Post #8

I think the most important thing I have learned this semester in my field work observation is really how to better work with kids. I have interacted with them and helped them find ways to help them remember what they have learned. I have also learned some really successful teaching methods that I will probably use in my classroom. There are so many important lessons that I have learned, and I feel like I have to share all of them, but I will only share a few. Another lesson I learned is that it can be very hard to work with English learning students. It makes it extra hard when their parents don't practice English at home. It doesn't reinforce what is being said in class and by the time they get to class the next day they have forgotten everything that they learned the day before and they have to start from scratch again! That can be a very hard learning experience for the child.

I also learned that behavior methods like the clothes pin chart are very effective teaching methods. I saw it implemented in the class and the students really responded well to how it works. I can see that they are constantly trying to do better and get very excited when they recieve a reward for their good behavior, and eventually those thoughts become habit and then they are model students. I have loved working with these students and i cannot wait to be a teacher!

Post #7

An example of a set of rules that my teacher uses, she calls the R Rule's. They are Respect yourself, Respect others, and Respect the teachers. If a student has a hard time respecting others she has to 2 students sit face to face to each other and only say nice things. They have to give 3 real compliments before she lets them move on. She doesn't let anything get past her. She has super sonic ears and the eyes of a hawk! It's insane! I hope that I can have the attention that she has for things that go on in her class.

Some of the school rules are exactly the same as the classroom rules. One of them is Respect others. Same as the classroom rules. Depending on the severity of the disrespect either the teacher or the principle will get involved. If the principle gets involved they usually call in the parents and let them know if their child has been suspended for a couple of days or if this is a warning and if it happens again, then they will be suspended. It all just depends on the situation. And that's my school discipline.

Post #6

I mentioned this in the discussion, but my teacher uses clothes pins and a bar that lets the students know where they are for the day. When they are on time with their projects or are on task, they can "clip up" to the "Keep it up" bar, and when they do something wrong, like continuous talking or misbehaving, they "clip down" to "Think About It". I really like this idea because it lets the students continuously know what the teacher thinks about them. It's constant confirmation of their actions. This idea was also in the videos on this topic. This lets me know that teachers have tried it, and it is consistent in results.

Another idea that my teacher does, that was not in the presentations is she has small paper Pokeballs on the back board and they have a goal for the whole year to all of the 50+ Pokeballs on the "Excellent Job!!" side of the board. How they do that is every person in the class has to turn an assignment in on time, and they have to do things for each other and the teacher. They are so close! They have 2 months left in school, and they have maybe 6 Pokeballs left. They are doing awesome and are helping each other out of habit now! It's awesome!

Post #5

I believe the most important role a teacher can play is being a good example. The language the teacher uses and how they treat the students is very important. I stated this in my graphic organizer and I placed it as the last card because it is the most important. I remember in Elementary school I had a teacher that I was really afraid of because she never had a good attitude and was always on someone about something. In turn, I treated my classmates the same way. Then it started transferring to how I treated my family and my mom would not have that. That was a rough year of school for me.

In turn I have also had teachers who were absolutely fantastic and were able to have a positive attitude all the time. They were willing to listen to all of our crazy stories and be interested in them. Those teachers have showed me how to treat people. Every time a friend or a child talks about something that I don't really share interest in, I have learned to still find interest in it because it is important to them. The teachers set the example for the students in the classroom and it either set it up for a great year or a horrible year.

Post #4

How does the teacher manage assignments?

She assigns math homework on Monday's. They pull out the assigned homework from their math book, attach a sign off sheet that asks parents to sign the sheet when they have checked their students work and then they turn it in every Friday. The students know the schedule and are prepared on Friday's to turn them in. Some students don't have their parents sign the paper so she sends the assignment back to get the parent signature. They are in 2nd grade so she doesn't really put a dead line on it, but if they don't get the homework turned in it affects their grade at the end of the year.

She doesn't have send home homework like the math assignments in the other subjects. She starts a "paper" of things that they learned about an animal or a topic of choice. They are starting on the 5 paragraph format. They are really little paragraphs, but it starts them on the writing path and they work on this is class. She does set a deadline on these, but again she is a little bit lenient. The students get really excited and creative when it comes to these assignments. It makes me laugh every time!

This teacher always tries her hardest to make sure that her students don't fall too far behind, but there is only so much you can do. She follows the guidelines of "No Child Left Behind" but after a certain point it is up to the students and their parents to keep them caught up in the material.

Post #3

One of the girls in this class has reading time with one of the specialty teachers for the last hour of school after lunch. She struggles a little bit with reading and they have found out that this method helps her so much and she is keeping up to grade level just fine and she isn't falling behind in any other subjects. I believe this to be part of her IEP. She has an agreement between her parents, and both sets of teachers on what is supposed to happen. I haven't really talked to the general ed teacher about the details of this plan but as far as I understand they go over this at least once a year to reevaluate what the student needs.

I do know that when they go over the IEP every year the student likes to be there. She may not understand everything but she does like to be there, which I think is important. I feel like the child needs to be at least a little bit aware of what they will be doing in school before they actually start school.  This student is really excelling in school and progressing really well. This just shows that the laws that have been made for students with, for lack of a better term, special needs are receiving the help that they need to be able to succeed in life and are being given the tools to be able to figure things out by their self once they get older. It is really impressing me!

Post #2

I had the opportunity to work with a student who actually doesn't come to school almost at all. I feel so bad for this girl. To help you better understand her situation, her mother never brings her to school. Before I got to work with her, she had missed 42 consecutive days of school. I don't understand that mentality. She has been tested for the special education program, and she is qualified, but her mother will not sign the papers. I believe the district is prepared to take her to court for this. I'm not sure that's the case, but I think they are close to it. When I started working with this girl, they class was working on a writing assignment and so I was helping her get some ideas down on paper and that poor girl cannot read. She knows what the letters sound like, and she can piece the sounds together, but she can't make the work. It gets really discouraging as a teacher! You want what is best for the students, but when the parents don't care enough to get them a good education, there is nothing else you can do! It's really hard!

As I was working with her I couldn't help but think about the education of the blacks in the south back in the 60's. They probably didn't have the same struggle of their parents not taking them to school, but they for sure didn't receive the same education as the whites. Most of the students could not read and could barely write. It's just really sad to see students still struggling and not getting the attention and help that they need when they need it most.

I hope that some day this students gets the help that she needs. I would hate for her to end up having to work at a fast food restaurant for the rest of her life just to make a decent living. I want her to be successful and right now she is not on that path and it scares me for her.

My 2nd graders

Yesterday I arrived as the students got back from lunch break and right after lunch they came in and we started on a new book. They love it when I read to them. For some reason it is better than when their actual teacher reads to them? Its too funny! They turn into little angels when it's reading time. They color on their white boards or sit and listen. It's awesome!

I have also had some interesting encounters with the kids. One of the students came up to me at the end of the day and he told me that he had figured out that morning how to put his underwear on while he had pants on. . . What even? These kids are too fun!

1st weeks of field work

I have almost finished 10 hours in my 2nd grade class that I am helping and they are such a smart group of kids. There is a student in this class and his name is Angel. He only speaks Spanish and it is really hard to help him connect to English words when he can't vocalize what he is trying to say and have someone understand. We do have a couple of bilingual students in the class that can help, but I don't think that is is helpful to have the other students talking for him. I think he needs to learn for himself how to talk to other people. One thing that seemed to work better for communication was pictures. He obviously had to say 'and' and 'the' and words similar to that sort, and he can form basic sentences on his own, but he has a really hard forming concepts verbally. For example, he had a writing project where he was to describe something and write about it. He picked the topic of a ninja and it was really hard for him to say what he saw in English. When he had a hard time he would just kind of look around him and if everyone was understanding what was going on, he would just nod his head and say that he understood. This isn't really helpful for him because this doesn't help him learn.

This definitely reminds me on the Cognitive learning theory. I feel like his processing is similar to a computer. Information is going in, but it gets scrambled in translation and then he can't figure out how to spit it out. He is on constant overdrive and the poor kid tries so hard, but things are getting lost in his mind. I think it would be really hard to try to talk when you hardly understand what they are saying to you and even harder when you don't know how to make them understand you. He is such a sweet kid, and he can have small conversations, which a good place to start, but he can't quite figure out how to keep a conversation going.

 It is really interesting to see how all of these kids learn. They all are learning at different speeds and they love to help each other learn. It's so cute and I love helping them learn. I have also noticed that I hated my student teachers all growing up but these kids love me! They tell me about what they did at recess and what they will be doing when they go home. It's so cute and I can't wait to be  teacher one day!!

Maddie Brown