Week 3 started off with no school since it was Martin Luther King Jr. day. As a class we went over quite a lot of information to prepare for MLK day which was beneficial for the students I think because surprisingly our students really did not know much about the holiday at all. Even more surprising to me was that even though our class is very diverse, very few, if any, of the students understood what it meant to have a different skin color than someone else or what being treated differently because of skin color looked like.
The rest of this week went well overall, the days seem to go by very quickly which is something that surprised me at first, but something that is definitely a good thing as well. Throughout the week I was able to teach the R.A.P. class period which is just the time each day where the entire school is supposed to be reading so I have been reading a book to the students and asking them questions as they read, currently we are reading "Runaway Ralph" which is definitely above the reading level of my students, but I would say that they still definitely enjoy it. Tuesday, Mrs. Greene was also able to observe me teaching a lesson for this class period. I would definitely say that it went well, the students seemed engaged and she also had some good comments for me relating to my teaching.
Tuesday after school I was also able to go to a meeting of all of the teachers and support staff for the whole Developmental Learning Program. This meeting encompasses teachers from three separate buildings, all whom are apart of the DLP. Of the 50-60 teachers and therapists who were at the meeting I was the only male which I found humorous. It seems that the ratio of guys to girls from my education classes carries over to the working world as well! The purpose of the meeting was to learn about a new assessment which is supposedly supposed to take over in place of the IAA, the Illinois Alternative Assessment. It was an interesting video but what is really cool is that my school is one of the few piloting this new assessment before it is used next year or at the latest in a few years. The DLP regularly pilots new assessments and methods so this is something that is really exciting to be able to see and to observe happening in the classroom. The teachers weren't overly excited by some parts of the new assessment which has a few names but I know it as KITE. We will be learning more about the new assessment this coming week at another staff meeting.
I feel that in the classroom I have been slowly gaining more respect with the other teachers and staff as well as with the students, it seems to be a slow process at times but it is definitely improving as more students feel comfortable with my presence in the classroom, but more importantly as they learn to listen to what I have to say and to follow my instructions. I think that taking over all discipline in the classroom may be a bit of a difficult task as my teacher has a very certain discipline style which is not similar to the management style that I use, so that may be a rough transition depending on how the students react to my management style.
Later in the week, I was able to teach a full reading lesson as my teacher had to run out to her daughter's school to drop off medicine, this went well and it was really enjoyable to teach in front of the whole class (4 kids). The more I teach the more I am more comfortable in the classroom and with the kids, which is of course understandable but still something that I think that I should state. I was also able to work with a math small group for part of the time in math class. The classes get split up by ability level for reading and math. The group that my teacher and I have is one of the lowest achieving ability groups for math so teaching them is sometimes a practice based in much patience. The students have a very hard time remembering from day to day what we learned and progress is very slow. We have been working on distinguishing the differences between numbers and number words for two weeks already, with small amounts of progress in most of the students. A few of the students have made progress though and are doing well, I was able to work on reviewing some material with these students on Thursday. Another interesting aspect of the DLP is that if one teacher goes home sick or needs to leave for a bit (like bringing their child medicine), the other teachers are really great at taking the other teacher's students for a while. For example on Friday, a teacher went home sick so her class came with ours and we did our afternoon activities. This meant that we had around 16 kids in our classroom along with 5-6 aides, which made for a crazy room and a crazy afternoon!
Classroom Confidential
1. I think that my understanding of culture was enhanced through the reading of Schmidt. My class is one of much diversity, no two students come from similar backgrounds and for only having eight students we have students from many different backgrounds. I think I big part of this is because the co-op services 9 districts, but anyways, looking at my students through their cultural backgrounds is important and I think that I have learned a lot about them and their cultures, just through their actions, what they say, what they know, and their interests. It is very interesting to see where these students have come from and how different many of these backgrounds are from my own. For example, one students' mother recently lost her job and the teachers were worried that the student would not have food for awhile since the mother is the only source of income in the household. This is a fairly common problem in this school, but a problem that I never thought about back in my school or in the area of my hometown. So looking at this culture gives me a whole new perspective on where my students are coming from and what they are going through as well.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Week 2
Looking back at this past week at student teaching, I can say that I learned huge amounts about my classroom, about teaching, and in my interactions with the other teachers and aides in the class. Starting off on Monday, I was able to do some helping out with small group instruction in our reading class. This reading group only consists of a few students, usually about 3-5. I found out on Monday that one of the students in my reading group had recently been evicted from his house, while another's mother had lost her job which was the only source of income in the household. This is an example of some of the socioeconomic situations that some of the students in my classes need to go through and what happens in some of their daily lives. These situations were surprising to me, even after getting to know the students. I think it's very important to notice that sometimes the teachers in the classes need to focus on whether the students in the classes are eating and getting nutrition over whether their academic pursuits are going well.
I was also able to teach a reading lesson this week on a last-minute basis as my teacher was suddenly called to go pick up her daughter from her school because she wasn't feeling well, because of this I was able to take over a lesson last minute which was really sudden but it went well and it was nice to teach a lesson, even if it wasn't one that I was able to make up.
Tuesday I was able to go to an IEP meeting and a re-evaluation for one of my students after school which was quite a long process but it was really constructive for me in my learning to see an IEP meeting happen in person and see how the parents reacted to that and to that process. I was surprised by how many people attended the meeting but also just how well they worked together and what their interactions together looked like.
Throughout the rest of the week I was able to learn about how to interact with paraprofessionals more and how to interact with aides. I think that I learned more about the paraprofessionals and about their lives and backgrounds with the students as well. I think that I also have been growing in my respect in the classroom with the students and other adults with each day, which is important as I get closer to more and more teaching.
Friday my cooperating teacher was gone for the entire day as she was at an inservice to learn about a new alternative assessment that will soon be used. Because of this, we had a substitute teacher but I was able to teach two lessons during the day which my teacher prepared for me. I was able to teach a reading lesson, which was basically just review and worksheets on a story that the student read earlier in the week, give a spelling test, and then do our daily reading time, where I read the students a few chapters from the book "Despicable Me". These lessons went well and I think that I was definitely helpful for the substitute to have in the class as I knew the students well and some of the daily functions in the classroom.
Classroom Confidential
1. I think that I have definitely learned about behavior in my classroom thus far, mainly that behavior changes happen each day and that behaviors may be classified in one way one day and completely different the next day. This happens in my students as I may hear very bad things about their behaviors, but then not see those behaviors at all for a few days, then all of a sudden the next day see those behaviors manifest themselves. I think that I knew already that it is important to be proactive with behaviors, but I have learned how to apply this a bit more and the importance of this.
2. Eptness is the capacity for students to be interested and excited in what they are learning and to work in what they are learning about. I have learned about some ways to use eptness in the classroom, this may be encouragement, as well as the importance of a positive demeanor in the classroom. Often, it is easy to start getting negative with the students in the classroom and feel that nothing you do will work with them but it is important to stay positive and to work to incorporate encouragement into your practices.
3. I think some behaviors I will use will be using cooperation in the classroom between students, classroom work, and responsibility for actions. The first two will be used because there does not seem to be much interdependent work between students in my classroom from my point of view and I think that they could work together more readily in many ways. It may be difficult for some students to communicate with one another and interact with one another, but I think that it is very important that students work together and learn some collaborative skills. I think it is also important that students get some jobs in the classroom and take some responsibilities in what they they in the classroom and in their work as well.
I was also able to teach a reading lesson this week on a last-minute basis as my teacher was suddenly called to go pick up her daughter from her school because she wasn't feeling well, because of this I was able to take over a lesson last minute which was really sudden but it went well and it was nice to teach a lesson, even if it wasn't one that I was able to make up.
Tuesday I was able to go to an IEP meeting and a re-evaluation for one of my students after school which was quite a long process but it was really constructive for me in my learning to see an IEP meeting happen in person and see how the parents reacted to that and to that process. I was surprised by how many people attended the meeting but also just how well they worked together and what their interactions together looked like.
Throughout the rest of the week I was able to learn about how to interact with paraprofessionals more and how to interact with aides. I think that I learned more about the paraprofessionals and about their lives and backgrounds with the students as well. I think that I also have been growing in my respect in the classroom with the students and other adults with each day, which is important as I get closer to more and more teaching.
Friday my cooperating teacher was gone for the entire day as she was at an inservice to learn about a new alternative assessment that will soon be used. Because of this, we had a substitute teacher but I was able to teach two lessons during the day which my teacher prepared for me. I was able to teach a reading lesson, which was basically just review and worksheets on a story that the student read earlier in the week, give a spelling test, and then do our daily reading time, where I read the students a few chapters from the book "Despicable Me". These lessons went well and I think that I was definitely helpful for the substitute to have in the class as I knew the students well and some of the daily functions in the classroom.
Classroom Confidential
1. I think that I have definitely learned about behavior in my classroom thus far, mainly that behavior changes happen each day and that behaviors may be classified in one way one day and completely different the next day. This happens in my students as I may hear very bad things about their behaviors, but then not see those behaviors at all for a few days, then all of a sudden the next day see those behaviors manifest themselves. I think that I knew already that it is important to be proactive with behaviors, but I have learned how to apply this a bit more and the importance of this.
2. Eptness is the capacity for students to be interested and excited in what they are learning and to work in what they are learning about. I have learned about some ways to use eptness in the classroom, this may be encouragement, as well as the importance of a positive demeanor in the classroom. Often, it is easy to start getting negative with the students in the classroom and feel that nothing you do will work with them but it is important to stay positive and to work to incorporate encouragement into your practices.
3. I think some behaviors I will use will be using cooperation in the classroom between students, classroom work, and responsibility for actions. The first two will be used because there does not seem to be much interdependent work between students in my classroom from my point of view and I think that they could work together more readily in many ways. It may be difficult for some students to communicate with one another and interact with one another, but I think that it is very important that students work together and learn some collaborative skills. I think it is also important that students get some jobs in the classroom and take some responsibilities in what they they in the classroom and in their work as well.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Week 1
This past Wednesday started the first week of the first of my two student teaching placements. This placement is at the Developmental Learning Program, part of Eisenhower Cooperative. My placement is in a 5-7th grade self-contained special education room. The students in the room come from a very wide variety of backgrounds and make up a population of cross-categorical students with special needs in the school. My classroom has 8 students with a variety of disabilities, though over half have been diagnosed with some form of autism. The seven special needs classrooms in the school switch around for reading and math so we actually see more than 8 students throughout the day. My cooperating teacher's name is Mrs. Peggy Earll and she has been teaching at the school for fifteen years, there are also three paraprofessionals in the classroom.
Our day starts off with meeting in the front entryway of the school and getting the students off of the buses. There are 6-7 buses that come each morning with the students so it takes quite some time for all of the students to arrive. When each bus pulls up, we go outside and walk the students in. This is an enjoyable part of the school day for me as I get to greet the students first thing in the morning and also work with teachers and paraprofessionals and I do not usually have opportunities to interact with. Next we go to Calendar time, gym, reading, lunch, another reading time, math, and then either science, library, computers, or news time. This is what our day usually looks like.
Going into the first day of student teaching I would say that I was definitely nervous about my placement, mostly just because I was not sure about what the teaching would look like and what they interactions in the classroom would be like. I quickly learned a huge amount of information in the three days I was in the class this week. I have learned mostly about the students, but also the teaching strategies of my teacher and the paraprofessionals, the daily routines, and what interactions look like in the classroom. Throughout this week I have been able to spend some time working with students in small groups or 1 on 1 interactions as well as briefly teaching a reading lesson while my teacher talked to a social worker who had recently walked into the room. I think that one thing that I have already learned about my classroom is that there are high periods of activity and very low periods of activity. There may be a time when there are more adults in the class than students as specialists, therapists, and support staff are always walking in and out. But, there may also be a time when the students have gotten iPads or books as rewards and are basically focused on those so the classroom is much quieter.
Looking both at my classroom and at IPTS indicators, I think that one of the first indicators really hits home with my classroom. Indicator 1A says "The competent teacher understands the spectrum of student diversity (e.g., race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, special education, gifted, ELL, sexual orientation, gender, gender orientation) and the assets that each student brings to learning across the curriculum." The classroom is so varied but so great in those differences between the students. Each student brings so many different things to the classroom, but also has learning needs that may be very individual and specific. Because of this, this week was constructive for me in learning about the students in the class and learning about their different learning styles and needs.
This week was also constructive in making me trust the Lord in my teaching and in my entire life. Early on in the week I realized that there is no way that I am able to do well and succeed and glorify the Lord in my teaching on my own strength. Only through his work in me can I succeed in the classroom, more importantly impact my students, and overall glorify Him through my work in student teaching. Also, if you are wondering about the blog title, it is a reference to the last minute in a soccer match, the 90th. I think this relates well to my student teaching as it is the last part of my college career, but like the 90th minute in soccer it can be the most essential and game-changing.
Classroom Confidential
1. Looking at the list of intelligences that are listed by Schmidt, I think that obviously all of the intelligences have some usage in the classroom and should be used at times so that all sorts of learners will be engaged in the classroom and will be able to use their learning style to learn effectively. That being said, I think that some intelligences can be used more effectively in my classroom. I think these would include Kinesthetic Intelligence as many of the students in my class learn well from touching things, from exploring the classroom with their hands and from learning by doing. I think that visual and spatial intelligences are also important as the students in my class benefit from concrete instruction and learning much than abstract learning and instruction.
2. I think that I will use full brain learning in my teaching through activities that allow students to be moving around the classroom, to do new activities that they have not tried before, and to even work with their peers. In my short observations so far it seems to me that most of the time in the classroom the students learn in ways that are receptive and do things over and over again in their learning. Because of this, it is my hope that we can work on activities that really stimulate their minds and help them learn to work independently and to work in new ways as well.
Our day starts off with meeting in the front entryway of the school and getting the students off of the buses. There are 6-7 buses that come each morning with the students so it takes quite some time for all of the students to arrive. When each bus pulls up, we go outside and walk the students in. This is an enjoyable part of the school day for me as I get to greet the students first thing in the morning and also work with teachers and paraprofessionals and I do not usually have opportunities to interact with. Next we go to Calendar time, gym, reading, lunch, another reading time, math, and then either science, library, computers, or news time. This is what our day usually looks like.
Going into the first day of student teaching I would say that I was definitely nervous about my placement, mostly just because I was not sure about what the teaching would look like and what they interactions in the classroom would be like. I quickly learned a huge amount of information in the three days I was in the class this week. I have learned mostly about the students, but also the teaching strategies of my teacher and the paraprofessionals, the daily routines, and what interactions look like in the classroom. Throughout this week I have been able to spend some time working with students in small groups or 1 on 1 interactions as well as briefly teaching a reading lesson while my teacher talked to a social worker who had recently walked into the room. I think that one thing that I have already learned about my classroom is that there are high periods of activity and very low periods of activity. There may be a time when there are more adults in the class than students as specialists, therapists, and support staff are always walking in and out. But, there may also be a time when the students have gotten iPads or books as rewards and are basically focused on those so the classroom is much quieter.
Looking both at my classroom and at IPTS indicators, I think that one of the first indicators really hits home with my classroom. Indicator 1A says "The competent teacher understands the spectrum of student diversity (e.g., race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, special education, gifted, ELL, sexual orientation, gender, gender orientation) and the assets that each student brings to learning across the curriculum." The classroom is so varied but so great in those differences between the students. Each student brings so many different things to the classroom, but also has learning needs that may be very individual and specific. Because of this, this week was constructive for me in learning about the students in the class and learning about their different learning styles and needs.
This week was also constructive in making me trust the Lord in my teaching and in my entire life. Early on in the week I realized that there is no way that I am able to do well and succeed and glorify the Lord in my teaching on my own strength. Only through his work in me can I succeed in the classroom, more importantly impact my students, and overall glorify Him through my work in student teaching. Also, if you are wondering about the blog title, it is a reference to the last minute in a soccer match, the 90th. I think this relates well to my student teaching as it is the last part of my college career, but like the 90th minute in soccer it can be the most essential and game-changing.
Classroom Confidential
1. Looking at the list of intelligences that are listed by Schmidt, I think that obviously all of the intelligences have some usage in the classroom and should be used at times so that all sorts of learners will be engaged in the classroom and will be able to use their learning style to learn effectively. That being said, I think that some intelligences can be used more effectively in my classroom. I think these would include Kinesthetic Intelligence as many of the students in my class learn well from touching things, from exploring the classroom with their hands and from learning by doing. I think that visual and spatial intelligences are also important as the students in my class benefit from concrete instruction and learning much than abstract learning and instruction.
2. I think that I will use full brain learning in my teaching through activities that allow students to be moving around the classroom, to do new activities that they have not tried before, and to even work with their peers. In my short observations so far it seems to me that most of the time in the classroom the students learn in ways that are receptive and do things over and over again in their learning. Because of this, it is my hope that we can work on activities that really stimulate their minds and help them learn to work independently and to work in new ways as well.
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