FTCE - PEd

This has been a busy week in Orlando. I took my last FTCE test on Monday morning (the Professional Education exam), and thankfully, I found out right away (unofficially) that I passed.

I was worried about this particular exam because it covers a lot of education-related information and a lot of Florida-specific information. Since I've only taken 2.5 education classes, and I was not at all familiar with Florida education-related laws, I used the CliffsTestPrep book to study for this test. Since I passed on the first try, I can safely say that I learned everything I needed to know from the prep book! I am glad that I took an ESL class (TSL5325), a developmental psychology class (UoP PSYCH538), and most of a reading instruction class (RED5337) before taking this test; the things I learned in those classes came in handy for this test. However, I think I would have been OK even if I hadn't taken those classes because the prep book covered those topics fairly well and really hit on the important material.

It's coming to the end of the summer semester - my last assignment is due August 4, and then I'll be starting my last semester of classwork.

Spring 2010 - done!

I turned in my last assignment for grading on Saturday, and this morning, I turned in my last two pieces of work to my Chalk & Wire portfolio for assessment. I am officially done turning things in for the semester.

My Chalk & Wire portfolio is a requirement for the "teacher preparation" portion of my degree; the College of Education requires it. Certain assignments in my classes demonstrate that we, as students in the FSU teacher preparation program, have the skills and knowledge to meet Florida teacher certification requirements and the classes we take meet the requirements of the state to be part of a "state-approved" teacher preparation program. So, not every assignment we do for every class has to be also sent to Chalk & Wire, but some do. In the past I just turned assignments in at the same time for a grade in Blackboard and to Chalk & Wire, but in my collection development class this semester, the professor wanted us to wait until our assignments were graded for class before submitting them to Chalk & Wire in case we wanted to revise first. Our last assignments were graded as of this morning, so I was finally able to submit my last two "artifacts" to Chalk & Wire.

It feels good to be done. This semester just really dragged for some reason; I think because for one class there were no class meetings at all and in the other there were only 4 class meetings the entire semester.

Spring 2010 - progress

LIS5512:

• Submit final assignment and peer evaluation to Chalk & Wire - waiting on grades
  
• Final Exam - done!
  

TSL5325

• Clean up reflection journal and submit to Chalk & Wire - done
• Finish revising SIOP lesson plan, submit as an assignment and to Chalk & Wire - done
• Scholarly article reviews (3) - due 4/24
  
• Last week's discussion board postings
  

Spring 2010 winding down

Last night was the last (unofficial) meeting of my LIS5512 class. I also turned in the last "assignment" for that class - an evaluation of a collection development policy of a local school and a peer evaluation of one of my classmate's evaluations. Now all that I have left for it is the final exam, which is really a bunch of small essays and writings. It's due next Wednesday, and I haven't started yet.

In my TSL5325 class, I had my last field visit to Rachel Carson yesterday as well. One of the girls in the class gave me the paper crane she made (they had just read Sadako and there were instructions for origami cranes in it), and when the students heard it was my last day, they all sounded sad. All I need to do for that class is submit my reflection journal to my Chalk & Wire portfolio, finish revising my lesson plan and submit it as an assignment and to Chalk & Wire (due Sunday at midnight), and then do my scholarly article reviews (3 articles) and turn those in. Those are due 4/24, so this is my last weekend of the semester to get homework done. That's kind of crazy.

Strange semester

This semester is turning out to just feel very strange. I don't feel like I'm really in school because I have "attended class" exactly two times since the beginning of January. Now that I'm at the half-way point of the semester, I can safely say that I much prefer when my classes meet weekly in Elluminate, or even just meet weekly in a chat room.

Now that the snow has calmed down (and hopefully I'm not jinxing anything by saying that), I have been able to actually go to my field placements for my ESL class. Last week I went to observe four different ESL classes at Park View High School (ESL Social Studies 1, Advanced ELL, ESL Social Studies 2, and ESL Math), and it was really great to see what I'm reading about in my textbooks put into practice in different classrooms. The teachers were all really nice, were more than happy to provide me with copies of what the students were working on, and answered all of my questions.

I also really got to start working one-on-one with an ESL student at Rachel Carson Middle School this week, and although I was very nervous before I started, I think it's going to be good. I went on Monday and Wednesday mornings this past week, and already I can see that the student I am working with remembered one of the things I taught him about writing numbers out as words (putting the hyphen between the first part and second part once you get past twenty). I'm sure I won't be the most effective tutor possible, but it's a learning experience for me as well as him.

Placement update

I received the volunteer forms back from Rachel Carson yesterday, signed by the appropriate parties, so today, I made the trek to Falls Church to drop them off at the Fairfax County Public Schools HR department. There, I filled out more background check forms, showed my photo ID, got fingerprinted again, and got a volunteer badge. It took about an hour and a half just to get there and back for something that took about 20 minutes once I was actually there.

I also received word today that I am officially cleared in Loudoun County to begin that placement.

I am tentatively scheduled to start both my classroom observation at Park View and my one-on-one student tutoring at Rachel Carson sometime next week, so that's exciting.

This is my first semester taking an asynchronous (no class meetings/on your own time within a schedule) class, and it turns out both of my classes this semester are essentially asynchronous. I knew my ESOL class was asynchronous from the beginning, but it turns out my Collection Development class only meets 3 times the whole semester (possibly a 4th time as a wrap-up session), and everything else is asynchronous. So far, I definitely think I prefer actually "having class" on a certain day/time. I don't really feel like I'm in school when I don't actually have to attend class regularly.

Attending class from Disney World

I have to say, as much as I enjoy school most of the time, and as much as I love Disney World, trying to do them at the same time was a challenge. My first week of class was basically during my vacation, so every afternoon/evening I spent time doing my readings and/or signing on to Blackboard to participate in asynchronous class discussions, or to work on assignments. I had two assignments to complete and turn in while down there, two quizzes, and many discussion boards to participate in. It would have been more relaxing if I didn't have to think about school work at the same time. I also had to actually "attend" one class while down there as well, so I had to make sure I was in my hotel room and the internet connection in there was working by 8 pm.

I also managed to get a TB test at Walgreens while down there because it is needed before I go to Loudoun County Public Schools orientation this coming Tuesday for my ESL classroom observation placement at Park View. Because it's a test that needs 48-72 hours before it can be read, waiting until I got back would mean pushing the orientation back even further.

I managed to set up a second placement (I think, it's not finalized yet) at Rachel Carson Middle School with the ESL teacher there, so I can split my time between the placements and experience both high school and middle school ESL. I dropped off the volunteer forms at Rachel Carson yesterday during my lunch break, so hopefully I will be notified soon about what background check stuff I need to do for Fairfax County.

And so it begins again!

The spring 2010 semester officially begins on Wednesday, but my asynchronous class, ESOL in the Content Areas, seems to have already started unofficially. I already have homework to get done by Sunday and more to get done by next Wednesday.

We're also supposed to be figuring out where we can do our "field experience" working with an ESL student in a K-12 setting. I talked with a lady in the personnel office for Loudoun County Public Schools today, and I think things are underway for me to be placed at Park View, where Laura B. works! I need to wait to hear back about fingerprinting and orientation, but at least the ball is rolling on that. I think we're supposed to start actually working with the student by week 3/4.

This is probably the last "fun" post for awhile as school starts full steam ahead.

I did get some time to try out a couple patterns from Tasty Crochet: A Pantry Full of Patterns for 33 Yummy Treats by Rose Langlitz.

I just tried a couple of the smaller patterns (apple slices and peanuts), but they were well-written and easy-to-follow. I have high hopes for some of the larger foods. All of the patterns are adorable, and hopefully Isaac will have fun playing with his new play food.

Registration for Spring 2010

Today was the first day of registration for the Spring 2010 semester. I'm not sure if I just got lucky or if they've updated the registration system to handle more load, but I was able to register in no time this morning.

Next semester I will be taking:

TSL 5325 English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Instruction in the Content Areas

This course is designed to prepare non-ESOL teachers to instruct English language learners in public school content areas (i.e., science, math, social studies) and specialized areas (i.e., art, physical education). It places emphasis on language sensitive instructional planning and delivery, adaptation of instructional materials for enhanced comprehension, testing and placement of students, and cross-cultural awareness. It satisfies the teacher certification requirements for content area teachers. It is not part of the ESOL Endorsement required of primary language providers.

LIS 5512 School Collection Development and Management

The course is designed to provide an understanding of the attitudes, knowledge and skills necessary to manage human resources and provide effective leadership in a school library media program. Covers collection development and management in school libraries. Required for school media certification. Recommended to take the semester before taking the State of Florida media specialist exam.

This includes my first education class. I know it will require some sort of tutoring and/or observation of an ESOL student, so we'll see how that goes.