Introductions

September 6, 2012 from 8:00 - 8:30

My practicum cooperating teacher for my English Methods class has never had a practicum student before. She is at the Queen of Peace Catholic Middle School and teaches 7th and 8th Grade English Language Arts, 7th Grade Literature, and 7th Grade Religion.

Upon meeting with my teacher by the office, she was kind enough to introduce me to the Principal and later on to the secretary whom I will be seeing upon signing in each morning. Her classroom is on the third floor and there are Psalms/Bible verse banners that hang from the ceiling. In her room there are tables and chairs arranged in rows. Homeroom students are able to keep stuff in the desks. There are two computers and no air conditioning. Four cabinets, one at each corner of the room, serve as the majority of the storage space. Along one of the walls there is a sink and a series of short cabinets with a shelf above them. On this shelf there is a ceramic letter A at one end and a Z at the other. In between there are more decorative items.   A Hunger Games movie poster is proudly displayed, which surprised me since the school is Catholic. Numerous Wizard of Oz themed items such as a calendar, poster, magnets, and more are placed throughout the room. Originally from Illinois, the teacher displays her sports allegiances through pennants and posters of the Fighting Irish, Bears, and the Green Bay Packers. Posters of the parts of speech, punctuation, plagerism, and citing sources are also on the walls of the classroom. The door has what appears to be some sort of sign one would see while driving on it, this poster reads something about Jesus will take you down the  right path or find your direction through Jesus.

There is a bulletin board up in the hallway with the teachers names on it and students listed beneath each teacher. Each teacher is assigned a Saint and students. Depending on the Saint the teacher will do various service activities such as St. Vincent DePaul's or making sandwiches for the poor.

It appears that each graduating class gets to paint or design a mural in the stairwells. Inspirational quotes and designs are at each landing and I find them fascinating. It gives the school a positive feeling that is uplifting. The school as a whole works as a community. Each class got to decorate a pink stuffed piggie and each class then voted on which pig they liked best. It's a nice way to provide a common ground between the elementary and middle school.

A note on organization: Mrs. Britton remains oranized using a color coded folder system. She has two sets of folders; one set on her desk of work to be gone over/graded, and the other set is beneath her podium with work to be handed back to the students. In her grade book she also has a highlighter color system. Certain colors mean that she has to make copies, that copies are made and the work is being assigned, etc.

School Policy: Absences 
There is a system set up in the middle school that deals with student abscence and late work. If a student is absent an "I miss you" is assigned to one of the other students in the same classes to take down the assignments and worksheets for the missing student.