Week of Sept. 27 - Oct. 1, 2010 - Assignments

Today in class we are going to go through the Field Experience Handbook and discuss the expecations for completing your 30 hour practicum for this class.

We will also talk about your research paper - the page format, number of pages expected, number of references, etc.. As you know, you are to have a topic selected by today.

Assignments for the week:

• Your assignment for this week is to contact Mr. Riehl at Simle Middle School and schedule a time to meet with him. You must meet with him no later than this Friday, Oct. 1.
• I'm expecting you to begin your 3-hour sessions no later than next week. You have 30 hours to complete - 10 3-hour sessions - so in order to stay on track, you must begin now. Ideally, you would start this week.
• For class on next week Monday, October 4th, your assignment is to bring your four professional articles to class - the four you are going to use for your research paper.

Chapter 2 Blog

Chapter 2 in your text is entitled, "A Teacher on Our Side". The chapter includes a number of anecdotal comments from students on their perceptions of their teachers. Pay particular attention to these as you may think you "know" children this age but hear it in their own words.

After reading the chapter, select five of the quotes from the students to respond to here. Tell us what page the quote is on and the student's name. Then, describe why that quote impacted you or what about it caused you to think about; what was your perspective of what the student had to say?

Week of Sept. 20-24, 2010 - Assignments

In class today, we're going to talk about the Middle School Concept. What is it and what makes it different from the self-contained classrooms you observed in at TJES or the departmentalized structure you will observe at Cathedral Junior High School.

I've been in contact with Mr. Riehl at Simle Middle School. We will take a look at your schedules today to find time slots that you have open so I can get back to him regarding your availability.

Your assignments for the week are as follows:

• Read Chapter 2 in your book, "Fires in the Middle School Bathroom". I will post a blog platform for you to post your reflections for the material in Chapter 2. Your post is due this Wednesday at 10:30 AM.
• By next week Monday, Sept. 27th, you will have selected your topic for your research paper. We will discuss it in class today and toss around some ideas.

Reminder to Blog About Your Field Experience!

I know some of you have done your field experience hours. Don't forget to post to the blogs below, telling us about your two experiences!

Second Field Experience Observation due Monday, Sept. 20th

The purpose of this blog posting is for you to post your second field experience observation. Remember, you must complete the observation and post to this blog before Monday, Sept. 20th.

Post your dicussion about your second field experience observation here. Be sure to identify if this post is for the observation in 5-6 grade or 7-8 grade. If your first observation was in 5-6 grade, this one has to be in 7-8 grade OR vice versa.

First Field Experience Observation due Monday, Sept. 20th

The purpose of this blog posting is for you to post your first field experience observation. Remember, you must complete the observation and post to this blog before Monday, Sept. 20th.

Post your dicussion about your first field experience observation here. Be sure to identify if this post is for the observation in 5-6 grade or 7-8 grade.

Chapter 1 Blog

I really enjoyed reading your first blog post this week! As I read through each one of them, it made me think that I've known young people like those you are portraying. Another interesting thing is that even though we are a wide range of ages, young teenagers were doing the same thing when I was that age as those you described. People's behavior doesn't really change that much over time; just the environment does.....

Now, remember to do a second post and respond to one of your peers before next week Wednesday.

Nice going, ladies!