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My philosophy on education is to take a personal approach. When people are more comfortable around a teacher or even a coach, they are more apt to listen and actually take direction and advice. Creating a relationship with students allows them to understand they you care about them and are interested in their life, but at the same time they understand you are the teacher, they must respect you and do what you say. It keeps a nice balance of fun and education in the classroom and students can feel relaxed while studying. I think being a teacher is automatically being a mentor, someone that another looks up to and guides the way. Teachers don't get the credit they deserve when some of them really help shape students into young adults and citizens.

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I am implementing a Positivity Project Football Field board into Mrs. Ostrander's classroom. This is directed at the entire class, but each kid is individual. The goal of this football field is to motivate kids to take each character trait they learn from the positivity project (which they call P2), and apply them to their everyday lives at school, and hopefully at home as well. Every time a kid is recognized displaying a character trait, Mrs. Ostrander and myself may move their football down the field. When a student gets a touchdown, they can receive a small prize from me!

In the end, the project didn't have a great turn out. We never got the chance to implement it into the classroom where it worked well with their schedule. They don't spend all day in the class, they are constantly moving back and fourth. Also, at the time most of my time was being spent doing reading groups and working on math with students.

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I was super excited when Mrs. Ostrander told me I was doing my lesson on mindfulness. It was something different than the regular math, science, and language arts. I was able to do something fun for my students, I had them draw their emotions! I gave a mini-lesson which then lead into my activity and exit ticket. While they were drawing and coloring I was able to walk around and make sure they were on task, and get to talk to them a little bit about how they are feeling and understanding mindfulness. I believe after giving my lesson, all of the students completely felt as though I was a teacher to them and even more comfortable around me.

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Spending this last school year in Mrs. Ostrander's fourth grade class has been the best experience. I felt like a real teacher. I created so many good relationships with the students. It was awesome to see every time I came to class their eyes widened and they were so excited to see me. Alyssa would always run up to me, give me a hug, and say "Miss V, can I talk to you for a minute?" She always had a story that's for sure! You could always count on Eli for some mischief and Maddy for a little attitude. Each student presented something special to the class, and I noticed (most) students always tried their hardest to learn. It was a really incredibly experience and I will miss those kids dearly.

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This past year I was able to attend two field trip with Mrs. Ostrander’s fourth grade class. We went to FIA (Flint Institute of Art), FIM (Flint institute of Music), and Longway Planetarium in December and in February we went to the Capitol in Lansing and the Michigan Museum. I was able to learn a lot about what happens "behind the scenes" at a field trip. Being on the staff side rather than the student side, I got to recognize the hard work and effort put into planning and running a field trip, especially with over 100 students!

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I attended a staff meeting in the high school auditorium to have more insight into becoming a teacher.

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I attended a Board of Education meeting to see more sides to education than just teaching.

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My cooperating teacher (Mrs. Ostrander) and I have built a good relationship. I look up to her as a mentor and someone who has my best interest. We talk about everything and she is someone I feel comfortable around. I feel as though I help her a lot in the classroom and she makes me feel like a real teacher.

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One on one teaching moment while creating a classroom management football field for the class!

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Maddy wanted a picture as an astronaut!

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The students were very well behaved, yet still having fun.

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I was able to attend a field trip with my fourth graders to our states capital and history museum. This is a pic

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This was our first day back from spring break. Maddy and Eli were working on math and letting me in on all the fun things they did over their break!