Most of you know that I am a senior in highschool and that college for me is right around the corner. I am still unsure of what college I will go to... and am even uncertain of what I want to major in... but what you may not know is that aside from photography, elementary teaching is a major I have also considered.
I am taking a class at school called Cadet Teaching where I am dismissed over to a 2nd grade classroom to observe and to help the teacher out. So far I absolutely love it. So I have a few questions...
one question is one I NEED answered by tomorrow. It is a homework question. One of my mini assignments was to interview an elementary teacher and ask this question:
#1) How do YOU develop and use portfolios?
And my second question(s) is/are:
#2) What grade do you teach? How did you get into teaching elementary students? Do you enjoy your job? What are the pros and cons?
I would pretty much be thankful for any information you'd be willing to give.. or any advice on the subject. I am just exploring possibilities.
I am a retired special education teacher. I taught almost all of my years at the elementary school level. 1. Portfolios can be developed in several ways. My favorite way was for the students to select their own favorite work samples (e.g. stories that they had written). These were collected at regular intervals. The portfolios were shown to their regular education teachers, the lit.& math coaches, the principal, and most importantly, the parents at conferences. 2. I taught various grades from kindergarten through firth grade. My favorite year was when I taught first graders and fifth graders (not at the same time). Students from these two different grades have different viewpoints on education (and their teachers). They kept me alive and alert that year. I loved teaching. My most favorite thing was what I called the light bulb moment. This is when a student would suddenly latch onto a concept that I had been teaching them and I could actually see the light turn on in their eyes. The cons were the enormous amount of paperwork that I had to do.
I work as a special education paraprofessional at an elementary school, but am also in school for secondary education.
1. While I don't develop/use portfolios, one of the teachers I work for uses a portfolio for one of our students to showcase her work in accordance with VAAP (Virginia Alternate Assessment Program) standards. She takes the VAAP goals and uses independent work of the students that meets each standard/goal and includes it in the portfolio. She also lets the student see the material and put it in herself, giving her a sense of ownership. This program is for special education students who will not be able to meet the regular education standards, and the portfolio style allows for representation of the work from the year rather than a single paper-based assessment.
2. I work with K-5 autistic students. Although I'm studying to become a high school English teacher, I needed a full-time job in the meantime, and was lucky to find one as a paraprofessional. The elementary aspect was accidental, but I had experience of working with students at that age from after-school cares and camps. I do enjoy my job, as it is extremely rewarding and I know I'm making a difference in these children's lives. I also really enjoy teaching. Other pros are the students themselves, and their face when they "get" a new concept. Cons are the attitudes/behaviors and the under-appreciation.
Lauren,
I am an elementary school art teacher. All my kids make sketchbooks which they use throughout the year. They are not exactly portfolios since they are full of prepatory sketches. Still they can be used at the end of the year as a sort of review.
I started out thinking I wanted to teach highschool, but have thoroughly enjoyed elementary for 15 years. The kids are very demonstrative and you can teach them anything.
I am an elementary teacher also. Right now I am a part time music teacher, but I have been a classroom teacher also. I like to use electronic portfolios. Students can add videos of oral presentations, scanned writing or drawings, photos of presentations like dioramas or science fair projects along with a written or oral commentary, word processed written reports.....whatever! You can join it all together with a program like PowerPoint. I've liked to use html (just any web editor) because then the portfolio can be saved onto a CD or DVD and can be read by any computer. As students choose work to be saved into their portfolio, they can save it onto a file that they create on your school server. (I think by now all schools must have servers!)
I have always taught at the elementary level from 1st to 5th grade. I am kind of morphing into retirement that's why I took the part time music job this year. Teaching is very rewarding. It's exciting to see students develop skills and learn new concepts. It takes preparation and organization.
I forgot. I developed portfolios for some of my students who had the alternate form of the state achievement assessment. You "showcase" goals the child is working on and collect data at regular intervals. This portfolio was shown to the child's team (regular education teacher, parents/guardians, principal, special education coordinator, etc.). The portfolio was sent in to the my school district's office to be reviewed by the special education director. It was then sent in to the state by a specified deadline. I must have blocked this portfolio from my mind because it is so intense (lots of work). Rebecca reminded me of this type of portfolio.
My major in college was a dual certification program - Special Education/Elementary Education. While I'm currently serving in an Americorps program instead of teaching full-time, I wanted to let you know that I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have about being an education major. It sounds like you're on the right track at this point, but there are always things I could have done to hear before going into my program.
Also, I just graduated in May, so I'm pretty familiar with recent trends in education (of course any teacher probably would be as well so I'm not really sure that's all that much help).
Anyway if you want my email address or anything, just let me know.
@daisy@maryellen@smapp@curlywaves3@appaloosa05 - oh my gosh you guys thankyou!! That is exactly what I needed :) means so much that you took the time to help me out and to lend me some experience :D
I am a high school Biology teacher and my wife is an elementary teacher so I have a little of both views. I completely agree with @maryellen. The big thing now is 21st century learning and getting kids ready to handle the modern world. Therefore, using computers and other forms of technology is a must. A digital portfolio would be something you can have that would set you apart from your peers. You can create a Wiki (if you don't know what it is, look it up.....wikispaces.com), some people have blogs where they can showcase various forms of work (edublogs.com) or there are numerous website creators that you can use with different links and so on. I've had my students made podcasts, imovies, videocasts, digital posters (glogster.com), various things on google apps and I currently have a ning (again....look it up, it's awesome ning.com).
Now, on a more person to person level. If you were my sister (you're about the same age) I would tell her/you not to go into the profession. The reason I say that is because many states are hurting financially. NY (where I live) is attacking teachers and laying them off left and right because they don't have enough money in the state to pay for them (NJ and CA are the same). Sure it's nice when you get into a district, but no districts are hiring around here (especially at the elementary level). The other reason I would sway her away from it is because people in the US have no respect for teachers. People will think your job is a joke and look down on you. I don't know why our culture is like that, but sadly it is. Maybe it's just a NY thing, but around here teachers are sh*t and it is very disheartening when you pour your heart in soul into the profession, go through years of schooling to get a Bachelor's Degree, a Master's Degree and all the extra classes required (again, that's how it is in NY). Only to have people/parents treat you like your an uneducated idiot and disrespect you right to your face (without even realizing it). Not only that, kids are starting to get the same attitude!! It's unbelievable how disrespectful people can be.
I'm sorry, but I just wanted to be 100% honest with you as you are still young and are learning the different fields.
@mattyb@lauren211 I agree with the above comment about economic problems. I graduated in May as an Elementary Education major and of my cohort of 30 only about 2 have found a permanent position as a teacher. They were specialists, which is why they were hired. My state cut 5,000 teachers last year. There are very few jobs for new grads. I was School of Education President, Top 100 Outstanding Student Award Recipient, Scholarship Winner, and the pioneer student in our student teaching abroad program and I have spent this year going from one maternity leave long term substitute teaching assignment to another. If you have another passion, then I would say see where it takes you instead and make sure you scope out the job market prior to declaring a major.
@mattyb@sassyinthecity - I was unaware of this... wow, thanks. I will definitely take all of that into consideration... goshh... choosing a job / declaring a major is so hard :( I dont want to make the wrong choice...I just want to be happy 20 years down the road. preferably more like 5 or 10 lol
Lauren, don't stress! Having a major when you enter college is not that important. I started in psych and then my junior year I realized it didn't really have my attention anymore, added a second major in international development and a specialization in peace and justice studies... and I graduated in the same amount of credits as a normal BA. You still have time :) Although wait a minute, I am jobless and in the peace corps haha. and making my grad school plans. it seems like everybody I know has to do some sort of graduate school or specialized training after their ba or bs. Maybe that's because so many of my friends graduated in liberal arts. anyway, I just graduated in May so there's my advice!
BUT what I really came back to this post for was to ask if any of the teachers ( @mattyb@maryellen@smapp@sassyinthecity ) have an interest (or know of other teachers that might have an interest) in the Peace Corps' "World Wise Schools" program. They have a correspondence program in which a volunteer is paired with a teacher and classroom in the US and periodically communicates with the students. It is meant to promote understanding and global education, and I am thinking of signing up for a match. I am a community health volunteer in Ecuador, working in HIV and AIDS prevention. I might email some of my high school teachers as well, just wanted to check in anyone might have an interest! If not that's fine too :)
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1. While I don't develop/use portfolios, one of the teachers I work for uses a portfolio for one of our students to showcase her work in accordance with VAAP (Virginia Alternate Assessment Program) standards. She takes the VAAP goals and uses independent work of the students that meets each standard/goal and includes it in the portfolio. She also lets the student see the material and put it in herself, giving her a sense of ownership. This program is for special education students who will not be able to meet the regular education standards, and the portfolio style allows for representation of the work from the year rather than a single paper-based assessment.
2. I work with K-5 autistic students. Although I'm studying to become a high school English teacher, I needed a full-time job in the meantime, and was lucky to find one as a paraprofessional. The elementary aspect was accidental, but I had experience of working with students at that age from after-school cares and camps. I do enjoy my job, as it is extremely rewarding and I know I'm making a difference in these children's lives. I also really enjoy teaching. Other pros are the students themselves, and their face when they "get" a new concept. Cons are the attitudes/behaviors and the under-appreciation.
Hope this helps!
I am an elementary school art teacher. All my kids make sketchbooks which they use throughout the year. They are not exactly portfolios since they are full of prepatory sketches. Still they can be used at the end of the year as a sort of review.
I started out thinking I wanted to teach highschool, but have thoroughly enjoyed elementary for 15 years. The kids are very demonstrative and you can teach them anything.
Good luck in college.
I am an elementary teacher also. Right now I am a part time music teacher, but I have been a classroom teacher also. I like to use electronic portfolios. Students can add videos of oral presentations, scanned writing or drawings, photos of presentations like dioramas or science fair projects along with a written or oral commentary, word processed written reports.....whatever! You can join it all together with a program like PowerPoint. I've liked to use html (just any web editor) because then the portfolio can be saved onto a CD or DVD and can be read by any computer. As students choose work to be saved into their portfolio, they can save it onto a file that they create on your school server. (I think by now all schools must have servers!)
I have always taught at the elementary level from 1st to 5th grade. I am kind of morphing into retirement that's why I took the part time music job this year. Teaching is very rewarding. It's exciting to see students develop skills and learn new concepts. It takes preparation and organization.
Maryellen
Also, I just graduated in May, so I'm pretty familiar with recent trends in education (of course any teacher probably would be as well so I'm not really sure that's all that much help).
Anyway if you want my email address or anything, just let me know.
Now, on a more person to person level. If you were my sister (you're about the same age) I would tell her/you not to go into the profession. The reason I say that is because many states are hurting financially. NY (where I live) is attacking teachers and laying them off left and right because they don't have enough money in the state to pay for them (NJ and CA are the same). Sure it's nice when you get into a district, but no districts are hiring around here (especially at the elementary level). The other reason I would sway her away from it is because people in the US have no respect for teachers. People will think your job is a joke and look down on you. I don't know why our culture is like that, but sadly it is. Maybe it's just a NY thing, but around here teachers are sh*t and it is very disheartening when you pour your heart in soul into the profession, go through years of schooling to get a Bachelor's Degree, a Master's Degree and all the extra classes required (again, that's how it is in NY). Only to have people/parents treat you like your an uneducated idiot and disrespect you right to your face (without even realizing it). Not only that, kids are starting to get the same attitude!! It's unbelievable how disrespectful people can be.
I'm sorry, but I just wanted to be 100% honest with you as you are still young and are learning the different fields.
BUT what I really came back to this post for was to ask if any of the teachers ( @mattyb @maryellen @smapp @sassyinthecity ) have an interest (or know of other teachers that might have an interest) in the Peace Corps' "World Wise Schools" program. They have a correspondence program in which a volunteer is paired with a teacher and classroom in the US and periodically communicates with the students. It is meant to promote understanding and global education, and I am thinking of signing up for a match. I am a community health volunteer in Ecuador, working in HIV and AIDS prevention. I might email some of my high school teachers as well, just wanted to check in anyone might have an interest! If not that's fine too :)