Allison+Echstenkamper

Placement: Wakefield Middle School 7th Grade Social Studies Heather Mascuga

August 29, 2013 Response to Tchudi and Mitchell Article I really like the idea of writing a letter on the first day of class and including a variety of personal answers, instead of just the generic where you were born, favorite subject, and so forth. Questions such as how the student responds to conflict, their interactions during class time and with other students, and questions about their home life are great tools for the teacher to explain the student's actions, and it also helps the student to feel safe and respected. I also agree that it is a great idea to get the students used to sharing with each other and the rest of the class. I know for me personally, the way that I acted on the first day often affected the way that I acted the rest of the semester. If I felt like I made a lot of friends the first day and that it was a safe environment for me to talk and be myself, then I would speak up more throughout the semester because that was the standard that I was expected to achieve.

My main goal of the first day of school is for the students to know that they have a voice in the classroom and that school is designed to be a fun, comfortable environment. I also want the students to take school seriously and to respect me and the rules of the classroom. Because the first day of school sets the tone for the rest of the school year, I want it to be a mix of rules and procedures as well as getting to know each other and fun activities. I thought that this was a great article because there were a lot of good suggestions for activities to do on the first day that would be helpful for a variety of different student's personalities. Writing letters would be helpful for students who are more shy and do not like to speak up in class on the first day, while working in pairs would be a happy medium for shy and outgoing students because they are still communicating verbally but they are not required to talk in front of the entire class. I plan on incorporating the letter activity on the first day of school, as well as another activity that involves students working together so that peer interaction and participation will be expected on a daily basis in the classroom.

September 5, 2013 Writing Myself Into Being In order to "write myself into being" I want to join more professional networking sites. When Alexis researched me on the internet, nothing bad came up, but it was obvious that I was a college student and not in the professional working world. I did not realize that my Pinterest was open to the public, so all of my pins were the first thing that came up when she searched for me. I have already changed my Pinterest settings to private, even though there is nothing questionable on my profile. I am also planning on making my Twitter account private, and everything on my Facebook account is private as well. In order to become more linked to the professional networking world I am planning on creating a LinkedIn, and I am researching other networking sites to become a part of such as educational societies.

September 4, 2013 Dipity Timeline My Education Process http://www.dipity.com/allisonechstenkamper/Education-Timeline/

September 4, 2013 Classroom Design

September 11, 2013 Teaching Philosophy

I believe that all students deserve to be educated in a safe, caring and encouraging environment. No student should be afraid to come to school because of the way they are treated by their peers or teachers. I believe that when students are comfortable, they are able to relax and focus on the material being taught in class. I want my students to know that they are supported and encouraged to challenge themselves to be the best that they can be.

I believe that all students are different and should be treated as individuals instead of as a synchronized unit. Students learn in all different ways at all different speeds, and exercises are not going to have the same progress each time with each student. As teachers we should never stop striving to find the teaching method that works best for each one of our students. It is our job to spend extra time with students if they are behind, plan ahead for gifted students, and make adjustments to assignments each time we teach them according to what was successful and what failed.

I believe that each student has been given unique gifts that can be used to make our country a better place in the future. It is easy to get caught up in teaching the curriculum in preparing for test scores and forget that students need to learn invaluable skills outside of the curriculum. Social skills, communication, being flexible, punctuality and so many other skills come from interacting with their peers and teachers in schools. I want to encourage my students to pursue their passions and dreams, and to remember that everything around them has been created by someone else. I want my students to explore horizons in and out of school, and to not limit themselves to anyone else's expectations. I want my students to dream and have bigger expectations for themselves than only what everyone else is doing.

September 25, 2013 My full name is Allison Marie Echstenkamper. My name is always a good conversation starter because my last name is so long and hard to spell, and it also sounds very obviously German. Normally when I first meet someone and they see my last name they say something along the lines of, "Wow how long did that take you to learn how to spell?" It took me until second grade to be able to spell my full name. Another funny thing about my name is I can never fit my whole name on any standardized tests, whether it is EOG tests or tests taken on Scantron sheets. My name always ends up being "Allison Echstenkam." Although it takes a long time for me to sign my full name, I am proud that my name is original and memorable. I love that my family and I are connected through having the same name. There are only 25 Echstenkampers in the U.S. today. The meaning of the name Echstenkamper is unknown, and the pronunciation was not available online which I thought was very funny.

My first name does not have as much history as my last name. My parents were actually planning on naming me Anna until I was born, when they changed their minds and named me Allison. I have always been told that the name Allison meant trustworthy, but when researching the meaning on the internet it said that Allison means "noble kind." Another site that I saw said that it means "Son of the Noble One." This was very interesting to me because I had never heard that before, and I also had no idea that Allison used to be a boy name. The origin of the name Allison is German, along with the origin of my last name. The name Allison came from the German name "Alice."

My middle name, Marie, does have some family significance. My middle name is Marie after my great aunt who passed away. She was my grandfather's sister. Sadly I do not know much about her other than I am named after her. When researching the meaning of Marie, I found that most websites said that it means "bitter."

Citations http://names.whitepages.com/last/Echstenkamper http://www.ourbabynamer.com/meaning-of-Allison.html http://www.babynames.com/name/Allison http://www.sheknows.com/baby-names/name/marie

Acrostic Poem: Adventurous Laughing Lackadaisical Insightful Sister Optimistic New Girl Lover

October 30, 2013 Unit Plan Outline 7th Grade Social Studies Unit Topic: New Nations (ME, S Asia, SE Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe) Weeks 23-25 on Yearly Plan

1. Themes: Struggle for Independence, Emergence of Culture, History and Culture Today 2. Reasons for doing themes: for students to understand the emergence of individual countries and how they came to be, the process to reach independence between countries, and different developments of cultures between places. 3. Materials: Prezi ABC Notes Meograph PowToon Jigsaw Notes YouTube Clips from movies Poster Board Overhead Projector White Board Markers Newspaper, Magazine, Internet Articles Book Excerpts Maps of Continents 4. Think, Pair, Share Free Writing in journals Free Write using sticky notes WallWisher Venn Diagrams on White Board Silent Poster Discussion Discussion taking opposite points of view Vocabulary Identification Notes from Articles Researching specific people from countries and times learned about Fish Bowl Discussion Skits

November 7, 2013 Poetry Workshop Lizzie McGuire

Where have you gone Lizzie McGuire? I miss watching you everyday on TV, you were so cool and funny and sweet. You and Miranda and Gordo were the best of friends, together you always passed the test.

Now I am too old for Disney channel, even though I still have stuffed animals I refuse to sell. I miss being a carefree kid with no responsibilities, and now all my friends are getting married!

If you were here you'd probably say To calm down and relax, stop wishing your life away! Life goes by fast with lots of changes, All of the good and the bad, just sit back and embrace it.