Placement+2+Week+1+Experience

Week of March 15th, 2010

3/15/10

Before today, the only other experiences I had working with students in the middle school age group came from my younger sister, Becca, and a one day 8th grade substituting job I nabbed to fill in for a reading teacher a few years ago. This is a very different world from interacting with my little guys in the elementary setting!

I think I'll have a lot of fun in this second placement, though. Ms. Stamp, my supervising teacher, is very organized and patient. She's been in the field for a long time, plus her son has special needs too, so she'll definitely be a good role model!

From the looks of things, I'll be getting a ton of unique experiences because not only does Mrs. Stamp have her own classroom where she teaches things like Learning Strategies, but she also visits other classes throughout the day for Support Facilitation. Then, for two periods each day she co-teaches, as well! What a busy and varied schedule I'll be keeping - I just hope I can keep up with her!

For today, I am happy to have learned a few of the student's names and gotten the general layout of the school down. I tried hard to practice the names of all the teachers and staff as Ms. Stamp introduced them all to me. Hopefully I'll remember them each, as well!

Mr. Hoyle, the Dean of the school, saw to it that I became certified to proctor the 8th grade Science FCAT alongside Ms. Stamp tomorrow. I am really honored to be included in such a major educational undertaking like this high-stakes assessment. It'll be a big adventure to see how the testing is conducted at the middle school level from a teacher's point of view. Everyone has said it'll be boring, but I intend to take all the learning experience I can from each of these neat internship moments!

Can't wait to see what else tomorrow will bring!

3/16/10

Whew! Today was a whirlwind day! As planned, there was the FCAT testing that took place in the morning. I was surprised because even though the students that tested in Ms. Stamp's room all had small group accommodations, were allowed extra time to complete the test, and some were even allowed to have questions and answer choices read aloud to them, every student finished very close to the normal allotted testing time and no one requested our help in reading the test! They were such quiet, well-behaved, and diligent test-takers, it was almost hard to believe these were students with any special needs at all!

After the test was complete, the student's resumed their ordinary Tuesday schedule by heading off to 4th period. That seemed tough for everyone to handle though - teachers and students alike - because the FCAT testing is really mentally and physically draining!

Nevertheless, I enjoyed getting to observe and interact with some of the other classes Ms. Stamp visits on Tuesdays. I feel almost like I'm getting a crash course review in each of these core subjects! The thing that leaves me a little jiggly-legged is that I don't always feel smarter than a 6th grader, but the kids still turn to me for guidance when they get lost! Aaaack! I think I have some "refresher" learning to do before I can walk tall around these smart kiddos! Hahaha!

Anyhow, I picked up a few thought-provoking quotes today from Ms. Stamp, so I wanted to be sure to share them here ~

==="I already know these kids have //dis//abilities. That's not why I'm here to teach them though...I'm all about their //abilities//!" === ==="In my class, //can't// is a 4 letter word. So, don't even think about sayin' it!" ===