EDUC 2300 Introduction to Education

Service Learning
Journal Entries

Landon King

VISION FOR MY FUTURE

Here is what I want to accomplish this year:
Education: I plan to graduate from Walters State Community College and then transfer to
Tusculum College.
Career: I hope to continue helping people as a student tutor in the tutoring lab found in
the Student Success Center. Hopefully, I will be able to do something similar to the workstudy scholarship program at Tusculum.
Family and Friends: My friends and family are important. Therefore, I plan to spend more
time with them. I would like for my sister and dad not to have any issues going on between
them, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon with the way my sister acts.
Involvement and Service to My Community: As usual, Ive helped out at the elementary
school near where I live. They tend to be one of the first places I look towards when I end
up doing any form of community service, such as that for the TNachieves scholarship.
Personal Growth: I would like to better myself and increase my social skills, but I also
dont strive for too much change making that a bit difficult.
Other: I would like to try different things this year for recreational purposes. For instance,
conventions like Comic-con and Vidcon would be an interesting and fun experience (an
expensive one too).

Service Learning Project

Name: Landon King

Course Title: EDUC 2300 - Introduction to Education
Date: 3-14-16
Agency Name: Whitesburg Elementary School
Agencys Mission Statement/ Grades Served/ Community Needs:
The mission of Whitesburg Elementary School is to educate students so they can be
challenged to compete successfully in their chosen fields. They serve grades K-5. They hold an
ESP (After School) program to enable the students to have a safe environment while waiting for
their parents or guardians to get off work.

Prologue:

From the service learning, I plan to gain the skills to ready myself for what
is expected from a teacher, at least, a person studying to become a teacher. I will
hopefully get different ideas from the service learning for the incorporation of
technology and the state standards while still providing a fun and educational
experience for the students.

Journal Entry Day One

Day One Overview:

I arrived at the school at around 7:10 A.M. During the time before classes would start, I
helped with cafeteria duty. The teacher, I was going to be with for the service learning, always
does that, but she arrived ten to fifteen minutes after I had. There were no issues. Class started
around 8:00 A.M. The first few things that happened involved collecting snack money, marking
the students' lunch choices, and taking up notes for the parent/teacher conferences that would

occur the next week. The reaction of Mrs. Greenes, it was implied that most of the parents had
asked for the same time slot.
The first lesson of the day was a combination of English, Spelling, and Writing. Second
grade is required, by the state, to teach cursive writing, and that is what the writing portion
entailed. During this time, I was called over by the other teacher to see if I could access or create
an email for an instructor, however, all personal email systems such as Google and Yahoo had
been blocked by the Hamblen County School System.
I graded the worksheets that the students had worked on after they went to the next
lessons which were mathematics. The students went to different teachers based on skill level, and
Mrs. Greene had the lower level students. As part of a grant, the school had another person come
in during the math lesson to help the students more. Once the math lesson was over, the students
were back in their usual classrooms, and they worked on anything that was unfinished. If they
had nothing to do, they were to read books and take an AR test on the book once finished. The
AR (Accelerated Reading) program is used with a reward system of a field trip after a certain
point value has been reached.
After that, the students went off to lunch. Mrs. Greene had to go to a meeting of some
sort that afternoon, and a substitute teacher was brought in to watch the class. The students
seemed more unruly with the substitute teacher, most likely due to the particular one having been
a substitute for the students many times before. An example would be how the substitute teacher
frequently had to tell the students to get back to work whereas Mrs. Greene rarely had to do that.
The reading lesson, in which they split into groups and had the behavior issues, was followed by
a recess in which students who had not finished their work had to complete it before they could
play.
Following a break, the students were given some worksheets to work on; the assignments
included math, English, writing, and a word search. The students then went to gym class. When
they came back, they continued completing the worksheets. The students lined up (more like
piled up) around the desk the substitute teacher was sitting at to ask for help. As a result, I started
asking the students what they needed help with and informed them of what the problems they
were unsure of how to complete were about; the problems that gave them the most trouble were
usually math problems. Some students, however, just wanted to talk to the substitute teacher and
weren't asking for any help with their work. Once the school day was considered over, I went up
to the office and talked to the staff there about various topics, such as the book fair that would be
occurring the next week.

ABCs of Reflections

Affect: I was somewhat apprehensive about the service learning, but I would just remind
myself of how I had done the previous semester. Not much had changed, and as a result, I felt
more comfortable a lot sooner than I had before.
Behavior: I made sure to help with what was needed. The teacher had more time to help
the students due to me grading the worksheets for her. The students also seemed a bit friendlier,
most likely from where I steered them in the right direction when it came to assignments when
they seemed confused about something.
Cognition/Content: I noticed how most of the information learned in my education
classes could be applied to the classroom. Some misbehavior issues seemed to fall in line with
what had been talked about in the EDUC 2010 class from last semester. I noticed how the office
staff seemed more stressed out with trying to fill out the appropriate information about the
students on their test booklets and find people willing to proctor the tests after they had been
rescheduled multiple times.

Journal Entry - Day Two

Day Two Overview:
Again, my day started with breakfast duty; this time, however, the teacher I was doing my
service learning with had arrived at about the same time as me. While walking to the classroom
before the bell rang, I had a discussion with the teacher about school food. She didn't care much
for it. As usual, roll call by asking lunch choices and the collection of snack money was the first
thing done. The roll call was followed by a trip to the bathrooms and then the English, spelling,
and writing lessons. In the writing lesson, the students were working on the cursive letter "K."
As before, a student with his or her work completed was expected to read a book while
waiting for everyone else to finish. I graded some more worksheets for Mrs. Greene during the
lessons. The math lesson followed after the English lesson. This time, however, the person who
was there to help the students with math did not come in; she would only show up certain days of
the week for about half an hour to help as part of the grant. Following the math lesson, all of
Mrs. Greene's class had returned and continued to work on the assignments from that morning
followed by lunch.
After their midday meal, the students split up to go to their reading classes. The students
behaved more for Mrs. Greene than they had for the substitute teacher the previous day. After
reading, the students had recess. Once they came back inside, the teacher went over two of the
worksheets from the day before because most of the students seemed to have issues with writing
titles and initials correctly as well as replacing vague terms with more specific nouns. A science
lesson on fossils and dinosaurs followed the worksheets. After that, the students left to go to the

library and then music class. It was part of the way through this time that Mrs. Greene
remembered that grade cards were to go out that day, so she hurried to fill them out while I
distributed the completed ones. Like the previous day, I went to the office and talked with the
staff when the day was over.
ABCs of Reflections
Affect: I didnt feel anywhere near as apprehensive about this day as I had the day
before.
Behavior: As before, I made sure to help the teacher including grading papers, sorting
through to see who had forgotten to put his or her name on the no-name paper, and passing out
grade cards and award ribbons.
Cognition/Content: As I mentioned in the previous "C Reflection," I noticed how most
of the information learned in my education classes could be applied to the classroom.

Journal Entry Day Three

Day Three Overview:
Unlike last semester, I did a third day of service learning. Like all the other days, I helped
with breakfast duty. This day was different than the others, though. The reason behind that was
testing started with TCAP/TNReady (both of those test names were on the booklets that I saw in
the office). The second grade did not have to take the tests this year, a fact that the staff seemed
to wish was not true. The years before this, second grade usually tested as well, but it had been
decided this year that the second graders were apparently not ready for that.
As usual, the day started with roll call by lunch choices and snack money along with the
bathroom break. The students were strongly informed to remain silent in the hallways because of
testing. This day, in particular, Mrs. Greene had the students working on the cursive letter "F" as
part of their lesson, and she had to tell them frequently that they need to have the letters slanted
when writing in cursive. Following that lesson, the students went to their math lessons. During
the math lesson, I graded worksheets again. Lunch followed the math lesson and then reading.
The reading assignment for the students was a biography of Cezar Chavez, but some of the
students had difficulty pronouncing his name.
Following the reading lesson, the students had snack time and recess. This day, however,
the two second-grade teachers took the students on a walk instead of letting them play on the
playground. An important factor in that decision was that the gym teacher had taken all three
fifth grade classes outside to the playground for their class with him due to not having the class at
the usual time which was during the timeframe of testing. Once the students go back from recess,

more math worksheets were waiting on them. I was sent up to the office to deliver make-up work
for a student that was absent the three days in which I did my service learning. The students
graded each other's worksheets this time around. Following the time that they worked on and
graded the worksheets, the students had gym class. It was during this period that I helped to
organize the bookshelf.
When the students came back from the gym, they had another worksheet waiting on
them. This time, it was a crossword puzzle for animal names that are two syllables long. Again
once the day was over, I went up to the office. This time, however, they had me try a sample
problem from the third-grade practice tests. It was a math problem that didn't take me very long,
and I did all of the work in my head. The important part of that is how I've had a lot more math
that was harder, unlike the third graders. While the math lessons that I saw of the second graders
was from the lower leveled group, I still don't think that the sample problem would be something
that they would be able to do by this time next year.
ABCs of Reflections
Affect: I felt calm going into service learning this time, but there was still a little smidge
of doubt stemming from the fact that the upper grades would start testing on this day.
Behavior: I, again, made sure to help with what I could. During the walk that the
students went on for recess, I mostly stayed near Mrs. Greene and talked with her about different
subjects involving the school system and reasons behind particular behaviors of some of the
students.
Cognition/Content: Along with the previous two days, I noticed behavior methods that
fell in line with what had been taught in class. I also noticed that the teachers were somewhat
more stressful during this day because testing had started.

Epilogue:
Reflect on your semesters service learning experience.
My service learning experience was different than last time. I had gotten more used to it,
and, as a result, didn't feel as uncomfortable going into this. As a result, it seemed to be easier. It was
interesting to see the differences of how a class worked earlier in their school year compared to the
latter portion of the academic year. I was also able to see how testing affected teachers and students
alike from an informed but outside point of view.
Revisit the prologue. Have your expectations been met?

I feel like most of my expectations were met. It was easier to do the service learning after
having done it before. The students were curious as to what I was doing in their classroom, but over
time, got used to me being there helping Mrs. Greene with various things such as grading papers.
How have you been surprised, delighted, or dismayed by the experience? Give specific
examples.
There wasn't anything in particular that surprised, delighted, or dismayed me. I guess the
biggest thing is the way the school reacts to testing days. There was a frequent reminder to be quiet in
the hallways, and most of the teachers and staff seemed more stressed out than the students.

How could this experience be improved?

The experience could probably have been improved if I had spread out the time in which I
did the service learning. Three days is not enough time to see the full scope of things, but it was what
I had available to do my service learning.

VISION FOR MY FUTURE

Here is what I want to accomplish in the next five years:
Education: Within the next five years, I want to graduate from Walters State, hopefully,
graduate from Tusculum, and continue learning to get a Master's Degree, even if I have to
do it while working.
Career: I would like to get a job teaching history; however, there is no guarantee that I will
find and get one.
Family and Friends: I would like to have no issues going on between family members. I
also don't want to lose touch with my friends, a frequent occurrence in the past due to not
having a cell phone until after graduating from high school.
Involvement and Service to My Community: I will probably continue helping out at
Whitesburg Elementary School with things such as their annual Fun Night.
Personal Growth: I would like to hopefully better myself in general, as well as explore
more of the United States and the world than I currently have. I'm not sure how much I
will be able to achieve, though.

REFLECTIONS
Here are the Knowledge and Skills that I have acquired as a direct result of taking part in this
Service Learning Project:
There is a lot of work to do even in the lower grade levels, sometimes more due in part to the
teachers not being required to specialize in a particular subject. Testing week is stressful for
teachers, staff, and students alike regardless of the age groups taught. Substitute teachers have it
harder than full-time teachers when it comes to gaining the students respect.
Here is how this Service Learning project ties in with my
EDUC 2300 Introduction to Education class:
In the EDUC 2300 Introduction to Education class, different things are taught. For instance, most
public schools had been made to teach reading for the students to be able to read the Bible. There
are also some parts of how students act and such. Inside the class, we have mostly worked in
groups creating lesson plans using technology. This service learning provides life experience, for
what we have been taught, in a way that one cannot learn from a book.
My Contribution to the Community
I have devoted 27 hours to my Service Learning project. Here are four lasting experiences that
are an outcome of my Service Learning Project:

1. Testing week is stressful for everyone, especially when the dates for it have
kept getting pushed back.
2. Its expected that students will sometimes misbehave in a classroom; theyre
still young and sometimes dont think about what theyre doing. The behavior
issues seem to worsen when a substitute teacher is in charge of the class.
3. There is a lot of paperwork to do and work the students had done to grade.
Sometimes, it seems like it might be more than one person can handle.
4. There will always be something that you dont like or agree with, but when it is
part of your job, you will have to do it.