Week in the Life of an Elementary Education Major with Chloe Klock

Rachel O'Malley

McKay Student Ambassador

Elementary Education

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Chloe Klock is a Junior at BYU, studying Elementary Education, and starting Practicum this semester. This blog will give an example week of Chloe's hectic schedule preparing her for her future career as a teacher.

Monday

Chloe started the day off by waking up at 7am to get ready and catch the shuttle. At 8am she attended ECE 334, Introduction to Early Childhood Education, where she learned about social and emotional development of children. She then walked the short 50 feet down to EL ED 445, Teaching Social Studies in K-6. In class they used salt dough to form a geographical landscape, and she chose to make the area around Vancouver WA, her hometown. Now that her classes are done for the day, she goes home to eat lunch sponsored by Trader Joes and does her homework. Every evening, but Wednesdays, from 6-10pm she works at the JFSB as a custodial worker. After walking home with her best friend Savannah, she flops into bed at 11:30pm.

Tuesday

Her first class started at 9am, EL ED 333: Teaching Literacy in Grades K-2, where this week they studied phonological awareness and practiced clapping out syllables in their names. After watching the devotional and grabbing lunch, she heads to EL ED 435: Teaching Writing in Grades K-6 which goes from 1pm to 3pm. This week they learned how to integrate writing into a variety of lesson plans including science, math, and social studies, using the common core standards.

Wednesday

On the longest day of the week for Chloe, she started off with Introduction to Early Childhood Education where they discussed nature vs. nurture and how that effects children. Then she heads right into Teaching Social Studies in K-6 where all of the students went on a scavenger hunt around campus, using compasses to learn about cardinal directions, longitude and latitude all in the name of geography. After class ends at 11:50, she sprints to the WILK to grab lunch before rushing back to start EL ED 310: Planning & Assessment 1 at 12pm. This three hour class allows students to develop lesson planning and assessment building skills. This week she learned how to create inquiry based lessons which they modeled by categorizing shapes. As soon as class is over, Chloe speed walks home to get ready to coach gymnastics to young children. From 3:30-7:20pm she is able to practice her teaching skills including patience and flexibility (pun intended). Of course she has to pick up Swig on the way home with her teacher bestie Rachel (aka me). She spends the rest of the evening finishing homework and taking care of herself with self-care activities (e.g. drinking the Swig from earlier).

Thursday

At 9am she went to Teaching Literacy in Grades K-2 where they learned about Phonemic awareness. They discussed how to help students blend, segment, and manipulate sounds in a word. After returning home, she eats lunch, completes homework, and does chores around the house.

Friday

At 9am she attends EL ED 299R: Management & Practicum 1, where she learns about classroom management and prepares for her practicum assignment. This week they went over the importance of classroom rules and procedures while also playing a fun round of Kahoot. After class ends at 11am, she returns home to each lunch, and maybe sneak in a nap. After work, she spends Friday evening relaxing with her friends and getting ready to enjoy the much needed weekend break.

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Schedule an appointment with a student ambassador here to learn more about the Elementary Education major and practicum.