My Mentor--Mr. Taylor

With a degree in political science from the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Mr. Taylor returned back home to Saipan to put his degree to use. Unfortunately, he was not able to find a career related to his degree upon his return. He then found himself in the midst of what he thought would be a temporary job in teaching at Garapan Elementary School. It was at G.E.S. where he first realized what fun it was teaching children and got "hooked"! Mr. Taylor even went through the masters program here in the C.N.M.I. to obtain a Masters degree in education from Framingham University. He has also managed to attain certification in Early Childhood. Since then he has worked within the Public School System as a teacher and at one point as an administrator for the Head Start Program here. He is currently working at Oleai Elementary School as a Kindergarten teacher. Through first-hand experience with Mr. Taylor, I have seen his abilities and I commend him for his dynamic teaching style. Mr. Taylor is an inspiration to his students and an effective teacher of the school system.

Learning about Numbers

During our math time, I set up cards with numbers from 1-10 with a few missing numbers. First, I had to demonstrate what I expected them to do with the missing numbers by placing the appropriate card where it belonged. Then, I asked for a volunteer to help me with the next card. Pio is shown in this photo placing the number one where it belonged. He had seen what I had done with the other missing numbers and used that to help him place the appropriate card at its place.

Multi-purpose of resources

Kirsten, David, and Leana are shown in this photo working in library center with the carpet. Initially they were placed in the center to work on a learning book with numbers. To my surprise, they used their environment to enhance their learning and experience. Kirsten had asked David to show her the number nine on the carpet and he was successful! I commended their group for taking the initiave to use their environment for the purposes of creating a learning experience. Great Job!

Left & Right

In this photo I am seen singing a song about the left and right hand. I use this song as both a learning activity and a management strategy. When I see that students are getting a bit bored and distracted, I have them stand up and show me their left and right hand to start out the song. I love this song because it can serve two great purposes--learning left from right and recollecting the group.

Animal Rhythms

Usually after circle time, we jump into language arts reciting the A, B, C's. There are a variety of materials we use for the alphabets and in this photo we are focusing on letter sounds and words that start with the letter of the week. One of the materials we use for this activity is the animal rhythms. In the photo, I am pictured using the pointer to help students follow along in reciting the animal rhythm of the day. This activity helps students recognize different words that start with a specific letter that we are learning. When we do this activity, we make sure to review the previous letters that we have already learned about. The children enjoy this activity because it targets kinesthetic, visual, and musical learners. Students get a chance to move around to make the movements of the pictures shown on the clip board. I enjoy this activity myself because it helps students emphasize on the letter of the week, its sound, and the different words that start with the letter. Animal rhythms are a great way to set a foundation for reading.

Student Learning

This photo was taken during circle time. In the first couple of weeks of school, Mr. Taylor and I had done started off circle time with calendar, days of the week, months of the year, and the weather. Mr. Taylor and I would each take turns leading the class with circle time. In this photo, we had David and Yoyo work together to lead the class with calendar and the rest of circle time. This photo is evidence of student learning to show that students know the procedures of circle time and can recite and understand of the days of the week and months of the year. For David and Yoyo to be leading the class during circle time shows the percent of retention the rest of the class will gain from this experience.

Spirit Week

For the month of November, the student council sent out letters to homeroom teacher to inform them of Spirit Week for Thanksgiving. In the letter, teachers were told that each grade level and, if desired, each classroom, had to come up with a cheer of some sort for flag ceremony to show school spirit. In the photo above, the students are lined up on the stage wearing their turkey hats that they colored and holding signs up with the letters spelling "Oleai" and "kindergarten". To lessen the hassle of coming up with a dance and teaching it to the students, Mr. Taylor, Mrs. Carreon and I all decided to do a simple cheer from the movie, "Kindergarten Cop". The cheer went like this:

"Reading, Writing, Arithmetic,

Too Much Homework makes me think.

When its time to pass the test,

Kindergarten is the best!"

The students had alot of fun with it and by the end of the ceremony, students could not get the cheer out of their heads!

Fire Drill

This photo was taken during a fire drill. This had been a first fire drill for this session and unfortunately, it had not been a good one. From this event, I realized that emergency drills needed to be taught and explained to students for them to understand the importance of listening and following directions. Two of our students in this photo are shown holding their bags, which is a "no, no" when it comes down to it. During this event, many students were more concerned of their bags and tying their shoes as opposed to just lining up and following directions. When we got back to the class, I had to take the time to explain to the students that time was important when drills or warning bells are going off. Although my students may were not able to drop their work and concerns quick enough to get outside, I was happy that I remained calm to get them together and out to the safety zone.

First Professional Development

In this photo, the staff and administration of Oleai Elementary School were at the general gathering of the school year's first professional development day. This was a two-day event for teachers and administrators to take part in a variety of workshops to enhance their professional career in education. This event was a first for me and I was very excited to take part in all the workshops that were being offered. I was able to attend three for both days and they included, "Games to Play in a Classroom K-12", "What Great Teachers Do Differently", and "Writing Workshop 4th-12th". These professional development days gave me a glimpse into the different resources that teachers can benefit from to become an effective teacher. All in all this event was a success for me!

Diversity in Flag Ceremonies

It is a school-wide tradition to participate in monthly events called Flag Ceremony. At these ceremonies a number of things take place. In the photo to the left, my students are shown performing the proper stance to sing the national anthem and to the right, a picture of the American flag being raised up the pole during the national anthem. As with many special events and ceremonies, our flag ceremony starts out the same with the national and local anthems. As the ceremony progresses, the administration schedules numerous announcements and activities that include and are not limited to recognition of students of the month, teacher of the month, support staff of the month, contest participants and winners, and other various announcements. This exposure to this type of ceremonies informs students of what takes place in the school and how they could possibly be informed. I see these ceremonies as a way for students to recognize different authority figures of the school and perhaps, even students.