Making Stories Come Alive

Leona Sonnentag: Blog I

What is your teaching experience so far?

 

So far I don’t have much teaching experience.  Last semester I was able to be part of the PAINT program for the first time and it was a great experience.  I was able to be active with the students in the gym so it will be a bit different this semester. Aside from the PAINT internship last semester, I am currently in the Infant and Toddler Lab at UW-Stout for 2 hours once a week.  I also have 5 younger siblings so there is some experience teaching there.

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What are you looking forward to about the class you will be teaching?

I am looking forward to becoming more creative.  I am hoping that Making Stories Come Alive will challenge me to be more creative so that I will be able to carry that over to when I will have to stick to a curriculum so that I can still make it fun.  I am also looking forward to getting to know each of the students on a personal level.

 

What do you hope to learn/gain from this experience?

From this experience I am hoping to gain experience controlling a classroom.  I hope to expand my classroom management abilities and to gain experience sticking to rules and following through with warnings. I also hope to be able to have a fun learning environment where there is mutual respect where everyone can have fun while learning.

Leah Corso: Blog I

What is your teaching experience so far?

 

I have been teaching swimming lessons for 4 years and I did some classroom observations over winter break. I am also in ECE 105 so I have one day a  week where I am in the Child and Family Study Center.

 

 

What are you looking forward to about the class you will be teaching?

I look forward to creating a wide variety of lessons for the children to be expressive. I also look forward to increasing their experience in theatre using, skits, drama games and literature. I also plan on implementing art activates into books we read to connect children more to the story. I know many of them are not interested in art but my hope to find one activity that makes them excited and engaged to their full potential.

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What do you hope to learn/gain from this experience?

I hope to gain more classroom management skills and efficient lesson planning. Over the first two lessons we have done, the children have been somewhat rowdy and it was hard to control them. Leona and I have started setting boundaries and stricter rules, so the kids understand respect. We have had some incidents between the kids that were resolved. The groups can be challenging ,but I know that these are all good kids.

 

Sami Cromer: Blog III

Sami Cromer: Blog III

I would say that I have definitely grown as a teacher in lesson planning and classroom management. While teaching this class, I have noticed that I got much better at being able to clearly demonstrate projects as well. When working with younger children, I learned that if I was able to over-explain steps to complete a project then I was doing just what I was supposed to because they need to have the projects explained over and over in order to understand how to complete the task.

Hannah Denninger: Blog III

Hannah Denninger: Blog III

Overall I have a new understanding of how to handle older students. Before this opportunity I had no experience with children older than 5. So going into this I was a little nervous about how to handle the older age groups. I now can say that I have a good understanding of how to work with older children. I also have a better understanding of my role as the head teacher of a class. I have to do more than just present a lesson to them. Making personal connections with each of the students I think is an important thing that I learned from working with the Boys and Girls Club.

Sami Cromer: Blog II

Sami Cromer: Blog II

I now understand how important it is to really model how to do a certain project and that if I think I am explaining too much then that is probably perfect because the children find modeling and demonstrating how to do something really helpful. I also find it interesting when doing a wide variety of projects during the semester, when I notice which children really get engaged in which kind of projects. I notice those things and then try to plan future lessons based off of those interests.

Hannah Denninger: Blog II

Hannah Denninger: Blog II

This quarter I have had the opportunity to have my class Monday – Thursday which is one thing that has made me happy. Seeing the kids that many times a week has been important in making the relationships I now have with the students. Getting to know each of them, and them getting to know me must be one of my favorite things about teaching this quarter, and just in general. The projects that I have created, and implemented in my class are also something that has made me happy. The kids have all had positive responses to the projects and enjoyed doing them.

Hannah Denninger: Blog I

Hannah Denninger: Blog I

I am looking forward to continue getting to know the students. They all have their own personalities that represent who they are, and as a teacher, I want to know who my students are and try and understand them the best I can. I also look forward to continuing to work on my lesson plans. This experience with writing lesson plans is helpful in keeping me in the mindset that I am teaching a class and I need to be professional.

Sami Cromer: Blog I

Sami Cromer: Blog I

I hope to gain more creative lessons that I could actually use in future classrooms. While participating in the P.A.I.N.T program, I have already learned that it really is so easy to include the arts to expand on any school subject to provide more hands-on learning. I also hope to improve my time management skills and knowing how to plan accordingly for any given lesson throughout my experience as a P.A.I.N.T intern.