Ham Blog Wk 8

A teaching philosophy is a very important thing to have in order to gain a teaching job no matter where you go. This philosophy tells a lot about you, the way you will teach, and the things you believe should go on in the classroom. Therefore this statement should be so personal that it will make others believe that you are the teacher that they are looking forward to having taught their child or students within the classroom. In a teaching philosophy you can describe what you want in your career how you plan on reaching success with students, and how you believe in the students as well. You should not lie in a teaching philosophy for the fact that it is your own personal opinion and should be taken to heart on how you want to teach or how you feel about your students. Taking someone’s teaching philosophy would not be in the best interest because these are not your own feelings and it really doesn’t show your effectiveness or true self about your passion for teaching. A philosophy should truly come from the heart and reveal yourself to others and a person that really loves what they do and back up the reasons why you believe in the ways teaching should be. Write a great philosophy and keep it with you no matter what teaching job you are applying for, even though it’s possible your philosophy can change overtime it should always be inspiring and motivating to others.

Ham Blog Wk 7

Lesson plans are a part of teaching and should be taken seriously for the fact that this is the way your students will be learning your material. Understanding that a certain theme may be a very affective way for students to learn, this should taken into consideration for the fact that students do like to be entertained while learning. Writing lesson plans are just like making a blue print for construction, it has to be well thought out and detailed enough to a certain satisfaction of learning. If I were to teach small children I would a great thematic scheme like “Hamilton’s Hogs” which the theme would be like a barn yard with hay and farm animals. This thematic scheme/ lesson plan would be to teach the kids about farm life and what goes on within a farm of each animal. A type of lesson plan like this would also set up the perfect field trip I’m pretty sure every child dreams of; which would be trip to an actual farm so students can get actual hands on experience. That sounds like a well executed lesson plan for a pre-k through 6th grade class, because children really do love interacting hands on or face to face. Therefore remember a lesson plan has to be well executed in order to get that successful feed back in class that you hoping to gain from each and every student. Now here is a link on how to write and what you should include in your actual lesson plan for it to be successful. http://tinyurl.com/6v4sn4w

Ham blog wk 6

Learning about portfolios this week has been something that I’ve never took interest in doing or using for my professional career, but now I see why portfolios are a key to getting hired. These portfolios consist of things about yourself, your past, and accomplishments that will set you out from other candidates that are trying to get the same job you are striving for. When it comes down to setting up a portfolio it’s not as simple as setting up a Facebook or Twitter account, there are many other things to this process. Make sure that everything is professional, no childish things like favorite ice cream and activities should be included within this portfolio. More things that involve your volunteer organization and certifications should take the place of those other small ideas that are included in your free time networking site. I would love to figure out how to setup the perfect portfolio to gain the interest of any job that I am applying for so that I knew hands down I’m getting the job. Learning a few things though about how to set up a portfolio came key to mind for example don’t over clutter the portfolio with words or pictures. This simply makes the portfolio too much for a future person that will hire you too much to read or look for while you can keep it straight to the point of the message you’re trying to get out. Next week I have my very first portfolio due, and I plan on keeping it as I continue my college career until I’m ready for my actual teaching career. Wish me luck!

Ham Blog Week 5

Coming in to PVAMU I never thought I would be and educator nor did I think I would ever have the passion to do it before hand. Becoming an Ec-6 generalist has been some journey for me, and there is still a long road ahead of me that looks to be promising. There was never a time that I really did any research about this field because I always thought teaching was teaching. After taking a couple of classes and learning valuable information about the teaching career I saw otherwise. Salary is ok, personally it could be a bit higher, but the question is why isn’t this job not worth six figures? Teachers are the ones that mold students who go off and learn other things but without a starting step would never be able to take that next one. This has to be one, if not the toughest job out there and I believe that this art deserves more respect, pay, and requirements to do it. Now you can earn a teaching certification within six months of training, but we chose the 4 year route in order to get the same exact certification that could be received in less time. Students like us deserve more out of this field, we work as hard as engineers and nurses who also had to go to public or private school to get where they are today. Check out this article on why the education field should be shown its proper recognition   http://tinyurl.com/3p4dnut

Ham Blog Week 4

Hello world in this week’s blog I would like to address the situation about the pressure of less studying which occurs to cheating on test. Cheating on test is sometimes intended for the fact that students don’t do enough studying or just for the fact that students are lazy or want the for sure way to pass. This week I read an article about several students that stole the answers to the SAT; these college students were punished severely for their actions with prison time. Cheating is not always the way out of a situation, it may get you the grade but you will never have that full satisfaction of giving your best effort. If putting in the required works that it takes to pass the test is your main priority, then cheating would never be a resort to get by. Now for those that did cheat on midterms take the time out and think about the grade that someone has earned you and realize that you would never want anyone to take your credit.

Ham Blog week 3

This week is going by pretty smooth with except there is a little added pressure with midterm week already here before I knew it. I know there are a lot people who just break out in hives just thinking about having to take a test, and the things they consist of. Will I remember this question? Can I pull off a high enough grade to pass? It can be very stressful. Most students that take the time out and study at least 30min a day can be very successful rather than the students who wants to study at the very last minute. Well I’m one of the students that can study for test at the last minute and it would come to seem as if my brain starts to function more fluidly then it would if I was to study 3 days before. Even though I can get the concept of test studying down pretty well no matter how long it takes me to do it, I always at least try to remember a few important points for the test. Here is a check list of things you could do to prepare for your next test to release some of that test anxiety http://tinyurl.com/3qj9xf7

Ham Blog Week 2

This week went pretty well, I had a very important project that which led me into more information about a new school program called High Scope. This program is somewhat similar to a school program you may already know like Head Start for instance, High Scope does a few things similar to this program. It really is based on hands on activities where students can interact with others in the classroom. High Scope's curriculum is also handled in a different way by teachers, which do a Child Observation Record (COR) on their students. This COR is done in intervals of class while students are doing everyday activities; teachers observe and take notes on how the student is progressing over time in different areas. They record their notes on printed forms or in computer files, and then classify and rate them according to the COR categories, items, and levels. Check out this chart of success for the students that did go to High Scope and how the stats are lower for others that did not.