TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Miss Morton knew she had to make up for lost time, so she flung herself into the world of education with such vigor and energy.
FIRST PLACEMENT: OXFORD 1st Grade
First Placement in Oxford. We remember Hana, Tate, Justin, and Madisyn.
I was placed in the first grade at Daniel Oxford Lower Elementary in Oxford Community Schools under the supervision of Jessica Bull. Here, I assisted in conferring time with the students, built relationships with the students, and aided Jessica in anything she requested. I taught my first lesson on Sight Words, and then my placement was cancelled (as there was no school after November 23rd). In January, I came back to substitute for the class I had been placed in, and I saw the first-hand effects of trauma response in young children. This time made me really focus on reading academic articles about trauma inflicted children and how to make the classroom a safe space for all involved. This led to my development of “Flower Power”, a game of “Hangman”, but instead of drawing a man with a noose, the student’s draw a stem, petals, and leaves. The students can draw whichever flower they wish, and their creativity can really be put on display for the class to “OOH and AHH” at. This takes the focus off of something that could be triggering to a student, and create something beautiful in the process! I have even played “Flower Power” with my 6th Graders, and it is a HIT EVERY TIME.
DRAGON VIRTUAL: 5th grade
I also volunteered at Lake Orion’s Dragon Virtual Library with Dr. DiMeo through Oakland University. Here, I gained insight as to how libraries functioned, including becoming acquainted with the Dewey Decimal System, and became familiar with popular books for elementary school-aged children. I befriended Cami Giberson from Dragon Virtual Lake Orion as well. When Cami had to receive surgery, I was the one asked to take over her 5th Grade Virtual Class of 16 children. I ended up finishing the year out with this virtual classroom, ending in 54 days of instruction. During this time, I followed the Lake Orion Curriculum Map, graded report cards, administered and graded Common Assessments, created instruction for the students that was engaging, and built a special relationship with every student. I would host “themed days” to make the educational virtual experience a little more exciting. The student’s favorite day was “Beach Day” (They ended up having that theme twice!) because I changed my virtual background to a palm tree with a beach, and greeted the students with island music. On May the 4th, I greeted the students with my Baby Grogu stuffed animal and played the great Star Wars Score. I collaborated with the other Dragon Virtual Teachers to host the end of the year party, culminating in an “Economic Fair” project for the students. I also created the 5th Grade Graduation Ceremony- opening with the Disney classic, “I Can Go the Distance” on the guitar. I purchased white graduation gowns and mortar board hats for the student’s ceremony as well. That class will always have a place in my heart.
“AlissaBeth acclimated seamlessly into the virtual teaching environment. She quickly developed positive relationships with the virtual students. ”
SECOND PLACEMENT:
Lake Orion 6th ela
I had three of my placements at Scripps Middle School in the 6th Grade with English Language Arts teacher, Dana Abbasse. Dana is an inspiration to me, and was a wonderful mentor. The feedback that I received from Dana will stick with me for a lifetime. Dana is truly all about the students. She is dedicated, passionate, and really understands how to connect to the students on a personal level. Dana also teaches the Academic Literacy class for the 6th Grade ELA Team. She made that class fun and not a chore to the students. During my first placement, I observed the class and helped out with the editing and revision of essays. I taught one lesson using vocabulary and author’s craft utilizing Dr. Seuss’, “The Lorax”. I also hosted a class discussion on finding the theme of the story, and pushed the students to think deeper than what was on the page. This assignment was created and executed under direction of Dr. DiMeo at Oakland University. I also began to watch Dana’s lessons once or twice, whilst taking notes on the lesson, and I then attempted to teach the lesson on the spot for the next three hours. This was an important time fo my growth- as this gave me on-the-spot, valuable feedback from Dana. Due to my overzealous approach to the time spent in my second placement, I grew exponentially as a teacher during this time. I was ready to hold my own classroom. After this first Scripps Middle School placement, I taught the 54 days virtually!
“During AlissaBeth’s first field placement, she began making connections with students right away and took the initiative to support students in class.”
SUMMER SCHOOL: KINDERGARTEN
Cami Giberson hired me in Lake Orion as one of the Kindergarten Teachers for summer school. I was in my glory. The students were either struggling in reading and/or mathematics. These were the skills we focused on primarily. I had the opportunity to test out my phonics work from Dr. DiMeo’s class at Oakland. I brought in my guitar to help the students learn their ABC’s, days of the week, months of the year, and more. I guided the students through: the ImagineMath program, the Lucy Calkin’s Writing Program, and the Phonics Program. What was the most exciting part of the summer program, was my incorporation of Imaginative Structured Play. The student’s were given 35 minutes at the end of every day to play. I did not have the classroom resources needed for free play, so I designed different units for my students. The first week was “Post Office”. In this, the students brainstormed what was in a post office, what a letter was, and learned how to address an envelope and how postage stamps worked. Then, each student created a mailbox with a clear plastic tote. I brought in foam mail visors for the students to wear while delivering the mail to our class friends. The second week was “Cardboard Construction-O-Rama!”, in which I brought in a smattering of different cardboard boxes, styrofoam, tubes, and bubblewrap. The students split up into groups and designed whatever their hearts desired. A group of boys designed a “Double Turbo Engine Race-Car” and shouted, “We are doing TEAMWORK!” as they held the car together while other friends taped the pieces into place. The last week and a half was, “Let’s Put On a Puppet Show”. While we were reading, “Saturday”, by Oge Mora, the students expressed interest in making their own puppets. I saw this as an opportunity to teach the students about puppetry theatre, and I encouraged the students to put on their own puppet show. First, the class brainstormed what was needed for a puppet show. We decided, as a class, we need a script, puppet characters, plot, a stage, tickets, and music. The class brainstormed topics and ended up landing on “Sesame Street”. Each student picked a character- and Kermit the Frog joined Sesame Street! It was the student’s vision, and I knew not to interrupt the creative process. In the past, I would have tried to convince the student to pick a different character, but everything is about the student. Kermit the Frog was a lovely addition to our Street Family. I found paper bags in the teacher’s lounge, and took a trip to the Dollar Tree. The students used pipe cleaners, foam, marker, cloth, feathers, buttons, and sparkles to create their puppet. Then, I decided to incorporate the songs, “Elmo’s World”, “Skin-A-Ma-Rink”, and “Sesame Street” into the show. Each child decided what they wanted their skit to be, and I wrote down the order of the script on the easel in the front of the classroom. I learned the songs on the guitar, and had random brain brain breaks during the day, where the students would learn the songs. I would sprinkle in a few terminologies for theatre into the rehearsals for the Puppet Unit. upon arrival at 8:20 A.M the students would beg, “MISS M! CAN WE DO OUR PUPPET SHOW NOW?” When the time came, we decorated our stage with paper and drawings. The class created their own tickets to invite our administration staff, and one other kindergarten class in the building to our show. This was incorporating our writing into our play unit as well. I recorded the puppet show to send out to the adults of the students as well, as they were not able to visit due to Covid.
“AlissaBeth brought her creative teaching style to her kindergarten summer school classroom. She engaged her students in developmentally appropriate cross curricular learning activities.”
Third Placement: Lake Orion 6th ELA
For the third placement, I had already developed a relationship with the staff and Dana Abbasse. Having taught the end of the year 5th Grade Curriculum in Lake Orion, I knew exactly what the students had experienced in the months prior. This proved to be helpful in the future instruction of the students. I was tasked with the job of crafting a lesson utilizing a mentor text for finding and identifying “author’s craft” moves. I knew that the student’s had a penchant for dark stories (as almost every student had a ghost Mary Downing Hahn book on their desk), and given that it was October, I decided to utilize Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Raven”. I stuck some black feathers in my hair, donned a black lace dress, turned on thunder and lightening sounds through Youtube, and dramatically read aloud the poem, (as the Spirit of Lenore) to the class. Stopping at the end of every stanza, I interpreted what was going on in the poem in modern day slang, so that the students could understand what was happening, such as: “I heard someone knocking at my door and went to open it, but instead, this BIG BLACK BIRD flew in and sat on my door frame? WHAT?” The students were on the edge of their seats during the entirety of the poem. While I read, the class and I discussed the author’s moves that Poe used. We focused on setting, figurative language, and “show don’t tell”.
I noticed that there were certain students who did not care for ELA, so I decided that I needed to do something out of the ordinary to rope these students in to the world of English. I asked Dana Abbasse if I could take over the grammar lessons on pronouns for the semester. From here, I designed the grammar lessons to be about SUPERHEROES (and some SUPERVILLAINS as well) ! I alternated between male and female superheroes for every lesson. I knew the importance of equal representation, especially is the classroom. I saw a definite change in the classroom atmosphere. For example, students who used to sit with their heads practically on the desk were up and about, excitedly talking about indefinite pronouns. This excitement carried over into lessons outside of grammar as well. Similar to her second placement, I watched Dana teach a lesson, and then I taught that lesson for the next few hours. This was again invaluable time in the classroom that I wholeheartedly enjoyed. I also increased my conferring time with the students, and wrote down what I had talked about with the students in a notebook of mine. I felt confident heading into student teaching the next semester.
“During AlissaBeth’s second field placement, she was proactive in working with students, created and taught exciting grammar lessons, and frequently taught lessons after observing the first few hours.”
GRAMMAR LESSON TITLES
