Week 3 Blog 1

    It is a pretty quiet Monday. I just had A and B block with the middle school and we started working on the skits. The skits are called "la turista perdida," which means the lost tourist. Basically there is a visitor in either Manchester of Essex who is seeking help in finding five different central locations. The purpose is so that the kids can first of all learn to use the correct form of "estar" when describing location. They will also be learning when to use "de la" or "del" in terms of location. And finally, their vocab list of location words must be included in the skit. I made an example skit that was read in front of the class so that the students can get a better idea of what they are doing. I actually thought it was pretty good and helped give them some inspiration for their own skits.
    Today I also made some copies of the "estar" quiz. Tomorrow, all of the classes will be taking this quiz so I will have a lot of papers to grade. Today, I will also be grading the skits that they did in class. Those who did not finish it in class have to do it for homework, so I'll be working on those as well tomorrow. I like being in the normal flow of class instead of projects because it definitely gives me more to do and work on.

Week 2, Blog 3

    This second week of SCORE was great. As I have previously blogged, I created activities, made worksheets, as well as going through with them and doing it with the students. I've also been doing some little jobs like photo copying and such, which I actually don't mind at all! Ms. Anthony, my internship advisor, is really chill and nice so I'm really happy about that. I remember having her in seventh grade, and it's fun to be working with her again now! It's scary to think that she knew me when I was among the seventh graders... but anyways I think we have a good relationship so far so I'm glad that that element of my SCORE project is going well. This weekend, I'm working on an example skit to show to the kids. We are working on using "estar" to describe location, as well as the vocab words that the kids were given. It's actually nice to brush up on my vocab! Being in AP lit this year, we don't really focus on grammar or vocab, but rather just reading and understanding works of literature. So it's definitely nice to add in a little vocab that has slipped my mind over the past five years. I've also started a spanish tutoring job for a freshman girl on the side, which I think goes really well with my SCORE! I'm feeling pretty engrossed in the Spanish language, which is awesome. I love score!!

Week 2 Blog 2

    Right now, we are getting back into the swing of normal class. We are starting with going over location and how to talk about where you are and give directions to someone. It is weird seeing them go through this curriculum because it's the exact same one that I did! I'm pretty sure the slide that was put on the projector was even the same. Anyways, I'm working on putting together an example skit for the students so they can see what they will need to be doing. This skit is basically a lost tourist in Manchester of Essex who is seeking advice from someone who knows the town. It seems like it would be really easy to make all of these activities and examples, but there is actually one piece that I find really difficult. It is that I have no idea what they know and what they don't know, so I never know if I'm using vocabulary that is too advanced. That's really not a bad problem to have, though, so I'm just trying to keep it simple and include what is in the rubric.
    I really like creating examples for the classes as well as making activities. It's fun to create something on my own and then see how the class responds to it; if they like it, that's awesome. If not, then there's always another activity to be done. I'm really excited to be starting normal class again so that I'll have tons of opportunities to make stuff like this for the class.

Week 2 Blog 1

    Over vacation, I worked on making a peer editing activity for the student's powerpoint projects on Spanish-speaking countries. This is the first activity I have ever made for a class, so it was very exciting! It was actually much easier than I thought. Well, that's probably because there was already an outline of what was required for the project. But still, it was fun putting it together in something that will help the kids improve their projects. I basically made a section for each slide, and underneath that I put checkbox for each element that should be in that slide. For example, on the title slide, I put a check next to the title, date, block, and capital of that country. It's pretty straightforward. I was excited to hear Srta. Anthony say that she thought it was a great activity in class! The kids seemed pretty engaged, and I really think it did help them improve their projects. I remember doing that project in seventh grade, and think I would have benefited from a peer review session!
    Yesterday was the last day we spent on the projects, so this part of my experience is coming to an end. All I've done so far is pretty much for the project, so it will be fun seeing what we will be doing in normal class, as well as helping out in the normal classroom environment. The kids are starting to remember my name, which is really cool! At first I thought that they didn't want a TA in their class to be watching over them, but now I'm starting to have fun with some of them so that's great.

Week 1 Blog 3

    This week of SCORE has been pretty relaxed. It was definitely productive, but with the kids working on their projects there hasn't been too much to do in terms of helping them one on one. With vacation next week, it does make sense that they aren't too focused on perfecting their projects, but I'm still trying to keep them on track. It's interesting in middle school; I forgot what it is like for everyone to be in the same class no matter what. In high school, I've taken all honors and AP classes so I'm used to being with like-minded students in general. However, there is a clear line in the middle school between those who are focused on their work and those who don't really care. I am impressed by the hard workers; they don't let any troublemakers stop them from doing well! 

    Besides that, I don't have that much to talk about to be honest. This week I'll be working on the checklist that I talked about in my previous blog for peer editing. My internship is definitely more relaxed than I thought. That's not a bad thing, though; I'm okay with less work, especially with my APs still going! At first, I was disappointed that I chose a project in the school. But now that I've gotten into it, I'm having a good time hanging out in the school without going to my classes. It's also nice seeing some of my friends doing their internships in the school as well.

Week 1 Blog 2

    On my fourth day of SCORE, I'm starting to really get into the swing of things. The students now recognize me and are starting to be a little less shy when it comes to asking me for help. I feel like I'm really helping them with their projects, and I hope they feel the same way! Since my last blog I've graded more tests, and also been assigned a project. I went to my internship advisor yesterday explaining that I need a project or something to fill up my last couple hours every week. Today, she told me that it would definitely be helpful to have a peer editing workshop planned for when we return. I will basically create a checklist for each slide so that the students can make sure their partner is hitting all of the requirements throughout the presentation. I think that this is really helpful for students of their age, because a lot of the time they can be all over the place when it comes to following the instructions, so as much guidance as possible will help them for sure.
    Although it has only been a few days, I have come to the conclusion that if I do become a teacher, I will not teach middle school. The reason that I chose this project was because I have always wanted to be a Spanish teacher. That could definitely still be an option; although this is not the age group that I would choose to teach, I've confirmed that I love teaching Spanish. It is good to know that I was right about a path I may choose to take!

Week 1 Blog 1

            After three days of working in the middle school, it is safe to say that I have a pretty good picture of how it works over there. First of all, I forgot about that disaster between elementary school and high school that we call middle school. Although I was a middle schooler once, I really cannot relate to some of them. For example, in one block today there was one girl that would start crying about her boyfriend for a minute then would say “I’m over it,” and cheer up. This happened at least ten times in that one hour. Let’s just say I’m really happy that I am not in middle school. Anyways, my internship. Well I have figured out that  middle school is not my forte. However, I have really been enjoying the aspect of helping the students to learn Spanish.

            Right now, the kids are working on a research project about a Spanish speaking country. During class, I’ve mainly been circulating helping the students develop their outlines and such in preparation for the project. They have mostly finished those, so today they started creating the power point presentations. I actually remember doing this project myself with Ms. Anthony! As for any work I’m doing for the class, I’ve been grading quizzes which I surprisingly do not mind doing. I also have created example outlines to give the students a better idea of what they are doing. I would definitely say that my SCORE is a success so far!

            

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