementary education because these kids are kicking my butt each Sunday. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! (P.S. I can't be mean...maybe thats the problem. How do you let them have fun but still maintain discipline so they aren't going crazy?) I have the 7-8 year olds.

Kirsten said...

PRAISE-- is like my best tool.
1. praise the good behavior,
"i like the way emily is sitting quietly in her chair." "thank you ____ for follwing directions to get out your scriptures."--- you get better at doing this over time. as soon as a kid who wasn't doing a good job starts doing a good job praise them
2. give explicit directions
ie you acutally have to practise lining them up to go to and from primary. assign a line leader, caboose, and door holder. How do we walk to primary? then praise the heck out the kids doing a good job. "thank you emily for walking quietly with her arms folded just like we talked about." as soon as a kid who wasn't doing a good job starts doing a good job praise them.

oh yeah and kids will do anything for a sticker. emily is sitting quietly she just earned a sticker (hand it to her.)

Tozansha said...

LOL, you're going to be a heck of a great teacher!!

Unknown said...

Thank you Eddie, for writing nice blogs with nice content, just like we talked about...
Here's a sticker...
:-D