Attached.

This is my children's book, with the annotations to go with it.  There are illustrations and it will make more sense when I bring in the illustrated printed version in class.

I would like to discuss the classroom setting particularly focusing on non-native English speakers and the problems that they face with the classroom teacher, the classroom students, and family involvement in the classroom. I will discuss the problems that I find most prominent and discuss plans of action that I find successful and state both pros and cons for my plans.

I made a home out here. Among sticks and stones, observing things through looks. An abstract painting to be felt and deciphered at the same time. But I found metaphor in things. I waited for epiphany and found only miracles.

I'll let them be.

Running round and round. and round. Slowed but steady.

I wonder if they could feel/see me watching them. 

Such joy. I couldn't quite comprehend.

It seems like the joy appeared with the disappearance of the flags.

Regulated no more. Flowers abundant. Grass sprouting. Paths defining.

Liberated. Free to run round and round. Limitless. Boundless within the optional bounds. 

Round and round. Till infinity.

for this paper, I would like to explore how project-based learning enhances or complicated the classroom and learning experience. The students at my placement are 9th graders and the first class in their high school, which uses alternative teaching practices like project-based learning in order to teach skills in a practical and interesting way. However, since most of the students have been used to a more traditional learning environment, these practices have required that they go through a process of "unlearning" in order to adapt, and many have had difficulty accepting/buying into the experience.

For my field paper the question I will be addressing is how much teaching towards the test hinders the student’s ability to critically think. I also wanted to include how much these policies hinder the school in general but I am not sure how to do so. While at Oakley* Elementary School I have continuously experienced structured lesson plans that do not leave room for change. I have been going to my placement weekly and sometimes biweekly (Tuesday’s and Friday’s) and have experienced the same structure every time. This structure revolves around direct teaching and how to prepare for their tests (although this is interpreted and not directly stated). The students work out of their writing workbooks ranging from worksheets about basic grammar to worksheets about readings.