MaritaUndergraduate
Exceptional Education |
MaritaUndergraduate
Exceptional Education |
This week I did a lot of teaching. We have finished the book we were reading in class and have moved on to the poetry unit. Within this unit the students are learning about the different types of poetry and the figurative language used in poetry. On Monday, for UOI, we watched a clip from the Broadway performance of The Lion King. The students took notes on the costumes and makeup, two of the five elements of theater. After taking notes we discussed the students' observations as a whole class. The second task was for them to create a costume for a character in the Lion King. They drew a picture, wrote a description, and listed the materials they would need to make this costume. This activity is to get them thinking about what materials they may want or need to create their own costumes for their own performances at the end of the unit. The students very much enjoyed discussing the costumes and creating their own. This first day of the new poetry unit, Tuesday, went very well. All these students have done a poetry unit in the past so I did not need to do a long introduction to what poetry is. On this first day we also learned about the many different types of poetry such as limericks, free verse, or haiku. After we went over the different types of poetry the students had the chance to write their own poems using one of the formats we discussed. Most students opted for an acrostic poem but each different format was tried at least once by the students. The bell rang while they were finishing. When we had a little extra time at the end of the day the students requested they read their poems to the class, they were all very proud of their work. Day one of poetry went very well. Wednesday was not as successful as day one. This was the first day I introduced figurative language. I taught them about personification, metaphors, and similes. They listened to me while I taught from a PowerPoint all engaged but they all had a mildly confused look in their eyes. I asked the students to raise their hands to give me an example of one of three types of figurative language we had discussed. The first few students gave incorrect examples. If I were to teach this lesson again, I would not have let so many students give wrong examples. The wrong examples seemed to confuse the student more. I reexplained the concept and had a few more students attempt to give examples, this time only about 50% of examples given were correct examples, an improvement but they were still struggling with coming up with their own examples. We then moved into doing a Kahoot. In the Kahoot, the students were given a sentence that was either personification, metaphor, or simile. I read the sentence aloud and the students picked their answers on their iPads. This class really loves to play Kahoot. I reviewed the Kahoot data after the lesson. Almost all students answered with 60% accuracy. A few had scored slightly higher. This data told me that this was a concept that was both tricky for the students but that I also had not effectively taught the lesson. Knowing this, I planned on reviewing these concepts in the next day's lesson. For the remainder of the day, I would point out personification, metaphors, and similes when they came up in readings or conversation. Two students correctly pointed out similes in conversation unprompted. Abstract concepts like figurative language are difficult to explain to young people in a way they can understand. Before teaching more types of figurative language or abstract concepts, I need to research the best practices to convey these ideas. For Language on Thursday, we learned about adverbs, why we use them, and how to use them properly. We started by review what we had learned so far in our poetry unit, with emphasis on personification, metaphors, and similes. The students who I had called on for the review were all able to correctly tell me what each word means and give me an example. The focus of the lesson, adverbs, is not a new concept to these students. I taught them with a PowerPoint before giving them an activity to do independently. They were all able to complete the worksheet alone with an average of 80% accuracy. A few of the students who struggle in English needed to make some corrections. Friday went well. The students read through a script together as a class before I gave them an activity. I had the students go to a script treasure hut. They had to circle the list of characters in one color, underline the scene in another color, and box in the setting in another. This was in depth script study where they had to read the script thoroughly and identify each aspect of the script. With some guidance all students were able to complete the task nearly perfectly. Here are some examples of the student worksheets I made and they filled out for language and the Unit of Inquiry. Each week, PYP has an assembly were grades 2-6th all meet. In this assembly there may be a musical presenter, a read aloud, a lesson on internet safely, etc. During this time one student is also recognized for their good work for the week with a certificate. On Thursday, each student writes a name of a student that has shown one of the IB characteristics during the week. These characteristics include; being open minded, a communicator, a risk taker, kind, etc. The teacher reads the name and reasoning aloud for the class and that student gets their name on the board and a point. As the names are read aloud students earn me points. The student with the most points, or votes, will be recognized at the assembly. Teachers, normal, can not be voted for, however, my students found a loophole. I am a STUDENT-teacher, and therefore a student and they could vote for me. When all the votes were tallied I had the most votes! The students wanted to recognize me for being caring and a risk taker by taking over more and more of the teaching duties. All the students celebrated and they all ran up to give me a hug once the votes were counted. They were so happy to have voted for me. I thought I would be taking the opportunity away from a student but my mentor teacher liked that they all were willing to recognize a teacher's hard work and when a teacher shows these characteristics. At the assembly, the kids had made me my own award and all signed the back with sweet messages. At the end of the assembly they all came rushing up to me to say congratulations and ask if I had read their message on the back. This group of students are some of the most supportive students I have worked with. They are excellent at celebrating each other's accomplishments and holding each other accountable. I really enjoy working in this supportive environment. Here is my award. I am the beast teacher. Earlier this week, my host brother had a big group of friends over to watch an important soccer game. He introduced me to all of his friends and a few spoke English well and wanted to chat further with me. The one friend and I spoke for a few minutes, in our conversation he asked me how I like Italy and what the US was like among other typical conversations I have with people I have just met here. He also informed me that I was incredibly lucky to have my host family, and that there is not a better pair to be living with. He told me his host brother is the best guy he knows and that I am seriously very lucky to have him. This was incredibly sweet to hear. I knew I was lucky to have such a great host family, but it was great to hear someone who knows them better and for a long time tell me how lucky I am.
And here is your weekly photo of Meowleena!
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Week four was the week of spring break. I went on a mini tour of Italy with my best friend. My closest friend since preschool flew into Florence the Friday of break and we spent the next nine days traveling over Italy. We spent a few days in Florence exploring the sights and nightlife. Florence is always a fun city. We spent one day in Pisa to see the leaning tower and the quad. Seeing the iconic tower in person is rather surreal. The tower, Duomo, and Baptistry are an absolutely stunning sight. I find it so incredible that people hundreds of years ago built these beautiful buildings. The carvings in the walls are smooth and perfectly carved. The buildings are all incredibly tall, made from marble floor to ceiling. The majority of our trip was spent in Cinque Terre, five medieval fishing towns, now a large tourist attraction. Since we went in April, there were very few tourists so we were able to enjoy the cities with fewer people. The weather was unfortunately cold, windy and a little rainy. The weather did not stop us, however, from hiking between the cities. We are both fairly avid hikers and were somewhat prepared for the trails. We did not anticipate how steep some parts of the trail would be or how difficult some of the terrain would be. These unexpected parts were a fun challenge. The steep rocks we climbed were incredibly rewarding to look down on after we hiked to the top. Every step we took gave us a stunning view of the hillside and sea. The breathtaking view distracted us from the tough trail. At the top of the hill between Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare, we stumbled upon a stray cat hotel. Someone had built small homes and left out food for the stray cats on the hill. This person had also named the cats and had their names carved into a piece of wood above where the cats ate. The cats were very friendly and the cat hotel was a lovely surprise at the top of the hill. When we finally made it to Monterosso after hiking all day, the weather had taken a turn for the worst. The wind was cold and the sun was completely hidden behind the dark clouds. This did not stop us however from taking a dip in the sea. We stood on the beach in our suits contemplating whether we were making the right decision by getting into the water for quite a while. After some back and forth we counted down and ran into the sea. The water was shockingly cold and once it was above our chest we ran out because it was far too cold to be just wading in. We dried off in the cold wind and watched a little boy try to use a piece of driftwood to surf, he was clearly unbothered by the freezing cold water. We went out to dinner in Monterosso. By the end of dinner we were both delusionally tired from the hike and were a giggling mess on the train ride back to Riomaggiore. We slept like rocks that night. We spent the next day recovering from the hike and by laying out by the water and exploring the shops in town. The next day we hiked between Riomaggoire and Manarola. This hike is the shortest in distance, but we quickly learned it was also the steepest. This hike required a lot of our strength to climb the uneven rocky trail. This hike was also incredibly rewarding to finish. We celebrated with gelato in Manarola, both discovering new flavors that became our favorite from the whole trip. Cinque Terre is unbelievably gorgeous. The hill sides are completely carved with terraced farming, growing grapes, lemons and oranges, and other vegetables on a smaller scale. Cinque Terre was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. As a finale to our vacation, we did a cultural immersion with my host family. My host family was very excited to have another American stay in the house for a few days. My host mother and brother welcomed me back with open arms and dried fruit. They were both very welcoming of my friend. We all chatted for sometime before dinner. We continued to chat over dessert. For lunch on Saturday, after wandering the city, my friend and I went to a small restaurant in town. As we were being sat, my host mother and her fiancé walked into the restaurant. We had a fantastic lunch together, my host family was excited to have my friend try all the different classic Italian foods and wine. By the end of lunch my friend was stuffed and had a few more glasses of wine than she anticipated. We then went to my host mothers favorite coffee shop for an after lunch expresso. It was a wonderful adult Italian hangout. In the evening we hung out with my host brother and a few of his friends, which was a different experience. Meowleena missed me very much while I was away, she spelt on my bed everyday I was gone. I am reminded of how incredibly lucky I am to be in the situation I am in. My host family are some of the most warm and caring people I have ever met. I could not imagine spending two months with anyone else.
I am also so lucky to have my lifelong friend visit me while I am away. While I am not very homesick, I do miss my friends back in the states. It was great to see one of my closest friends. This week I had the opportunity to teach a lesson in the Unit of Inquiry. My mentor teacher tasked me with finding examples of different types of theater, for example musical theater, one man shows, circus, etc. I then showed the students sample videos of the different types of theater and taught a lesson where the students wrote their observations and shared the similarities and differences of the different performances. Writing this lesson was very different from writing a typical lesson plan in an American classroom. The students are in the “tuning in” stage of inquiry so the lesson structure is more loose and student interest led. The goal of the lesson was not in the format “student will be able to ____ by ____” but showing them what theater is, finding their interests within the topic, which will guide the remaining unit. The lesson went very well in many ways. The students followed the directions well, completely all aspects of the lesson, and showed interest in the topic. I felt my lesson was effective and the students were able to achieve the goal of observing different performances and making observations about the performances. If I were to reteach this lesson there are many changes I would make. I used too many examples and the lesson filled two periods. By the end students were losing interest and were not participating as enthusiastically. I would pick between five or six examples next time, not 10. I would design the lesson using a hybrid of an IB lesson plan and a NYS lesson plan. I am still unfamiliar with how IB lessons are designed and facilitated. Because of this the lesson was a bit disorganized. If I had retro fitted aspects of the lesson planning I am familiar with, I would be a more effective teacher.
On Wednesday we had a half day. In the morning for Math, my mentor teacher made a treasurer hut for the kids where they need to solve math problems to find the hints that lead to the treasurer. While she was hiding the clues and treasurer, I distracted the kids by playing a game. The game I know as “Down by the Banks” has an Italian version, which we played. Before the game began, we had a student come in for a day visit. She is considering coming to the school for the next school year. She came in when my mentor teacher was outside setting up the treasurer hunt so I welcomed the new student. I had everyone go around and introduce themselves. I let the studnet be pretty silly during this time which seemed to help the new student relax. All of the students were incredibly welcoming and excited to have a new friend. After some introductions we played our game which the students were great sports about. After the game they began the treasurer hut which they absolutely loved. They had a lot of fun running around together, solving problems, and finding clues. They were sure to included their potential new classmate in their hunt. I was very impressed with how welcoming and friendly the students were towards the new student. The new student had come in the classroom very shy and not wanting to participate in the game. After we had our silly introduction circle she was joking and talking with all the students. She enthusiastically participated in all the classroom activities for the rest of the day. It was great to see the children be so kind towards a new student. I think this student is going to have a great time at the school with her new classmates. During my down time, I have been exploring what special education is in the IB system. While I have a few days off from school, I will continue my research into IB special education. This week, my host mother took me to a drum circle! She asked me on her way out the door if I would like to join her in where she was going. I have been trying to say yes to as many experiences as I can, so, I agreed. We picked up two of her friends anad drove out of the city. The one man was from Minnesota and had been speaking both English and Italian since childhood. He would become my translator for the evening. The woman was from Siena but also spoke English and Italian. I was able to have great car conversations with the new people. When we arrived, the building, which was a marble shop by day, rehearsal space by night, was filled with elderly people and many differnt types of percusion intruments. Everyone was happy to introduce themselves and welcome me to their group for the night. A woman handed me an instrument and we played together for the majority of the night. Music, luckily, is a universal language, so I did not need to understand what was being said, I just had to listen to rhythms and copy the spunky lady next to me. I had an absolute blast. Hitting things with sticks is objectively fun and I got to do that for two hours with a room full of older Italians who were also having a blast whacking the drums. I hope to go to future rehearsals. I have noticed that Italians are extremely welcoming. Everytime I am introduced to a group of strangers, everyone is eager to introduce themselves and shake my hand. Whether a group of fourth grade students or old men at a bar also always feel incredibly welcomed. I do not find this willingness and eagerness to meet new people in America. I myself am not super comfortable with introducing myself to strangers so openly. I have learned now how good it feels to be so welcomed to a group, I will continue this open minded introduction when I am back in Buffalo. I am finding myself not homesick but I definitely am developing a bit fomo for my friends in the US. My sister's 21st birthday was this past weekend and my friend's birthday is this coming weekend. I was not able to celebrate with them. Another friend of mine recently has taken a job in the city and will be moving out of Buffalo before I am back in the country. I am very sad I will not be able to go to the going away party and see her before she moves away. I wish I could be in two places at once. In other unrelated news, my host families cat, Meowleena, has really warmed up tp me! She used to run when I approched her. Now, she is excited to see me when I come home. When it is just her and I at home she is happy to get cuddles and pets from me. When my host brother is home, she prefers him. The first week has gone, for the most part, great! I look forward to coming to school each morning and seeing the kids. They have made me feel so welcome. My mentor teacher is a very wise teacher and great to have a casual conversation with. For my first full day of school, my mentor teacher was out sick. There was a series of subs that rotated in and out of the classroom to teach the different subjects. I was the consistent person in the room. This was both positive and negative. Myself and the sub heavily relied on the students to maintain the classroom routine. This situation also forced me to quickly get to know the students and for them to quickly learn to trust me. By the end of the first period I had students arguing who was going to hold my hand in the hallway. All students have shown an interest in me and I have been able to make a one on one connection with each student. This day did not make me feel confident in my understanding of the school and classroom structure. For the rest of the week my mentor teacher was in. I was able to observe how she runs her classroom, how she interacts with the students, and her expectations of the students. Unfortunately, I got very sick after lunch on Thursday and had to leave for the rest of the school day. I was sick for the rest of the night. After a goodnight’s sleep, I was able to come back on Friday. I was too excited to read aloud to the kids I did not want to miss anymore school!
I was able to teach a language lesson on Friday. The class is trying to finish the current book they are reading so they can start reading new theatrical texts which connect to their unit of inquiry. I read the story to the students and asked them supporting questions. The students were incredibly engaged with the story, they beg to read the story. The school lunches are incredible! Many of the students and staff complain about the quality and options but in my opinion, the school lunches are worlds above US school lunches. One aspect of the Siena school lunches I really appreciated was that they ate with reusable trays, cups, silverware, plates, and bowls. There was no ‘one use’ serving and eating tools. There is still a lot of food waste, kids almost never finish their plate, but there was no plastic waste! I wonder now if there is legislation around school lunches in Italy like there is in the US. In the US we have rules regarding fruit and vegetable servings, portion sizes, and sweets. Does Italy have similar regulations and what are those regulations? Do private schools, like ISS, have to follow those rules? I adore my host family and all their quirks! My host mother likes to tease me for my breakfast. I will eat leftovers from dinner standing up over the sink. I quickly chug coffee and scarf down food all while running out of the house. My host mother thinks it is so strange that I do not sit down and set the table for a proper breakfast. She does not ask me to change my ways, she just thinks it is odd I would eat leftovers for dinner standing up. I told her standing in the kitchen is an upgrade from eating in my car, which is where I normally eat breakfast. I am learning to appreciate and value meal time and the scarcity slowing down and eating a proper meal, even in the morning. Another incredible week in Siena! |
AuthorHi! I'm Marita Miller an exceptional education student at Buffalo State student teaching in Siena Italy. Follow my journey! Archives
May 2023
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