Let me introduce myself, my name is Cherene Bauer, I am a full time teaching assistant at Chorley elementary school.  I work with the first grade. I thoroughly in enjoy working with children everyday.  I wake up everyday and can’t wait to get to work.  Working as a teaching assistant has just made me want to be a teacher that much more.  Each and everyday the need to become a teacher grows and grows as I see the teachers, I work with, run a class, I think “I want that to be me.”

I am a graduate from SUNY New Paltz with a degree in Public Relations.   After much thought, I decided to go back to school and become an educator.  I have been working on my masters in elementary and literacy from the wonderful Mount Saint Mary College. 

This e-folio is a compellation of all the work I have done in General Methods.  The first project we had to do was to make a tee-shirt about our educational philosophy.

 Educational Stance.

My educational stance is to have a fun safe environment where students are able to express themselves in fun and creative ways.  I want to be the teacher that the students love coming to.  I want to have a wonderful learning environment for all types of learners

The Learning Contract is great to have with your students. I felt that I had to now live up to this contract.  

My Graphic Organizers (INTASC #1, #3, #4)

Doing the graphic organizers are a very useful tool for understand each method.  It was a great tool to interpret information in a new way.  Graphic organizers are very effective when used with students. Students tend to have a better understanding of story if they teacher does a graphic organizer with them.  In this class we did 4 graphic organizers.

My Power Point Presentations (INTASC #6, #7)

Introduction --- We needed to do PowerPoint presentations for the class on different models of teaching.  We were able to work in teams to collaborate all of our ideas to make a wonderful presentation for the class. It was great learning from our classmates.

Reflection-The PowerPoint presentations at time were a little over whelming.  To take new information and have to learn it well enough to teacher the class was the over whelming part.  Overall I would say it was a good learning experience it got me into the front of the class teaching, and that is important for everyone to do.              

My Lesson Plans (INTASC # 1-10)

Introduction--- A lesson plan is just that, a plan for the teacher to follow. A lesson plan gives a teacher step by step directions on how she/he is going to teach that lesson.  It makes sure that the teacher has goals objectives and aligning them with the NYS  standards and the national standards.

Reflection— Doing these lessons were at times hard. I found that, as I was writing them I would come to a greater understanding of what I was actually teaching.  Overall it was a great experience writing three different types of lesson plans.

My Webquest Project

http://homes.acc.msmc.edu/~cb1483/

 Introduction -- This had to be one of the most challenging and rewarding projects that we did in this class. My webquest is on the life cycle of a butterfly, ladybug and a frog. This webquest is designed for first grade students.

 Reflection— Doing this project showed me that I can be creative in the classroom. This project was really fun and motivating. I can for see me as a teacher doing these for my students. 

Reflective Journals (INTASC #9)

Introduction--  This is a chance for me to look back on what I have learned. It also let me reflect on the field work I have done.  I had to write 3 journals for the class. The last journal encompassed the whole class and the fieldwork I had done.

 Reflection- I have to say that I find it hard to do the reflection journals and yet when I struggle through them.  I like having a written record of what I learned in this class.  It is a great way to think about all the new content and concepts from the class. 

Peers’ Reflections (INTASC #8, #9)

Introduction---   After each presentation were asked by Dr. Smirnova to log on to Web CT and constructively criticize what we thought of each presentation. She called it 3+'s and one Wish. We had to state three aspects of the presentation we liked and one aspect of the presentation we would have liked to see a little better, of different.

Reflection-   At first I wasn't a fan of the 3+'s and a wish, until we really started doing them.  It allowed me to see what my strong points during a presentation are and what I  could have done better or just differently.  It also allowed me to become more comfortable with having my peers constructively criticize me.

Field work Experience (INTASC 1,10)

Introduction-- For General Methods we had to do 20 hours of fieldwork.  We had to observe a class and then teach 3 different types of lesson in that classroom. The cooperating teacher had to watch us and then fill out a rubric outline how we were in the classroom as teachers.

Reflection-- I thought is was the best field work I have had to do so far. I really enjoyed writing lessons that I was actually going to be doing. I also really enjoyed collaborating with the teacher on the lessons and on different ways of executing the lesson.  I have to say it was a little nerve racking doing a lesson in front while the teacher watched.