Reflection #14

Source for picture: Computers in the Classroom

It was another short week for me at the elementary school which I intern at. I was only able to go two days this week instead of the normal three. I still enjoyed the time I had with the class. The days I was in the classroom were pretty normal. Last week the projector was broken and that was a major struggle for Ms. C. She was very lost with out technology. I noticed that she relies a lot on technology. It isn't necessarily a bad thing in a 21st century world however when it does stop working then it becomes a bad thing. I think that working with technology is a great thing. Learning new things about technology is important for everyone also. Technology is always growing, so we must grow with it. I however don't think that our whole curriculum should be entirely focused on and through technology.  

Since the projector was fixed the classroom could return to its normal state. In the morning the students start on the morning warm up. It is usually an FCAT type question. For example, which sentence uses 'sign' in the same way as the sentence below: The sign said 'DO NOT ENTER' 
A. My mom had to sign my permission slip.
B. The woman only spoke sign language
C. The sign said right turn only. 

Once all the students have finished with the morning warm up the students would go to the carpet to discuss. Ms. C goes through all the answers and writes notes about each one. She makes notes about what the word means in each sentence. I think her strategy works well. It teaches the students how to take notes about a topic and also how to find the correct answer.  

Philosophy Statement

I believe that education is brought together not just by the teacher and the school system but by everyone involved. The students, the teachers, the parents everyone. In order to have a good education everyone has to be in coordination and work together, we all have to be on the same page. Once we are all on the same page then the focus on education and the students can begin.

            In my classroom, I want my students to reach their full potential. I believe that student’s role in education is to learn. My role in education is to help students reach their full potential and also incorporate amusing ways of learning. My belief is that students learn best through real life experiences and active play. Most students have a hard time learning if it is straight from a textbook. It is easier if it is something entertaining, like a project that students can work on together in groups.

            One other goal of mine is to encourage positive behavior. I believe that students will respond positively to positive reinforcement. And just as likely they will respond negatively to negative reinforcement. In my classroom I will try my best to give students positive feedback when they deserve it. For example, when they answer a question correct or if they did all their homework, I will give positive words of encouragement. Of course I will give negative feedback when necessary however whenever possible I will be positive. I believe that when you as a teacher are positive then your classroom environment will be positive too.

            I know that cooperation in education is important in the school system. I will do what I can to talk to all my student’s parents and make sure that they are involved in their student’s education. Parents have a big influence on a student’s education. In my classroom I expect that students will also be working hard to reach their full potential. I hope by the end of the year they will have the skills they need to be a success and be a great asset to society. Also in my classroom students will experience many forms of positive behavior and positive reinforcement. I hope to have a optimistic attitude and a positive classroom.

           

Reflection #13

My week in Ms. C's class was shorter this week then in previous weeks. I normally go three days a week, however because of an early release day I wasn't able to go one day. The days that I was in the classroom were average. The class did everything as normal, there were no extra activities going on. In the morning when students are working on the 'word of the day' Ms. C calls for home work and also for 'soar cards'. Ms. C checks homework in a unique way. She has all the students names in a jar using popsicle sticks, she pulls out five names. If your name is pulled out then you have to come up and show her your home work. I you did your homework then you can move your clip up to 'outstanding', however if you didn't do your homework then you have to move your clip all the way down to 'parent contact'. I really like the way she checks homework. It is a fair technique and is encouraging the students to do their homework every night. Next is the 'soar cards' These are given to all students who's clip is above green or 'ready to learn' at the end of the day. A students clip moves up and down through out the day depending on their behavior. Depending on where your clip is that is how many soar cards you can receive. Blue or 'good choices' is one soar card. Pink or 'great job' is two soar cards. And lastly purple or 'outstanding' is three soar cards. 

One other thing Ms. C does with her students is a sort of scratch off ticket. She uses it as a reward. I'm not sure how they receive the ticket but on it are things like; 10 mins of computer time. homework pass, pick form the prize box etc. The students love it! Also its really easy to make, after the ticket itself is made you mix up silver paint and liquid soap and put it on the paper, after it dries its like a scratch off ticket.

I asked my teacher about a few students in the classroom. I saw that multiple teachers were coming in and taking students at different times during the day. Ms. C told me that R and C go to speech in for 30 mins twice a week. Also D and K have been listed as tier three and need help through out the day with their work. It was a surprise about a lot of this. The students who are going out for 'help' I would not have guessed would need it. In the classroom they seem normal and can function well. 

The students are becoming a lot more comfortable with me and with asking me for help. I like this, it makes me feel wanted and also I enjoy helping them. I am really looking forward to teaching a lesson and getting a real hands on feel for teaching!

Reflection #12

The week I was in Ms. C's classroom week was not very average. The first day I was in the classroom was hectic to say the least. The students had to take the FAIR test. First off the students didn't really want to take the test. We had to go to the tech lab to take the test, when we got there the door was locked so we had to wait for someone to come and unlock the door. I could tell my Ms. C was getting frustrated I was as well. The frustration was because we only had a short amount of time to be in the lab and finish the testing. When we finally got in the classroom and started up the test, only five out of the 20 total students in the class could actually test. The problem was that most of the headphone required for the test weren't working. Ms. C just had the students who were able to test go ahead and finish as much as they could and the other students just read. I would have done the same thing.

The next day almost as soon as the students entered the classroom they went to an Awards Ceremony. The school has one after every quarter, I think. The awards are given out by teacher to the students in their class. Awards are given for bringing up grades, attendance, positive attitude etc. I think the awards are a good idea however I think they should maybe be only once or twice a year. If they are too often then they lose their value. 

Photo from the U.S. Department of Education

When we returned from the ceremony the class got right back to work. The class had read a new story the day before and was reviewing it. The students were on the carpet with their notebooks, a pencil and their reading books. I sat with D (he has a learning disability and needs extra help sometimes). When I sat next to him he got very hesitant. He didn't really want to talk to me. I tried asking him questions and he scooted away from me. Ms. C saw that he wasn't accepting my help and told him why I was there. She said to D "Miss Marissa is sitting next to you to help you, how is she supposed to help you if you keep scooting away from her?" He shrugged his shoulders and moved back next to me. 

The last day I was in the class for this week was sort-of normal. It was all normal except for the projector was broken. The light bulb in the projector wasn't working. Everything is usually done on the projector so Ms. C was struggling with that all morning. The warm up, which is normally done with the projector, had to be skipped. so most of the students just talked all through the morning. I would have written the warm up on the board so that the class had some order and the students had something to do.Next they got a new packet that they will be working on every week. It is to help them with reading and answering questions about the story.  

After all the students finished with one story they worked on writing. They learned about expository writing. they compared expository and narrative essays. Ms. C told them that expository papers have about five paragraphs. She passed out papers to all the students that had five boxes in a row all the way down the paper. She copied what was on the paper onto the white board. Next she gave them a topic. "Why are cats good pets?" In the first box was in 'intro' "Cats are good pets" In the next three were reasons explaining why they are good pets. and the last one was a conclusion "Cats make great pets for people." 

Reflection #11

I began my observation in Ms. C's 3rd grade classroom this week. I was only in the classroom for one day this week. The classroom went through their regular routine. They had a morning warm up, it was to figure out past present and future tense of words. After the warm up the Ms, C asked the students to come to the carpet so they could discuss their benchmark test. She made a chart and wrote down their strongest and weakest points on the test. They were all very excited to see their strengths, with many 'oohs' and 'ahhs'. When it got to the weaknesses K shouted out "You are just showing us this to say that we are dumb!" Ms. C had to reassure him that she was just showing him to to tell the class what they need to work on more for next time. 

The next thing they did was worked a little bit in science. They talked about Fahrenheit and Celsius. Ms. C passed out worksheets and explained how to do them and then let the students return to their desk to finish them. I would have explained some of the worksheet to the students but not all of it. It was a pretty simple work sheet, they finished it quickly. 

After science they went on to reading which was what is normally in the scheduled. The students came to the carpet with their notebooks and a packet (they have been working from it all week). Today they were going to read a poem from the packet. They also had to answer 3 questions at the end of the poem. A lot of the students struggled with reading the poem, understanding it and answering the questions about it.   

I am very happy that I am back in this classroom. I really enjoy this group of children also I like the teacher a lot. The atmosphere is enjoyable as well as the content of learning. I look forward to spending the rest of my time there and getting to know the students and the teacher more. 

Reflection #10

This week in Ms. S's class it was a pretty normal week. In the mornings they get to class and unpack their bags. They get out homework from the night before and wait for someone to go around and check it. As they wait they read silently.If it is their day for FASTT math (a computer program that helps develop math skills) they will go on the computers and work on that. Other students go around and check to see if the other students have done their homework for the night. 

After homework is checked and the announcements are over they work on writing. This weeks assignment for writing was to write a story with 'problems' or challenges' in it. A problem for example would be that you are stuck on the top of a roller coaster and there is no way to get down. A challenge would be trying to create the fastest and most amazing roller coaster. 

Credit to cybraian77 on Flickr

The students had a tough time figuring out the difference between the two scenarios but with some practice they got the hang of it. Their next task was to create a story with their group that has a main problem or a main challenge and then three 'actions'. The actions would be how the problem or challenge could be solved. however the first two solutions to the problem or challenge in the story would not work and then the last solution would finally work. The students had full creativity with this activity and they let their imaginations run wild. It was very interesting to see what the students came up with. 

After writing the class moves into reading. The story for this week was about the myth of how the night came to be. The class read the story in one day and as a reward for that they didnt have to do the questions for that day. however the next day they did have to do the questions from the story.

The last day I was in the classroom the class was taking a test on the story they read a few days ago. Ms. S was not very happy with how they did on their test. After they finished their test we went to 'Junior Deputy'. This was a meeting with an officer about gun and school safety. 

As a whole I think that fourth grade is a nice grade but maybe not for me. In this grade many of the students do the work by themselves and need little help unless it is a new subject. I am really glad that I got the opportunity to work with students from different age groups. I think that it really helped me know what age group I really like and what grade level I would maybe like to work with in the future as a teacher. 

Reflection #9

I started a new class. The teachers name is Ms. S. She teaches 4th grade. The classroom is very welcoming and the students are very kind.This week the students were testing the whole time I was in there. I didn't get to interact with them at all or do anything with them. Ms. S let me grade spelling test and math test for the time that I was in there so that I had something to do. It was interesting grading papers for the classroom because some students did really well and others did very poor.

Picture by: Dave 7745 On Flickr 

At the beginning of the week I got to work with 9th grade students. We were using handheld GPS's to find 'clues' around campus. It was a lot of fun and way better then being in class. I enjoyed being outside and walking around. The students seemed to like the activity also.


In the elementary school we could do something similar to this but maybe not so high tech. They could do a scavenger hunt. I'm sure the students would enjoy that. Teachers would hide things around the school/ campus and the students had to use clues from their teachers to find the treasures. It is a neat idea if you ask me.