Field Placement Summary

Overall, i thoroughly enjoyed my field placement and the classroom I observed. The teacher taught me that when teaching young children they need diversity and fun activities to keep them thinking and focused. She also taught me that if kids are struggling with concentration that you should not scold them, but assist them in a way that can get them back on track. She also taught me that you can add in life experiences into lessons, which engages the kids along with teaching them the necessary content. I also observed the importance of constantly being enthusiastic with young children because they have a tendency to  get bored and uninterested. I did question if being a private school makes it easier to have all of these important values. The teacher did have an assistant and any resources that she needed. The classrooms were also set up to have an interactive and experiential environment, but I know some schools are not given the resources to have the same interactive and experiential environment. Along with all of this, I observed that teachers are finding new styles and techniques to teach core classes, such as math. In the end, I do believe that having the resources and finances does allow for a more critical thinking environment where the kids can flourish more.

Field Placement 4

For my fourth and last visit, I got to watch the kids perform a science experiment. The experiment consisted of three containers: one with water and soap, one with hand sanitizer, and one with nothing in it. They were all sealed and the students had observed these containers for a week to see which container would grow the most bacteria. I observed on the last day of their observations, so they had to finish a packet on the experiment that consisted of all the scientific steps. The kids hypothesized, observed, and drew a conclusion. The students were very excited to see the mold that grew in each container and to conclude which one had the less mold. Along with writing their observations and conclusions out, the kids were required to also draw pictures. I felt as if drawing pictures was also important to the kids understanding because when some were confused about their conclusion, Mrs. Ferek told them to draw pictures with color which helped the confused students. After they finished this project, they read a poem and drew a picture about how they interpreted the poem. It was interesting to see how drawing pictures helped the students solve ideas that they were confused about. After the poem the kids had recess despite the snow, which again I feel is so crucial because kids lose concentration when they are cooped up all day long.

Field Placement 3

For my third visit, I observed the kids playing their morning game which was “20 questions.” This consisted of one kid thinking of either a person, place, or thing, and the other kids asking 20 questions trying to guess what the one kid was thinking about. I found this game to be very helpful in allowing the kids to think of thoughtful questions and make connections. After this game, the kids worked on and finished their family album project. For this project the kids had to make a title page of their whole family, then each page inside was dedicated to one person in their family. This kids wrote kind sentences about details of their family members and why they love their family members. It was amazing to read why some of the kids loved their family members. I feel as if this project is so crucial to helping the kids realize how important family is and how important it is to make sure your family knows why you appreciate them. This project takes an element of life and makes it educational by teaching the kids how to write complete sentences, or thought. After working on this project I got to watch the kids perform a musical concert. They were rehearsing for their concert that they will be performing next week in front of their families and teachers. The songs consisted of different languages such as spanish, french, english, and more. This was so unique to me because the kids understood what the foreign songs were saying. This type of musical experience was not only fun, but it taught the kids about other cultures and languages.

Field Placement 2

Again when I arrived to the classroom, the students were participating in their annual morning game. After their fun and energizing game the students sat on the carpet for show and tell. Each time one of the students finished presenting their item they asked if there was any "thoughtful questions or comments." This was interesting to watch because the studies truly embodied being thoughtful and respectful to each other. this activity also taught them to have respectful social skills which I believe is so crucial to learn at a young age. After these morning activities the kids moved to the tables to begin their core subject and started with math. They were learning number lines and how to use number lines to assist them in both addition and subtraction problems. This was interesting to me because when I learned subtraction and addition I remember being required to learn it by simply knowing how much to add, or subtract, and taking time tests on it. This showed me how education is constantly changing to find different and unique ways to teach the kids to learn most efficiently. After math was spelling, and for spelling the kids were split up with the other second grade classes based on their level of learning. Mrs. Ferek explained that they took a test in the beginning of the year to test their reading and spelling capacity. This shows how tests create an immediate label on the kids, but I do understand why there is a need for it. The group that was with Mrs. Ferek seemed to be the struggling group because most of the kids were off task and very confused about their spelling words. One kid in particular kept asking for “the ball” which was a small ball that Mrs. Ferek gave to him so he could play with it while working on the spelling words. This showed me how if a kid is struggling with concentration, there needs to be available accommodations for the child in order to help keep the child focused.

Blog Post 10 & Proposal

After taking this course, I have realized that there are a lot of factors that determine the type of teacher you can be. The environment of your classroom, type of relationship with your students, and the politics of education all affect how great of a teacher we can be. Setting up your classroom in a specific manner can portray your teaching style. I’ve learned that the average desks in rows is not necessarily the best environment for a classroom. As teachers, we should have open space where the kids can all have a place to interact, move, and possibly perform experiments. In terms of relationships with students, I’ve learned that genuine relationships create more successes in the classroom. Teachers should be enthusiastic, caring, while still containing a certain boundary with the students. Teachers should have a certain level of comfortability with their students, but not too comfortable where it can become inappropriate. Politics also play a major role with how successful a teacher can be in the classroom. The banking concept causes teacher to just give information out, and the students must memorize them to pass the standardized tests. Educational standards set in politics force teachers to become dull with the material, and not have much room to make the curriculum interesting. Overall, this course has opened my eyes and made me realize that there is a lot that goes on in the world of being a teacher. It is not as simple as i originally imagined it would be, but everything I’ve learned has made being a teacher more of a meaningful and interesting experience. 

When imagining myself as a teacher, I imagine teaching curriculum that is meaningful and useful to the students I will be teaching to. I want to be able to teach kids about politics, history, our planet. I also want to teach the kids important communication skills and other crucial life skills such budgeting money. In reality though, our core curriculum keeps teachers from being able to spend time on all these useful skills. I believe that our core curriculum is more focused on students memorizing content that they will rarely remember later on in their lives. Core curriculum keeps the teachers from adding in lessons that they believe should be taught, due to the restricted focus on the core curriculum. There is too much focus on each student passing the core classes, instead of focusing on how the students are learning and applying what they’ve learned to their lives. Core curriculum should be more easily adjustable so that teachers can add in lessons that they believe are meaningful and useful. Students should be more interactive with their work instead of the core curriculum which causes the students to complete worksheets, quizzes, and tests. Students should be enthusiastic in the curriculum they are learning, instead of sitting and memorizing all of the core content that is thrown at them. There needs to be a change in the core curriculum if we want kids to succeed later in life and remember important content and skill that they should be taught in school.

When trying to remember what I have learned in both elementary and middle school, I struggle to remember anything that has been useful to me. I find it sad that when my boss gives me a check, I do not know how to cash it in myself. I do not even know how to write check, or balance a checkbook. I feel as if there were so many life skills that I was never taught, and it is disappointing that I was taught numerous varieties of content to memorize and be tested on. This is the problem with our core curriculum, it leads to students retaining the information taught only until they take the test on the content. After the test the students usually forget what they learn and begin memorizing new content for the next test. I can specifically remember being a student and telling myself to remember all the information just for the test, and then forget about it after. Education is supposed to expand the minds of humans, and not just for a short period of time. We need to be teaching the children issues of our world that will affect them when they are grown up in the future. We need to be teaching them about social changes and skills that help them grow up and succeed later on when they are adults. The issue of core curriculum can be greatly connected with the banking concept we learned in class. The restrictions of the core cause teachers to begin habits of banking habit. The banking concept consists of teachers giving content for students to retain and memorize, without having much interaction and outside thoughts about the content. One big question I have in mind is: Does core curriculum detrimental to student’s learning? Another big question I have is: How do we change the core curriculum. I want to research who in our country deals with the issues of education and how many people need to join and agree on reform. I want to know the importance of politics and the role of politics that will influence and help change the core curriculum. I also want to research the finances and economics that play a role in changing/altering the core curriculum. I believe that the core includes a lot of important content, but not as much life skills as there should be. There should also be more room and time for teachers to discuss diverse topics. The core curriculum should be flexible and teachers should have more of a say for what they want to include in the curriculum.  If teachers are being the ones teaching the content they should be allowed to include what they deem as useful to their students, especially since teachers are the ones who know their students the best. Teachers are with their students five days a week, several hours a day, so they know what will benefit their students best. The process teachers go through to become teachers should include courses where they can discuss the core curriculum and find ways to make it more meaningful and useful to the grade(s) they will be teaching. People need to understand that the core curriculum determines what we are teaching the children not only in the classroom, but also in life. There should be classes that teach the kids valuable life skills along with content that will be useful to their growing minds.

Field Placement1

For my field placement, I attended Hawken Lower School. I observed a second grade class taught by Mrs. Emma Ferek. When first entering the classroom the students were playing all playing a game. Mrs. Ferek explained that every morning once every student has arrived, she has them play a game. This was interesting to me because when I was in second grade I remember coming to school everyday and working on "bellwork" which consisted of problems that everyone had to complete on their own in silence. This teacher took a different approach and allows her students to exert their energy and get them excited for the school day. After the game was finished, she had all the students sit on a carpet in front of her while she read a book. The book focused on family which is what their unit was on that they were covering. After she read the book she had them work on a project which consisted of them making posters of their families with descriptions of each person in their family. This was also fascinating to me because I do not ever remember having a lesson on the importance of family. It was amazing to see the kind descriptions each student wrote about the members of their family. It was also fascinating to observe their artistic abilities. After working on their project, the students went to recess and Mrs. Ferek told me that they get two recesses. I believe having a sufficient amount of time for recess is so important for young children. Being cooped up in a classroom for too long can cause students to lose interest or become ancy. After this first observation, I realized the importance of having fun within the classroom and allowing the kids to exert their energy, along with teaching them valuable lessons such as the value of family.

blog post 9

Ariel Smith

ED 100

Annotated Bibliography

November 14, 2016

Fair, Jean. "The Comparative Effectiveness of a Core and a Conventional Curriculum in Developing Social Concern. I." The School Review 62.5 (1954): 274-82. Web. Nov. 2016.

This scholarly journal explains what core curriculum and core classes are and why we have them. It goes into further depth explaining the objectives and content  of core curriculum. I am going to use this source to give background knowledge on core curriculum. This source also provides the importance of social conditions which I will utilize in my paper. This source gives me knowledge on the benefits of core classes, but also what core curriculum lacks in terms of social conditions. I will utilize this source to give a better understanding of what core curriculum consists of and why it exists.

Harap, Henry. "Improvement of the Core." The High School Journal 40.1 (1956): 32-37.

University of North Carolina Press. Web. Nov. 2016.

Henry Harap addresses the need to alter or change the core curriculum before it has detrimental effects on the student's learning abilities. He explains that the static nature of core curriculum does not allow the students to think for their own or address new questions. This source is based on observations of core classes in a variety of schools. This source will give my argument more of a backbone for why core curriculum needs to be adjustable and adaptive. I can utilize this source by explaining the negative effects that a static core curriculum has on students ability to learn more than what is provided by the core curriculum.

Mickelson, John M. "What Does Research Say about the Effectiveness of the Core Curriculum?" The School Review 65.2 (1957): 144-60. Web. Nov. 2016.

This source provides research and explanation on the effectiveness of core curriculum. This source defines what core is and explains the meaning and reason behind core classes. It also provides research on the extent that the core curriculum is used and what the students learn/gain from the core. I will use this source to explain the skills that the students gain from the core. I will also utilize this source to explain what the core lacks and what the students are missing in their education. This source also provides information on if the students gain the necessary social skills which I will address in my paper as a main concern for core curriculum.

Pittendrigh, Adele. "Reinventing the Core: Community, Dialogue, and Change." The Journal of

General Education 56.1 (2007): 34-56. Web. Nov. 2016.

This source directly explains why and how the core curriculum should be changed. It includes the importance of being able to be open to scrutiny and change in terms of the core curriculum. It provides the teachers perspectives on the core and offers ideas that can make the core more meaningful. These ideas include insisting more dialogue and a sense of community when teaching core content. I will use this source to explain options for how we can better the core curriculum to be more beneficial for the students. This source also provides specific proposals that have been made by scholars to change/reinvent the core curriculum.

Tibbetts, John W. "Crisis in the Core Curriculum." The Clearing House: A Journal of

Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas 33.6 (1959): 345-47. Web. Nov. 2016.

This scholarly journal refutes the idea of having core classes. John Tibbetts believes that the core has a lack of administration concern, preparation for qualified teachers, and static organization. I will use this source to explain more of the cons of our core curriculum. This source also provides insight on how core curriculum should be revised and open to scrutiny since education should be a learning experience. I will use this source to take a standpoint against having a static core curriculum. This source also provides information on how teachers are not prepared well enough to teach core curriculum, which I will address in my research paper.

Blog Post 7

"What is greatness in teaching?" Guide

Being adaptive- In order to be a great teacher, you have to adapt how you teach for all students. Not every student learns the same way, which Ayers shows in chapter 7 when one student understood subtraction by a different teaching method than the other. It is crucial to have different tactics and styles when teaching, so you can adapt to every kids understanding of knowledge.

Be engaging/enthusiastic- This idea comes from the factor of being passionate about your work. Teachers have to keep the attention of a group a kids, while also teaching them the content they need to know. All kids have different attention spans, but by being enthusiastic and engaging teachers can make the students interested in what they are learning. When students are interested at learning they will pay attention, but not only that they will actually want to pay attention.

Self-reflecting- Teachers need to understand that they are going to make mistakes. The students are not the only ones growing in the classroom, teachers are constantly growing also. As a teacher, we must be able to criticize ourselves and being able to reflect on ourselves. We must not criticize ourselves to the points where we become timid, we must do it to a degree that allows us to be open to different styles and teachings. It is difficult to tell yourself that you are doing something wrong, but it is necessary if we want to grow and become a better teacher for our students.

Be open-minded- This idea can tie in with two other factors that I have listed. Being adaptive and self-reflecting requires teachers to be open-minded. Being open minded allows teachers to accept and think of new ideas or styles of teaching. Open-mindedness allows the teacher to be creative and change or alter their style of teaching.

Authenticity- Being authentic can be difficult when be the instructor of the classroom. Some teachers think that they have to implement a high degree of respect from the students and strictly only be their teacher. I believe it is important to have authentic and genuine relationships with the students. Teachers are with their students either more or as much as the students are with their family. Teachers should have friendly relationships and care about the students outside of the classroom. This should not be abused though by becoming their best friend and talking about inappropriate or too personal of subjects. Teachers must be there for their students and genuinely care for them, while maintaining a level of respect from the students.

Field Post3

When thinking about being a teacher I always question how comfortable or how strict I should be with the students. I kept this question in my mind as I observed an art teacher at Height High School. When entering the classroom, there was music playing from one of the student's phones and I could already tell how calm and comfortable the environment was. Most of the students were working independently on their art pieces while the teacher went from person to person asking if they needed any assistance. The students would raise their hand if they needed help and she would go to them immediately unless she was already helping another student. She did not seem very strict with the kids and even joked around with them. There was no need for her to be strict though because all of the students respected her and focused on their work. This made me ponder how she was able to gain so much respect from high schoolers? When talking to one of the students she was saying how she loved art and that everyone in this class was also very passionate about their work. This made me realize how when students are passionate about what they are learning, they will work hard. This makes it easier for the teacher to be more laid back and comfortable with the students. What i begin to question about this is how do teachers create this level of respect and working habits with students who are not passionate about the subject? I think it is very important to try to work towards making students passionate for the content teachers are required to teach, no matter the subject. This relates to how teachers can not rely on the banking method style of teaching. When using the banking method, it disinterests the students and causes them to lose passion for what they are learning. If teachers want their students to have respect and be comfortable or passionate in the classroom, they must teach in a way that will make the students interested in the content they are learning.

Blog Post 6

When reading about the "banking concept" of education, Freire defines it as when the the student extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the information given by the teachers. This raised a lot of questions and concerns for me as I read that. It made me wonder why this style of teaching ever came about, and made me question how to stop it. The "banking concept" is made so that the easier the students accept this style of teaching, the more of the student succeeds for that class. This style of learning limits the students thoughts and perspectives of what they are being asked to simply memorize for a short period of time. It does not give them any outside information and they are not able to ask questions like "why" when being taught this method. This style of teaching seems to harm the students more than help them. This is where the question comes in for how do we stop this method of teaching? There is a basic knowledge we have to give children when they are young, but as teachers we should still encourage outside thoughts and questions about what information we are teaching them. We cannot simply give them information to memorize for a test and then allow that information to become totally useless after the test. We should be teaching kids about the world and information that can help them succeed in the future. This brings up the problem of the law though. Educational laws require standards for what and how teachers should be teaching. Although teachers have to abide by these standards in order to teach, I believe there is a way to entwine the standards with a way of teaching that allows the students to think outside the box and raise unique and diverse questions about the context.

Blog Post 5

When I attended both middle school and elementary school there was never much talk on homophobia and heterosexism. When I went to Mentor High, it became apparent to me how these issues occurred in school. Since Mentor was a huge, public school there were many lesbian and gay students who were open about their sexuality. Walking through the halls, I would see girls kiss girls, and boys kiss boys. I knew there was a gay alliance club, but it was never promoted much. When I transferred schools my junior year, I transferred to a small, private school. When I transferred to Gilmour I received and email about a boy changing his gender and that Gilmour expected everyone to be accepting towards "her." Gilmour was very open to the idea of this sex change and was very responsible with handling the situation. There was no complaints or problems when she started to use the girls bathrooms and locker rooms which was very surprising to me. At Gilmour their gay and lesbian club spoke openly about what they stood for and would speak in front of the whole school during morning announcements. Gilmour had a very liberal approach and was very open to sexuality, and Mentor was too, but not as much. When taking liberal approaches this is very important to children because we need to teach children when they are young to be open to different perspectives on life or other people's lives, in order to reduce judgment. If we try to radically change a child's thinking, we force them into seeing one side of a perspective too much, without letting them have some of their own thoughts or views. I am very hopeful that wherever I teach in the future, that the school will be open to LGBT Alliance, so that all students feel welcomed and safe in school. 

Field Post 2

When visiting Shaker Heights Middle School, the first class I observed was a math class. The students were learning about probability, using the exemplar of rolling a dice. The teacher had them use mental math instead of calculators, then had them share and explain how they got their answers. Unlike some teachers, this teacher let the kids share wrong answers then have them verbally figure out where they went wrong in their process of thinking. She never gave the students the answer, but instead had them retrace their knowledge to get to the right answer by themselves. This showed me how teachers are not meant to give kids the "right" answer, but we are supposed to let them solve the problem in their own way, even if they fail the first few times.
The second class I visited was an English/Language Arts class. In the class the students all were provided a personal computer and were working on a paper. The teacher explained to me that they were writing stories on whatever they wanted to write about, but the goal was to go through all the steps of writing a paper. This teacher encouraged the kids to write about their interests and to be creative. When one of the girls was struggling, the teacher told her to continue writing even if it did not make sense. She said encouraged them to write down whatever ideas they had even if it was not grammatically correct. Again this teacher was more focused on the kids going through the process and being creative, despite the mistakes they were making.
Observing these two classes truly showed me how teachers need to encourage the kids to think on their own and to think outside of the box. If the teachers achieve this, then they can assist the student into using their own problem solving techniques to find the correct answer. Observing Shaker showed me how teachers should not limits the students problem solving by making them think that there is only one way to solve a problem, because in reality everyone can solve the same problem in a different way and still have the same outcome. I believe this is the bridge Shaker Middle School is trying to build; A bridge from telling the kids the right answer, to making the kids teach themselves different ways to solve the problem. This is a skill that overall will help the students later in life. Life is so complex that people need to know that there are several different perspectives of every problem in our world, and we must all be open to those different perspectives in order to solve the problems. This is similar to how Ayers uses the metaphor of "building bridges" such as the story he uses with the turtle. The teacher in that story encouraged the kids to think differently to figure out a way to make a physical bridge for the turtle. This symbolizes the transition of the kids building a bridge to a new way of thinking or solving problems. This can also be seen as a bridge of maturing, which ties in with the story of Zayd who was also "building a bridge" to adulthood or maturity. He approached this differently by going on a quest to seek adulthood. Overall, building bridges to maturity is a main theme written by Ayers and seen in the classrooms at Shaker Heights.

Blog post 4

Dear Senator Kenny Yuko,
It has been brought to my attention that the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio has found Ohio’s system of school finance to be unconstitutional, yet this system still remains. Many schools do not meet the criteria of a well-funded and well-supplied school. This is a major concern because this affects the performance of students. Many students who come from lower-income families and go to public schools that are considered unconstitutional, suffer from this unfairness. The unanimous court of Brown vs. Board of Education stated that "Today it is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education." This goes to show how kids are denied a proper education due to their environment, and it is affecting them negatively. We cannot expect children to learn in schools that do not provide a proper learning environment.  A school that lacks proper health standards and building standards portray that education is not significant in our society. We cannot expect children to learn, or to be excited to learn when education is portrayed this way. How a building is structured can affect how a child learns. That is why I believe it is time to make a change. Instead of reiterating how schools in Ohio are not constitutional, it is time to put in a law to begin some action. We cannot keep waiting around for these schools to change on their own. It is time that we start by fixing what has been identified and give these schools and upgrade. We must show the children that schools are important and that their education is important. It is time to fix the structural parts of the buildings that we send children off to learn in. All children, despite where they live and what school they go to, deserve a safe and inspiring learning environment. I hope you take my argument into consideration when discussing the DeRolph IV decision, and begin to act on this decision of how Ohio's system of school finance being unconstitutional.

Thank you,
Ariel Smith

FieldPost1

After visiting Noble Elementary, I changed my original perspective on what grade I use to want to teach. Originally, I did not care for a specific grade, whether it be kindergarten, third grade, or anything in between. At Noble Elementary I observed two classes; a fourth grade class and a kindergarten class. The fourth grades were learning about similarities and differences, along with tying in the aspect of respect. This appealed greatly to me because I want to be a teacher that influences kids to be good citizens. In the kindergarten class, the kids took a pre-test on simple math. After their pre-test they gathered in the front of the classroom to sing songs and dance. The kids were adorable, but I learned that I want to be teaching about more influential topics. There is only so much you can teach kindergarteners because they are still learning to read and write. The fourth graders have these basic skills, so it is easier to add in and apply more lessons about life. Being able to teach about crucial morals by tying in it with an educational lesson is something that appeals greatly to me.

Along with discovering a new perspective on the grade I want to teach, I also learned more about the type of teacher I want to be. By observing the fourth grade teacher, he focused greatly on group collaboration and participation. These are aspects that I want to include when I become a teacher one day. Being able to communicate effectively with others, and being able to share your knowledge to others are both crucial aspects that can help through-out life. These are two lessons I want to focus on when I am a teacher. I also learned that I have a tendency to make assumptions and label kids. When observing the fourth grade class, I noticed a boy who was very hyper and disruptive. I began to think that he possibly had an attention disorder or just liked to be the center of attention. Making assumptions and labeling a kid is something I need to internally work on through-out time. Overall, observing Noble Elementary taught me about the teacher I want to be one day, and the matters I need to work on to become a great teacher.

Blog Post 3

After all the readings and discussions from this week, the question that keeps coming up in my mind is; How can I be the best teacher I can be? From the readings we've learned the difficulties of being a teacher. Teachers have to work with minimal resources and a variety of kids that all range with different learning levels. To be a teacher, I have to overcome these obstacles and find a way to teach at my fullest potential. From our discussions, I've gathered that one of the most important skills of being a teacher is being an observer. I will have to observe how each individual student learns best, and apply what I know about them to how I will teach. Each student will have a unique way of how they learn best, and I must try to find a way to apply their interests in the classroom. Another important aspect of being a great teacher, is how I set up the classroom. The classroom can have a huge effect on how the kids learn. Depending on age, I must provide a space that has room for hands-on learning experiences. I've learned that an environment can restrict kids from learning, if I don't consider the best way to set up the classroom.
Another important lesson I've learned about being a great teacher is that I should not label kids. Labeling can constrict kids from reaching their fullest potential. By saying one child has a disorder, that can cause that child to not believe in themselves due to their knowledge of their disorder. As a teacher I want to make sure that every child in my classroom believes in themselves. Having confidence is very crucial in the classroom because without it a child will not ask questions, and asking questions is very crucial to learning. Asking questions is also a big part of being a teacher. As a teacher, I have to ask questions daily about how I can make myself a better teacher. I can ask both the children and the children's parents to get some insight on that question. Being able to hear and apply suggestions is going to be a big part of how I can become a better teacher. I need to be flexible and understanding of some requests that may be made by the children or the parents. Overall, to be the best teacher I can be it is going to take a lot of questions, experience and effort to apply every way that I can better myself as a teacher.

Blog Post 2

Usually when people ask me why I want to be a teacher I respond by saying "Because I love kids." Then people usually follow up by saying how there are plenty of jobs out their that work with kids. The reason I want to be a teacher is because not only do I love kids, but I've also always loved school.  I consider school a second home for everyone, since we are there for several hours a day, five times a week. A teacher has so much influence on the kids they teach, which intrigues me. I can influence kids to be kind, hard working, and respectful. I believe teachers hold the key to a better future. With the amount of influence teachers have on kids, teachers can mold a positive path for their futures. One teacher that made me realize this was my sophomore English teacher. She was a kind women who always encouraged me to put more effort into my work. When I told her about my thought on transferring from Mentor to Gilmour, she urged me to go to Gilmour. Everyday she would tell me that she thought Gilmour would be a great school for me. I honestly would not have made the transfer if it wasn't for her positive encouragement. Transferring to Gilmour was one of the best decisions I've ever made. At Gilmour i got involved with a lot of service, and worked with several rebuilding schools in Cleveland. Gilmour helped me realize why I knew I wanted to be a teacher, and I have my sophomore English teacher to thank for that.

Another question I ask myself when thinking about why I want to be a teacher, I think of my strong qualities that would make me a good teacher. I've been a tutor for many kids who have attention disorders, but have always remained positive and patient when working with them. I also have a passion for working with kids, which is necessary when becoming a teacher since working with kids is what teaching consists of. I also am good at working with a lot of commotion. When I was 14 I was a nanny for a family of five. Their ages ranged from 4 months old to 10 years old. I had to take care of a baby while keeping the older kids entertained. Along with that, I had to take care of their dog which added to the chaos I had to deal with everyday. Everyday though, I managed to control all of them while keeping them all happy. So when people ask me why I want to be a teacher it is because I love kids and want to create a better future for them, along with the fact that I believe I have the qualities that will make me a great teacher. 

Blog Post 1

My name is Ariel and I live in Mentor, Ohio. I want to major in Early Childhood Education, but I am also interested in teaching fourth and fifth grade. I want to teach all four subjects, but if I had to choose only two they would be English and Social Studies. I have always loved working with kids, and have been involved with a few tutoring programs at rebuilding schools in Cleveland. I used to play basketball until I tore my ACL last year, but am on the last month of my recovering and just started running again. This semester I plan on focusing on school, while working at Chagrin Valley Wellness Center, along with running everyday. I believe that early childhood education is so crucial to kid's futures because the earlier they can learn and excel, the better of a future they can have. This is especially important when children are in struggling families. If kids do not have people at home pushing them to succeed, teachers are crucial for helping these kids get on the right path. The article The Importance of Early Childhood Education and School Starting Age in the Reading-Writing Learning Process states that, "Because the first years of life are the years when investments are made for the future of societies, the losses that occur in this period are either hard or impossible to compensate. Early childhood education plays a vital role especially in eliminating or minimizing the deficiencies resulting from socioeconomic structure of the family" (Introduction). I strongly believe that teachers have a huge role in helping a student's future, especially ones with a struggling home life.

For learning, I need to feel comfortable with the people around me, so getting to know people is very crucial to my learning. When I feel comfortable I will share my ideas and not be scared to ask questions or participate in class. As a student, I always gravitated toward my English teachers because I love to read for fun. My sophomore English teacher was one of my favorite teachers because she would always give me books to read. When I told her about possibly transferring from Mentor High to Gilmour, she urged me to transfer, knowing it would be in my best interest. Her constant support helped me make the big decision to transfer from Mentor to Gilmour. Gilmour is where I got involved with working with schools in the Cleveland area. I worked with many kids who came from rough home lives' which is when I realized how important it is for teachers to not only help their students excel in the classroom, but also influence the students to excel outside the classroom. I believe we need teachers in early education who are willing to connect and help struggling children in and outside of the classroom.

A question I have about this class: Will we be working with any rebuilding schools in Cleveland?