Blog #8: •What is the most important thing you have learned during fieldwork observation? Why?

The most important thing I learned is that teachers need to be organized.  The three biggest areas I observed to be the most important were daily lesson plans, student expectations for school work and behavior in the classroom & consequences for not following the rules.  I will go into more detail through out this post.

As an elementary school teacher you will most likely be required to teach more than one subject; math, English, reading, spelling, etc.  If you aren't prepared with your materials each day before school starts then you may have to take time out of you teaching time to get the materials together which can result in you not being able to teach everything you wanted to today so you are behind and also may increase the children's homework which isn't fair to them if it wasn't there fault. 

Student expectations and consequences can kind of go hand in hand.  As soon as the school year starts you should discuss with your students what your expect from them regarding their school work, how they should act in class.  If you aren't ready for this it will be hard to implement it later on after the students have already developed habits.  Along with this is the consequences for not doing what is expected of them.  For example, what happens if they turn an assignment in late or if they misbehave in class what will happen on their first offense, second etc.

I feel that being organized will help your classroom run more smoothly and will help you as a teacher stay positive with your class and not feel overwhelmed. 

Blog #7: What are the school rules/classroom rules and how are they enforced?

The classroom rules in this classroom deal with having respect for yourself, the students and the teacher.  You show respect to the teacher by listening to the teacher when they are talking and not talking while the teacher is talking, you follow instructions given.  You show respect to the students by listening when they are talking.  Being nice to each other and be accepting of other people differences.  You show respect to yourself by not being so hard on your self if you get an answer wrong and trying to follow the rules.  Also raise your had if you want to talk or share something.

If the students were acting out of line the teacher has a different color papers; green at the top that says outstanding behavior, next a yellow piece of paper then an orange paper and finally a red piece of paper. Each student has a clothespin with their name on it.  Each student begins the day on the green paper.  As the day progresses if the student begins to talk out of turn, or be disruptive and break class rules then the teacher first gives them a warning and if the behavior persists the student is asked to move their clothes pin down to the next color.  Each color after green has different consequences, the first is you have to stay in for recess, the next color is a meeting with the teacher to discuss why the behavior is continuing and after that it is a meeting with the teacher and your parents.  The students in this class were well behaved and usually if they had to move their clothespin by the end of the day they were able to be good and move it back up to the green.  At the end of the week if the end up with everyone on outstanding then they usually get a prize of some kind, extra reading time, a treat, play a game, etc.  The kids seem to really like this and respond well to it.

Blog #6: What strategies does the teacher use to actively engage the students? How effective are these?

In the classroom there are so many different learning styles and personalities.  As a teacher you have to try and keep the students engaged in what you are trying to teach them.  I think this can be a hard part of the job because of all the differences you have in your classroom with you student.  The teacher I worked with used a couple of different methods that I will talk about below; popsicle sticks and a review game.

I like the idea of using popsicle sticks with students name on it, it provides a chance for all students to participate.  I know growing up I wasn't someone that was excited to raise my hand to answer a questions even though most of the time I knew the answer.  I know this method can be a little stressful for some students who may not know the answer.  In observing this method when the student does get the answer wrong, if it is a close answer she will help prompt them to the correct answer, if the aren't even close she is really positive with the student and moves on to another.  When she does get the correct answer she goes directs her attention back to the student or students that may have missed it and explains why their answer was wrong to make sure they understand.  As I watch the students get the wrong answer they don't seem to be embarressed about it, they just pay attention to figure out the correct answer.  I don't think you ever want to purposefully make your student uncomfortable because then they shut down and aren't learning.

Review games I think are a lot of fun and it helps to judge who much the students have learned and retained over the course of the unit.  The teacher has 4 buzzers so she divides the class into 4 teams.  Each team takes a corner of the room and for each question each team sends up one student.  She asks the question and they have to write the answer on a white board and hit their buzzer.  Once everyone has hit their buzzer she goes in order that they were hit.  If you get the answer correct you get points for your team.  The teacher can see how the students are doing with the unit because they have to come up with the answer on their own.  The remaining team members talk about the question and come up with the answer together so there is some team building and learning going on with the other students.  The kids love to play this game and it can work with any subject which I like.

Blog #5: What do you think is the most important role a teacher plays? Why?

The most important role of a teacher I feel is being a positive role model.  You are with your students for 6 hours a day 5 days a week, and for most of the kids in the class that is the most time they have spent with another adult other than their parents or possibly a family member.  The kids look up to you and whether you realize it or not and so I feel that it is important to always keep a positive attitude and do your best so the students see that as a positive thing and want to be positive as well.

In observing in the classroom the teacher always greets each student as the come in to class which sets the tone for the day with the students.  As she has talks to each one there is always one or two students that responds with some kind of negative response or a negative story about something that may have happened to them that morning and she is always good to listen but tries to turn it around into something positive so the student doesn't continue to dwell on the negative.

As I watch these kids the ones that listen to what the teacher says and turns it positive have a better time in class.  They appear to be ready to learn, want to learn and participate in discussions.  Those that don't and dwell on all the negative aren't ready to learn, they don't want to participate and they have negative comments to make during discussions.  I have even seen the teacher pull the student aside and have them go get a drink of water and come back with a more positive attitude.

I think as a teacher it's got to be hard to always appear positive, but it can have such a huge impact on your students and the outlook that they have on life.  You never know how your positive attitude may impact those around you and it creates a better atmosphere in your classroom.

Blog #4: What clerical and preparation responsibilities have you participated in?

I was able to help the teacher get folders ready for each of her students before parent teacher conference.  She has 2 classes and each class is a different color, blue or green, depending on if they are her morning class or her afternoon class.  I made each student a folder with their name on it and put it in the corresponding colored box, alphabetically.  As I made each students folder I assembled a collection of work they had done in class, as homework, their Chinese work, as well as their reading assessment comparing their new scores to their last.  I liked how she had both scores on the paper because I know as a parent I would want to see how they compared and this way the teacher didn't have to have one more binder to look through.

After parent teacher conference she was excited at how it had all worked out because everything she needed was right there and she didn't feel like she was running around her classroom looking for something to give to the parents.  Everything was at her fingertips.  It was all her idea but I was glad I could help her get it ready, because I was doing it for her the first day of parent teacher conference and I don't know if you she would have been ready with every one's stuff.

It made me realize how important it is to be organized and flexible as a teacher.  The first way this teacher tried to be organized for the first parent teacher conferences of the year she didn't like and still felt like she was wasting her and the parents time looking for things in piles of papers.  So she went came up with other ideas after talking to other teachers and doing some research of her own.  You can't get discouraged just keep pushing through and you will find something that will work for you and your teaching style.

Blog #3: What modifications for learners who are exceptional do you see?

As I have said before I am usually there for math, which I feel is usually one of the main subjects that you see many modifications for the students.  The class only has 2 students that I know about that have modifications in math.  When the assignments are handed out, or using the workbook, the students usually only do the even or odd problems.  The teacher usually goes around the room after everything has been handed out and whispers to them which problems should would like them to do.  I really like how the teacher does this because it doesn't draw attention to the kids that need those modifications.

She also has each kid correct their own assignment so the kids don't ask questions.  In listening to the questions the kids have about how they answered their questions I could see on of the children raising their hands saying, we will call them Jack, "Jack didn't do all the problems".  I know for myself at the age, you are trying to fit in and want to be like everyone else.  So anything that gets called out by the other kids as being different can be hard on everyone involved.

I talked with the teacher in private about any problems she may have had with modifications and she said in one of her classes she did have to talk to the class as a whole about it.  She had everyone in class and said that it had come to her attention that people were discussing how a particular student was doing their homework.  She told the class that her the student and their parents had privately talked about the assignments and had worked out a system that worked well for them.  If anyone was having problems they were more than welcome to come talk to her and they could see what could be worked out for them, but from that point forward she didn't want to hear anymore talking or whispering about what some students were doing and others weren't.  She said it seemed to work well for everyone and they didn't have a problem with it the rest of the year.

I like being able to observe how the teacher and the student handle the different modifications and that it shouldn't disrupt class.

An Opportunity To Work With A Small Group

I love math and I am lucky enough to be in the classroom during math time.  Because of this I get many opportunities to work with small groups of kids that need extra help on their math work.  They have been working on mixed fractions and improper fractions, learning how to add and subtract them. 

There were about 3 of the kids that sit next to each other that were struggling with making improper fractions into mixed fractions.  They had a hard time knowing which was the numerator, denomiator and the whole number.  I sat down with the three kids and we worked on different ways to help them remember what number went there.  It was interesting how each kid had a different way of remembering.  One made up a small saying another one just kept saying it over and over again until he remeber what went where and another just kept doing problems over and over until he got it. 

It was very rewarding to see the light bulb go off and see them succeed on their work.  I can see how teaching can be very challenging but also very rewarding at the same time.  I'm glad I can be there to help these kids since the teacher can't "clone" herself.