Tuesday:

So, today I hadn't planned on coming in for observations today because I had a top 75 breakfast with all three schools, but I am glad I did! I had such an interesting day working with two students who have some obvious issues, one who's in Mrs. Hart's classroom and the other has consistent home troubles, so I worked with them to make sure they were focused on their work. They did well and achieved success in most of their work, but one of my other students, who is constantly whining and is being tested for underlying behavior issues asked me for help. So, I sat with her and worked with her on an opinion piece on why she preferred flip flops to tennis shoes, but she didn't know why she liked it better, so for the reason part of the paragraph she refused to do it. She started whining and laying down in her chair, refusing to look at me in the face. Mrs. Sutliff asked me to video tape the incident and she refused to listen to me, and refused to behave like a normal student. It was so sad to see her crumpled up this way and so distressed without anyone to give her the extra support that she obviously needs to succeed. So, Mrs. Sutliff asked me if I wanted to stay because an employee from central office was coming to evaluate this girl for to determine if she needed extra help. And from the way she was acting today, it was very evident that this evaluator needed to see what was going on and needed to do something. While this girl continued to whine, Mrs. Sutliff had me walk away and get snacks for everyone and while I was doing this, this girl got out her DEAR book and began to read, but Mrs. Sutliff quickly took it away from her, saying that if she didn't finish the opinion writing piece, then she doesn't get to read her DEAR book. And, that's when everything changed, she was frustrated and upset crying loudly, and it was awful. But, after I had called everyone and the last few people got in line for snacks, this girl thought that she deserved a snack even though she hadn't finished her work, and she started crying like crazy, sitting down and whining in her arms. It was very sad. Mrs. Sutliff called her over and she sat on the floor, until Mrs. Sutliff allowed her to go get a drink and freshen up. When she returned, she was just as distraught, as she began crawling around on the floor and wandering, but because the evaluator was supposed to come in, Mrs. Sutliff let her wander so that way the evaluator could visualize the problems this child was having. But, the evaluator never came, and this girl crawled over to a book shelf and read a magic school bus book even though she should've been researching an animal. This girl sat in the corner and read her book and didn't receive any punishment. So, I know that Mrs. Sutliff was waiting for the evaluator, but I wonder how we could've given her punishment to show that she still needs help. Hopefully, the evaluator can visit the classroom another time to demonstrate her lack of focus on the classroom, and this evaluator can get her the extra help, because what I see in this girl is what I see in the students in Mrs. Hart's class. Although the evaluator didn't come in, I had the opportunity to learn so much about working with students with behavior problems.

Wednesday:

​Goodbye to days of research projects and telling time. Goodbye to big hugs and giggles. Goodbye to children's books and pajama days. Goodbye to Mrs. Sutliff's class. For now. I may have to say goodbye to my first real class, where I spent hours with these students, but I am not leaving the world of education. My world is going to revolve around research projects and telling time. My life will be full of pajama days and big hugs, and for that I can't wait. I can't wait to be a teacher. Because it was my last day, I brought brownies and bubbles for all the students and a gift card for Mrs. Sutliff and they were so grateful! It was so nice to give them a little treat because they certainly deserve it for being such a great class! But, what was even sweeter was that my class got me a little present too! They made me a huge card with all of their best wishes on it, and they also got me a wind chime. How sweet! It's for my own classroom, and it makes me want to go home and play teacher, and I cannot wait until I have my own classroom where I can ring the wind chime to get my students' attention!! Then, the students gave me something more special than any gift or card, they gave me a wishing rock, where each of the students held the pebble and made a wish for me. I got wishes ranging from "I hope you like your roommate" to "I hope you come back and teach at Britton!" (While we were thinking about that we realized that they would be in 8th grade during my first year of teaching and I can't even imagine these kids all grown up like that! But, I know they will do great things!)

After the adorable celebration, we went back to work, and Mrs. Sutliff showed the students how to write a post card to a character in one of the books! I really like the idea of making a post card because it involves letter format, writing and drawing (on the back) all in one! It was such a cute idea, and I think it would be very fun if we could have some teachers who would write back! How fun! But, that would be a great idea to use in my classroom! Then, the students transitioned into actually writing the post cards, well, all except the student that is currently being evaluated. This girl was simply reading a book not actually accomplishing the activity, so Mrs. Sutliff asked me to push her buttons to get a bigger reaction. Now, when I say "push her buttons" I really only mean to make her write and to actually do her work. But, that gets a reaction, so by the time the evaluator showed up it represented how asking her to do work resulted in disaster. This girl was crumpled up in her chair, refusing to talk to anyone. But, it was time for specials, so I got up to give hugs to the rest of the class that was going to specials. When this girl saw me up there, she ran up and gave me a huge hug! That was what got a response from her, and I was so happy that I was the one who could help her even if it was just a small thing, but it made a difference to her. And, that's why I want to teach. But, then we sat down and started to work on some of our feelings using the movie inside out. Like I had done in Mrs. Hart's class before, we talked about the different zones that the characters of inside out used. At first, she wouldn't talk, and she would write down her answers to her questions on paper, but eventually that transformed to her actually talking. So that when the evaluator asked her questions she answered with rambling answers that significantly drifted from the topic. She talked about gymnastics and how she was sad when she didn't get to move up to the next level, but she also brought up how she often becomes over focused on a project she may not supposed to be focused on. For example, she shared that when she is watching T.V. at home she can get so focused on the show that she doesn't realize that she has to go to the bathroom and she has accidents. At school, Mrs. Sutliff has a timer for her to remind her that she needs to go to the bathroom. To me, that shows that there is a very serious problem that needs to be addressed in this situation, whether it be physical, mental or both. A lot of times this girl pointed to the word depressed, worried and confused while talking about school and her life. And to me, that seems like she has a major anxiety disorder and she's so nervous about not being able to do something correctly that she doesn't do it at all. And, it's a coping mechanism for her to deal with it, but the more she acts like that the more depressed she becomes because she is constantly nagged by teachers and other students see her as a baby. I would not be surprised if there is a sliver of autism in her too, and maybe even OCD. Whatever it is, I am hoping she can get the help she deserves. For a long time, her parents didn't believe that she had anything wrong with her, no matter how much Mrs. Sutliff tried. But, when Mrs. Sutliff told her that this girl doesn't have any friends, that's when everything changed and she started to get the help that she deserves. So, in a way I get to be part of a difference in this girl's life. And, that's why I want to be a teacher, and for that she will be one of the most impactful students I know throughout my teaching career.

Calling all adventurers, explorers, Safari Rangers and all mini Jack Hannas to the Columbus Zoo! Today was a spectacular adventure to the zoo with Mrs. Sutliff's third grade class, and we had such a wonderful time. I went with Katie Sutliff and one of her friends and we met up with the class. There were 4 or 5 chaperones each with about 5 kids in their group, but there was one mom who had five kids and her own two year old little boy with her. Among the five kids that she had in her group, one of those students has been having troubles at home, one is one of Mrs. Hart's behavior students and another is one of the students Syntero is evaluating. So, she had a very tough caseload. I went along with her group to help her out with some of the stressful events. The kids were running everywhere looking at all different kinds of animals and jumping on the playground. Everything was going great until Mrs. Hart's student was playing in the airplane with the other kids. Someone grabbed this little boy and told him it was time to go, so he screamed at the top of his lungs and was very hostile to me and the mom. So, I spoke with him for a little bit, and he was so upset. One of Mrs. Hart's assistants was also there, so she helped me, but he was screaming "I hate you!!" And "Leave me alone!" To Mrs. Miller (the assistant). And, he kept burying his face into my stomach hiding from her. I asked if he would hold my hand, and he did, but he was still very angry at Mrs. Miller. It made me really happy that he trusted me because it shows that I'm really building rapport with him which is great! But, his behavior was not so great. Fortunately, Mrs. Sutliff came to the rescue and was prepared to remove him from the zoo, but he was able to turn it around and he got to stay the whole day! When he was having that uh-oh moment Mrs. Sutliff called Mrs. Hart and he hung up on her, so later at lunch he asked if he could call her and apologize it was so cute. 

The students picked out some amazing places in the zoo to go see, and I had never seen the Heart of Africa exhibit, and it is really amazing the lions were sitting so close to us, and because there was a trench there was no glass, and they were sitting no more than 20 feet from us. The students were almost as amazed as me! In that enclosure, there are also zebras, giraffes, ostriches, kudus hyenas and gazelles! It was amazing to see them all living in peace in such a large area of land. It really felt like we were in the heart of Africa. The cheetahs, which were in a separate area were beautiful! They had such stunning fur. It is funny though because there were so many beautiful animals but we only got to see a few because the kids were just rushing through. We did stop at the Penguins, and they were super active, as they swam from one end of the water to the next! I got an interesting picture of Mrs. Hart's student practically kissing the penguin! It was so much fun!

​In the end, it was such an educational experience for both me and the students, as they learned about the animals, and I learned about how to improve my teaching skills. I am so fortunate to have found such an amazing class and a spectacular mentor to inspire me to be the best teacher possible!

​Mr. Cookson gave me a wonderful opportunity to represent Davidson at the District Administrative Meeting today, and I sat along side a student from Darby, two students from Heritage and two students from Beacon. We spoke in front of 50 or more administrators and employees within the Hilliard City Schools district, and I was excited to say that I recognized many many and some that came up and hugged me. Mr. Tremayne led the meeting about growth mindset and encouraging that in the students. It was interesting to hear what the administrators had to say about it, and they also asked us questions from a student perspective. So, we were asked questions about our school's culture and the learning environment, so I talked about the CATS acronym and how that applied to the spectacular Davidson culture, specifically in the freshman focus program. I felt like I did a good job of answering the question, but I'm not sure if I was truly representing the growth mindset, frankly because I don't completely understand it. It is something I would like to learn more about it and how it can be applied to the classroom.


Mr. Hart, Mrs. Hart's husband, works in central office and was present for the meeting. He talked with me a little bit after it was over, but he told several people that I would like to teach behavior, and one principal from the preschool approached me about behavior education, as she shared that she began her education career by teaching behavior students. And, she discussed with me about how sometimes you are the student's best friend and otherwise you're their enemy and that's because of the choices the students make. But she says that teaching behavior is a true calling, and we love those students even when they have bad days! She claims that her success on the behavior unit because it taught her to look at things a little differently, and I think that will help me eventually accomplish all of my dreams! 

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to post for the last few weeks because I have been out of Mrs. Sutliff's classroom due to illness :( but my heart is still indulged in Academy EDU because I have been working on my portfolios. I have been working on portfolios since the beginning of my Junior year, and basically portfolios are essays of what we are learning in the classroom, and how we utilize those lessons to become a better teacher. Portfolios are a wonderful method to professionally share my experiences in the classroom, and they are spectacular resources to use when I am studying in college and when I'm teaching my own classroom. In past years, portfolios have been physically handed into the grader, but this year we are turning them in on this website called: livebinders.com. It is a great resource to encourage environmental sustainability and to share our work more efficiently. Here is the link to my live binder
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=1984895
feel free to take at look at my experiences and use them to help you in the classroom!
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Today was one of my student's last days before she moves to Maryland, and it is so sad! Not only is the classroom going to be so different without her, she is also really scared to start at a new school. She has to meet all new people and learn with a new teacher, and that is so difficult! So today, Mrs. Sutliff gave the class a little Lauren time, so we got to do the things she wanted to do. First, we passed around a wishing rock and each person said a wish for her that would go into the rock so that way she would be successful in school. I got the opportunity to type all of this up so that way she could keep these memories in her new school. We also made her a huge card of notes that she could keep in her room to know how much we love her.

Afterwards, the students started to work on their "recycle city" projects, in which they created a house, city hall or a school to show how they can recycle. I think it would be really cool if the students could create a whole city and use new ideas to be green other than simply recycling, such as reducing the amount of paper and reusing. But, I was very impressed with their work and how much they know about recycling, and I think it's great that they're learning about it now, but I would like to create something more hands on that they could work on at home so that they actually are showing kindness to the Earth.

Today I had an amazing opportunity to visit The Learning Spectrum, which is a school for students with severe autism. Now, you might think why do we need schools like this when we have great public schools? And the reason is, parents might feel like their public schools can't provide their students with the extra assistance they need, or the school might decide that they can't handle the child and said him or her to a school like the Learning Tree where the student teacher ratio is much smaller, and the teachers are better prepared with more resources. If the district sends the student to this school, the district pays the tuition, but if parents choose to leave the school district they are faced with a $23000 tuition per year (That is more than in state tuition AND room and board at Bowling Green State University) and parents are expected to pay the additional costs of therapy. So, parents can apply for the autism scholarship, which is worth $27000 per year to pay for these costs. The school has 4 different locations, and I visited the main location in Worthington. Surprisingly, the school is located in an office building. Now, that might sound crazy, but it's just like the ILC! There is no need for a gym, library or a large cafeteria because the school only has 65 students and they stay mostly in their classrooms because they need their teachers there to help. The walls are covered in beautiful shades of green and blue! Just like the ILC! Most of the classrooms function in old offices or conference rooms. Although the tuition is so high, it is evident that the money is mostly going to pay the teachers because the rooms lack the academic resources that public schools have. There are very few books in the classrooms, with very little toys, tables, chairs or other supplies that you would see if you walked into a Hilliard Elementary School. But, it is evident that they do this for a reason because they want to eliminate the amount of dangerous objects in the classroom. The majority of the students attending the school don't need the academic sense because they are focused so intently on behavior. When I walked into many classrooms today, I saw kids mostly playing because they have to play for a long time and study for a little. Which works great for the special need students, but there are a few peer mentors in the pre school and kindergarten classrooms, and I am not quite sure how they are getting the education they need to thrive as a student because the three teachers in the room are constantly focused on keeping the special need students safe.

​The lady I worked with today, Tiffanie Ryan, is a Behavior Analyst, so basically wha she does is she works with all of the students and determines what behavior goals need to be met and how the staff should reach those. She also analyzes the meaning of the students' behaviors. For example, there is a student who has a tendency to grab on to pulling hair and yanking it out. She is trying to determine if it is the hair that he likes or if it is the reaction that he gets after he pulls it. It is her goal to determine why each students does the things they do and how these habits can be changed to a more socially acceptable action. But, she does more of the business side, and she said sometimes she works so much in her office that she doesn't get a chance to see a child all day! Which would be awful! She did tell me about a job that I could get once I get a high school diploma it's similar to an intervention specialist, and I could possibly do it as a summer job! So, it was a great experience to learn about a non-traditional method of schooling, and it reinforced my love for special needs students. Additionally, it taught me that I really want to work with kids! I am so excited for my future!

Unfortunately, my book didn't win an award, which is sad, but I know there are things that I could improve to make the book spectacular, such as the overall appearance, grammar and word choice. While, I attended this conference, I gained knowledge from several motivational speakers: Harvey Alsted, Frank Kitchen, Nick Jackson and Danny Ciamarra. Additionally, I attended two crucial sessions for educators, which I have included below. 

Teaching children how to find themselves in children's literature: Diversity in books is very limited, as most American books are written by white Americans and focus most specifically on the lives of the majority: white children. So, it is important that as teachers we learn to incorporate much more diverse lessons into the curriculum and teach students to relate to the characters in the book so that they see maybe if the characters in a book have a mom and a dad and a student has a mom and a mom hat they are still similar to those kids, as they like to play with friends, eat ice cream and to be happy. It demonstrates a way of relating the students together despite their differences in culture of family life. I think as I have been writing children's books it can be a future reference for me to write about children that may be a minority. 

Using puppets in children's literature: this lesson was taught by peers from Perry high school with a huge bag of puppets from all different types of animals, from alligators to mice. And, they all correlated perfectly with the books that were read. The students also had other props, so when they read, "If you give a Moose a Muffin," they brought a fake muffin, some blackberry jam, a sheet, a sweater, and all types of things that correlated with the book! It is a spectacular technique to unite students in the classroom, practice social skills and develop oral and literacy skills, as well as simply adding some creativity to the classroom! It's a great method that I can't wait to use as a teacher!