Context Statement

Type of Artifact: Field Replacement Journals

Date: Spring 2017

EDUC 2300 Introduction to Education

Service Learning
Journal Entries

Courses: EDUC 2300 Introduction to Education

Jordan
 VISION FOR MY FUTURE

Here is what I want to accomplish this year:

Education: This year I want to grow as a student, and be more prepared for the classroom. I
want to learn as much as possible about how I need to help my students as a teacher. I want to
learn what tools that I can engage the students with and let the students be more involved in the
classroom. I have a little experience in the classroom, and this year I want to broaden my
horizons and step out of my comfort zone to help me for the future.

Career: I already think teaching will not only be my career, but also my passion. I want to do
everything I can to get the most experience to better my future. I love talking to current educators
and getting advice from them on how I can be the best teacher I can be.

Family and Friends: Family and friends are very important to me, they know exactly how I
feel about being a future educator and support me fully. I also want to support them as much as
they support me, and tell them the sky is the limit in what we can do.

Involvement and Service to My Community: Everyone who knows me knows I love

community service. I love anything to do helping others. I am very involved in the childrens
ministry at my church, and also am the bible school director for the second year. I love giving
back to my community. I am a head cheerleading coach at a high school for three years now and
have 20 high school girls who look up to me. Being a goof role model is my number one priority.
I am a big believe in being a good role model, because if you cannot be a good role model how
am I supposed to expect the kids I work with to be a positive influence.

Personal Growth: There is always room for personal growth. I want to be the best teacher
possible. I have experience working with kids and parents, but there is also so much more to
learn and gain experience. I want to be a teacher who never gets tired of the work it requires, but
always going above and beyond for my students.

Other: I want to grow, and be the best teacher I believe I can be.
 Service Learning Project

Name: Jordan England

Course Title: EDUC 2300-001 Introduction to Education
Date: March 6,2017
Agency Name: Ellen Myers Primary School

Agencys Mission Statement/ Grades Served/ Community Needs:

The mission of Ellen Myers Primary is to establish a strong foundation of
skills for lifelong learning for all students. The vision of Ellen Myers Primary is to
provide excellent program that will place our students among the top in the state
academically, while laying a foundation for responsible citizenship. The grades
served are kindergarten through 4th grade.

Prologue:
-I am very excited to start my service learning today. The principal is letting
me observe kindergarten. The teacher I am observing is Mrs. Lacey and she is a
new teacher, but she is very good. I love to watch her to teach and interact with her
students. Kindergarten is very different then any other grade. This is the first time
some of the students have ever been to school. They have to learn the skills to be a
student in a classroom environment.

First Agency Visit.

- My first agency visit I met with the principle, Karen Fultz about which
classroom she preferred me to observe. She asked what subject I was
more interested in teaching, and I told her I would love to teach ELA, and
thats when she decided to let me observe kindergarten.

ABCs of Reflection

Affect I have observed Mrs. Lacey in another service learning

project, but that does not mean I was any less nervous. It is always
nerve wracking when you enter a new setting. I did not want Mrs.
Lacey to regret letting me observe or be in the way. I was very
anxious and excited the night before.

Behavior My first day of observing I was very nervous. I didnt

do very much except sit in a tiny kindergarten chair at the back of
the room. Even though I did not do much I learned a lot by just
watching how Mrs. Lacey interacts with her students Tomorrow I
will try to be more involved.

Cognition or Content Today was my first day of student

teaching, and I was very excited. We learn in class a lot about
special education students, and how it is very important they get
the same education as everyone else. Mrs. Lacey has a non verbal
autistic students and it was very interesting to see how she
includes him in everything she did. She made him do everything
the other students do, which some teachers I have observed ignore
the special education students all together. It was a great learning
experience, because as a teacher I will have special education
students in my class. Mrs. Lacey has a wonderful classroom
management set up, which is helpful since its kindergarten.
 ABCs of Reflections

Affect: I was apprehensive about meeting the principal for the first time. I feared that
she would consider meeting with me an imposition upon her time. However, she quickly made
me realize that her and her staff appreciated my offer of service to them, and I was set at ease. I
became more confident after that initial meeting, but became nervous again when I thought about
going into the classroom for the first time. The Smiths Academy staff that I spoke with seemed
glad to see me and appreciative that I was volunteering in their school. I am now pleased about
the work that I am doing and happy that I have useful information to share.

Behavior: My actions this week were very effective! Meeting with the principal helped
me prepare for speaking with my mentor teacher. I stumbled on a few of my words, and I should
have been more prepared, but overall, I feel like I left a good first impression.

Cognition/Content: I have already learned many theories and ideas in my education

class, but I am now anxious to see them happening in a real life classroom. Just from my short
visit with Mrs. Jones, I can tell my mentor teacher is very organized which is a major key to a
successful teacher, per my education class discussions. I am excited about starting this project
and look forward to growing as a professional.
 Journal Entry 2

Tuesday March 7, 2017:

Even though I have done service learning with Mrs. Lacey before it still made me
nervous. Today is my second day, and I am a little more comfortable. The students are glad to see
I am back, and are starting to ask my questions. Mrs. Lacey let me be in charge of a center during
their center time. She also gave good advice, and teaching tools that she used.

ABCs of Reflections

Affect: I love kindergarten very much; I feel very comfortable here. I love singing songs
and dancing with the students to help engage them in learning. Today I am familiar with the
schedule and am able to help more. I read them books and help during the centers. The students
asked me to do a go noodle with them during their break time, and of course I was very happy to
do so.

Behavior: Today I promised I would be more outgoing and offer to help more without
being over annoying. I still sat in the back of the room, but I did try to involve myself with the
students while they were working on their individual work. I walked around the classroom, and
told them how good they were doing. I did not talk to the group as a whole, but I enjoyed talking
to them and give them one on one attention.

Cognition/Content: I was asking several questions about classroom management and

where she got her lessons from. She was very willing to answer all my questions. Mrs. Lacey
used a good morning song while they worked on their morning work. Mrs. Lacy said she did her
student teaching in kindergarten and her mentor was very helpful. She used several quiet tactics
such as zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket. My favorite quote she uses was The first thing you
do is always the same, pick up your pencil and write your name. She had several songs and
saying she used through out the day. I wrote them all down to be saved for the future. Today I
also helped in centers. The center involved the alphabet and the had to put the letters in order and
then draw a picture with a random letter I chose for them. I really enjoy being in kindergarten.
 Journal Entry 3

WedneadayMarch 8,2017:

Today is my last day of service learning. I loved being here in kindergarten with a great
teacher to observe. This is Mrs. Laceys second year in teaching so she is fairly new, btu she has
great strategies. I hope one day I am a teacher like her, and my principal loves having me teacher
for her. Today the students are starting to remember my name, and are enjoying there center I am
doing.

ABCs of Reflections

Affect: today is my last day of service learning, and I am very sad. Kindergarteners are
the sweetest kids. I am hopefully Mrs. Lacey thinks I did good job in observing and help her with
what she needed. I do wish to work at this school, maybe she will give me a good
recommendation one day.

Behavior: I am very happy with how these three days went. I feel like Mrs. Lacey be
involved with the students and help her in any way. This was a great experience to have before I
finished my time at Walters State.

Cognition/Content: Mrs. Lacey informed me she gets a lot of her lessons form teachers
pay teachers, and her favorite app she uses is class dojo. She uses this app to be involved with the
parents, and also it has a behavior system of giving bubbles. The students earn bubbles, and exit
tickets and if they get 30 they are allowed to have lunch with Mrs. Lacey. Mrs. lacey let me grade
papers and help answer questions during my time with her. During math she played a neat game
called get off my boat. This game was an add and subtraction game. She put tape on the floor
similar to a hopscotch board, and Mrs. Lacey wrote half the subtraction problem on the board
and let the students bring it to life. For example, if the problem was 8-4, the student in charge
would bring 8 people to their boat. After they had the 8 students on the boat, which is the tape on
the floor, they made 4 go sit down by yelling Get off my boat!! this made the students burst
into laughter but also let them see in real life their subtraction problem. I thought this was such a
cute game to let the students be in charge. During the end of the day she hands out folders with
either a smiley sticker or a sad face so the parents know if the student was miss behaving during
school. I can not wait to use these new strategies and songs I have learned in these three short
days in my own classroom one day.
 Epilogue:

Reflect on your semesters service learning experience.

- If I got to choose my favorite grade to teach it would be kindergarten. The student sloved
learning new ideas, and are willing to do anything to learn. I learned so much in just three
short days, and I will forever be grateful for my experience. Mrs. Lacey is a great mentor,
and I hope one day we can work together and I can learn more from her
Revisit the prolougue. Have your expectations have been met?
My expectations have been met. I love Mrs.Lacey she is the epitome of teachers in my opinion.
When I observed I could tell the students just love her a lot. I could see my self teaching kindergarten
easily. She was very open to let letting me help her in several ways.

How have you been surprised, delighted, or dismayed by the experience? Give specific
examples.
- I have been very delighted in this experience. The experience went pretty much how I expected it
too. Mrs. Lacey let me be involved with the students and grade papers. I am very lucky to have such
a great mentor teacher that let sme be involved. The quote we use in class the one who does the
work does the learning reminded me of how open she was to let me be involved.

How could this experience be improved?

-I had such a great experience during this service learning. I was comfortable with my teacher, and
she was willing to let me learn. I would not change anything about this experience I learned a lot for
my future.

VISION FOR MY FUTURE

Here is what I want to accomplish in the next five years:

Education: In the next five years I am hoping to have finished my education at ETSU and have
my bachelors degree. I hope to have a job that I love, which I will love anywhere I get a job. I
hope after a couple years of teaching I am still in love with it as my first day. I do plan on
furthering my education, but getting my masters will be at the end of this five years.

Career: I hope to have a good job as a teacher. I hope to be somewhere I love with great
teachers that are helpful. I hope after a couple years teaching I am a great mentor like Mrs. Lacey
to students who want to be in education. I hope I am successful in my job, and do everything I
can to help my students succeed.

Family and Friends: In the next year I will be getting married. I hope we grow as husband and
wife being supportive in each others roles. There is always room for improvement with
strengthening your bond with your family. I hope they are supportive of me through the first
years of my teaching, because they will be hard. I hope to keep in touch with the friends I have
made at Walters State and the ones I know in the future on my education journey.

Involvement and Service to My Community: I love to volunteer in my community. I am very

active in my community, but there is always more I could do. As a teacher I hope I can influence
even more kids in my community. I help with the childrens ministry at church and I love being
there to tell them how much I love them. I am an influence to 20 high school cheerleaders I get
the privilege to coach, after five years I most likely will not be coaching but I will still be
available to my cheerleaders and also those future cheerleaders. I love giving back and will
continue to do it as often as possible.

______________________________________________________________________________

Personal Growth: in my personal growth over the next five years I hope to be more mature,
and the best teacher I can be. I hope to learn all I can and make my classroom a place of
positivity.

REFLECTIONS
Here are the Knowledge and Skills that I have acquired as a direct result of taking part in this
Service Learning project:

- I learned several things I will use in the future. I learned kids do well when the are
more interactive sitting on the floor instead of behind their desk. I learned new
teaching tools and songs that work well in the kindergarten setting. I learned that
students love games they get to be the teacher. I also learned that I love kindergarten
very much.

Here is how this Service Learning project ties in with my

EDUC 2300 Introduction to Education class:
- I have learned a lot in this service learning experience that will help me in the future.
I saw how students love using technology and love being the teacher even in just a
game. I saw songs and games we talk about in class come to life. I have gained a lot
of knowledge that I cant wait to use in the future with my own classroom.
 My Contribution to the Community
I have devoted 18 hours to my Service Learning project. Here are four lasting experiences that
are an outcome of my Service Learning project:
1. I love kindergarten and lower grades. I hope one day I can teach younger kids.
2. Using technology and games really helps interact students and they learn much
more.
3. Students love to be the teacher and feel in charge, and that helps them absorb
the information more and see it come to life.
4. Students love to do a small recess doing a go noodle and this helps everyone
take a small break and get back on track. Also, students love to sing songs when
they move from one subject to another.