Saying Goodbye to Kindergarten and Terms I-III

Tomorrow is my last day of student teaching with my kindergarteners. It feels strange to say it, but I have plenty of experience saying goodbye to students. I student taught when I was in college, and I had five different placements because I was working with a traveling music teacher (a middle school, a high school, and three elementary schools). I had a lot of goodbyes to make then. After that, I did two years of City Year, which meant getting to know and love two schools' worth of amazing students and saying goodbye to them when my term of service was up. My first City Year's goodbyes were the hardest goodbyes.

Tomorrow, I will be able to handle the farewells, mostly because one of my classmates is going to be student teaching there next semester. Also, I am accompanying the 3rd and 4th grade choir in their holiday concert next Tuesday, so I feel like it's not really goodbye yet. Check in next week to see how I'm feeling about it.

I have some fun things planned for tomorrow! First, I am making them a poster that is based off of a DIY holiday card I saw on Buzzfeed. It's going to have a string of lights on it (with the colored lights being painted fingerprints), and I'm going to write "Thanks for lighting up my life!" I know it's cheesy, but I like it. Then I'm going to cut it up into 25 puzzle pieces and number them. Each student will get an envelope that has their name on it. Inside the envelope will be a little note from me as well as a puzzle piece. We will count around the room and one by one the students will put the puzzle together. After they read the message on the card (or I read it to them), we're going to make a poster for their new student teacher. Part of the poster will have questions for her that they want answered (e.g. What's your favorite color? Where are you from?), and then the rest will be things they want her to know about their classroom. Hopefully the poster will ease the transition from one student teacher to the next.

In other news, Term III has been successfully handed in, and the semester is quickly coming to a close. Tomorrow is my last day of student teaching and then Thursday is my last day of class! Say hello to the last big assignment I am working on:

"Poppy" is a children's book I am writing and illustrating for my Elementary Literacy Methods course. Poppy is a soda can who is manufactured in central PA and sent to a corner store in West Philly (slightly autobiographical). Someone buys her, and drinks her, but they don't recycle her! They drop her on the ground so Poppy has to make it on her own, exploring all West Philly has to offer until someone picks her up, recycles her, and…

I honestly haven't figured out the ending yet. It's due Thursday, so hopefully I will have one by then!

Best,

Rachel

Staying motivated during crunch time

If you're reading this, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I spent a lot of time with my family over break. My holiday was full of babies, boardgames, and FOOD! But, the holiday is over and it's back to reality. The reality is my Term III assignment is due on Friday the 12th at 11:59 pm!!!!

For my Term III assignment I had to come up with an overarching question about instruction. My question is: 

How can I ask high-level questions to encourage discussion among a group of students? 
If students respond incorrectly, how can I use their answers to add to the group’s learning?

So, with that question in mind I had to plan and execute four small group lessons in each of the content areas. Now that the lessons are done (except for the science lesson I'm doing on Monday), it's time to analyze my teaching via a nifty website called Edthena, and write a bunch of lovely papers that will then be put on a beautiful website that I created on Weebly. Here are pictures of a couple of the pages on my website.

So, knowing that I have less than a week to complete this monster of an assignment is sort of freaking me out, but there are certain things I do or that I am looking forward to which help me maintain my sanity and positivity. Here they are, in no particular order. 

1. 

I drink tea. Lots of tea. Tea is superior to coffee for many reasons. First and foremost, it is cheaper than coffee and doesn't require any special machinery to make it! If you have a stove top or a microwave, you are ready to make tea. Also, there are caffeinated and decaffeinated options to fit your drinking desires. There is no such thing as truly caffeine-free coffee. My favorite types of tea are Pumpkin or Vanilla Chai tea for when I want a bit of caffeine, and Chamomile or Sleepy Time tea for when I want to relax. My boyfriend got to tour the Celestial Tea factory in Denver, CO and got me a pretty mug with an R on it. The tea pot and kettle were both things we inherited from former roommates. 

2. 

I take walks. James and I like to do Wednesday Walks. It's a little tradition that helps us escape our homework (he's also at Penn for grad school) and get out of the apartment for a little bit. And sometimes we stop at The Lil' Pop Shop which always cheers me up. I love walking to and from campus as well as to and from my placement. It's fun to try and notice new things, even after walking the same paths day after day. A little tip for walking to school: be friendly to the crossing guards! They are great to talk to in the morning. 

Here's Passion Pit, who also wants you to take a walk. 

3. 

I practice piano. My Mom is a musician and she kindly lets me borrow her keyboard for the majority of the year. I'm a violinist and vocalist by training, but I've always loved playing the piano. Practicing helps me clear my mind, and it's also nice to work hard at something that isn't school work or my resume. I'm currently playing Christmas music and "Waltz from the Adventures of Ivan" by Aram Khachaturian." This isn't me playing, but here's a video from youtube of the piece. 

 

4. 

I play games! I am a big fan of boardgames, as is one of my aunts. Over Thanksgiving she introduced my family to a really fun game called Dabble. Everyone gets 20 tiles. When the timer starts, you flip the tiles over and try to spell 5 words with them: a 2-letter word, a 3-letter word, a 4-letter word, a 5-letter word, and a 6-letter word. It is SO fun. The picture is from a round that I was particularly proud of. Games are a great way to spend time with the people you love and get your mind off of school work! For boardgames, I love Catan and Tribond. For card games, I love Hand and Foot, Euchre, and 500. 

5. 

I keep holiday traditions alive! White Christmas is one of my favorite movies of all time, as well as one of my favorite Christmas movies. I make a point to watch it every year, but last year my sister and I saw it at The Rave! It was amazing to see a movie on the big screen that we grew up watching in black and white. Seeing it on the big screen is definitely a tradition that we are going to keep alive. This movie is such a big part of my family culture that when my sister got married last year, my sisters and I did the famous "Sisters" dance from the movie - blue, feathery fans and all! Eventually my whole family joined in and it wasn't just the sisters dance. If you have no idea what I'm talking about you NEED to see this movie, or just watch the clips below. The first one is the real one, and the second one is Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye's spoof. Amazing. 

 

6. 

I remember why I'm doing this. In a matter of months I am going to be a TEACHER. That makes it all worth it.

So I guess I will just keep calm and carry on.  

- Rachel

You know that moment when you think you're going to be a terrible teacher...

Well, I had that moment this week. And it was not pleasant.

As I mentioned in previous blog posts, I'm currently in Term III of the Teacher Ed Program! This is wonderful news, because 3 is more than half-way through 5 and by the end of this term it will be 5 months until graduation! Wow!

In my opinion, Term III has been the most fun assignment-wise. I have to come up with four small group lessons, teach them, film/audio record them, and analyze my teaching. Everything I learn will go on a comprehensive website that will serve as my capstone assignment. Before I dive into the experience that made me think I was going to be a terrible teacher, let me give you a bit of context. Here's what I have done so far and what I have yet to do:

• Social Studies - I taught a lesson on identifying problems and solving them using the STAR Method, which stands for Say (what the problem is), Think (about what to do), Act (do the thing you thought about), and Reflect (how did I handle the problem?). This was the first lesson I did with my small group, and although I think it went well, the lesson had a bit too much content in it. I possible should have worked on just identifying problems, or on teaching them the first two steps of the STAR Method. I found the STAR Method a bit difficult to work with because it really is making the implicit, explicit. Kindergarteners identify and solve problems all the time without anyone telling them how to do it. Sometimes teachers have to step in, but most of the time if a problem is within their ability to solve, they can figure it out. But, the STAR Method will hopefully come in handy when they have to identify and solve problems that are outside of their comfort zone/experience level. 
• Math - Grab and Count! Most of my students have a really firm grasp of counting. A lot of them can count all the way up to 100 (with a few missteps here and there - mostly in the tricky teens), and they are also able to write their number words up to ten (meaning they can write the words "one, two, three…"). In this lesson, I had my students grab a big handful of objects, count them, and come up with a way to represent them on paper. Some of them traced the objects they picked up, some of them drew and labeled them, some of them just wrote the number and then drew a picture of the cat…it was fun.
• Literacy - Retelling a story with the beginning, middle, and end. "Key details" are all over the Common Core Standards for Literacy. Originally, I wanted to teach students how to retell a story using the setting, characters, beginning, middle, end, and something else. Then I did my Social Studies lesson and realized that was WAY too much for one lesson. I wanted to teach them less, but in more depth so they would really understand and remember it. So, I thought that beginning, middle, and end of a story would be enough. I've written two drafts of my lesson plan and am currently emailing back and forth with my professor about part of it. Haven't taught it yet!
• Science - Okay, so technically I already did Science with a group of fifth graders at another school, but I really want to do a Science lesson with my kids! Need to think more on this…but quickly, since the clock is ticking!

So, here's what happened during my Math lesson. It took place in the library right before dismissal on a half day. My Penn Mentor was observing me, as was my partner student-teacher Anna (who is one of my favorite people from Penn!). I picked the same 6 kids to do all of my lessons with because I'm experimenting with different pairings and seating arrangements. One of the little boys in my group was very fidgety and was getting into everything. He's 5 years old, so that's expected. I asked him several times to show me Magic 6 (peanut butter bottom, pretzel legs, peanut butter hands, seeing eyes, listening ears, thinking brain) and to try to control himself, etc, etc. It really wasn't working. He was getting into everything: the bucket of blocks I had, the books on the shelves around him, the popsicle sticks I was using to pull out of a cup and ask students questions…I didn't know what to do! I was so distracted by trying to keep my lesson going, knowing the whole time that he was distracting the other 5 kids and that no one was listening to me. He'd never been like this before! Eventually I reached my wit's ends and I asked my partner student-teacher to walk him back to the classroom because I didn't think he could handle being with us in the library.

Well. That was a mistake.

He started crying - loudly - and he refused to get up from the rug. In fact he sat in the middle of the rug and wouldn't move.

If you're reading this and you've been a teacher you're probably nodding your head and thinking, "Yeah, well, that happens. Deal with it." Well, it's never happened to me before! And I did NOT know how to deal! All I can say is thank goodness for Anna. Anna eventually got the little boy to leave the library with her. She told me later that they did some deep breathing and she let him go to the bathroom and drink some water. Anna talked with him and then brought him back to the library about 5-7 minutes later while the children were working on their own. I was able to have a conversation with him. He apologized and tearfully explained, "I just get so excited that I can't sit still!"

Urgh. Then my heart broke into a million little pieces. Because of course he was excited and couldn't sit still! I know this student. He is always getting out of his seat during Journal Time to show me his work. He loves learning and getting attention. He is a pretty young kindergartener. How could I have just tried to send him back to class? My Penn Mentor later asked me, "What do you think you could have done to help him relax and work him back into the lesson?" I am so glad she asked that, because I realized for the first time that I didn't want him to come back to the lesson. I wanted him out of my hair so that I could finish teaching the other 5 kids. But he's important and he deserved to finish that lesson. I realized that I could have given him some blocks to play with, given him paper and a pencil to write or draw on, or given him a book to read (we were in the library!). I really regret the way I handled the situation and it has been bothering me ever since it happened.

Thankfully, kids can be resilient and forgiving. I don't think this is going to negatively impact my relationship with this student, but I am going to be very intentional about the way I handle behaviors like overexcitement and moving around. Since this little boy has a hard time sitting still, I may ask him to be my helper in my next lesson to help me pass things out, or something like that. I am still brainstorming about it.

I know there will be many moments to come when I feel awful about a decision I make in the classroom. I think that's why this incident has affected me so much. Because it's the first time it happened. I student taught when I was in college, but I don't remember having an experience like this. My Penn Mentor is always telling me, "Whatever you do, make sure you learn from your mistakes."

I certainly will.

 

I think I've had a cold since September.

Most days I will blow my nose a few times and maybe sniffle a little…but this week I think my cold has transformed into an ugly sinus infection. I feel miserable and can't think of much else, so I have been researching why first year teachers are always sick (I'm not a first year teacher, but just go with it). The most common reasons seem to be:

• exposure to a plethora of germs
• stress
• lack of sleep
• not enough fruits and veggies
• not enough exercise.

Let's see if these apply to me...

• Germs - I am definitely exposed to a lot of germs. On Wednesday, as my students were heading out to recess, a little girl took a used tissue out of her pocket and thrust it in my hand while asking, "Can you throw this away for me?" I tried to dodge it but the damage was done. I try to wash my hands several times a day, especially before eating or touching my hair/face, but it's harder than I thought it would be.
• Stress - I have been feeling pretty stressed lately. I only have a month left in my current placement, and I'm sad to have to say goodbye to the students I love so much! I also recently went to an information session for a recruitment agency that places teachers in independent schools, and I need to have an updated resume, letters of recommendation, and a statement of purpose well before January 1st. It feels like applying to grad school all over again! Additionally, I'm not even 100% where I want to work next year, which makes thinking about applying to jobs a tad overwhelming…So, I'm stressed about saying goodbye to my current students and finding a job for next year, but I also have this thing called homework to worry about. Homework consists of lots of readings for class, as well as the upcoming Term III assignment which I am currently working on. There are always a million things I could be doing, so yeah, I guess I am stressed. 
• Lack of sleep - I find it really hard to accomplish good work in the evening, so I have been waking up early to do homework. The issue is that I'm not going to be any earlier than I was before I started doing that. Looks like I need to go back to the drawing board on that one.
• Fruits and veggies - Yeah, yeah, yeah, I could always eat better. 
• Exercise - On days when I go to student-teach, I walk about 2.5 miles. On days when I am just going to Penn, I walk about 1.5 miles. I wish that walking could count as my exercise, but I know I could be doing more. It's one of those things where I know I would feel better if I exercised, but it's hard to get in the habit of making time for it. When push comes to shove I would rather sit on the couch and watch Doctor Who with James instead of go for a run. Plus, it's getting coooooold! But okay. I'll concede with this point just like I did with the fruits and veggies. I could be doing better. 

So I guess I understand why I'm sick, but that doesn't make it anymore fun! Here's hoping that spending a lazy Saturday in my pajamas will put me on the road to recovery. And I just ate a huge carrot (like the Bugs Bunny kind) - so here's to turning over a new (healthy) leaf! 

The Grid and what it means to me.

Yesterday was Penn GSE's annual Fall recruitment event! We had well over 100 people come to Philly (some from as far away as D.C. and Tennessee) to learn about all of the great programs GSE has to offer. I was happy to see a group of people turn up to learn more about the Teacher Education Program, and I hope I did a good enough job of convincing them to apply/come to TEP! While most of my responsibilities as a Graduate Assistant involve putting in hours at the Admissions desk answering phones or contacting prospective students, it meant a lot to be able to talk about my own program and all it has to offer. As I told the group on :, when I applied to the TEP at Penn, I knew that if I didn't get in, I would really have to think about what my next steps were going to be. For me, it was the only program I wanted to be a part of, and I'm pleased to report that after four months, I still feel that way!

After I was accepted to the TEP, I went to an Accepted Students Day event just for my program. I met a few of my current classmates and it was such an exciting day. I remember getting a piece of paper that had the program layout on it in a lovely, organized grid. The progression of the program through different terms and focuses really attracted me to the TEP. Here is a brief snapshot of each term in case it's hard to see the picture I included:

*these dates are for next year*

Term I: July 1 - August 14

• Focus of inquiry: Neighborhoods and Schools
• Fieldwork: PreK field placement, most likely in the same neighborhood you will be student teaching in the fall
• Major assignment: Neighborhood Study - my first big grad school assignment; nearly killed me, but in retrospect it really wasn't too bad.

Term II: August 26 - October 9 

• Focus of inquiry: Learners and Learning
• Fieldwork: 2 days a week in a K-4 grade classroom (emphasis on observing and working 1:1)
• Major assignment: Child Study - my second big grad school assignment; see previous blog posts for how I dealt with this assignment…

Term III: October 12 - December 18

• Focus of inquiry: Pedagogy
• Fieldwork: still 2 days a week, but the focus shifts from working with one student to working with small groups
• Major Assignment: Integrated inquiry into practice - you come up with a question about instruction (e.g. What is the ideal balance of teacher-talk to student-talk? How can I make sure that students with varying levels of ability reach the same goal?) and then teach four lessons to small groups: one each in Social Studies, Science, Math, and Literacy. During each lesson, you focus on answering the question and analyzing your teaching. This is the Term I am currently in and I promise to write another blog post about how it's going!

Term IV: January 4 - February 1

• Focus of inquiry: Curriculum
• Fieldwork: 4 days a week in a different grade level and the emphasis is now on whole class instruction
• Major Assignment: Curriculum design - looking forward to this assignment!

Term V: February 1 - May 6 --- then you'll graduate on May 16, 2016!

• Focus of inquiry: Praxis (not the test, rather the practice of teaching)
• Fieldwork: 5 days a week in the grade level you started student teaching in Term IV 
• Major Assignment: Master's portfolio in the form of a website and PDE student teaching evaluation

I think this layout is really beneficial to my fellow classmates and me. We know what the expectations are for each part of our program, as does every one of our professors and Classroom Mentors, and I have really appreciated easing into my student teaching placement. The focuses of inquiry have been very helpful guidelines as well. There is a big difference between focusing on how students learn and focusing on how to teach, and the Terms allow me to take one thing at a time as opposed to attempting to learn about all of the dimensions of teaching at once. 

When I was holding the program layout in my hand and talking to prospective students, I felt like I was still in their shoes, just waiting to start at Penn. I can't believe I'm already three terms in and well on my way to becoming a teacher! I'm relieved to have Terms I and II behind me, but I know that more challenging days are ahead. However, I also know that the bar for what I label as "challenging" is getting higher and higher. Bah! 

With that eloquent ending, I'll end this post.

p.s. For all my fellow Whovians who need to relax: enjoy!  

An Average* Day

* there is no such thing, but for the sake of this entry, I'm going to imagine that there is!

To give you a good look at an average day in the Teacher Education Program at Penn GSE, I'm actually going to go through TWO days. Why? Because there's an average day for Mondays and Wednesdays, when I'm student teaching, and an average day for Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday when I'm in class.

So, let's dive in.

MONDAY:
8:00 - Arrive at school.
8:25 - Go outside to greet the students!
8:45 - 10:00 - How are you? song, Alphabet song (not the one you're thinking of, though!), Attendance, Journal time (yes, kindergarteners can journal! It's awesome).
10:00 - 10:10 - Children get ready for recess
10:10 - 10:30 - Outdoor recess; little prep for the teacher. I usually eat a quick snack and do some planning, or I'll head out to observe the kiddos.
10:30 - 11:45 - Calendar, Read Aloud, Message Time
11:45 - 12:15 - Lunch and Recess (prep for the teacher - so hard not to eat my lunch during this time!)
12:15 - 1:00 - Math! This is the part of the day that I get to teach! We sing The Big Number Song, and then I read the students a math-themed picture book. I have started doing Number Talks  with dot cards, but I have also done voting activities with my students that require counting using a one-to-one ratio. I also introduced Math Message Time, which is a math-focused spin on regular Message Time.
1:00 - 1:45 - Music or Gym for the children; Prep for the teacher!
1:45 - 2:55 - Science/Social Studies or Choice Time, where there are a variety of activities set up around the room
2:55 - 3:05 - Children get ready for dismissal
3:05 - 3:20 - Dismissal
3:30 - Walk to Penn for class
3:45 - Walk past Dunkin Donuts or stop at Dunking Donuts, depending on how tired I am!
3:50 - Arrive at class, chat, finish readings
4:30 - 6:45 - Social Studies Methods class!

TUESDAY:
10:00 - 1:00 - Math Methods class
1:00 - 2:00 - Eat lunch, do some homework, stretch my legs
2:00 - 4:00 - Work in Admissions/Financial Aid department!
4:00 - 4:30 - Break!
4:30 - 6:30 - Seminar class

There you have it! Two sort-of average days as a TEP student!

Have a good week, everyone! Make sure to vote on Tuesday!

Courtesy of my friend Jill

The Ultimate Midterm Manifesto

The summer after my sophomore year of college I did a People to People Program in New Orleans. I loved New Orleans; what an amazing city. I also met some pretty amazing people, including my friend Jill, who is now a graduate student at Oxford (so impressive!). I wish I had read this Midterm  Manifesto when I was working on my Term 2 assignment! Alas, the motivation will have to carry me through Term 3. Happy reading!

- Rachel

Two-fifths of the way there...

This became my theme song at 11:30 pm on Friday night when I turned in my 48 page Term 2 assignment. As I may have neglected to mention, the Teacher Education Program is broken up into 5 Terms, and Term 2 ended when I hit "Submit" to turn in my Term 2 paper. I promise to tell you what the Terms are in my next post. I'm too excited and relieved to talk about anything other than finishing my Term 2 assignment.

The Aftermath looked like this:

I know there are some of you out there who wrote a thesis in undergrad, but as a Music Education major, let me tell you…I was NOT one of those students. I've written large papers before for group projects, but this was the first long paper I wrote all by myself, complete with six sweet Appendices (super fancy), and references to boot. Even though I know I still have more months of work to do before I graduate, I'm really proud of myself for keeping it together this far!

I'm saying that I'm proud of myself now, but this week of stress and anxiety definitely brought out some ugly moments of self-doubt. Thankfully I have a very supportive boyfriend who can simultaneously cheer me up and shut down my negativity (his best line: "You can go to that place, but I'm not going there with you" - serious, yet loving). I also have another great motivator which is the fact that every assignment brings me one step closer to being a teacher! How can I be upset when I know what waits for me at the finish line?

I already get to work with some amazing kids. I'm student teaching with kindergarten students, and they are wonderful for a lot of different reasons, one being that they speak with such candor. It's hilarious sometimes. Here is an excerpt from a conversation I had with a student:

Rachel - What kind of animals do you like?

Child - Not cats, because my first cat scratched me. Just hamsters and fish. I like guinea pigs.

Rachel - Do guinea pigs and humans have anything in common?

Child - They stink and we don’t.

Rachel - Okay, but do we have anything that’s the same? (I point to my eyes)
Child - Eyes, mouth, and nose. But we don’t have fur.

I was trying to see if he could find similarities and differences between humans and animals. He found them alright. 

Best,

Rachel

The Moon and Me

Happy First Day of Fall! 

Fall is my favorite season! I was outside looking for the moon this morning at 6:15, and it was a beautifully crisp, chilly morning. I love this time of year, and the weather makes my walks to student-teaching and to campus all the more pleasant. 

If you're wondering why I was looking for the moon at 6:15 this morning, then you're not the only one. I definitely get a lot of weird looks when I'm walking around my neighborhood with my nose pointed toward the sky. Usually my boyfriend will go with me and make sure I don't walk into anyone, but this morning I was on my own. Bad news: we're approaching a "new" moon, which means the moon isn't visible right now. *sigh*

I have to keep a Moon Journal for my Science Methods class. In this journal, I draw pictures of my moon sightings, noting the moon's color, direction, and height in the sky (among other things). Every week in Science class we share our moon sightings and draw conclusions about the moon's behavior. Here's an example of our weekly moon drawings:

Our professor, NancyLee Bergey, even led us through a moon simulation using pencils, Styrofoam balls, and an unfiltered light bulb. Science class is always full of hands-on activities, which is really preparing me to be a science teacher.

It's about 4:15, which means it's time for me to head to class, but I want to leave you with some great quotes I heard in my kindergarten class this week (mostly from my Classroom Mentor), as well as some upcoming recruitment events for Penn GSE!

Until next time!

-Rachel
 
Overheard in Kindergarten...

“Why do we keep a calendar?"

“U – U is a vowel that says its own name. U as is unicorn, U as in umbrella.” 

“Is it important to know order while you’re counting?”

“My hands are at my side. I’m standing straight and tall. My eyes are facing forward. I’m ready for the hall.”

“Q doesn’t go anywhere without who?”
       “The baby!”
“Right! Who’s the baby?”
       “U!”

This week in Recruitment...

If you would like to speak to a Penn GSE representative at a recruitment fair, see below!

·         Philadelphia residents!

o   Consider coming out to the Philadelphia Idealist Grad Fair today, September 23^rd, to speak to a represent from Penn GSE. The Fair is from 5:00-8:00 pm, at 3301 Market Street!

·         College students at…

o   University of Virginia: Check out your school’s Professional and Graduate School Fair tomorrow, Wednesday, September 24^th, from 12:00-4:00 pm!

o   College of William and Mary: Check out your school’s Graduate and Professional Career Fair on Thursday, September 25^th from 1:00-4:00!

o   Fayetteville State University: Check out your school’s Career and Graduate School Fair on Thursday, September 25^th from 1:00-4:00!

o   Smith College: Check out your school’s Fall Career Fair on Friday, September 26^th from 3:30-6:00 pm.

Introductions

Greetings!

My name is Rachel, and I'm excited to be writing this blog about the Teacher Education Program (TEP) at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE). I'll start off by telling you about the Teacher Education Program, why I chose it, and then close with some information about myself. 

The Teacher Education Program at Penn is divided into two strands: the Elementary and Middle Level strand, and the Secondary strand. I am studying Early Elementary Education, and will eventually be certified to teach PreK through 4th grade. My friends who are pursuing Middle Level certification will be able to teach 4th through 8th grade in a specific content area like Science, Social Studies, Literacy, or Math. The Secondary certification is also in a specific content area (Science, Social Studies, Literacy, Math) for grades 7-12.  

A little over a year ago I began researching different graduate programs for education and was originally drawn to Penn GSE's Education Policy program. After a lot of reflection, I realized that policy was absolutely NOT what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I have always loved teaching and working with students in the classroom, so the Teacher Education Program at Penn was a great fit. Here are the top reasons why I chose Penn's TEP:

• Full year of student-teaching: Most student-teaching experiences take place over the course of one semester. At TEP, I get to student-teach two days a week from the first day of school until the last day of school before winter break, and then four days a week until the end of the year. 

• Penn Mentor: Every student-teacher works with a Penn Mentor, who is a retired teacher from the Philadelphia area. My Penn Mentor taught for over 30 years at an elementary school in West Philly, and is a huge source of advice and inspiration. As I progress through my student-teaching, she will be observing me and giving me feedback on how to improve.

• Cohort Model: I am one of 27 students in the Elementary/Middle Level strand, and we take all of our classes together. Needless to say, we got to know each other pretty quickly, and I love learning from my classmates' diverse educational backgrounds and experiences. It is important to have an academic community, both as a student, and as a teacher, and the cohort model gives me just that. 

• Location: I love Philadelphia and the students that live and go to school here each day. It was important for me to find a Teacher Education program that was steeped in the context of Philadelphia and its unique school district. My student-teaching placement is a public elementary school in the School District of Philadelphia, therefore I am learning how to teach in an environment similar to one I hope to teach in. 

Why do I love Philly and its students so much? So glad you asked. 

Two years ago I moved to Philadelphia to serve with City Year as an AmeriCorps volunteer. City Year is a national non-profit that places diverse teams of 17-24 year olds in high-need urban schools. City Year Corps Members tutor students who are off-track in attendance, behavior, and/or course performance (math or literacy), provide after-school programming for all students, and work with teachers to help keep students on track in school. 

During my City Year, I served as a Corps Member in a 6th grade classroom at a public K-8 school in East Germantown. I cannot overstate how much I LOVED working with my 6th graders. Everyday presented new challenges and opportunities, and since I wasn't the classroom teacher, I had a lot of freedom within the classroom. I was able to work with individuals and small groups, to create and implement a positive behavior management system, and to form unique relationships with all of my students. 

Being a City Year Corps Member was a life-changing experience, and it put me on the path to becoming an elementary school teacher. I continued to serve another year as a Team Leader with City Year, in which I was able to co-lead a team of 18 Corps Members at a public middle school in North Philly as they worked with their own students.  

Before I moved to Philly for City Year, I attended Lebanon Valley College in my hometown of Annville, Pennsylvania. I studied Music Education, and I come from a family of musicians. I have two musical parents, two brothers, and three sisters - all with enough musical talent to put together a family band (which I've always wanted to do, but the idea never took off). Philly isn't too far from home, which is another reason why I love being at Penn. Sometimes those weekend trips home take can help take my mind off of all the homework I should be doing! 

Hopefully this post introduced you to the Teacher Education Program at Penn GSE and gave you a little bit of background knowledge about who I am. 

Until next week!

- Rachel 

Pre-Introductory Blog Post - Disclaimer

Hello!

My name is Rachel Beazley, and I am a student in Penn GSE's Teacher Education Program. My program started in early July, and I will graduate in May 2015 with an M.S.Ed. in Early Elementary Education and certification to teach grades PreK-4. I'm writing this blog as a way to document my year at GSE, as well as to inform anyone out there who is curious about Penn GSE, particularly the Teacher Education program.

Before I introduce myself and delve into more exciting stuff, I just wanted to include a little disclaimer and to let everyone know that this blog is going to be full of my own views and opinions. I promise to be honest, but do not promise that my views will always align with those of Penn GSE, my professors, or fellow students.

That being said, let's move on!

- Rachel