Blog # 10 The good, the bad, and the ugly!

Hey Dr. Peterson,

I hope that things start getting a little more simple for you! My field experience has been great! I have learned a lot and am way excited to learn more. I would say that my bad experience would just be certain little 6th graders attitudes, and the uneccessarily low shirts they are deciding to wear at such a young age, BUT truthfully I would say that is more on the the ugly side of things;) The actualy bad is the stories I hear of what some of these students have as a home life. I really pray that they make it through! On a happier note I am learning so much. Tonz about classroom management, and I am very grateful for a teacher who still loves what she does and does it fully. Honestly the one thing that my heart does yearn for in this classroom of at risk kids is some real quality time with them that I feel could be accomplished through morning meetings. I yearn to see these kids open up, share, explore, and laugh. It is a good class they work hard and they work together, but I often day dream about what it would be like to have that insight into their spirits and get a little more of a taste of who they really are. As cheesy as that may sound it is very true.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Kelly

Blog #8

Which of one of the "differentiate-able" strategies shared in class this past week will you be most likely to try out, not including the one you presented? What about this strategy appeals to you? What do you understand about differentiating it rather than applying it in a general way?

I really liked the Journal ideas that were presented in class because I can really see myself wanting to have my students spill their hearts out to me, but not having it happen. Even though the journal won't make this happen for every student every day. I feel like if I focus on the student's needs enough and scaffold them in how to do it I may just strike the gold (that every child posses) at some point. I like the different ways of doing journals and I think that the way that they would do it for a book that we read as a class will not only be helpful for me to understand their thinking but also for them to begin to analyze and make connections to the text. Through the journal they will be able to express ideas that they may not even realize that they had.

I think that most people have experienced journal entries in many ways that were not differentiated but it can be differentiated instead of generalized by carefully planning the prompts, and by making the prompts meaningful and personal. I am excited to use this to help to differentiate learning in my classroom.