American Teacher

Mrs. Stevens blog
American Teacher website
The two links above are what I am basing my information off of since I was not able to watch the documentary.

My view of being a teacher stayed the same after watching the previews to this documentary. Most of this information I already knew because I have researched it myself. I have wanted to be a teacher ever since second grade and I don't think anything will change my mind because teacher is where everything starts.

I feel that most teachers are most frustrated with the salary that they are given because people who sell cellphones even make a bigger salary than teachers, it's like the government thinks teachers aren't anything and in reality they are everything.

Teaching conditions could improve in just the support they get. Most teenagers don't appreciate them, they think school is just something to go through to get to the real stuff, but this not true, teachers need respect, just like everyone else.

Why Do Students Procrastinate?

Mrs. Stevens blog

Overcoming Procrastination

"Difficulty Concentrating. When you sit at your desk you find yourself daydreaming, staring into space, looking at pictures of your boyfriend/girlfriend, etc., instead of doing the task. Your environment is distracting and noisy. You keep running back and forth for equipment such as pencils, erasers, dictionary, etc. Your desk is cluttered and unorganized and sometimes you sit/lay on your bed to study or do your assignments. You probably notice that all of the examples that you have just read promote time wasting and frustration."

This is my biggest task. I don't concentrate very well at all. I tend to space out when teachers talk to much even if it is something important that I need to be listening to. If my environment is too noisy or distracting I tend to move into my room or a closed area. I think this will be better but then I just tend to think and think some more. Never do I really do the task at hand, I mean I try but it seems it never gets completed. I have learned that working in small groups helps me with this problem. With a little group I have someone to count on if I space out or I am not concentrating and the work seems to get doen a whole lot faster too.

Study in small blocks instead of long time periods. For example, you will accomplish more if you study/work in 60 minute blocks and take frequent 10 minute breaks in between, than if you study/work for 2-3 hours straight, with no breaks. Reward yourself after you complete a task.

I am actually trying this this weekend and it's working! I have this blog to finish, theatre things to research, a poem to write for the talent show, and english homework. I have finshed all but this blog and my poem.
I started all of the work today, but instead of working on it from 3pm-8pm, I started at 12pm and worked for an hour ate lunch, then just sectioned everything off and I am almost completely finished.
It's exciting to not procrastinate as much anymore because it puts your mind at ease!

If I could change education I would make everything a stage!

My reflection over Changing Education

Sir Ken Robinson does a spectacular job of expressing expressing how teenagers and kids are being brainwashed in school. We are taught only one answer is correct to basically everything! So how does that teach us to think outside the box?

If I could change education I would make everything a stage! Making everything interesting and connecting every lesson to real life would be the way to go! In doing this it would bring everyones attention and with the connections to things people would remember it more! 

Imagination is the best thing when it comes to thinking outside the box. This is why I think theatre for being in my life. I would just be a walking zombie if all I did was take core classes. Theatre allows myself to express different ideas, and being able to connect them to life.

Now not everyone likes being infront of an audience or even a group of people and in that case I would just make the education learning prosses something they can connect to easily and something that they would feel comfortable doing, but sometimes it is a good thing to get out of your own comfort zone.

Lesson Planning 101

My blog is a response to Mrs. Steven's blog

I intern for Mrs. Panfil, who is a theatre teacher. There really isn't any spacific grade level exept that 6th graders are all in one class and so are the select theatre students, and it turns out that I do not have either one so my grade levels would just be 7th and 8th.

I believe that a fantastic idea would be to teach them to make puppets and have them write a skit with these puppets and of course they would put on a show with them! :) (In groups)

or

perhaps they could write a play and the class will pick some and sqeeze them down into one minite
interpretations of them! (In groups)

TEA for theatre

GRADE 7

(c) Knowledge and skills.

(1) Perception. The student develops concepts about self, human relationships, and the environment, using elements of drama and conventions of theatre. The student is expected to:

(D) express thoughts and feelings, using effective voice and diction;

(F) include setting, character, and plot in improvised scenes.

(2) Creative expression/performance. The student interprets characters, using the voice and body expressively, and creates dramatizations. The student is expected to:

(A) demonstrate safe use of the voice and body;

(B) define characters by what they do, what they say, and what others say about them;

(C) select movements and dialogue to portray a character appropriately; and

(D) create and improvise collaboratively and individually stories that have a beginning (exposition), middle (climax), and ending (denouement, resolution).

GRADE 8

(c) Knowledge and skills.

(1) Perception. The student develops concepts about self, human relationships, and the environment, using elements of drama and conventions of theatre. The student is expected to:

(D) express thoughts and feelings, using effective voice and diction;

(F) create setting, character, and plot in improvised and scripted scenes.

(2) Creative expression/performance. The student interprets characters, using the voice and body expressively, and creates dramatizations. The student is expected to:

(A) demonstrate safe use of the voice and body;

(B) analyze life interactions, choices, and responses to describe character motivation;

(C) portray characters through familiar movements and dialogue; and

(D) create, improvise, and record individually and collaboratively characters, setting, dialogue, and actions that have tension and suspense and that reflect a beginning (exposition), middle (climax), and ending (denouement, resolution).

My First Week as a Teacher...

North Richland Middle School (NRMS):

My site school teachers website: Mrs. Panfil

I intern for the theatre teacher at NRMS. I am there between about 9:40-10:40, when she teaches theatre 1. The grade level of theatre one is usually 7th but there are a few 6th graders and 8th graders thrown in there. When I first walked in I felt like I belonged, like they were immediately a part of me!

This year in Mrs. Panfils second year to teach at NRMS. I know I am going to learn just as much from her as she is going to learn from me. As she makes mistakes I will too. I will learn more improv games, how to act more like a character, how to understand a theatre classroom feel. Instead of being the student I am now the teacher!

This year I am excited to teach all the new kids my ways and to learn new ways. I cant wait to become a theatre teacher and I am excited to see where this leads me in life because I know I will go far.

Technology survery results

The fallowing is the results of 20 people taking my survey about technology and how it is in the real world:
Technology Survey

Social Media

This blog is connected to
News story
I love social media and I think it is a spectacular way of communication, but sometimes I think that it dumbs down peoples social skills and grammar too. When you are typing you kind of just do it as your emotion, so if you're angry or upset, you're not going to pay attention to your grammar. Also people don't pay enough attention to what they say online. Now that it is legal for your interview to be what is on your Facebook or Twitter, people are realizing "oh maybe I shouldn't post this" or "I should delete that comment, it was not appropriate," but what they don't realize is that just because it was "deleted" from view doesn't mean it was deleted off the internet.
Network Etiquette

Reputation is important because it fallows you everywhere. It's basically the definition of who you are. It is something that shouldn't be messed with and someone definitely shouldn't damage their own reputation. I knew this girl once who was innocent as can be, so everyone thought. She went to a party and got drunk. That wasn't a pretty sight. She eventually went on to college but always had the conscience of that one night. Everyone talked about her after she left. She came back to visit and one of my friends asked me "was that that one girl that was at the party?". Reputation: Good or bad? You choose.