Service Learning November 11th

On this day I participated in the service learning activity named Through the Eyes of a Child. It was a very well planned and thought out event that older college students spend a day with a little kid while doing activities that were holiday related. These activities included cookie decorating, ornament making, face painting, holiday gift cards, and etc. I was originally just an event helper in which I would plan for the day, but not actually recieve a buddy. As the day went on they allowed to meet up with my friend who had a buddy named Josh. I went through all the activitites with them two. It was a great time, and I enjoyed seeing Josh and all the other little kids look up to us. It was perfect for right around the holiday season. It was good bonding time with the little kids and to see how they think and act. The college students were really in charge so as much as we enjoyed it we also had to make sure we did not lose anyone. I greatly enjoyed this service learning and was much better than my forgetful past service learning. This event lead me to rethink about doing a service learning in the future.

Service Learning November 4th

My third vist at Noble elementary school was very memorable. Actors from a theater in Cleveland came in to have fun with the kids and show them acting. Mrs. Albert's class fortunately went to the actors during my time there. The kids seemed very excited. One of the kids told me that he heard from other classes that this is real fun. I had a blast and it made me want to be a kid again. The whole class including me got into costumes and performed a story of a turtle who wanted to fly. Everywhere I looked kids were laughing and smiling. I was starting to build relaionships with a lot of the kids.

Service Learning October 20th

I went to my 2nd week of service learning and it was very good to meet the actual teacher of the classroom named Mrs. Albert. The kids seemed excited  Iwas back. They gave me a lot of respect and it made me feel good. Mrs. Albert told me to give each student in the room a reading test in the hallway. One by one I took individual kids and let them read the test Mrs. Albert provided. I quickly realized the big gap in the class between kids who coud read well and others who struggled. For the ones that struggled I tried to help them sound out the words. I started recognizing names to faces by the 2nd week.

Service Learning October 13th

Today was my first day on my first ever service learning project. I am at Noble elementary school. When I first got there the principal assigned each person in my group a different classroom that we would be in for the project. I first entered and noticed that I had my first day I had a sub in the classroom. The students were a bit noisy probably because they had a sub and not a real teacher. At one point I read them a story during snack time and they seemed very into the book. I enjoyed it! Before I left several of the students camp up to me and gave me a hug. I think they enjoyed my presence.

Weblog 6

Based off chapter nine in our book, "The School Culture" I decided to bring my highschool agenda book to class as a prop. I thought this was a perfect example because each kid in our school recieved an agenda book so we can all be organzied. With organization comes success and good note taking skills. This one item that was brought into our school's culture turned out to be a very big item that the students reacted well to and said it helped them.

WebLog 4

My timeline entry has been posted on time toast. The idea of a writing circle is a great way of hearing outside opinions to make your writing and ideas better. For next Tuesday we are assigned to do some commentary on the essay proposals. With my writing circle I'm hoping to achieve a few things. As we have all laid out our topics and direction where we would like to go, there is always the possibility that were missing something. That is what the use of the the commentary is. I look forward to reading proposals in my group and giving them feedback in what I would like to see in the final product. I hope to receive some tips and ideas in what I should not forget to mention in my essay. Three minds are always better than one!

WebLog 3

1. Is it better to learn diversity through service learning or by living life and seeing different people's experience?

2. How can we possibly interact with someone who has a total different background and past then us if we have no knowledge at all of the situation? Yes we must share past experiences, but we have to start somewhere. Thats what service learning does.

3. Do people get all postive things out of service learning or do some get a negative experience out of it?

4. Can you ever go through a service learning and truly say to yourself that you got nothing out of it?

5. Does a similar type of service learning in one country compared to the U.S affect us differently?

WebLog 2

My service for the semester of fall 2010 is going to take place at the site Many Villages-Noble. This is a grade school composed of kids ranging from K-5th Grade. I am looking forward to this emergent experience, as my job will be to help tutor kids. In my past I have participated in similar quests such as this and my favorite part is always seeing the kids so happy and thrilled to work with a teenager through there education. It's almost as were all making new friends and seeing the different parts of life in one another. I believe I will enjoy this experience, and the kids are even more excited in having us visit them. During our training session it seems as though my whole group is excited as I am! Many Villages-Noble makes a great service learning site as it poses the opportunity to connect and help with little kids. Its a great way to interact and help our society especially in the field of education which gets criticized publicly everyday. I can and will make a difference!

WebLog 1

Personal information



1. Name, hometown, primary email.
    Zachary Moss, Solon, Ohio, zmoss13@jcu.edu

2. What name do you prefer to be called?
     Zach

3. Grade level and subject(s) that you want to teach (For graduate students: undergraduate and graduate degree(s), education license(s), current employment: grade level, subject(s) if applicable, district).
    High school Math
4. What are you into; what makes you special? Share a few “unique” aspects about yourself that would help our classroom community get to know you a bit better.

   I play baseball at John Carroll University. In my spare time I hang out with my friends, or look into sporting news as I am a big Cleveland Browns fan! I respect my family, faith, and friends a lot. I'm a humorous guy who is laid back looking for a fun time.

Learning Style and more:



5. Being as specific as you can, what must be in place for you to feel comfortable taking intellectual and creative risks in a classroom?

    I need to be comfortable with my surroundings and the people around me, and I need the teacher to explain that questions are always good and invite everyone to answer questions.




6. I am interested in your perception of yourself as a student. Please describe it. Consider such criteria as a) active oral class participation; b) responsible, timely class preparation (of readings, projects, etc.); c) honest, candid self-assessment; d) awareness of your own preferred learning styles/approaches; e) first thing that you do when you cannot or do not understand something; f)other dimensions you believe to be relevant and informative.

    Whenever I know an answer or have a question I will never hesitate to raise my hand and share it with the class. For the most part my assignments are always completed on time. Sometimes with long reading I lack understanding information at the end in which I have a bad habit of rushing during a long assignment. I enjoy having an assigned reading and the teacher talking about it and opening it up for discussion the day it's due. It helps me organize my learning for that particular section. When I don't understand something I usually ask someone around me, if they don't know then I raise my hand to ask.




7. Is there anything I should know about you, your learning style, or life situation that may be relevant to your successful performance in this course? (Please decide what to share with the class and what to share in confidence with me).
  
    I am really open to whatever the teacher decides how the course should be taught. So far I'm enjoying the idea of blogs!

Education Past and Present



8. Share a formative memory from your experiences as a student.

  Too many to even think about! If I had to pick one it would be my junior year chemistry class in which I asked a single question that took the teacher and class a week to discuss and be amazed at. In the end, the teacher pulled me aside afterwards and told me thank you for bringing up such a intelligent question and that we completed all the material to be learned for that week. Post on my blog if you really want to hear this interesting question!


9. Please discuss what are, for you, the some significant issues or concerns facing the field of education right now.

    Not enough teachers are retiring as projected, at least around Northeast Ohio. I'm concerned how employable I will be when I graduate. The funding for schools needs to be corrected by the government in my opinion.


10. Let’s imagine, humbly, that this course is definitely going to be the most meaningful and relevant course you’ve ever experienced. EVER. Drawing on your past experience in classrooms, and thinking uniquely, specifically and BIG, describe what we need to (1) DO (activities/projects), (2) STUDY (content topics and compelling issues/questions), (3) BE (interacting with each other) and (4) AVOID (in the previous three categories) in order for your visionary views of an ideal course to be mostly realized.
   
    First, the setting and atmosphere of our learning as to be appropriate. On these nice sunny days, we should go outside and have our class outside! I always loved the classes where someone would ask a question or the teacher would say a sentence and the whole class would be compelled discussing all the issues around the topic for the whole class. The more people that are in the conversation motivate the quieter ones to speak up. Group projects are always a memory, because you get other people's ideas while making new friends. The class should always be open for discussion and we should avoid exams with short answer or multiple choice type answers as this course, in my mind, is designed for future teachers to think critically, and deeper about their upcoming career and strategy.
About Dr. Shutkin:


11. Write down two or three questions you would like to ask me about myself or the class.

   Did you ever teach below the college level?
   What is your favorite part about being a professor?