Today we had a living museum in the school: the first grade students dressed each one like a famous person, and when you stepped in a construction paper star that was glued in the floor, in front of them, each one would describe who he or she was. It was a very creative activity.

Today I also made my first daily lesson plan. It is a very particular daily lesson plan because it is not only about English: it is about integrating diversity, but it is given in English. Why did I chose that theme for my first class? Because I am a twice-exceptional student: I am gifted and have ADD and dysgraphia at the same time, and I need my students to understand that I won’t be writing a lot in the whiteboard due my dysgraphia. I am very creative, but because I have problems writing by hand, I avoid using the whiteboard and use the computer to write a lot. I wanted to start my classes explaining to my students that I have a disability, I can’t write by hand too much, but I am also gifted: I know English and can teach very creatively. So, I planned my first class about the theme of diversity using the short movie “The Butterfly Circus”. That way I can explain that I have a disability and a giftedness explaining the protagonist’s disability and his ability to swim despite not having arms and legs. I just sent my lesson plan by email to my cooperator teacher, let’s see what he says.

For that class I made an “abilities” handout, so we can discuss our diverse abilities together. This is a pic of the handout:

Many people have asked me how I am able to be so good with the task of writing ideas if I have so many difficulties with writing by hand. The answer: my dysgraphia is very mechanical, it doesn’t affect my written expression but my writing mechanical capacity. I struggle with writing by hand, but I am quite gifted with the task of putting my ideas on writing with the help of technology. As a matter of fact, I usually organize my thoughts through writing, so my iPad is almost like a best friend!

My third grade group is right now discussing the comparative adjectives, so it seems that my second English class, after the first class discussing “The Butterfly Circus,” will be about superlative adjectives. I won’t be seeing them today: I leave early on Fridays. Usually their English class is on the mornings on Fridays, instead of being in the afternoon like the rest of the week, but today, as an exception, their English class will be in the afternoon, so today I won’t be seeing them.

I am eager to give my first class on Monday! Here is my lesson plan: The Butterfly Circus

Let’s keep growing!

Today I created a presentation letter for the parents, using the template of a fellow student teacher from the School of San Juan. It is a fun presentation letter, full of color and with my most basic information. I included the web address of this blog, in case anyone of the parents want to know what I am doing with their kids, they can know right away. If you are a parent of any of my students, welcome to my teaching blog!

Here is the pic of my presentation letter:

I still have not started giving my assigned third grade class. I am in the preparations to start giving the class: I am observing the class and trying to learn the names of everyone while observing them (today I discovered that I have already learned three names), I am planning an interest inventory to know how my students are, I am talking with my cooperator teacher to know where the students are and what I must teach, I am coordinating a meeting with the differentiated education teacher (also known as special education teacher, but I prefer to use the term “differentiated education” or “exceptional education”) to know which reasonable accommodations I must take in count when planning my classes…

There are few things to do prior beginning to give an ESL class. I am on those kinds of things during these days. One of those things is recording my cooperator teacher’s beginning routine so I can make his same routine when giving my class, because I think that it creates continuity in the learning environment and that is easier to the students to learn when there is some continuity between the different teachers in the classroom. Today I am going to do those recordings, so I can practice the welcome song and the today’s song, among other practices of my cooperator teacher’s beginning routine, during the weekend.

This week I had been doing a lot of desk job, and I am not used to be on a desk so much time, so in my lunch break I go to the hallway just to walk. Students are prohibited from running in the hallways, they have the Physical Education class for that, and they do run a lot in that class (my third grade class has ESL class just after Physical Education, and they enter to the classroom with very red cheeks). Although the students know they are forbidden of running in the hallways, three of them begin to run there. A teacher catches two of them and punishes them: they must remain seated the rest of the lunch break. The third student hides behind a door, so the teacher does not see him, but I do see him. The poor student jumps, freaked out, when I walk besides him: he did not saw me coming. I adopt a serious face: “you know the rule, and you know the consequence…” The student defends himself: “the teacher did not saw me”. I erase the seriousness of my face, put myself at his height and try to be more understanding with him: “Let’s see, we are going to make things wrong because others can’t see us or we are going to make them right because we want to grow as persons? Relax, I will not tell the other teacher that you are here, but please answer my question…” The student relaxes when I say to him that I will not tell the teacher he is there and answers my question: “I am going to make things for growing.” Then I say to the student: If you know that the norm is not running in the hallways, that your classmates were punished for running in the hallway and that you were running in the hallway too, what is the best thing you can do?” The student answers me quickly: “not running in the hallway again, although I am not seen…” I tell him: “Besides that, what else you can do?” This time the student does not answers me so quickly, so I just smile to him and tell him: “Let’s think…” The student concludes by himself: “I can go a sit down with my punished classmates and accompany them, although the teacher did not catch me…” I smile widely: “Exactly, very good. Go and seat with them, and do not run in the hallway again…”

My lunch break was over pretty soon after that, so I came back to my desk to keep working in the preparations to start giving ESL classes. I completed my philosophy of education.

In the third grade ESL class my cooperator teacher reviewed adjectives. The teacher asked for an example of an adjective. A student told him: “Your t-shirt is black.” The teacher said that it was an excellent example and asked the student to explain her example. The student answered him: “black is describing your t-shirt.” The teacher asked her: “What word is describing my t-shirt?” The student said: “Black.” The teacher asked her: “And what king of word is t-shirt?” The student answered him: “A noun.” The teacher asked her: “Why it is a noun?” The student said: “Because adjectives describe nouns.” The teacher helps the students to understand the material by themselves. He keeps students connected and asks “why” a lot. I am observing and learning everything.

Today was a great growing day. Let’s keep growing!

Today was the first time in my life that a student called me “teacher.” She was a fourth grade student that wanted to ask me something. I did not realized she was talking to me the first time she said “teacher” because I had never been named that way before! When I did not answered her, she pulled my oxford shirt and almost shouted “teacher!” and then I finally realized she was talking to me. I laughed and apologized to her: you are the first person who calls me teacher.

Today I also received the permission to create my lesson plans in the school practicum time because I don’t have power in my house yet due hurricane Maria. That is a huge help for me, because I am very limited without electricity at home.

In the first of the morning the fourth grade had a test about adjectives. The theme of the test is rainforests. A student asked me what “warms” means, another student asked me what “feathers” means and the same student came back to me to asked me what “conspicuous” means. I knew the first two words by memory but I needed to check the third word in Google to know what it means. Besides asking the meanings of some words, they needed no more help. They completed the test by themselves without any problems. It was during that test I was called “teacher” by a student for the first time.

At the other periods of the morning and in the first period of the afternoon I helped my cooperator teacher, teacher Richard, to correct yesterday’s third grade test. It was also about adjectives.

At the second period after recess I knew for the first time the group that I am going to be teaching as student teacher: third grade. The two earlier days I needed to leave at 12:30 pm and that class begins at 1:20, that is why I did not meet them before. The teacher presented me as their student teacher and we discussed the test I corrected.

Now I am going to describe my teacher practicum classroom. It is a big classroom, with 26 student chairs and a student worktable with three chairs. It has two teacher desks, one per cooperator teacher (two cooperator teachers give class in the same classroom, at different hours), one computer desk with a computer used mostly for printing documents and two reading corners with many, many, many books. The classroom also has a Smart Board, a whiteboard and five bulletin boards.

I located myself in the student’s worktable, because there is a big power outlet for my computer right beside that table. The students use that outlet to charge their tablets.

Here are some pics of my teaching practicum classroom.

I like my teaching practicum classroom a lot, it has a lot of creative and thinking space. Technology is a plus!

Let’s keep growing!

This is me, sitting in my desk in the English classroom. When this photo was taken, I was pondering about the school’s learning principles. The school principal explained us five principles of the school’s learning community:

–Aperture to diversity: there are students of diverse talents and there are exceptional students with diverse capacities. We as student teachers must embrace them all.

–Aperture to participation: is everyone’s responsibility to participate in the school’s activities.

–Aperture to learning from mistakes: for learning to read and to write students must commit many mistakes. In order to learn we must embrace mistakes all times.

–Aperture to resolving conflicts positively: there are problems in all schools, but we must teach how to resolve conflicts positively and peacefully.

–Aperture to reflection: reflection is important because we must teach to reflect constantly how to do things better.

I have another “learning principle” of my own:

–Aperture to personal growth: in everything I do I must be open to my student’s personal growth. I must be focused on helping them to grow as persons the best way they can. This includes promoting the best academic achievement but also promoting school values as honesty, justice, democracy and peace.

Besides pondering these principles, today I helped fourth grade students making Power Point presentations about the Universe.

Let’s keep growing!

Today, March 12, 2018, is my first day as student teacher. I am going to be student teacher at the UPR Elementary School.

I arrived early enough to drink a coffee before 7:30 a.m., when we were scheduled to start our teaching practicum. The classes start at 8:00 a.m.

One of the first things I was informed by my cooperator teacher, teacher Richard, once I got into the classroom is that I am going to be giving ESL classes to the third grade, after noon. However, I still observed the 8:00 a.m. fourth grade class, it was about adjectives. I also attended a meeting to participate in a research about the perceptions of speaking English among the students at the school and attended a meeting with the school director for all the student teachers of the UPR Elementary School.

Here I am, in the entrance of the school with all my student practicum classmates.

Here I am with my teacher practicum supervisor, the professor Cristina Guerra, and my ESL student teacher classmates.

Today had been an amazing day! Let’s keep growing!