Characteristics of the Novice Teacher.

One lesson that I am quite proud of is a diversity lesson I taught to a first grade class. The lesson was focused around the book "The Colors of Us" by Karen Katz. The story is about a little girl that describes her friends and family by the colors of their skin. The little girl used creative, food-related adjectives, like creamy peanut butter and hazelnut, to describe different colors of skin to show how every individual is unique. This story helps students distinguish more skin differences than just white and black. Everybody has a unique skin color. I started the lesson by asking the following questions:

a. Does anyone know what ancestors are?
b. Does anyone know if their ancestors came from a different country?
c. Where did they come from?

Then I would introduce the book to the class and ask the students what they know about skin colors all over the world. Next I would ask the students what they want to learn about skin colors. I would then read the book aloud to the class. After a class discussion about the message of the book, the students create a self-portrait with crayons, colored pencils, or the utensil of their choice. After they draw and color their self-portraits, the students will be instructed to think of a word or two to describe their unique skin color, just as the narrator described the children in the book. Finally, the students will discuss what they have learned from the lesson. I associate this lesson to the ninth characteristic of a novice teacher: beware of and have respect for human diversity.

The second artifact I would like to relate to one of the ten characteristics is a portfolio I made in Music 182. The portfolio contains ten principles of how music can be incorporated into the curriculum. Along with each characteristic is an artifact from the class. I am extremely proud of this portfolio because it is a tool that can be used as a resource later on in my career. I was able to create my own ten principles at the end of the semester, so my portfolio is filled with principles that I find most important in music education. For instance, my favorite principle is "Music is the best icebreaker." The artifact I included was a song called "Hello There," which the students sing to introduce themselves. This is a really great activity for the first day of school or when a new student comes into the classroom. This music portfolio can be associated to the tenth principle of a novice teacher: be liberally educated.