A Post on Homesickness:

Hi everyone. Thanks for checking out our blog #OrmanAdventures. You know, over the past 4 years we have been through many ups and downs. It’s all part of the adventure we call life, right? I can honestly say that most of the time here has been full of joyful memories… but when the bad days come in, they come in HARD!

Homesickness is a very real thing I’ve had to deal with while living in Korea. It’s strange because I’m very close with my family and even though I love them to bits, I have NEVER been the type of person to feel homesick.

Whenever they’d drop me off at a friend’s house it was like, “okay, bye!!” and off into the house I’d go. I would go to sleepovers when I was little and sometimes girls would have to leave in the middle of the night because they were homesick. Huh?? I had no idea what that felt like.

Even when I left for college, 6-7 hours away from my family, I never felt homesick. I was too busy with excitement and enjoying life to the fullest.

Then came South Korea. Oh boy…

At first, I thought I would be fine. There is Skype nowadays and Facebook (which I’m extremely thankful for), but after a year of living here… I started to develop this very odd feeling. I wasn’t sure if it was mood swings, depression, maybe I was bi-polar… and then my husband mentioned the word “homesick.” I bursted into tears and I couldn’t believe how much truth was in that one word.

Before I left for my visit home a few weeks ago, I’d have days that would be going totally fine. Then, all of a sudden WHAM!!! Life threw a curve-ball and I’d start crying… then cry even more because I would start to think about how much I miss my family. Especially how much I miss the fact that I’m not home to build a strong relationship with my niece and nephew. There were times where Cory would do/say something so small and it would send me in a spiral of emotions, leaving me with a reaction that was far more dramatic than necessary. Luckily and thank GOD, my husband knows my heart. He knew it was never about the small argument… it was something greater. It was the fact that my batteries were running low from home.

I know my family isn’t perfect, and no family is for that matter, but when I am around them I am comfortable. I missed the simple things like sipping tea with my mom and, believe it or not, listening to all my dad’s corny jokes. There is just something about home that makes you feel whole again.

A few months ago, it came time for Cory and me to plan our summer vacation. We were set on going to Japan… and that’s when more mood swings rushed in. We hadn’t seen our families in a year and a half, and it was the most difficult thing to think about not seeing them for a longer amount of time. Cory really started to pick up on my feelings (he’s really good at that), and could sense that I wasn’t being myself. He brought up the idea of me going home for a visit and him staying in Korea; we simply could not afford two tickets. The thought of leaving him in Korea while I spent time with my family left me with an abundant amount of guilty feelings. He’s giving up his vacation for me?? But after carefully explaining his sincere thoughts on how much I needed to go home, and how much it would benefit our relationship, I knew he was right. He ended up buying the ticket for me because even though I knew it was the right thing to do, I just couldn’t believe he was selflessly letting me go home while he’d spend 2 very boring weeks in our apartment in Korea.

Anyway, it was time to go home and what a joy that was!!! I have so many special memories to give me that little boost when days get tough. I made sure to spend one on one time with my mom, dad, and sister. That was something I was highly looking forward to and now cherish. My favorite memory was when my niece, Leighann, ran out of the car and into my arms when she saw me! I was so nervous that she would be shy around me since I’d only met her once prior.  She was not shy at ALL. That little girl was my sidekick the entire time I was home. She just loved her “Chelle.” As well, I met my nephew, Sawyer, for the very first time!! When I held him, he gave me a little hug and my heart bursted! Singing him lullabies and having him fall asleep on me filled my heart to max capacity.

Overall, home was exactly what I needed. Now I am back in Korea and quite a few people have given me compliments, which is always nice. “You look so happy! Wow, you’re so beautiful. Your eyes are sparkling now! You have the sweetest smile” --- Those are a few from just this week alone. I feel like going home has given me that extra boost in my heart again. Through this experience, I’ve realized how much my family AND Cory’s family has supported our journey from the beginning. They are constantly cheering us on and saying how proud they are of us.

Walking around this small Korean town these past few days, I’ve felt a deeper appreciation for our time here. My greatest hope through this entire journey is to hopefully inspire someone else to step out of their comfort zone. With that, in order to inspire others, I feel it’s necessary to be real with one another since leaving your comfort zone isn’t always easy.

These are real feelings I’ve felt, and sometimes it’s hard for me to share since everyone thinks of me being a positive happy person ALL THE TIME. Quite honestly, it’s not a bad thing to be known for… but it’s just not true...all the time. I have difficult days too; very difficult. Just like everyone else.

If you’re reading this and haven’t spoken to your family or a good friend in a long time, I challenge you to call them or send them a message.  Also, every moment you have with your family… please don’t take it for granted: Pedicures with my mom, playing Frisbee with my dad, shopping and talking about life with my sister, speaking to my brother in law about community service, sharing giggles with my niece and nephew, and finally wrapping my arms around my husband when coming back to Korea are all memories I will hold onto forever.  

God is so good.

He has filled me up with joy.

My heart is full.

xoxo, Michelle

Planning Assessments

Formative Assessments

Formative assessments or assignments are great ways to give and receive feedback from the students. They can also be used as a way to guide the student’s learning and to achieve the lesson/standards goal. Formative assessments are not a part of the student’s grade.

Standard:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.OA.A.1

Use parentheses, brackets, or braces in numerical expressions, and evaluate expressions with these symbols.

Grade level:

Grade 5

Formative Assessment 1:

• Hand in, Pass out
• The teacher can give students a list of problems to fill out in class.
• Once they are done filling out the problems the students will hand in their papers WITHOUT their names on them.
• After the papers are handed in, the teacher will mix them up and pass them back out to the students randomly.
• The teacher and the students will then correct them all together.

• This assessment is great because the teacher can see what problems the students are struggling with and what areas they need more help in.
• This also takes pressure off of the students, if they get the answer wrong, nobody will know it was them who got the answer wrong.
• It also gives students a chance to grade their peers and a sense of ownership in their class.

Formative Assessment 2:

• Back to Back
• The students can be split up into teams.
• One student from each team can go up to the front of the classroom and sit on a chair in front of the monitor.
• The teacher can write out a problem or have a ppt pre-made with problems.
• The students will race to complete the problems for their team.
• This can also be done individually without the team aspect, but I like team/group competition.

• This is a fun interactive way for the teacher to see how each student does on a problem. It can also narrow down which students seem to be struggling but at the same time encourage them to do their best for their team. Back to Back, and other whiteboard type of activities give the teacher a chance to assess how individual students are doing.

Formative Assessment 3:

• 3-2-1
• This assessment will be used at the end of a class period or unit.
• 3 = students will write down three things that they learned
• 2 = students will write down two things they found interesting
• 1 = students will write down one question they still have.

• This is a wonderful closing assessment. This activity helps the teacher know truly what the students have learned and took away from the lesson/unit. It also allows the teacher to know what the students are still having trouble with. The “one question” can be reviewed the next class period and gives the students one more chance to learn what they are struggling with before a unit exam.

Applying Common Core Standards

Applying Common Core Standards

M5.U1.A4

I have never taught the common core, but one thing that I do like about it is that it is all laid out for you. It is great to be able to see the standards for the grade level you are teaching as well as the standards for the levels before and after you. In looking at those standards, you are better able to understand where your students levels are at when they are coming in as well as how you should prepare them for their next grade level.

The common core standards build upon one another. So you as a teacher must be able to break them down and apply them in your classroom in order for your students to gather the necessary knowledge to complete what is required of them the following year. What I liked about this unit that I just finished was that we took a deeper look into the common core. We unpacked standards, used backwards mapping, and wrote objectives.

What I learned:

Unpacking Standards
Unpacking the standards really helped me. When I first took a look at the standards, I wasn’t 100% sure what the standard is asking, but now after unpacking them they become clear. When you unpack the standards you must look at it and ask yourself, “what is the big idea?”

Once you know the big idea then you must think what is asked of the students. Will they write, will they have to speak, what is it that they must be able to perform? Then after the major idea and what is asked of them comes the how.

Example:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.OA.A.1

Use parentheses, brackets, or braces in numerical expressions, and evaluate expressions with these symbols.

Big Idea

In this standard, the big idea is that students are able to understand multi-step problems and the order of operations. The problem uses more than + - x /   

What will the students do?

The students will USE parentheses, brackets, or braces

They will also EVALUATE expressions with those symbols.

So the students must be able to evaluate expressions that use ( ) or [ ]

Backwards Mapping

The How? By using backwards mapping, you can take the knowledge you just gathered from unpacking the standard and begin to apply it. When you are backwards mapping you must look at what you want the students to achieve and then work back from there. Many times when a teacher designs a unit without this thought process, their lessons might start with the same end goal but over the course of the unit their lessons begin going in another way. When using backwards mapping you have your objective and begin to think, what do they need to learn to understand this. Then after that you will have to think of how will I know if these students are understanding this. The teacher must put together a way to assess the students along the way. After that, you must think of activities that will coincide with the unit objective. Little by little you will formulate your unit with the core objective as the main focal point.

Goal --> Assessment --> Activities

Example:

Goal:
24 + (3 x 9) / 2 =

Assessment:

The teacher will hand out a worksheet as homework that can be graded and worked through together as a class the next day.

Activities:

Practice

PEMDAS = Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction

*this unit doesn't mention the use of exponents

The teacher will teach how to do these problems then give them a worksheet to do together with a partner.

Writing Objectives

This was one area that I am still struggling with. I know as I get more practice the stronger I will become at this. I am able to think of activities and lessons that are able to meet the standards, I just feel like I have trouble with writing S.M.A.R.T. Objectives.

S.M.A.R.T. = Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Targeted.

Standards and Activities

M5.U1.A2

Standards and Activities

I will be doing my student teaching in South Korea. In my current situation, I will not have one particular grade that I will work with and stay with the entire time. I will be working with children from Grade 1 to Grade 5 however, I wish to become a Grade 5 teacher in the future.  So in this unit I will be focusing on the Grade 5 common core.

Below is the standard that I will be working with.

I chose this standard because I like to hear what the students are thinking. In writing activities, you get a chance to see the students creativity. With this particular standard, I will get the chance to see how they reason and how they will formulate an opinion on a certain subject matter.

Proficiencies:

1. The students will be able to formulate their own opinion on a topic or text.
2. The students will be able to support their topic or text with facts.
3. The students will learn how to combine their opinion with facts.

Assessments:

1. Each student will formulate an opinion.
2. They will then find facts that support their opinion.
3. They will write a rough draft that combines their opinions with facts.
4. Lastly, they will write a final copy that includes the topic/text, why they have their opinion, and then how that opinion is supported with facts.

Learning experiences / Activities:

1. The teacher will start with what is an opinion?
1. Next the teacher will go through different scenarios and ask the students to tell the class their opinion. The teacher will have multiple scenarios ready in case the students are shy.
2. The teacher can also hand out an argumentative kids article or story and then once they have finished they can talk about what they read and what their opinions are.
2. Once the students choose what they what to write about they will then list all of the things that they can think of to support their opinion. (more of a list at this point - before they start writing)
3. Next the students will go to the library and/or the computer lab and look up books/information about their topics.
1. The teacher will be able to walk around and help the students find what information they need.
2. Also, before they do this assignment the teacher will have already showed them how to research things on the internet or in the library.
4. The students will review their research and highlight their facts they want to use. Once they have put together their opinions and facts they will make a rough draft.
5. Once the teacher has read and corrected the rough drafts they will then begin their final drafts.

Activity 4: Reflecting on Concerns/Fears

M4.U6.A4

Activity 4: Reflecting on Concerns/Fears

     I have been teaching English now for nearly 4 years and I feel like I can do a great job at communicating with the students and helping them understand a second language. Since it is their second language it can be difficult sometimes to maintain control, but I do a very good job at noticing potential problems before they arise. I am also confident in my ability to help the students enjoy learning and have fun while studying English. This helps the students stay engaged rather than disrupting their neighbors. I keep them engaged by having them participate in various activities and games. When I sense the students are getting bored of learning grammar, spelling and pronunciation (a typical English atmosphere lesson) I will switch it up and we will have a math or science lesson in English. In an ESL setting, Science is a little more difficult to teach than Math but both help keep the students entertained and they are learning English while doing another subject. I also feel confident in my ability to maintain classroom management and not let the students do whatever they like.

     As a teacher I have a strong passion to see students develop and when I see that they get it and I was the one who helped them get there…. that is such a gratifying feeling! I personally believe that my students can sense that even though I don’t even speak the same language as them, they know that I care for them and wish the best for them. I truly think that helps with maintaining order and an environment of learning in my class. The students know that I show them respect and care for them so they tend emulate that and show respect to others and to me.

However, I do have a couple of fears:

1.   How to handle parents that are difficult to deal with

a.   An example of what I mean would be if their child is the ‘trouble maker’ or ‘bully’ in the class but at home they are the perfect angel…

b.   As a result, the parents do not support you.

c.    For me, this is a big fear. Trying to establish a set of rules and have discipline in the classroom but the student(s) know that there isn’t going to be any repercussions at home if they get in trouble at school.

2.   Paperwork and other duties that you are not aware of that teachers have to do until you become one.

a.   Being in S.Korea I know the teachers here do a lot of paperwork and often times that takes precedent over the students!!

b.   So, being able to complete the other tasks but never neglecting the most important aspect and that is making sure the students are learning.

3.   When you have that one student that just seems impossible to control.

a.   Or when a student is 100% uninterested in school. There is nothing that seems to work to get them excited or engaged in the learning.

4.   Last and most important one for me…

a.   When you feel like you have failed

b.   When you do not feel as though you were able to make an impact in a child’s life.