Teaching children has never really been a life passion of mine, but after this year in UTAP, I might seriously take it into consideration. I learned so many things, and to me, being a mentor means a lot of patience, dicipline and hardwork. Who ever said that being a mentor was easy lied straight through their teeth because it definitley takes more than a glance to see the big picture. To me, being a mentor is an honor. And that's saying more than the next guy.
The first time I taught the kindergarteners, it took every fiber in my being to not lose control! I'm not exactly known for being the patient one and trying to teach a science lesson to a whole bunch of 5-year-olds wasn't exactly the cherry on top. But as the year progressed I've learned very well that sometimes I have to bite my tounge or count to ten just to cool my steam down. I understand that they're 5 and sometimes I have to repeat things once, twice, or maybe even five times. But if they get the knowledge, I'm happy as a mentor that I helped them reach that stepping stone.
I didn't know being a mentor would take so much planning. You have to have a full lesson plan including procedures, materials, purpose an assessment and a variety of other things needed to make a successful day in the classroom. If you are not a deiciplined mentor, you will never get this done by deadline. And if that happens, not only will you realize that your lack of commitment damages your terms as a mentor, but your children in the classroom wouldn't be too pleased. They're young and their hunger for knowledge is at it's peak. Why ruin it? Being a mentor takes a lot of dicipline. If your not diciplined your kids surely won't be.
With anything in life, you have to work hard to get what you truly want. I believe that if you want to be a good mentor it is imperative that you give it your all, 100% of the time. By working hard, you are able to obtain the feeling of greatness as a mentor knowing that your helping change someones life. Your students benefit as well because they are learning from somebody that really cares about what they do.
Being a mentor has more meaning behind it than if I were to explain it on a piece of paper. It takes patience, dicipline and hardwork. On here, I can't show you my feelings of happiness, joy, anger, stress and many more when I'm asked what being a mentor means to me; it is not tangible. But the main emotion I've felt this year is proudness. I'm proud of myself, I'm proud of my peers, but most importantly I'm proud of my students because they let me in their life and they hopefully learned a thing or two from myself. But either way, they gave me a sense of accomplishment and they made me happy. Sometimes, that's all you need.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Butterflies
Short Story:
On bright spring day, a boy named Billy was walking with his best friend Bob toward the big park in their neighborhood. Their parents had told them to go off and play in the playground if they wanted to. So Billy and Bob went off to find an adventure. They decided to play tag. They were running and running then all of a sudden Bob fell! Billy was laughing at him but wondered why its taking him so long to get up. He walked over and noticed that Bob was looking at a caterpillar. Billy looked as well and then they started following it crawling. After following it for a while they looked up and a whole bunch of butterflies was swarming them. They couldn’t find the caterpillar anymore and they became still as a statue. A butterfly landed on Billy’s nose. He got up and started screaming like a girl because he was so scared! Bob was amazed at all the different types there were. A little while later Billy reappeared with the parents and a jar. They gave it to Bob and he found the caterpillar in there. Time passed and when the caterpillar finally turned into a butterfly, Billy screamed again before they set it free. They named the pet butterfly Billy Bob.
Research:
Where can butterflies be found?:
Butterflies can be found just about everywhere imaginable except Antarctica: forests, mountains, deserts, jungles, grasslands, marshes, and even the Arctic regions. Butterflies are adapted to their environments.
What are some types of butterflies?
Some types of butterflies are: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Two-tailed Swallowtail, Diana Fritillary
California dogface butterfly, Colorado Hairstreak Butterfly, Zebra Longwing, Monarch Butterfly, Viceroy Butterfly, Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly, Spicebush Swallowtail, Mourning cloak, Karner Blue, Red Admiral, Black Swallowtail, Oregon Swallowtail, Zebra Swallowtail
What is the Life Cycle of a Butterfly?
1) Tiny eggs are laid by the female on a leaf. Around 5 days later, a tiny wormlike creature will hatch.
2)The caterpillar is the primary eating and growth stage of the insect.
3)The pupa or chrysalis is the resting or transformation stage, and within it the marvelous transformation from caterpillar to adult takes place.
On bright spring day, a boy named Billy was walking with his best friend Bob toward the big park in their neighborhood. Their parents had told them to go off and play in the playground if they wanted to. So Billy and Bob went off to find an adventure. They decided to play tag. They were running and running then all of a sudden Bob fell! Billy was laughing at him but wondered why its taking him so long to get up. He walked over and noticed that Bob was looking at a caterpillar. Billy looked as well and then they started following it crawling. After following it for a while they looked up and a whole bunch of butterflies was swarming them. They couldn’t find the caterpillar anymore and they became still as a statue. A butterfly landed on Billy’s nose. He got up and started screaming like a girl because he was so scared! Bob was amazed at all the different types there were. A little while later Billy reappeared with the parents and a jar. They gave it to Bob and he found the caterpillar in there. Time passed and when the caterpillar finally turned into a butterfly, Billy screamed again before they set it free. They named the pet butterfly Billy Bob.
Research:
Where can butterflies be found?:
Butterflies can be found just about everywhere imaginable except Antarctica: forests, mountains, deserts, jungles, grasslands, marshes, and even the Arctic regions. Butterflies are adapted to their environments.
What are some types of butterflies?
Some types of butterflies are: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Two-tailed Swallowtail, Diana Fritillary
California dogface butterfly, Colorado Hairstreak Butterfly, Zebra Longwing, Monarch Butterfly, Viceroy Butterfly, Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly, Spicebush Swallowtail, Mourning cloak, Karner Blue, Red Admiral, Black Swallowtail, Oregon Swallowtail, Zebra Swallowtail
What is the Life Cycle of a Butterfly?
1) Tiny eggs are laid by the female on a leaf. Around 5 days later, a tiny wormlike creature will hatch.
2)The caterpillar is the primary eating and growth stage of the insect.
3)The pupa or chrysalis is the resting or transformation stage, and within it the marvelous transformation from caterpillar to adult takes place.
Monday, December 10, 2007
The Right and The Wrong
In our groups today I thought we did a fairly decent job with the class. We are lucky to be assigned to such a class that has already matured enough to the level that they know when to stop and listen. Some things that we did that I liked are: When we read the story. This is always one of my favorite parts when we come visit because I love when the students get so into it. They really want to grasp the gist of the story... even when it's a bit over their heads. I also like that we always have atleast 2 people helping a group out. No one is left out of any of the activities that we do and that is important to making a successful lesson. Lastly, I like that we always ask the students essential questions about the lesson as we go through it. Its a good feeling to know that when they answer the questions correctly... WE taught them that.
But of course, with some good there must be some bad. Only a couple things bother me when we go visit the little kiddies. One of them is that we are always somehow unsure. We have the lesson plan... edited to perfection... but we always seem to stutter step in making a presentation. Though we eventually go through it and pass with flying colors, I think it would make our presentations better if we didn't hesitate as much as we do. Just one more thing that I don't like that we do is that we aren't so great with time. I mean, we get the lesson done and everything we were suppose to do... but I always feel rushed. And I don't like to be rushed. So maybe that's on me. These are the rights and wrongs we did on our visit today.
But of course, with some good there must be some bad. Only a couple things bother me when we go visit the little kiddies. One of them is that we are always somehow unsure. We have the lesson plan... edited to perfection... but we always seem to stutter step in making a presentation. Though we eventually go through it and pass with flying colors, I think it would make our presentations better if we didn't hesitate as much as we do. Just one more thing that I don't like that we do is that we aren't so great with time. I mean, we get the lesson done and everything we were suppose to do... but I always feel rushed. And I don't like to be rushed. So maybe that's on me. These are the rights and wrongs we did on our visit today.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Improving Presentations
As an individual, I plan to help my group/team as much as I can. Everyone, including myself needs to always give in their fair share of work to make a presentation the best it can be. When we are presenting, it shouldn't matter if we like the topic or not, or if we have to work with people we don't like. We have to put the differences aside and do what we came to their classroom to do. Which is teach them a lesson worth knowing.
Some hands-on activities would also make a presentation really good. Considering they are children of very young age, they might also learn and understand better when lessons are being taught to them by showing and feeling. Instead of hearing and listening.
There is always room for improvement and people should not get discouraged as easily if things to do not go as planned.
Some hands-on activities would also make a presentation really good. Considering they are children of very young age, they might also learn and understand better when lessons are being taught to them by showing and feeling. Instead of hearing and listening.
There is always room for improvement and people should not get discouraged as easily if things to do not go as planned.
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