I would say the most important thing I learned is how diverse students learning abilities and progress are. I didn't realize how behind some students can be and how far ahead others are. One day I walked in and the teacher had been trying to separate the students into reading groups. She was really struggling to do it because the students were on such different levels.
Another important thing I learned was that teaching requires a lot of patience. Kids are not perfect all the time, and it's important that a teacher can remember that. They require a lot of love and patience to succeed and it seems very important to me that they get it.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Blog Post #7
Like we learned in class, I noticed the teacher has a chart that has different levels of how well the students are behaving. Each child starts at "Ready to Learn" and can move their clothespin up or down the chart depending on how well they behave each day. This is mainly how the teacher enforces discipline. It works really well because the kids know what is expected of them and see immediate results from their behaviors.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Blog Post #6
The teacher uses multiple strategies to get the students engaged. She asks a lot of questions pertaining to what they are doing at the time. She also allows them time to practice their work and engage with each other. She does a good job of keeping the lessons fun and different to keep the children from getting bored, and is always talking them through her thinking about what she's teaching them.
One example of this is, one morning she was going over writing skills. The letter for the day was g. Whenever Ms. Sutton wrote a lowercase g on the board she would tell the students not to forget the "Monkey Tail" referring to the tail of the g. The kids loved it and they quickly called out every time she needed one. This was a great tool she used, the monkey tail made the lesson more enjoyable for the kids, and they always remember that the lowercase g has a tail.
One example of this is, one morning she was going over writing skills. The letter for the day was g. Whenever Ms. Sutton wrote a lowercase g on the board she would tell the students not to forget the "Monkey Tail" referring to the tail of the g. The kids loved it and they quickly called out every time she needed one. This was a great tool she used, the monkey tail made the lesson more enjoyable for the kids, and they always remember that the lowercase g has a tail.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Blog Entry #5
I think one of the most challenging roles a teacher plays would have to be preparing lessons that apply to each child's needs. In my class that I observe there is a girl who only speaks Spanish and the teacher sometimes struggles to prepare a lesson that meets her needs and the kids who are more advanced. Just this week the teacher was trying to separate the kids into reading groups and was having a hard time because they all are on different reading levels.
One thing that the teachers at the school I observe at have done to help with this problem is break the children into groups for math. They teach a concept and break them into three different groups. Reinforce, reteach, and advanced. Reinforce would be the kids who are on track and just need a reminder of the lesson. Reteach are the kids who aren't quite getting it and need to be helped more. The advanced kids are the ones who have it and know how to apply it, the teacher has these kids start on more advanced problems. Overall I feel like this is working fairly well and think it helps with the problem of diverse students.
One thing that the teachers at the school I observe at have done to help with this problem is break the children into groups for math. They teach a concept and break them into three different groups. Reinforce, reteach, and advanced. Reinforce would be the kids who are on track and just need a reminder of the lesson. Reteach are the kids who aren't quite getting it and need to be helped more. The advanced kids are the ones who have it and know how to apply it, the teacher has these kids start on more advanced problems. Overall I feel like this is working fairly well and think it helps with the problem of diverse students.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Blog Entry #4
I have done quite a bit of preparation for the kids lessons while observing. It really has made me realize what kind of extra time the teacher has to put in to make her lessons entertaining and educational. Whether it's been cutting papers for a craft they are doing later in the day, or inserting a page into their homework files, it all needs to get done in order for the students to succeed.
Another thing that the teacher has been working on is placing the kids into separate reading groups based on their reading level and comprehension. This is something she is having difficulty with because the kids are so diverse in their learning at this point. These past couple weeks she's been trying to get them caught up and grouped together so that they can read together easily. She's going to allow me to work with one of these groups individually which is something I am looking forward to because I will get some focused interaction with the kids.
Another thing that the teacher has been working on is placing the kids into separate reading groups based on their reading level and comprehension. This is something she is having difficulty with because the kids are so diverse in their learning at this point. These past couple weeks she's been trying to get them caught up and grouped together so that they can read together easily. She's going to allow me to work with one of these groups individually which is something I am looking forward to because I will get some focused interaction with the kids.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Blog Entry #3
This week when I went to observe the teacher had me take some of the students outside and have them read to me. This was really neat because I got to observe the students one on one and really see how diverse learners they are. I got the opportunity to read with three kids total.
The first girl I read with seemed to be an average reader, she wasn't bad but she didn't stick out as a really good reader to me. She did a pretty good job with most of her words and I only had to help her with a few.
The next girl I read with was Jarely (Yad-el-ly) She is a Spanish speaking student who is learning English. She was on a completely different reading level than the other girl. She was reading books like "I see a dog. I see a cat.". The thing I noticed most about her though was that she could read it. I was so impressed with her for being able to read what she could, she can barely speak English!
The last kid I read with was a little boy named Bryson. Bryson seemed to be more of an advanced learner. The teacher told me to try to get him reading in phrases rather than word by word. He read all his words without hardly any hesitation and tried to read in phrases as best he could. He was easily the best reader of the three.
I loved this experience it really opened my eyes to all of the children's different learning levels and abilities. Another thing I learned was that even though Jarely is still learning, she is progressing as fast as the other kids. She just has some catching up to do to get on their level.
The first girl I read with seemed to be an average reader, she wasn't bad but she didn't stick out as a really good reader to me. She did a pretty good job with most of her words and I only had to help her with a few.
The next girl I read with was Jarely (Yad-el-ly) She is a Spanish speaking student who is learning English. She was on a completely different reading level than the other girl. She was reading books like "I see a dog. I see a cat.". The thing I noticed most about her though was that she could read it. I was so impressed with her for being able to read what she could, she can barely speak English!
The last kid I read with was a little boy named Bryson. Bryson seemed to be more of an advanced learner. The teacher told me to try to get him reading in phrases rather than word by word. He read all his words without hardly any hesitation and tried to read in phrases as best he could. He was easily the best reader of the three.
I loved this experience it really opened my eyes to all of the children's different learning levels and abilities. Another thing I learned was that even though Jarely is still learning, she is progressing as fast as the other kids. She just has some catching up to do to get on their level.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Blog Entry #2
In the second grade class I am observing the teacher tries to give me as many chances to work with the kids as I possibly can. For one of the days, she had me work with 3 boys on a worksheet the class was doing. One thing I found difficult was that the boys learned the material differently. This was not something I had expected and I struggled a bit to teach all of them the right way to do the worksheet.
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