Palmetto Elementary *12401 SW 74th Ave*Miami, FL 33156

pes.dadeschools.net

Service Learning Journal

Service Learning Journal

EDF 2085 * Spring 2014

EDF 2085 * Spring 2014

By: Elena FornesBy: Elena Fornes

Home of the Lions School Profile

Grades: PK – 05Total Enrollment: 590Uniforms: YesColors: Royal Blue & Gold

http://pes.dadeschools.net/

Palmetto Elementary is a Dade county public school in Pinecrest, Fl serving approximately 594 students grades PK - 05. Palmetto has extracurricular activities available to its students which include band, cheerleading and chess. The school also have a wellness initiative ‘Play, Eat, Succeed’ which strives to motivate and educate the students and staff to make healthier choices and be more active. The student body consists of 43% hispanic, 40% white, 10% black and 7% asian. They currently employ 42 teachers, 2 occupational therapist, 1 physical therapist, 1 speech therapist and 1 SPED teacher. The other 20 employees consist of office staff, custodial and cafeteria employees , the assistant principal and principal.

Mrs. Ellis - 5th Grade Morning Class

Ms. Viquez - 4th Grade

After noon Class

Schedule / Lesson Plan9 am – Science10 am Language Arts11 am Reading

Student Demographic24 total students13 girls and 11 boys1 African American, 2 Asian21 white & Hispanic.

Schedule / Lesson Plan12:30 –Reading 1 pm- Language Arts2 pm -Social Studies

Student Demographic23 Total Students14 girls, 9 boys3 African American, 1 Asian 20 white and Hispanic.

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During this assignment I passed out construction paper and walked around the class to make sure that the students understood how to create the flap book. I also helped some of the students decide which living thing they were going to illustrate and describe. I have to be honest this science class has had me so exited from day 1, it is so much fun. You are exposed to so many different learning styles which effectively deepens and enriches a students’ understanding through content area literacy strategies, verbalization of thought, and application of the subject matter; (FEAPS 3;B). An assignment like this differentiates instruction based on an assessment of student learning needs and recognition of individual differences in students; (FEAPS 3;H) It allows for the instructor to support, encourage, and provide immediate and specific feedback to students to promote student achievement; and utilize student feedback to monitor instructional needs and to adjust instruction.(FEAPS 3;I,J)This experience changed my views on elementary education. When the semester first started I was not sure if I wanted to go into secondary or primary teaching but now I know. I know that elementary education is the heart and soul, the building blocks of a person’s future.

Activity Description: Create a history time line.

The students had been discussing the chronological order of events for this assignment through out the week. In the beginning of this class she started off reading from the text book. After she read the 1st paragraph she then called out on a student to continue reading and had each student read 3 or 4 sentences from the section. In accordance with FEAPS 1 Ms. Viquez was effectively communicating using listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills for this assignment. Once they finished reading the text they had question and answer time; the students told me that this is their favorite subject. They spent about 10 minutes discussing what they had just read. In doing this Ms. Viquez was adapting the learning environment to accommodate the differing needs and diversity of students FEAPS 2,H. I’m sure that some of the students were probably drifting away while they were reading aloud however became very engaged and eager during the Q& A segment. After this Ms. Viquez explained that they would be creating a time line of all the events and people which they had been learning about through out the week. She was not going to grade this, she explained, she wanted them to create it for themselves as their ‘go to’ time line during future class discussion. She also let them know to get creative and draw pictures , cut and or print out illustrations to describe the time. She applied varied instructional strategies and resources, including appropriate technology, to provide comprehensible instruction and to teach for student understanding(FEAPS 3,G). I assisted the class in helping some of the kids draw the lines in the center of the page . I gave them ideas as to what they could draw. They were exited to do this and this again gave the students another outlet to learn and retain information. As previously stated, I really enjoyed participating in this servicing learning assignment. I am thrilled that I decided to participate in a primary school. It gave me the opportunity to experience elementary education through the eyes of an instructor.

Music Band

Cheerleading squad

This was a wonderful experience. I can’t say enough that I was not sure how I was going to feel about any of this. For starters I was worried that I might not like the teaching profession and I was convinced that I preferred High School over elementary. Boy was I wrong. I absolutely love the teaching profession and only want to teach elementary. Elementary is the beginning of a life long mold that we are creating for ourselves. It’s the platform that holds up our future education. As an elementary school teacher you have an opportunity to be part of that and I am looking forward to it. I was lucky enough to work with 2 separate teacher and in different subjects. Mrs. Ellis has been teaching since 1970, so she had a very calm confidence to her teaching style. She wasn’t trying to prove anything she is very comfortable in her role and it shined. Her teaching methods were essentially pin pointed in just about every area of FEAPS. She was truly an inspiration and I enjoyed my time with her very much. Ms. Viquez has been teaching for about 13 years, although much younger she was also very sound with her teaching style. After every assignment and test she always has the students switch assignments with one another to grade, which I thought was interesting. She explained to me that the reason she does that is because that is the time to ask and answer question. That is the moment when the information is fresh in their minds and so if they get something wrong they will ask why and she can explain. She feels that this really helps in reviewing with them and helping them understand why they answered incorrectly. I thought this was a genius idea and hope to some day implement it. This method also complies with (FEAPS 3, I&J)Support, encourage, and provide immediate and specific feedback to students to promote student achievement; and utilize student feedback to monitor instructional needs and to adjust instruction.