A 101 Chat with Maria Schierman

Sherman Elementary School English teacher takes us behind the scenes of the teaching world.

By JASMINE JACKSON

As I wait for 3:35 to hit the clock I take a glance around room 7. Bright colors,

Large numbers, Letters and a variety of words cover
each wall from top to bottom. The Room is slightly chaotic,as the
kids scramble around to grab their back packs, reading folders, and
art work. A unique collage of student portraits are hung along the wall with there name above in bold print. In most of the portraits the students are smiling, some with goofy grins, a few with missing teeth. Below the wall of students is the backpack area, across from that is a wooden shelf where the students place there writing boxes.


"Miss Schierman!" one of her students calls out. "Tomorrow is my
birthday" Maria turns and makes a surprised, yet excited gesture.
"Well looks like we're going to have to make you a birthday hat, huh?"
Her student smiles seeming pleased with her reaction and
continues to get ready to go home.
Maria gets up from her desk and begins to prepare for the rush of
incoming parents coming to pick up there kids. Her long black boots "click clack" around the
classroom making it hard to not notice the rest of her stylish
outfit.
A perfectly fit black sweater hangs on her slightly broad shoulders and
a pair of fine denim jeans flows from her hips covering her black
boots. She wears her hair cut to fall just below her ears with her
bangs naturally swept over to the side. A pair of dark framed, and
rectangular shaped glasses are worn on her face making her beautiful
blue eyes pop out even more.


The bell rings and the door flings open welcoming a swarm of parents.
As they line up to get there young ones, Maria stands there greeting
them. Most by name, all with a warm smile.
The crowd begins to gradually decrease, leaving only a few kids
behind. When the last student leaves she turns to me with a nervous grin and says “You ready?"

Maria Schierman: How did you decide you wanted to be a teacher?

Jasmine Jackson: "When I was in elementary school, I found writing to be very difficult for me. My 5th grade teacher yelled at me when I asked a question to clarify something I was struggling with. It was from that day on that I became too afraid to speak up and ask questions. It was shortly after that point that I realized that I wanted to be a teacher. I never wanted a child to feel the way that I did."



JJ: What are some perks of being a teacher?

MS:"One perk about being a teacher is that I love my job! I knew in the beginning I was not going to make a lot of money, but my life is full of amazing experiences. As a kindergarten teacher, I am surrounded by smiley 5 and 6 year old, excited about learning. It doesn't get much better than that!"



JJ:What are some of the downfalls of being a teacher?

MS:"I would have to say that I struggle the most with the politics surrounding education. It is sad to see the lack of funding for our children. Every year, more and more funding is cut, yet the demands continue to increase. It is heartbreaking to see what is being taken away from our students."




JJ:Do you think that you have to be dedicated in order to be a teacher?

MS:"I definitely believe that dedication has been key to being an effective teacher."



JJ:Did you enjoy teaching first grade more than kinder garden?

MS:"My true love is having the opportunity to teach beginning readers and writers. I don't know if I have a preference between both grade levels. I do have more experience teaching first grade, but I have really enjoyed my time in kindergarten."




JJ:Do you use your personal money for supplies for your classroom?

MS:"Yes, Unfortunately I have to. I believe it is important that my students have certain materials. Due to severe budget cuts, many necessary supplies are no longer purchased by our schools. I end up spending hundreds of dollars each year. But, the kids are worth every cent"




JJ:What is something that you would like to have different about your profession?

MS:"I wish that more people were aware of what is going on with our education system. I would like teachers to have more of a say as to how our district spends their money. It becomes frustrating to hear about different Acts that are mandated by our government, yet not funded. I wish kids these days were given the opportunities that I had. We need to bring back the arts, athletics, and lower class sizes to ensure that all students feel successful. This I believe, would be a start to decreasing the current rise in our dropout rate."


JJ:How many years of college did you go to?

MS:"I went to the University of Portland for 4 years, where I received my bachelors degree in education. Although I was fully credentialed, I attended a 2 year program at Portland State University, where I received a Master in Special Education. This past summer, I completed my Math Specialist Certificate from San Diego State. Overall, I have received 8 years of college education."


JJ:How does teaching affect your personal life?

MS:"Currently, I have been very stressed with the demands of my job. Although I don't take my paperwork home with me, I often find my mind racing about different ways I can improve my students learning. This year, I have 48 students on my caseload. I often feel overwhelmed with the amount of work and lack of time. Seeing some of my students struggle and not having them for a full day has been very difficult. My boyfriend, friends and family have been very supportive in lending an ear as I constantly attempt to reorganize my schedule to better meet the needs of my classes. I think that the hours I spend at school have also been difficult. I am generally at school an hour before and an hour to two hours after the day has concluded."

Mentor Interview Beginning Article:

Jasmine Jackson
As I wait for 335 to hit the clock I take a glance around room 7. Bright colors, Letters, larger numbers, and a variety of words cover each wall from top to bottom. The Room is slightly chaotic, as the kids scramble around to grab their back packs, reading folders, and art work.

“Miss Schierman” one of her students called out. “Tomorrow is my birthday” Maria turned and made a surprised but yet excited gesture. “Well looks like we’re going to have to make you a birthday hat. . huh?”. Her student smiles seeming pleased with her reaction and continues to get ready to go home.
Maria gets up from her desk and begins to prepare for the rush of incoming parents. Her long black boots “click clack” around the classroom making it hard to not notice the rest of her stylish combination.

A perfectly fit gray sweater hangs on her slightly broad shoulders and a pair of fine denim jeans flows from her hips covering over her black boots. She wears her hair cut to fall just below her ears with a small piece hanging down her forehead, naturally falling to the side. A pair of dark frame and rectangular shaped glasses is worn on her face making her beautiful blue eyes stick out even more.

The bell rings and the door flings open creating a swarm of parents. As they line up to get there young ones, Maria stands there greeting them. Most by name all with a warm smile,


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Semster Two : Blog One

Post links to at least two high-quality interviews.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939600/steve_jobs_the_rolling_stone_interview
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/25940442


What I noticed in the Rolling Stones Interviews was they always started off with a story that seemed to give the reader back ground information about the person that the interview was based on. For a example in the beginning of the Steve Jobs interview they describe what he looks like walking up to meet the guy constructing the interview. "When Steve Jobs cruises into the airy reception area on the Apple Computer campus in Cupertino, California, on a recent morning, nobody pays much attention to him, even though he's the company's CEO. He's wearing shorts, a black T-shirt and running shoes. Tall and a little gawky, Jobs has a fast, loping walk, like a wolf in a hurry. " This was the first couple of sentences that you read in the article and once you read this description about him you began to get curious as to what exactly he had to day in his actual interview. Something I think that made the interview professional was the depth of detail the author went in in order to explain and get to what he wanted the reader to understand about Steve Jobs. Something I can take from this article and use in my own work is how they began with a story about there person, Then lead you directly into the interview. That's sort of the direction that I would like to lead my written mentor interview in .

Internship #8—Tuesday 1/19

Internship #8—Tuesday 1/19

Welcome to the second week of internship!

Choice B: What new appreciations (for who? of what?) have you gained through internship that you did not have before? How did you develop these appreciations?

Something that I have begin to appreciate at my internship is learning as a whole. The kids that I work with are very excited and focused when it comes to learning. The passion that they put into there work day is something that seems to get lost along as the kids get older. I overheard a 3rd grader say in front of my Kinders" Man I hate school, learning is no fun" and later on that day one of my kids repeated it " I hate school, learning is boring" when he use to be the most enthustastic one in class. I think that as we get older and we loose the importance of school we begin to teach the younger kids to grow up thinking the way that we do . I have definitely began to appreciate my education and cant wait to farther pursue it, hopefully encourage others to enjoy school, and appreciate there education also.

Internship #7:

Internship #7: Friday 1/15

Project description


Internship site: Sherman Elementary

Department: Kinder garden Teacher Assistant

Project Title:Level Changes


General Description: I will be Exploring the different levels of kids in my learning community.


Learning Objectives: To find a way to communicate and also separate the teaching levels of each individual student.


Organization/Company Objectives & Benefits:?


Schedule:

Mondays, Fridays :

9:30 am -9:50 I work with my lower students, playing games and going through worksheets.

1:20-1:50 pm I work with my higher students going over word list, playing games, almost the same as my low group just more advanced.

Tuesdays, Thursdays:

11:30 am -11:50 I do guided reading with my High students,

1:20- 1:50 I do guided reading with my low group.

Wednesdays

I work with my high group for 20 Min's then my low group for 20 Min's

most of the day is spent with the morning class because they have a short day.

Academic Skills: Presenting skills, teaching skills, patience and team building skills.


Technical Skills: I will be putting all of my worksheets and lessons and data together in a book, or something that I found niftty that my mentor uses when she has to present at teacher meetings and other events similar she will also be helping me put it altogether.


Collaboration—Skills and Opportunities: I will be working closely with my mentor daily , she also gives me worksheets and planning books that she uses that I use so any questions I have I go straight to her. I also do shared reading and calendar every day so I take over the entire class so I can get a better feel as too control and teach a entire class.


Exhibition Plans:


Schedule & Time lines:
Friday I would have done two weeks of groups with my high kids and also my low kids, by Wednesday I will have most of my presentation complete and ready to exhibit.



Next, provide a summary of your week:


Internship week one has been a amazing experience, I absolutely love my internship work place and also my mentor has been very helpful, understanding and fun to be around. The only problem that I have had is forgetting to complete my blogs. I get so wrapped up helping and teaching the kids that my day goes by so fast, By the time I get home I am exhausted and covered with glue, crayons and paper that I fall asleep quickly. But so far my experience has been memorable, my daily coffee is greatly needed to go through my day patiently and successfully. Things between me and my mentor has been great, Friday morning when I arrived I found a card on my desk with a small note and a Starbucks card inside. I would call this moment the highlight of my week by far . This also completed my week and made me thrilled to continue on. Something that I had a challenge with was the copy machine. My mentor asked me to make 50 copies of the weekly homework but I didn't understand how to work it so, I asked some people who worked in the office closes to the work room, after going through about 3 people we finally figured out the machine didn't have staples and we got the machine fixed and going. This was something that went wrong but was also beneficial to my internship experience,I got a chance to interact with people around my work place.

Internship #6:

Internship #6: Thursday 1/14

Taking a break from projects for a moment...

Next week, you will need to interview your mentor or a particularly important coworker. In this mentor interview, you are intending to one or all of the following:


1. Learn about this person's life through their stories, experiences and the decisions they made along the way.


2. Begin to understand the path(s) that can lead to personal and professional "success."


3. Establish and deepen a professional and intellectual relationship.


Hopefully, from this experience, you might begin to have better, more or different ideas about your own life beyond high school.


In this blog post, write about what you would like to learn when you interview your mentor. Post the big ideas and main topics you want to discuss and why they are important to you.


Also, discuss when this could take place. Schedule a time and place with your mentor (or coworker) and post that info in your blog, if possible (you will need to know this by early next week). Locate and reserve a computer or other recording device to document this interview.

Goals:
Somethings that I would like to learn about my mentor is just maybe some personal background info where did she go to college, what steps did she take before she realized that she was going to be a teacher, what things did she have to give up in order to be in the position that she is in. I would also want to know what are the perks of being a teacher and maybe what are the faults of being a teacher? Another thing that I would maybe like to bring up is how the rescission and cut backs have effected her life and maybe other teachers that shes is close too and maybe get some questions about that.

Schedule:
My mentor has prep on Thursday mornings for two hours so I plan on completing my interview during that time. I plan on recording our interview on a apple computer in garage band.

Internship Day 5

Project title: Level Changes.

Project description: I have a group of 3-4 students that are at a much lower level than the rest of the class, and  I have a group of 5-6 students that are at a much higher level than the rest of the class. I work with a morning class and a afternoon class so in total I have around 20 students that I work with per day.  My job is to make sure that my lower level students get something like a double dose of reading and comprehension and everything that we do in regular class Becca's they need extra help. My job with the higher students is to make sure they have work that is going to get there brains rolling so they can continue to reach a higher level. Sometimes they cant focus or there craving more attention than the rest of the students. 

Project schedule: Please post a schedule that is as detailed as you can make it, from today through the exhibition of your internship project.

Mondays, Fridays :

9:30 am -9:50 I work with my lower students, playing games and going through worksheets. 

1:20-1:50 pm  I work with my higher students going over word list, playing games, almost the same as my low group just more advanced.

Tuesdays, Thursdays: 

11:30 am -11:50 I do guided reading with my High students,

1:20- 1:50 I do guided reading with my low group. 

Wednesdays 

I work with my high group for 20 Min's then my low group for 20 Min's

most of the day is spent with the morning class because they have a short day.

Materials & Equipment needed:

*Books

*Worksheets

*Games

*flash cards

*White boards

*Camera

*Computer

*Journal

Project documentation: How will you keep track of your work? How will others know about it? What will you have to show when internship is over? Please note that some internship projects cannot be fully documented for legal reasons or because of organizational regulations (i.e., if you are working on an ongoing case at a law firm or working on a project that will receive a patent, etc.).

I have a Journal, a folder with all of the work that I do with the kids. I am also taking pictures so you can have something visual to look at.