Last Day

I am writing this last post on my last day because I really want to emphasize the amount of growth that has happened during my time of student teaching. I have grown to more confident in myself and my ability as an educator. I am grateful to many people especially my cooperating teachers and my supervisor. Without them I would not have had such a well-rounded and productive experience. I was constantly encouraged and offered different techniques and advice for self-improvement.
I have been such great mentors and teacher that I can truly look up to. As I leave my 2nd placement school, I will leave with many warm memories and affirmation about who God has called me to be.
My teaching does not end here. I look forward to different opportunities, new challenges (sort of), new people, new students, a different location, and the work that God will do in me and through me.

Bullying

I believe that my students are good and that sometimes they may be misunderstood. I have heard that one of my students was being bullied by another student. It is heartbreaking to hear those things because I have developed a relationship with them. It is difficult for them to defend themselves verbally because they cannot speak English. They are also minorities. This does not work to their benefit, especially in a high school environment. Being a teenager is tough, let alone being an ESL student. They have to adjust socially and academically.
Though many schools try to prevent bullying from happening, it still occurs. Bullying has taken mutiple forms. There is cyber bullying, physicall  bullying, verbal bullying, and indirect bullying. Although I did not wish to witness any my students as a victim to bullying, it happened.
I have heard of one of my female students being bullied last year by another female student. I find that girls are the worst when it comes to bullying others. They often do not use fists, but they find other ways to put down their peers. Girls have a tendency to spread rumors, cyber bully, and verbally hurt other students. I believe that rumors and cyber bullying might be worse than pushing or shoving someone. When girls make fun of anyone different then them, it can have psychological effects on their victims.
Recently, one of my students was suspended because he got into a fight with another student. It was also brought to my attention that he was sent to the hospital because he had a concussion. I was trully saddened by this. Although physical fighting is not the appropriate and legal way of handling any situation, I felt that I understood the frustration and anger that might have penetrated through my student. It was reported that the other student spilled milk on the ground, in response to the milk spill, my student and another student told him to be careful. The other student said, "I don't care about you Spanish people." From then on, I believe the situation got more heated and physical. My student is now suspended for 4 days, while the other student has been removed for the rest of the year.
I wish I can say that this will never happen again, but I realized that ESL students have a harder time defending themselves because they an accent or have a harder time explaing situations. Although it does not excuse my student from  fight, I think that he was a victim of bullying, but he decided to take action by throwing fists. I am not saying that ESL students are always the victim of bullying, but I do believe that they have a more difficult time adjusting socially because they are new to the country.
I realized how attached I have become to my students within this 2 month period. I care for them because they make an effort to come to class even though they are not encouraged or affirmed outside of the ESL classroom. I have learned so much from them about preserverence and patience. 

The End is near....

It's hard to believe that my student teaching experience is coming to an end. I felt like I just started yesterday. Though some days have been harder to get through than others, I think that I have received a lot from it all. I remember when first found out about the time I have to get to the schools, I was worried. I can barely wake up for an 8am class in college, how was I suppose to wake up and get to the high school by 7:25am? Only the Lord knew. Now that I have adjusted to this routine, I cannot sleep past 8am. Even on weekends. I wake up at 6am on weekends only to realize that I do not need to b awake. This is definitely not a bad habit to have because I feel as if I am utilizing my whole day and I have become more productive throughout. This is also probably why most teachers also sleep around 11pm the latest. I think I still need to work on sleeping earlier. I still sleep around 1am or 2am only to wake up around 6am.

I have developed some good habits along this journey.

I completely understand if my students are sleepy when they come to class in the morning.

This is preparation for the rest of my teaching career.

-Pan Pan Amy

NYSESLAT

One of the biggest exams for my ESL students is the NYSESLAT, show for New York State English As Second Language Achievement Test. This determines whether my students will remain in ESL or not. It also helps students become placed in either, beginner, intermediate, or advanced ESL. When students are tested, "proficient" they will no longer receive ESL accommodations. The NYSESLAT consists of four parts, Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking. It will be taken over a course of two weeks in the beginning of May.
In preparation for this big exam, my cooperating teacher and I have been utilizing class time to review and practice those four skills. I have noticed that my students struggle more with listening and writing. This caused a lot of frustration because students had a hard time answer questions based on their listening. I have realized the necessity for daily practice and reinforcement. I also noticed that students improved their scores as they continued to practice various listening activities that required them to answer questions based off of the conversations they hear.
Their improvement encouraged me and allowed me to see the benefits of teaching. It is often discouraging when students do not perform well and feel frustrated. But, when I see their growth in their self-efficacy and work, it outweighed the times when I felt like students were disengaged and underperforming. When my students began more comfortable and calm about their language skills, it helped me become more confident as their teacher.
I am grateful for my students for these reasons. They have a desire to learn and succeed. Learning a new language is difficult and can discourage students from continuing their education. My students have come a long way and though some of them work, they also choose to come to school. This speaks volumes about who they are and what their priorities may be. I am encouraged and humbled because they had taught me volumes. I do not remember a time when I had to work while I attended high school. My parents wanted me to study. I cannot imagine having to work, go to school, and take care of hold hold chores all together.
I hope that I can continue to encourage my students and allow them to see what they are capable of. I am thankful that I get to know them and work with them.

-Pan Pan Amy

My observed lessons are for the Intermediate ESL class, but I am also involved in the ESL Economics and the Living Environment class. The Living Environment has special education students along with some of my ESL students. Being able to work with students from different backgrounds, language proficiencies, learning levels helped me become more aware of their needs. I was reluctant to take on a role as an adult in the biology class because there were already three adults in the room. Taking on an authoritative role in a classroom is hard when you have students almost your age and other adults watching you. I am so appreciative of the teacher I work with because they treated me like a teacher and helped me ease into the classroom.
Pushing into a classroom can meet challenges because students do not want to feel different from anyone else. At this point in their lives, they want to fit in and not stand out. My role was to help my students without them feeling any less than others. I also made a conscious effort to not only make sure that my students were on task, but the other students as well. I think this helped levitate any frustration towards having my teacher and I push in.
With all these adults in the room, students might feel like they have no room to breathe. This was the first thought I had when I realized how many adults were in the room. One adult was a para-professional for a wheelchair bound student, one teacher was the biology teacher, another teacher was her assistant, and then there was my cooperating teacher an I. A total of five adults in the room of a class of about 14 students. That is quite the ratio of teachers to students. With that, I began to realize the need of the students for individualized attention and help. Although there were so many adults, each of us were able to accommodate students in order for the lesson to run efficiently.
Because the students are also preparing for their Science regents exams, they are constantly being reinforced and catered to. I think that the students were adjusted to the amount of help available because many of them did not hesitate to ask questions or follow our directions. For this particular classroom environment I think four to fit adults helped meet the needs of the students.

High School Dilemmas

It is surprising to see how far I have come since January. The past week has been most draining for me with lesson planning. I had a long list of observations to be made, and my first observation at the high school was March 22nd. That day did not come any sooner. I could not help but realize how OCD I am when it comes to lesson planning and making sure everything was according to what I had imagined it to be. In this process, I have not only developed my lesson planning abilities, but also my flexibility as a teacher. The pressure is on when I have to not only impress my collaborating teacher, but also my supervisor. With those eyes look at me, I can get quite nervous. Every possible scenario is played in my head the day before my first observed lesson. I told myself, "If you get through this first lesson, it should be a lot less strenuous afterwards." I was right. It was a big sigh of relief after I got through my first lesson plan because I became more confident in my classroom management skills and my calling to be an educator.

God has constantly been affirming and challenging me throughout this whole process. I can sense that God not only knew what I was capable of, but He gave me different obstacles to build my character.

The students in my ESL classes, consist of Haitians and El Salvadorians. One great thing about this experience is that I am able to become familiar with block scheduling and a "push-in" method of instruction. I am able to work with not only ESL students, but Special Education students as well. At first it was confusing because we go "in and out" of classrooms all day. I think that this experience familiarized me with the possible routines of a high school ESL class.

With all that said, my first observed lesson was a success! It was a big relief because I gained the confidence I needed to finish well.

A Whole New World

As a TESOL major, I wonder why I did not realize earlier how different the gap between elementary school and high school was. Although I have always been more comfortable with older students, I had grown to love the elementary school. It was all thanks for my collaborating teacher and my delightful students. Being able to teach k-2 opened my perspective on the learning needs of three different grade levels. The biggest part of being a elementary school ESL teacher is being able to have flexibility. Saying goodbye was very difficult for me. I had grown attached and comfortable with my classes. The last day was a sad day.
These students may not have realized how big of an impact they had on me. They taught me so much and brought out the best in me. I had packed goody bags for each of my students on the last day to let them know that they were great. It was a joy to see their faces light up when I told them that I had some presents for them. Kids love presents. It's a fact.
The day went by so fast. I felt like I had just started student teaching, and now it is already time to leave. Because of this experience, I have come to love teaching elementary school students. I hope to work for an elementary school in New York City in the near future.

As I transition in to high school, I fear that it will not be the same. I hope that I will be able to learn just as much at the high school as I did in the elementary school. These students will be just as tall as me, or even taller. Some will be only a few years younger than me. I know that God will give me that authority and strength to represent Him in the high school ESL classroom in the best way possible.

Perseverance is key....

-Amy

My Strengths

MY TOP 5 STRENGTHS

1Restorative

2Learner

3Connectedness

4Achiever

5Harmony

The process of finding out my strengths was quite long, but I think that it does provide a good overall picture of what my strengths are. This whole student teaching process has helped me see my strengths as well. I value interpersonal relationships and growing through various obstacles. I believe that I do see these strengths in me, even though sometimes I feel that my weaknesses outweigh my strengths. I think part of this whole process is to be able to look at your strengths and apply it into my teaching and my lifestyle.

I love being able to overcome challenges by "restoring" new perspectives onto others.

I am a learner and I believe I will never stop learner. I once told my friend that if I were to become wealthy, I would continue going to school. There is so much out there and so much that I have not seen or heard of.

As I continue to grow as a teacher and woman of God, I hope to carry out my strengths and reflect my Father.

Getting to Business

Observations make be nervous and a little bit OCD, but as my supervisor came for my first informal visit, I had no choice but to go with the flow and be confident in what I was doing.


It went exceptionally well and it was all thanks to my collaborating teacher's ability to communicate with me and use my presence in the classroom prior to my observartion. We developed a natural flow of teaching with our students. We were basically co-teaching during my informal observation. It gave my surpervisor a clear idea of my role in Ms. Chilson's ESL class. I was more confident and comfortable as an authority figure in the classroom. Ms. Chilson was able to give me great cues and suggestions as I interacted with the students during the Big Book Reading time. There was a natural flow that occurred in the class and I was no longer thinking about how I was doing, but about how I am getting my message across to the students.

I strongly believe that once a teacher begins to focus less on his or herself in the classroom, he or she is able to give their best to their students.

My biggest fears coming into this were that students would not respect me as their teacher and I would lose control of my students. Thus far, I have comfortably adjusted into my role as a teacher in this ESL classroom. I am still learning a lot from my collaborating teacher and the students that I engage with. What was successful about my informal observation was the student's attentiveness towards me. They followed my directions without Ms. Chilson having to redirect them and they were engaged to what I had to say. That really reassured me of what I was doing and affirmed my desire to become a successful ESL teacher.

From my recent experiences, I have never felt more assured about teaching ESL.

The Countdown Begins......

It is already February? I am into my third week of student teaching and it has been one of the most eye opening experiences of my college career. It is one thing to learn how to teach and be prepared for the elementary classroom, but it is another when you are emersed into the actual lifestyle of a classroom teacher. It is no wonder most teachers sleep before midnight, they need every ounce of energy to get ready for the next day!


Some days time flies, but some days I find myself counting down the minutes to dismissal.


I was placed in Ms. Chilson's ESL classroom. The kids call her Ms. Kelli, and they call me Ms. Amy. The kids are the cutest little things you will ever encounter. The quiet ones are cute and the loud ones are just as cute. Adjusting to this ESL classroom was not very hard because Ms. Chilson is very welcoming and accommodating. This transition has been surprisingly natural. This is coming from the person that originally wanted to teach middle school and high school students. I am so grateful to Ms. Chilson because she is really a great model for me to learn from in the elementary ESL classroom.

I am looking forward to growing and learning more about the educational system as well as how to be a good Christian Teacher.

This is just my introductory post just to give a preview of what kind of classroom and a general overview of my experience thus far.


Still adjusting to being called Ms. Amy....


-Amy