Joanna Munoz

June 10, 2014

F. L. Schlagle Teaching Experience

On Tuesday the 10th me, Yunni, and Ta’nia went to go teach at the F.L Schlagle Library. It was pretty nerve wrecking since it was my first time teaching while being observed by Mr. Cushenberry. It was really fun to experience something I really didn’t want to do and it was really pushed me to do better. One thing I felt like I did rather well is really interacting with the kids and becoming friends with them. I love working with little ones and playing games with them. In my opinion I felt that I should have enforce the rules a little more. I also have a problem with stuttering sometimes when I'm trying to get something done quickly. I need to learn how to take things slow and really explain myself especially around children. The children really loved the squirrel song and I also think it went really well.  Yunni, Ta'nia and I worked really well as a group. If one of us needed help we, would help each other and work together as a team, which we are. I really enjoyed myself with the children but I'm still not considering becoming an elementary school teacher. I could maybe handle it for about a month but, I don't see myself working with kids for the rest of my life. It was a great experience that I appreciated very much, I would just not want to become an elementary school teacher, ever. All the children were really fun, I really liked that I bonded really well with Ta’nia and Yunni because we are going to be working together for the rest of the projects. Now my next teaching adventure is Northwest!

Joanna Munoz

June 2, 2014

Reflection: Personality Tests Results

My results on the personality test actually surprised me most of the characteristics that they test gave me were accurate and some were not. In my true colors personality test i resulted to be an orange. Someone described as an orange would be really adventurous and a risk taker. They don’t like commitment, because they don’t want anyone to get in the way of what they want to achieve and accomplish and I guess you could say I’m kind of that way myself. I never like have boyfriends because I feel like they’ll get in the way of school, activities and my church time. Although when I am in a relationship or when I make a new friend, I like bringing them in on my activities and show them what I can do so maybe if they do like it we can do all the fun things I like to do together. With a personality like mine, I learned that I have to sometimes take it slow with others and really consider their feelings as well and just sit back and actually think of the possible outcomes. Working with others has never really been a problem with me, but now I know things that I can improve on to work better with others. I’m really looking forward to spending this next month with teachers I don’t know, as well as students I don’t know. Hopefully we all get along really well and we have an awesome time together!

Joanna Munoz

Reflection Observing at McDaniel

June 19, 2014

On Thursday Ta’nia, Yunni, and I went to go visit McDaniel learning center. At McDaniel’s we were not going to teach but we were going to observe. When I thought about going to observe at McDaniels I thought that I was actually going to deal with children that actually looked like they were disabled but I realized that wasn’t the case. The children actually looked really normal just that their way of learning was rather slow. Some children did act a certain way, like there was a kid in the elementary school room that would yell randomly, at any given moment. There was always a teacher by his side to help him comprehend all the work. In the elementary school room they always gave the children a five minute break after twenty minutes of working, which I thought was actually really nice because if the students have trouble learning and they need to put in all the energy to finish their work they should be rewarded with a little bit of free time. When our group was done observing in the elementary room we moved on to the preschool room. I loved the preschool room! The first thing that caught my attention when I entered was that there was cloth hanging under the lights. I asked the teacher why and she said so it wouldn’t be so bright in the class room. Right when I got there all I wanted to do was play with the kids! There were two little boys playing in the kitchen and I went to go join them. We made sandwiches together, had a little picnic, it was super fun! Later on I met Gabby, the sweetest little girl ever. We built a puzzle together and she also made me a card. It was really sweet. What thing that I noticed about every classroom was that there was always more than three teachers in a classroom. I think that the reason for that is because the students need more help and working in small groups is better for them. If they only had one teacher there would be no way that they could work in small groups. When it was almost time for the morning group to leave we all walked over to the gym and found two YMCA zumba instructors there. The two ladies went there to teach a zumba class to all the kids. It was really cool to see all the children dance and just have a good time. By the time zumba class was over it was time for the morning group to leave and for us to say goodbye. Going to McDaniel was my favorite trip! It was a really nice experience to just sit back and just have fun with the kids and not have to prepare a lesson plan or teach an actual lesson. I learned many new things about why children behave the way they do and how much the classroom set up means to students. Going to McDaniel was the best experience ever!

Joanna Munoz

June, 17, 2014

Teaching at Northwest Reflection

Today it was my groups turn to go teach at Northwest. I was paired up with Miss Young and I taught a 6th grade english class. When I arrived at Northwest I was nervous but I felt confident at the same time. We entered the building and then right away Mrs. Cooper dropped us off with our teacher and right away we got to work. Right when I got there, the students were about to start reading the class book. I introduced myself to the students and then we began reading the book that the students were going to read during summer school. The book i read to them was called “The Gun”. The book dealt with bullying and peer pressure, the topic of the day was also peer pressure. The student and I read chapter two of the book and we had a class discussion. I asked the student questions about the book, what they think will happen later on in the story and what they would do if they were stuck in a situation like the one that Tyray was dealing with. After the discussion the student had to fill out a worksheet where they would look for certain words, phrases or paragraphs that stood out to them. The students had to write why it stood out to them and why they think that the author wrote that certain word or sentence in a certain way. I didn’t know how to do the worksheet myself, when I went to go plan my lesson with Miss Young she never mentioned the worksheet to me. So i was teaching the students how to complete the worksheet but at the same time I was also teaching myself. Miss Young was surprised at how well I went with the flow and sort of learned how to complete the worksheet as I went along.  After we completed the worksheet, the students had a fifteen minute break down stairs in the cafeteria. During that fifteen minute break I went downstairs to the library to talk to Mrs. Cooper about how my experience was going so far. While I down there talking to Mrs. Cooper I really just sat down and thought about what I saw in the classroom. There are kids there that just don’t want to be at school period. I noticed that Northwest is a hard middle school to work out. There are many students dealing many problems and they don’t receive the attention they deserve. I was really grateful to be paired up with Miss Young. She works hard to have a connection with her students and she really pushes them to be successful, that is what makes her a great teacher. After the fifteen minutes break the students came back and they were about to start their ABC novel project. To do the ABC Novel Project the students were given twenty six flashcards, one for each letter of the alphabet. For each letter they would find a word that starts with that certain letter. Then, they would write in the back of their flashcard why that word is significant to the book. While they were still working on their project it was time for me to leave. It was a really nice experience teaching at Northwest, mainly because I myself want to become a high school teacher or a middle school teacher. This experience really helped me realize that teaching secondary education is something I really want to do.

Joanna Munoz

June 10, 2014

F. L. Schlagle Teaching Experience

On Tuesday the 10th me, Yunni, and Ta’nia went to go teach at the F.L Schlagle Library. It was pretty nerve wrecking since it was my first time teaching while being observed by Mr. Cushenberry. It was really fun to experience something I really didn’t want to do and it was really pushed me to do better. One thing I felt like I did rather well is really interacting with the kids and becoming friends with them. I love working with little ones and playing games with them. In my opinion I felt that I should have enforce the rules a little more. I also have a problem with stuttering sometimes when I'm trying to get something done quickly. I need to learn how to take things slow and really explain myself especially around children. The children really loved the squirrel song and I also think it went really well.  Yunni, Ta'nia and I worked really well as a group. If one of us needed help we, would help each other and work together as a team, which we are. I really enjoyed myself with the children but I'm still not considering becoming an elementary school teacher. I could maybe handle it for about a month but, I don't see myself working with kids for the rest of my life. It was a great experience that I appreciated very much, I would just not want to become an elementary school teacher, ever. All the children were really fun, I really liked that I bonded really well with Ta’nia and Yunni because we are going to be working together for the rest of the projects. Now my next teaching adventure is Northwest!

Tuesday's Schedule

8:30-9:00 Welcoming/Coloring pages.

-Introduce our selves to the kids and also have kids introduce themselves by name

- Everyone explain what we’re going to do

-Yunni explain expectations (Tell them that they need to go to the restroom they should just ask and not wait till the last minute)

9:00-9:30

-Ta’nia will introduce the book to all the kids and tell them what it is about also will be reading the book

9:30-10:00

-Joanna will tell them that we’re going outside but first we need to take a restroom break. have them line up in a single file line and walk them outside. one person (joanna) in front of the line (yunni) in the middle of the line and (ta’nia)in the back of the line.

-Teach them the squirrel song (joanna)

-Second part ----> Yunni will be explaining the squirrel game to the kids

-Joanna and Ta’nia will demonstrate

-30 to hide -20 to hide -10 to hide  

20 to find 10 to find  5 to find

10:00-10:30

-Bring kids inside and have them wash their hands before they touch the animal pelts.    Take animal pelts and sit kids on the carpet in a circle.

-Ta’nia will start by talking about coyote, Fox and bobcat and demonstrates pelts

-Joanna Beaver: Raccoon, Prairie dog, Racoon

-Yunni Squirrel: Bison, Skunk

10:30-11:00

-Take kids to wash hands first and then hand out snacks.

Joanna Munoz

Characteristics of a Great Teacher

June 5, 2014

A great teacher must have great characteristics to be successful in the classroom. The most important quality that a great teacher must have is that the teacher must be dedicated. Being dedicated will show students, other teachers, and maybe even the boss that you love what you do and you will do whatever to be the best teacher possible. The next important thing is that teacher must be passionate about what the subject they teach. Students will understand the material better if is there teacher is passionate about what they are teaching and if the teacher are really passionate about helping out students. Also students will appreciate the teacher more because if their teacher know that what the teacher is teaching them, and its actually accurate.  Equally important as being passionate for a subject, a teacher must also be personally involved with the students. Students will have more trust in teachers if teachers simply show the students they care and build a connection with them. Another great quality a teacher should have is creativity. Students like to do new things every year, they don’t like repeating the same work every year.  Last quality, but equally important as the others, is the teacher must be understanding. Students have to deal with at least six other classes, family problems. Some of them also have to deal with how to pay for college, of course they are going to be stressed out. Teachers just need to think back of when they were in that position in their life and help their students out. Not let them procrastinate in class but help them out when you feel they need attention. Being a great teacher is a tough job, but with determination teachers can be the best teachers that they can be.