US Courts (Educ 400 Group Lesson)

The District Courts can give a ruling to a case.
The Court of Appeals has nationwide legislation, deals with cases of specialties, an example would be medical cases.
The Supreme Court is the most powerful of the other court systems.

A case starts out in District Court, if a party is unsatisfied with their results they write to the Court of Appeals. Then again if they feel their case was not judged correctly they will then take their case to the Supreme Court but first filling paperwork to do so.

Reflect on Blogging

  Overall my blogging has been about the experiences and situations I talked about in my first blog but I don't think blogging is a fun and interesting as I thought it was. I feel that blogging would be more useful if we did it each time we went to our PDS, and also if we were paired with someone in the same content area and/or PDS and also that our mentor teachers subscribe to our blog. Not that I don't enjoy reading my partners blogs or comments but I feel that it would be easier to talk, respond, and relate to someone in the same specialization or PDS.
   Talking with my blog partner is important to me, the comments left are nice to know someone read it and can relate to what I am doing in my PDS. Communicating with my seminar facilitator is extremely important so I know what I need to do and I can learn new and interesting things from them. And communicating with the faculty is also very important, especially my mentor teacher. Communicating with the faculty lets me know school policies and rules, upcoming events, and their expectations of me. Communicating and getting to know the faculty at your PDS also makes you feel more comfortable, welcome, and belonging there.
   Overall, did you feel that the blogging helped you in becoming a teacher? Anything you would change about blogging?

Learning Goals

A learning goal of mine that I feel I am making progress toward is classroom control. My mentor teacher is wonderful and lets me do whatever I need to want to do. Since being in her classroom I have taught multiple lessons and helped her work through the classroom, in doing so I have learned more about the students and how to keep them on task and under control.

The time that the class gets pretty wild is after she teaches the lesson and the students are set loose to complete their homework. The students are allowed to work in groups and most of the time they are socializing more than working on their assignment. Since I am walking around answering question I can hear what the students are discussing and if it has nothing to do with the lesson I will ask them what question they are working on and to complete the next problem with me. This way I don’t just tell them to get back on task but I make them do a problem. Even if it’s only one problem, it’s on problem more then they planned on doing.

The tasks I have wanted to accomplish since the beginning of year have remained the same but I want to teach more lessoning to the class. Now that I feel more comfortable and know that I have the support of my mentor teacher I want to put myself out there and see what I need to improve on.

My process on my plan is going good. I am on track and not behind.

Digital Stories (due: 2/4/11)

     An experience in my PDS that I am considering to include in my digital story is how some students are more comfortable asking me questions rather then their teacher. Another experience that I might include is how students act when a sub is running the classrooms. 

     An interesting story has exciting experiences in it and also has humorous parts. Interesting stories about my PDS might be about me getting lost the first day or the experiences I have had dealing with a sub. Another experience could be some things that the students did.

     I feel that using different digital multimedia will make the story more interesting and easier to pay attention to. If you are looking at a plain PowerPoint or piece of paper you're more likely to lose focus but if it is brightly colored or has a design on it the better the chances of you looking at it.

Blog 2, Due Nov 19th

What experience I've had so far in my PDS is that each student needs to guided in different ways, some need you to be very detailed in describing what is going on and others just want to make sure that they are on the right track, wanting to finish themselves. I've only build relationships with a few students, my usual day is helping the entire class with any questions they have. It seems that the same students ask questions so I know what techniques works best with those students. Most of the students at my PDS are engaged in class, they answer questions and pose ones that they have. I was surprised by this, in the classrooms I volunteer in the students just sat and listen to the lecture, I like that these students are involved in the lecture. I've also build a good relationship with my host teacher, she is really helpful and a great teacher.

Have you had the same experience at your PDS? (The students need different levels of help and support?)

Blogging Possibilities

      This blog will support my experiences because they will be able the experiences I have in my PDS. I imagine writing about funny things that have happened at the school, and situations I was in and didn't know how to respond to. I can also see me writing questions on here that I don't know the answers to or need help dealing with about the school or students. There will also probably be days that nothing exciting or interesting happens so it will just be about the activities that the students completed. I will also blog about events that are out of the ordinary.