If you have enjoyed reading about my adventures in student teaching, and thought some of my lessons looked good, please consider supporting my efforts!
I am (slowly) putting many of my lesson plans and resources online for other educators to use. I am using the website TeachersPayTeachers.com to showcase and sell my work. My items are mostly priced at $1, but my maximum price is $3. I also have some free lessons in my store!
Why would you buy lesson plans from a brand new teacher? Most of the lessons I have up for sale were taught while being observed by one of my university professors and they all received very good feedback. I taught most of the lessons multiple times each day, and worked out any kinks throughout the day. The 15 day unit plan I prepared was for a History Teaching Methods class, so I worked closely with my professor to develop the unit.
Please let me know if you have any questions or comments on my store or work, I would love to hear from you!
Thank you for your continued support! All proceeds from my lesson plan sales will go toward the Hillary-Needs-to-Pay-her-Student-Loans Fund. 🙂
It is funny to think that this time last year I was studying for exams in classes such as Ecology, Education Theory, and Museum Programming and now I am sitting on my balcony in the Dominican Republic relaxing because I have completed all of the requirements for graduation. Graduation is THIS WEEK. And real life is starting Monday since I have a big girl job. How crazy is that?!
My students are under pressure this week too, because it is midterms week. Today the high school students completed their math and social studies exams during the half day of school. Tomorrow there is no school because it is a “study day.” Then another half day Wednesday. If exams were like that in my high school or college midterms would be a piece of cake! Like regular school days, exam days here are very different from what I’ve experienced at home. Students are still pretty talkative even though they are taking an important test. The teacher whose class the test was for would walk around to the different classrooms to answer questions. They were giving a lot of help because students had tons of questions. I felt like I was not very helpful at all today.This is what I accomplished: Helped a girl put her hair in a ponytail because she had a broken finger. Updated my LinkedIn profile. Made the finishing touches on my electronic portfolio. I did not know how to help because if it was my class I would have been much more strict on the talking issue, but I did not want to overstep any boundaries because I realize there is a difference in expectations here. Or maybe I’m just a “mean lady,” as a little boy at the museum once told me when I saved him from running into traffic…
Good luck to all my friends at CMU who are slaving over a hot scantron this week 🙂
Today my host teacher was out sick so I taught all of the classes on my own! Normally that is not a big deal to me at all, I started subbing in Michigan over 2 years ago, and subbed all the time during my student teaching. Here school is so different, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to exactly carry out the plans my teacher wanted because I didn’t have the right tools. Luckily she emailed me last night saying she might be out and left instructions for the day so that I was prepared with alternate ideas before I got to school.
Just Kidding 🙂 ….most of the time at least.
Almost all of the classed were supposed to do something that involved the projector – which I have no way to connect my computer to. I asked around the school but was unable to find a good solution, so I came up with other plans. Instead of watching documentaries we discussed study guides and I had a chance to talk with students to get to know them a little better. the 9th graders worked diligently all hour on their World History study guides. Almost all of the the 8th graders claimed to have finished ALL of the study guides for their classes, but I think they just said that because they wanted to chat. One of the boys just kept wandering around blowing bubbles, where he got bubbles I have no idea. We were supposed to play a geography game by projecting a map of South America onto the board, so I had to come up with something else. First, I tried to draw the continent on the board so that they could name the countries, but it turns out I can’t draw. So I found a worksheet in the desk (I hope it was okay to use!) and had the students use that to label the countries and geographic features. This worked well, but it wasn’t as fun as the game would have been.
It was kind of funny that I subbed today, because my teacher and I just talked about how subbing works yesterday. She said that if a teacher is absent, an aide from an elementary classroom will come fill in, but that they don’t really teach. Later, one of the other student teachers and I talked about this and compared it to subbing in Michigan. To be a substitute teacher in Michigan all you need is 90 credit hours of college education (in any degree/major), pass a background check, attend a 2 hour training, do some easy online training modules and then sign up for sub jobs! You don’t need any experience in teaching, and there is no interview. We couldn’t imagine if they did subbing like that here. I’m not sure any of the non-teacher subs would make it through their first day!
Overall, I survived my first day of subbing in the DR! I have always felt that flexibility is an essential part of being a teacher, and it definitely came into play today.
We are halfway through our Santo Domingo student teaching experience! =
Today I taught U.S. History again. We are still talking about World War I and I am having a great time with it. My favorite time period is from about 1900-1950. The world wars are a fun topic to teach because students find it very interesting and sometimes have stories to add if their grandparents or other relatives were around during the war. One of my favorite things to do while teaching about the wars is to analyze propaganda, it is a great way to see how people felt during the war, and how their government wanted them to feel. I will finish up the WWI unit after Thanksgiving.
In 8th grade Geography the students had a food day! They have just finished learning all about the North and South American continents so each student brought a dish from a different country. We had cheeseburgers and fries from the U.S., empanadas from Argentina, banana bread from Guatemala, nachos from Mexico and so much more! It was delicious. I thought it was funny that the student who brought nachos brought chips, salsa, and queso dip that were all Tostitos brand, and chili that was from Wendy’s. I would have thought they would have some delicious homemade nacho stuff down here, but they brought exactly what I would make at home in Michigan. Not that I’m complaining, I love Tostitos!
The 8th graders enjoying their feast!
Yummy!
Another random cultural observation is that Spanish is exhausting! George and I discussed this over the weekend while we were watching Semi Pro in Spanish on TV in our hotel. He thought the movie was just hilarious gibberish because he didn’t understand a word of it. To me it was almost stressful to watch because I was trying to keep up with what they were saying. This is how I feel everyday, because I understand Spanish except when they are speaking too fast, which is almost always. By the end of the day my brain is fried. I really hope that feeling means that my brain is learning more Spanish, like the way your muscles burn after a good work out. Reading in Spanish is so much easier for me, I think because I’m a visual learner, and because I can read at my own pace. I am so glad that I had really good high school and college Spanish teachers, because I would rather be struggling to understand than to have no idea what is being said at all. So a big thank you to Mrs. Chahbazi, Mrs. Cavric, and Mrs. Vernon for teaching me everything I know about this language!
How is it already the end of our second week of school in Santo Domingo? Time is really flying.
To finish up the unit on Greek History, we had a Greek food day in 9th grade. They brought all kinds of delicious things such as hummus and pita, vanilla ice cream, Greek Salad, cinnamon apples, orange juice, Greek grilled cheese, and a variety of feta cheese items, and a few desserts. It was so yummy! I loved the Greek grilled cheese and the cinnamon apples with vanilla ice cream. The food day reminded me of when we had food days in my high school Spanish classes. I think that food days are a great way to celebrate the end of a unit and to explore other cultures. It is important to try new foods, which is something I have done a lot while I’ve been here! Another interesting part of the school day was that everyone was called out of class to to courtyard where the flag ceremony takes place. They announced that the U.S. flag was flying at half mast in respect for John F. Kennedy, whose assassination was 50 years ago today. I wondered if schools in the U.S. did anything to commemorate this event?
So many delicious treats!
Last night a few of us went to the Agora Mall near our apartment. When we walked in we noticed all of the Christmas decorations and music. We followed our ears to the source of the music, and they were having a little Christmas concert! People were standing on platforms in the giant Christmas tree singing Christmas songs in Spanish! We all looked around for the Santa display because we want to get our picture taken with a Dominican Santa Claus! Do they have mall Santas here?
The mall looks so pretty!
Today after school I am headed to a resort in Punta Cana for the weekend. I am looking forward to a nice relaxing time on the beach, and indulging in some delicious all-you-can eat buffets. It will be interesting to compare being in a resort/tourist area to life here in the city of Santo Domingo.
Tuesdays are shorter days in my classroom because we only have students for 3 of the 7 class periods. It gives plenty of time for things such as lesson planning and grading. Today I taught the U.S. History class as we continued learning about U.S. Imperialism. I also taught the 8th grade Geography class for the very first time. My CMU professor came to observe my teaching for this lesson.
In geography the students are currently giving presentations on the different countries in the Americas. I interrupted their presentations today with a lesson on the geography of Michigan. I showed them how to use a KWL chart and we reviewed the 5 themes of geography while learning about the state I live in. They seemed very interested in the lesson, and had some wonderful questions, which made me very happy! I love it when students get involved with a lesson because they are genuinely curious about the topic. The students were very well behaved as well. They had so many questions that the lesson went right up until the bell rang, even though I had a few more things that we could have done in class. Both my coordinating teacher and my CMU professor both liked the lesson and provided some very helpful feedback.
I have noticed that I teach much differently here than I did back in Michigan, and I think there are a couple of reasons for it. Typically, I stand and move around the room more while lecturing, but here I feel like I am a little more tied to the desk because of the set up of the desk/computer/projector. Since I taught in my Michigan classroom for a much longer period of time, I felt more like the class was mine and I created almost everything on my own. Being here for a shorter amount of time makes me feel like the classroom will never become “mine.” I am okay with this because I expected things to be different, but I had gotten used to being the only teacher in the classroom and using my own materials. I guess I just felt more in control and prepared for my classes in Michigan.
On Friday we celebrated a job well done on the religion unit test and homecoming with a fun history lesson outside the book. We discussed the importance of different inventions throughout history such as the telephone, automobile, and light bulb.
Then, the students themselves became the inventors! They had to create contraptions to keep an egg safe from a fall. The only materials available to each group were 10 plastic straws, 10 rubber bands, and a small amount of tape.
The picture shows one of the surviving eggs (named Roger) and an invention that managed to keep another egg from breaking.
I think our world history students in the morning really enjoyed the activity. The afternoon classes had fun too – they attended the homecoming pep assembly!
This is our plan for the week. Remember to study for the quiz on Friday!
Last week we finished up the religion unit when we had the unit test on Thursday. The picture below shows the scores for each hour. The highest score possible was 105, due to some tricky extra credit questions. Great job to the 3rd hour student who earned all of the points! Overall, the scores were good with most in the 80s and 90s.
Today kicked off Spirit Week for Millington’s Homecoming. We celebrated today with “Old Timers Day” where everyone dressed like a senior citizen. We had some really creative students! They brought canes and walkers, drew on wrinkles, sprayed their hair gray, and wore all sorts of crazy outfits. So much fun! I can’t wait to see what everyone wears for “Around the World Day” tomorrow!
As we continue our religion unit in World History our most recent topic was the history of religion/thought in China. We discussed Confucianism, Legalism, Buddhism, and Daoism. The students thought they were pretty interesting ideas, and all so different. Daoism was of particular interest because the daoists belief in magic and ghosts led to the invention of fireworks! As an assignment students created advertisements to entice vacationers to visit an area based on the principles of a certain school of thought. Here are some great examples:
Their advertisements were so fun to read! This week we will learn about Islam and the Protestant Reformation. At the end of the week I will introduce the religion unit project.
Miss Hanel's Student Teaching Blog 