Block B
Welcome
0Hello! Welcome to my Block B Portfolio!
This semester, I have been fortunate enough to work in multiple settings in the Indianapolis area with amazing students and teachers in Block B. I worked with 3rd and 5th graders at Central Elementary School in math, reading, and a small group of 3rd graders in the Loving Care program for enrichment. We studied mysteries in the first session and mad eour own autobiography books in the second. In the science and social studies portion of Block B, we held class at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and taught an introductory lesson about density to Mrs. Stenger’s 2nd grade class at IPS 105. At the Children’s Museum, I taught a group of 5 of those 2nd graders through the Curious Scientific Investigators program. The students, a Museum Friend, and I investigated a “leak” issue and hypothesized about where the leak came from.
Block B has helped me to grow abundantly in my teaching career through the diverse experiences I had this semester. I have learned so much as a student and a teacher that this portfolio can only give you a glimpse of my discoveries. Enjoy!
Carly Biddle
Reading, Writing, and Oral Language Lesson Plan
0During the first session of enrichment at Central Elementary School, Ms. Prop and I used this lesson plan on the third day with our group of 5 third graders. We were doing a genre study of mysteries to analyze problems and solutions. In the previous lesson with these students, we read Miss Nelson is Missing! for the first time to show how to use context clues to find the problem and solution. This lesson was focused on how the students could create their own problem and solution in a story to determine if they understood these elements.
Science Lesson Plan
0This lesson plan was created to be used at the Connor Prairie STEAM! Convention, but could easily be used in a classroom setting. Students came up to a table to learn how butter is made, and also got to taste the butter on a cracker!
Mathematics Lesson Plan
0This math lesson was done with a group of 4 students in a third grade classroom at Central Elementary School. I used Pigs Will Be Pigs by Amy Axelrod for two lessons done on Monday and Wednesday. In the first, I focused on rounding numbers up to the hundred thousands place, and in the following lesson we focused on rounding to the nearest dollar amount.
Social Studies Lesson Plan
0This lesson was created to do in part at the Connor Prairie STEAM! Convention.
Social Studies Lesson Reflection
Instruction & Assessment Lesson Two
0The lesson I chose for ACEI Standards 3.4, 3.5, and 4 is from the third day of enrichment during the first two-week session at Central Elementary with a group of 5 third graders.
Instruction and Assessment- Problem and Solution
Professionalism Reflection One
0ACEI 5.1: Professional Growth, Reflection, and Evaluation
Throughout the Block B experience, we were all expected to demonstrate the College of Education’s core values of Integrity and Responsibility. As students model our behaviors, I have been very conscious of the behaviors and attitude I portray every day. Due to this awareness, I worked towards becoming the teacher I would look up to as a student. I desired to be the exemplary teacher my students would feel comfortable around and enjoy learning from. I strived to gain respect from my students and colleagues by showing them that I was dependable and trustworthy. My experiences teaching in the classroom have given me opportunities to become comfortable teaching small and large groups of students. I always held myself to the high standards the classroom teachers and my Butler professors were holding me to.
Enthusiasm and a passionate attitude are strengths I have brought to the Block B experience. I have particularly shown this when working with all of the students I had the pleasure of teaching at Central Elementary. The environment in the classrooms can sometimes be stressful, so I try to make my time with the students as exciting as I can, even when the subject is something they know they are struggling. An enthusiastic and passionate approach will automatically increase the level of engagement seen in the students. For example, one of the students in our enrichment group was not very excited to learn about Joe Louis because “boxing is for boys”. By reading the biography about Joe Louis with inflection and asking guiding questions with fervor, she was instantly intrigued and her eyes were glued to the book. One of the goals I have for next semester is using more classroom management skills in my teaching to decrease student “burn out” throughout the day. Some days I found it difficult to keep my third grade math group focused on a lesson because they were distracted with issues that arose earlier in the day. I tried to make my lessons entertaining with the use of games, but I need to figure out how to revive my students’ energy at the end of the school day.
Having diverse experiences within Block B has been an enormous factor in my professional growth. I have worked in classrooms full of third and fifth grade students at Central Elementary, second grade students at IPS 105, various children in the Indianapolis community at the Children’s Museum and the STEAM! convention at Connor Prairie. Working with students from different schools in different settings has made me become more flexible in my teaching strategies. I am extremely grateful for the opportunities we have encountered in Block B.
Professionalism Reflection Two
0ACEI 5.2 Collaboration with Families, Colleagues, and Community Agencies
It is imperative that teachers value the collaboration with families, colleagues, and the community. In Block B, we had experience and practice collaborating with each of these groups. After our enrichment session in the Loving Care program, we wrote a letter to the director, Mrs. Johnson, who could also pass this along to the families of the students. We wanted to inform her of what we had focused on and the strengths of each individual in our group. This is beneficial to the students because Mrs. Johnson can use this information to find topics or activities the students enjoy doing during the after school care. It also helps the teachers to know what these students have had experience with when they introduce these topics to them in the classroom.
Also included in the enrichment experience was the collaboration with a colleague, Lauren Prop. Together we created all of the lesson plans in each enrichment session. It was helpful to have another teacher to bounce ideas off of and to help with instruction of the lesson. I believe that without the chance to co-teach, my enrichment lessons wouldn’t have helped the students or myself grow professionally.
In Dr. Bloom’s class, we were asked to collaborate with the classroom teacher to develop a lesson plan for a small group of students who were ready to be challenged with further learning in rounding whole numbers. Ms. Allison helped me find new resources and teaching materials to help me in my lesson. Without her aid, I may not have chosen the best strategies for the students that she already knew so well.
At the STEAM! Convention in Connor Prairie, we came in contact with many families and the community who brought their children to our table to participate in an activity on Morse code. It was definitely interesting to see a different side of students. Most of us know that children are usually different around their parents and our customary experience with children does not involve their parents. The community was able to see Butler students in action, and the students had a great time learning with us.
In the future, I hope to have more contact with parents. I believe that I can learn so much about a student by meeting the family they come from. I hope I can have this opportunity when I begin to student teach. Although Block B has given me a multitude of opportunities, more practice in this area is still needed.