CF Classroom

When walking into my classroom there are many posters and colorful pictures all over the wall.  The classroom itself is large in that it used to be a science classroom with sinks in the back and lab stations.  The desks are in groups of four with the teachers desk in the front of the room.  The walls are covered with health posters.  The teacher also graduated from Oregon State University so there is a bulletin board full of Beaver posters.  The room has one side full of windows with the other side having storage closets full of worksheets and student supplies.  The storage closets are also decorated with pictures of athletes and wrapping paper.  My cooperating teacher is decorative in all part of the classroom.  There are also classroom rules posted as well as anti-bullying posters.  This is a colorful health classroom with many interesting posters surrounding the class.  
The feel of the classroom is warm and inviting.  The room is colorful and you know exactly what type of classroom you are in when you enter.  The room is well lit and also has a lot of space for you to move in.  I also feel that the room is organized which is useful when you need to sit somewhere or get something.  
When it comes to my teaching I am excited to be in this classroom.  The room is large and organized.  I feel that I am a very organized type of person which is helpful in my first teaching experience.  I also like the posters all over the room so that students can walk around and learn new things that may not be discussed in the class.  The negative with all of the color is that some students can get distracted by these items and not listen to me while I am teaching.  I also feel that having the desks in groups will be good for my teaching because of the group activities that I will be having my students do.  The classroom being big is helpful to my teaching to let my students move in the classroom while doing assignments.  The last thing that will make my teaching experience go well will be having all of the rules posted.  If I ever have a problem I can point to the rules and discuss how the student broke them.  

CF School

According to the Oregon Department of Education Ducks Middle School has a total of 895 students grades 6th through 8th.  Out of the total population of the school 635 of the students are white.  The smallest number of students are of the African American race with 6 students.  Hispanic race is the second most prevalent in the school with a total of 177 students.  The next three categories in the school are Multi-Ethnic with 45 students, Asian/Pacific Islander with 22 students, and American Indian/Alaskan Native with a total of 10 students.  
The facilities at Duck Middle School are in great shape.  The school is in the shape of a square with the gym in the back of the school.  The front office and main entrance of the school are in the front of the square shape.  While walking through the facilities I can’t see any major problems with the school.  The school seems fairly new or renovated.  The only major problem that I can see is that the school library is very small and and has hardly any books in the library.  The school is clean and everything is always put away or swept in the hallways.  
From the very first day I walked in the school I was greeted with smiles and very helpful people.  All of the staff are always asking me question about where I am from and what I am doing.  I feel like I am a part of the school and not just an outsider who will be there for a month.  The office staff was very helpful the first couple of days with directing me to my teacher’s room and introducing me to the facilities.  This gave me a great feel when starting my first days at the school.  It was a warm feeling of being welcomed and and them wanting to help me in my teaching.  I feel that I have a lot of the resources that I will need to be successful in the school while I am there.  
I would think that my students will be the same as the staff.  It takes more than just the staff to keep the school clean and tidy.  I believe the students can help the cause by cleaning up their own garbage when in the school.  I can relate to these students because I was taught the same things growing up such as picking up after my self and always keeping my area clean.  I was also taught to take care of the things that I owned so they would not get broken.  The teachers also being friendly and always wanting to help will make my job as easy as it can be while I am there.  If these teachers weren’t so helpful, I feel that I may struggle with my teaching.  I feel lucky to be in the school that I am in with these students and also these great teachers.  The staff aren’t only good at what they do, but I believe that they are good people as well.  This makes things very easy.

CF Community

Keizer, Oregon is located in Marion County in Oregon.  The population of Keizer is about 32,200 people from the 2000 Census.  According to the census there were 12,110 households, 8,646 families in the city.  The majority of the city is white with 85% being white.  Les than 1% were African American, 1.4% were Native Americans with 1.5% were Asian Americans.  The other races category came in at 7.22%.  The median family household income was right at about 50,000 dollars a year in the city.  About 9% percent of the city was considered below the poverty line.  

The neighborhood surrounding Duck Middle School seems to be very clean and friendly.  While driving through the neighborhood one afternoon I had many people look at me while driving by and waving at me.  These people didn’t even know who I was but were always willing to wave.  I was surprised with the community and how friendly they were.  The houses in the area seemed very clean and well maintained.  I didn’t see too many yards that weren’t taken care of.  Most of the yards were green and beautiful.  The roads were also well taken care of with sidewalks on every road that I was driving on.  I felt very safe while driving through the community.  I felt like if I were to get lost in the neighborhood I would be able to ask for directions and be told in a friendly manor where to go.  If I were trying to fund-raise in the community I feel that it would be a great experience.  The overall feel of the community was warm and excepting of anyone.

I would think that I would be able to be successful as a teacher at the school after viewing the community.  I would think that the students would be just as friendly as the people who were in the community.  The students would seem to be very clean and organized in the classroom.  I think that from looking at the neighborhood that these students may be more like I was in middle school which was organized and nice to everyone that I met.  Since this is true I think that I will be able to relate better to these students than maybe I could with students from a different community.

Chapter 4.1 Reflections

1)  I find it easy to like kids who enjoy being at school and who do the work.  I enjoy the kids who do the work and are actually interested.  It is easy to like the kids who don't ask a lot of questions that don't really go with the subject.

2)  I find it hard to like kids who think that they know it all and think they can control the classroom.  It bothers me when kids try to get the teacher off topic.  My biggest pet peeve is people who think they know it all and are never wrong no matter what you say.  The kid who will try to argue everything you say.  It is just a waste of time to me.

3)  I feel sorry for the kids who live in broken homes or have alcoholic parents.  I have coached some of the best kids who have parents who are just plain alcoholics.  I feel bad for the student who has parents that push them into things that they don't want to do.  I believe you should guide your student to make the right decisions but not force them too.

4)  I feel threatened by the kids who I am closest with because I feel that I don't want to cheat them out of a great education.  I feel that those are the kids who I want to do my best for them.  I want them to learn as much as possible from me.  I also feel threatened by students who have a lot of money and think that they can do anything they want.

5)  I can identify with those kids who work hard and earn everything that they work for.  I have always had to work for what I got in my life through school.  I believe you have to work hard to get what you want and it shouldn't be handed to you.  These are the type of kids I would like to be around all day.

6)  I would gravitate towards kids who are involved in school.  Those kids who are in leadership or athletics.  Since I will be a coach I will gravitate towards the athletes that I coach.  It is that simple.  I will try to connect with all of the kids in my classes but it may be impossible at times.

7)  I feel inadequate around kids who are really smart.  These kids may know more then me and try to show off in the classroom.  I will probably just agree with them and continue my class so that I don't argue with the kid.

8)  I Probably won't notice the kids who don't say much or just don't do the work or come to class.  It is hard for me to care for a kid if they don't attend my class.  It will be difficult for me to remember then if they don't ever come.  I have a great memory so I feel that I will be able to remember or notice most of my students.

Chapter 3 Interview

I choose to interview my one of my good friends who was also a bigger guy who loved to play sports.  I just asked him a few questions about how he felt while be left out.

Chad: Why did you believe that you were picked last?

Friend:  I  felt that I was always picked last because of my size.  I was friends with all of the guys but they didn't believe in my athletic abilities.

Chad:  How did it make you feel being left out??

Friend:  I hated it.  It made me feel awful that my own friends didn't believe in my abilities.  I knew I could play just as good or even better then them.

Chad:  Did you ever ask them why they didn't pick you?

Friend:  I never got enough courage to ask them why.  I felt like maybe they didn't like me or the way I played.

Chad:  Did you think it was fair that this happened to you??

Friend:  No, I knew it was unfair but there wasn't anything I could do.  I would some times play well and do better then most but my friends still didn't care.

Chapter Three Reflections

Reflection 3.1

I have been humiliated quite a few times in my life.  It mostly happened in the age of junior high and maybe even my freshmen year.  It happened while on free time or out on lunch.  During these times we would always go out and play basketball or football.  We did the usual two captains who pick their team one by one.  I was pretty athletic in these days but wasn't always seen as such because of my size.  All through school I was really never skinny but still very athletic.  So people would look at me and just assume since I was bigger that i would be terrible person to put on their team.  So what was humiliating to me was being picked almost last every time.  I am a competitive person and I took this as a challenge but it still hurt my feelings to know that just because of my size I was not a good athlete.  This would always make me feel awful because I felt helpless and it wasn't something I could change overnight.  I had really never really said anything to anyone about how I felt.  I would just go along and play as hard as I could to try to prove I was better.  I feel that no matter how good or bad I did in those games that I still was picked towards the end every time.  In reality it is what it is and I just dealt with it but it was embarrassing for me because I thought of myself as a good athlete. 

Achievement

I believe that there are different types of achievements in life and as a teacher.  A personal achievement for myself would be graduating from college.  Another achievement would be to see your students improving at a skill that you were coaching them.  An example would be teaching the skill of shooting a basketball correctly and the student making a shot.  Another achievement could be receiving something like a coach of the year award where you are competing against other coaches.