Future Teacher, Forever Student

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGDF4fzVWPDVDdjCBXbGtjL7xRuovESApK7pDuZdUxmHPEroBZzJhYHoi52EDOZyoEjpK3Spz6ndKOS09yS0I040lO0bo3dEitKMBHEux_rOydLeQpyG3yICukxKZ_3Rt561pmxRIMHmI/s1600/open+journals.jpg Hello! Things are wrapping up quickly in my Middle and High School Literacy and Curriculum courses, and as my assignments and assessments come to a close, I have been spending a lot of time reflecting on the skills and instructional strategies I have developed over the semester. One of my final assignments includes a portion of my Vermont Licensure Portfolio; specifically, I wrote a mini DAR (design, analyze, and reflect) journal about my fulfillment of Performance Criterion 3.1. Check out my P.C. 3.1 DAR here!

When you think back to the vocabulary lessons you studied in middle and high school, you probably remember sitting in your English Language Arts or Reading classroom while furiously scribbling down a definition that your teacher wrote on the board or projected on the screen. If your schools were anything like mine, you may have also had a series of Vocabulary Workshop notebooks that followed you around from grades 7 to 12 like an uninvited house guest that never leaves. I admit vocabulary lessons were never my favorite part of any unit; especially when using the notebooks, the activities always felt repetitive and had little application for real-world use. Focusing on my experiences in social studies, I do not recall participating in lessons centered on vocabulary often, if at all. In fact, I believe the closest my peers and I got to a history vocab lesson was a few bolded words from our textbook readings casually mentioned on PowerPoint slides. Source: http://ecx.images-amazon.co

Since 2013, the Education Department at Saint Michael's College has sponsored a department-wide common read , featuring compelling narratives that inspire critical thinking, deep reflection, global activism, and connections to teaching. Throughout the year, students and faculty are encouraged to attend several events centered around the selected text, including author talks, film showings, workshops, and panel discussions. For the 2018-19 academic year, the Ed. Department chose Girl Rising: Changing The World One Girl At A Time : a vivid, non-fiction account of the hardships faced by girls living in countries or immersed in cultures that in some way hinder their opportunity to receive an education. Based on and building off of a documentary of the same name, author Tanya Lee Stone gives the reader a closer look at the causes and effects of a girl not getting an education; using a mixture of pictures, graphics, and quotes to provide a window into the world of girls interviewed f

We can all picture it: Walking to the bus stop with our iPod shuffles (or iPod Touches, if you were really keeping up with the times), blasting some song we heard at the school dance last weekend, where our best friend finally danced with that kid he or she really likes. The Sims games are still popular, there's a DCOM marathon on television later this week, and for once you're actually enjoying your homework readings (let's say The Giver, or The Outsiders ). For me, this was sometime between 2009 and 2012, a terribly awkward time that most of us could compare to a personal revival of the Dark Ages. On a less dramatic note, I just described the average morning my friends and I shared on the way to our middle school. At the beginning of this past week (Monday, 9/17), I walked through the doors of Essex Middle School, humming the tune to a song I had just heard on the radio. The weight of the books in my backpack was a physical reminder of all the reading I still had to

Hello, and Welcome to Round 2 of blogging about my journey as an education major at Saint Michael’s College! It was a long and enjoyable summer, but I am definitely glad to be back at my home away from home (where Fall is already in the air). Year three of my studies is off to a busy start— especially in the Education Department, where this semester I will be studying the ins and outs of middle and high school literacy and curriculum. To kick off the academic year, my peers and I dove right into learning about how literacy and curriculum are constantly changing with new theories and studies, innovations in technology, and practices that teachers develop when adjusting proven strategies and techniques to their own styles. More importantly, my classmates and I placed the future of literacy and curriculum (that is, the literacies and curriculums we will be teaching) into perspective with the growing influence of technology in our digital age. In both my Literacy and Curriculum cour

As a visual learning, I have always loved incorporating some type of artistic element into my school projects. My notebooks are covered in doodles that (usually) relate to the lecture material surrounding them, and I often like to draw out scenes from a novel or play in order to better understand how characters interact with one another and their environment. I loved comic books and graphic novels as a kid, but stopped reading them when they were no longer stocked on my teachers' classroom shelves. So, when I discovered that there are graphic novels that target young adults as the main audience, I was pretty excited to dive into a world that was already drawn out for me. Lighter Than My Shadow ,  a graphic novel written and illustrated by Katie Green, takes the reader through the author's struggles with anorexia nervosa, binging, therapy, and sexual assault. While the subject matter is heavy on the heart, the ability to see the physical changes in Katie along with her thou

One of my favorite things about the Education program at Saint Michael's is the incorporation of different professional development opportunities as a part of my course work. Earlier this month, my Adolescent Development class attended a workshop on transgender teens run by Outright Vermont , a local organization that aims to build safe environments for LGBTQ+ teens. Knowing that my future students will be members or know members of the LGBTQ+ community, I was extremely excited to learn more about transgender teens. Even more, I was eager to learn how I can make my future classroom a safe and welcoming space for all of my students. Source: http://images.thecarconnection.com/med/lgbt-rainbow-flag_100375401_m.jpg Rather than post a lengthy description of the workshop and how I plan to nurture a tolerant and accepting classroom in the future, I decided to post a poem I wrote in response to the workshop instead. I think the most important thing I learned at the workshop is that

Wow. March was a hectic month. Between classwork, homework, and life in general; I admit that the last thing I wanted to do on my brief semester break was tear through a book. As I settled into the extremely uncomfortable bus seat for my five hour ride back to school, I reluctantly opened Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda .  I knew there was a lot of hype about the book and the new movie, but I also knew that I am typically underwhelmed by young adult books the media takes by storm. I knew it was probably a cute story, but it couldn't be as good as everyone says. Let me tell you, I was dead wrong. Wonderfully sarcastic, completely awkward, and surprisingly clever, Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda   follows sixteen- year- old Simon Spier and his group of friends as they stumble through their junior year of high school. Author Becky Albertalli tackles everything from homosexuality and bullying to cliques, new kids, and crushes-- and she does so in a seamless, almost entir

As a part of my elementary school's annual community-building program, students in all grades (which, for us, meant Kindergarten through 5th Grade) were asked to read the same short novel at home. Now, I know that sounds odd, considering the average kindergartener is likely at a lower reading level than the average fifth grader. However, with the option to have your parent or guardian read the story with you at home, I assure you that I was able to make it through some higher level reading with little trouble. By participating in year-round activities as a whole school, students were able to relate to each other across grade levels, all because they had read the same book and had followed the same characters. I will never forget how excited I was when I won a dictionary (Yes, a dictionary... I'd be less excited now, too) for answering the most trivia questions correctly about The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs . Though, if I had one complaint about the school- wide

As a part of my Adolescent Development class, I have the pleasure of working with two lovely ladies on different projects and course work. Today’s blog post is a joint post written by myself, Kayla Carew, and Rylee Booth (Check out their blogs if you have time, linked below!). We recently completed a project that challenged us to design our own coming of age ritual, as explained below. Let us know what you think: Would you have benefitted from a coming of age ritual like “What Would You Do?” *** Adolescence is a time when emotions essentially control the mind and make it difficult to think rationally. There comes a time when an adolescent begins his or her journey into adulthood and must learn how to think, act, and regulate emotional impulses for his or herself. The purpose of a coming of age ritual is to break from the norms that characterize adolescence. While some coming of age transitions are planned and purposeful, some events force adolescents into their transition to adult

Source: http://www.clipartsuggest.com/images/687/external-image-world-holding-hands-png-T6RSbU-clipart.png One thing I absolutely love about the Burlington, Vermont area is the cultural diversity among its citizens. Local restaurants, clothing stores, and small knick knack shops often reflect the cultures of their small business owners; and Saint Michael's frequently hosts poetry slam groups, musicians, and speakers that have immigrated to the United States. There are several opportunities, through both the college and local organizations, to work with local refugee communities and American newcomers. Fortunately for Secondary Education majors, St. Mike's connects students with ELLs in surrounding middle and high schools as a field placement and partnership opportunity. If you missed the post about my first meeting with S., my amazing ELL student, check it out here! Since my first meeting with S., I have only worked with him on one other occasion. S. and I continued

This past weekend, I was eager to curl up with some hot chocolate and finish the last few chapters of Julie Murphy's Dumplin' . Since my last post about the novel , some serious drama had developed in all aspects of Willowdean's life, and I was curious to find out how Murphy would resolve the different conflicts her protagonist faced. As I closed the back cover, I admit I was happier with the book's ending than I had originally thought I would be. However, while the story was heart-warming and humorous, there were less reasons to recommend the book for classroom use than there were to offer it as a casual read outside of school. While Murphy is able to deliver her narrative in a way that resembles a typical teen's thinking and speech, I found several places in the novel that lacked depth and insight from Willowdean. Murphy tries to balance a lot of concepts in one storyline: friendships, relationships, loss, self-image, homosexuality, family life, and communit

As a future social studies teacher, I am always excited to see how my school incorporates history into special events on campus. From parties to film screenings, the possibilities for history to reach beyond the classroom are endless, and this past Wednesday I participated in a unique experience that brought the 1800s to my computer screen. February 14th, often celebrated as St. Valentine's Day, is one of those dates that have a long list of reasons for their historical significance. Don't get me wrong, St. Valentine deserves all the celebration he gets, but this year my school gave Frederick Douglass some special attention. Unsure of his exact date of birth, Douglass chose to celebrate on Valentine's Day. February 14th, 2018 marked the 200th birthday of the abolitionist, and the Saint Michael's community (with some help from the Smithsonian) celebrated in style. Working with a series of handwritten documents from the 1800s that were scanned onto a Smithsonian websi

Nepal (shaded in yellow). Source link: http://www.yourchildlearns.com/online-atlas/images/map-of-nepal.gif As a part of the Secondary Education Program at Saint Michael's, students have the opportunity to work with English Language Learners (ELLs) in local middle and high schools. When I first learned about this placement opportunity, I was admittedly a little nervous. How can you work with a student that doesn't quite understand you? Expecting a lot of frustration, "uhms," and "uhs" on both ends, I took a few deep breaths before meeting my student for the first time. For the sake of privacy, I will refer to my student in this and future posts as "S." Prior to our meeting, I knew that S. was from Nepal, a place I had never been to and knew little about its culture. Luckily, I did know where to find it on a map! Wanting to better understand what sort of environment S. had emigrated from, I conducted a general search on Nepal. I also looked

Looking around a college classroom, it is less likely that a student will ask the professor a question than it would be if the students were all in kindergarten. Somewhere along our careers in education, the wonder dies. Not completely, but almost completely. Students stop asking questions, but continually feel pressure to produce correct answers. Where is the education system going wrong? The American education system has abandoned a wide variety of academic subjects for a more STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) based curriculum several times in the young country's history. The Industrial Revolution, the Machine Age, and the Space Race all shifted the focus of American schools to mechanics, math, and other STEM subjects. While there is less pressure to teach strictly STEM, the effects of the educational shifts are long-lasting. Even today, it seems that humanities classes are more focused on grammar and syntax than creativity and imagination. However, th