This was my first week of student teaching and honestly, it wasn't as terrifying as I expected. I've been looking forward to being at this stage for so long, that I just feel relieved and excited. I am at Calvin Christian School in South Holland, IL. I am in fourth grade with Sally Breems. There are 20 students in the class and consists of about 60% African American and 35% caucasian. On day 1 at the school, I was able to attend a faculty meeting at the end of the day. This was a great way to start off my experience at Calvin.
Week number 1 was the week I had originally intended to observe and while I have been observing, I have also jumped into teaching. The week started off with me taking over read aloud and walking around to help out and answer questions, just taking time to get to know everyone. Throughout the week I began taking over a couple of lessons too. Most of the week was spent getting used to the school, the students, staff, and the general workings of Calvin. There is a lot of things being done effectively in the classroom. Sally's relationship with her students is a great thing to experience and watch. They have such a great rapport. I also think that the classroom routine is done quite effectively. The students know what is expected of them when they arrive to class, what to do when they finish their work, and they do it without having to really be reminded. In the program at Trinity, you are shown the importance of being able to differentiate between students. I really saw differentiation at my placement and not in the expected way. Sally had students that have to leave class for reading and math to go to the Discovery Center for extra help, but she also has a student in her class that is gifted. He does not leave the room and must receive a whole different sort of curriculum for certain subjects. I have especially seen Sally change the curriculum for him in math. I have not had much experience with gifted students, so it has been a learning experience and an eye opener at how difficult it can sometimes be.
Sally really allows the students to share and have input in class. She really encourages them to take part in the discussion and does not make them feel bad if they do not have a correct answer. I love her popsicle stick technique for calling on students. I also appreciate how they have the option to "skip" if they do not feel comfortable answering or do not know the answer. I think this would be a great technique to incorporate into my classroom some day.
I have many expectations for learning at my student teaching placement in the upcoming 6 weeks. I feel as though I have already learned a great deal, just from the limited amount that I have observed and done. I hope to formulate my own set of guidelines for the classroom. I also hope to learn more about teaching to different abilities and work with students who are in different places academically. I am very excited to build relationships with these students and help them to grow in their knowledge and in their walk with the Lord. It is such a privilege to have been placed at a Christian school for this semester.
Schmidt
As I am still waiting for my book to come in the mail, I was only able to read a small portion of the chapter before it cut me off. As soon as I receive the book I will update my section about Schmidt. The following paragraph is all I have so far.
I completely agree with Schmidt about how you can keep kids busy with learning activities, but if they don't have to use their brain it's pointless. It is important to make students think. When they're younger, you might not get to as deep of a thinking, but that doesn't mean you don't have to challenge your students. Students will never grow intellectually if they are not making connections and building their higher level thinking skills. They obviously still need to know facts and these don't always require a higher level of thinking, but you can often find ways to connect the information to their life and other things that they know. Give students a purpose for learning, show them why it is important. When they see that learning is important and are being challenged, they will more often than not exceed your expectations.
Good first post.
ReplyDeleteI’m glad you described your class. Do you know what type of learners they are?
You said, “Week number was the week I had originally intended to observe and while I have been observing, I have also jumped into teaching.” Read this sentence as it is a bit confusing.
You said that you took over a couple of lessons. What did you teach? How did your lessons go?
I’m so glad you saw differentiation for the gifted student. Are there other ways you could differentiate in this classroom?
It sounds like your teacher has a great rapport with her students and she has created a safe environment for learning. I hope you can model this from her.
Good thoughts on Schmidt.
Dear Victoria,
DeleteI hope this reply actually goes through! I enjoyed your first blog. I can see that your rapport with Mrs. Breems is good. That is so important. I am sure as the weeks progress she will continue to collaborate with you and give you wonderful tips on being an effective teacher. I think having just one gifted student in the classroom will be a challenge. It's easy to give them busy work, it's much harder to challenge them. Perhaps you can work with Mrs. Breems to come up with additions to lessons that will challenge your gifted student. Are there centers in the classroom with activities at different levels? That's another way to enhance a gifted child's learning without singling them out. It's also an opportunity to allow other children to grow by trying to do the same things a gifted child does. Good luck this week. I'll see you next week.
Vic - I'm glad that your first week was so encouraging! No matter how nice/accepting the teachers and students may be, this semester is going to be challenging; for your sake and as a friend, I'm happy to hear you and Sally get along and the students obviously respect her. Hopefully this will make your phasing-in process smoother since the students already the value the words of their teacher along with the value of learning. My cooperating teacher, Miss Laura Pearson also incorporates differentiated instruction; some of our students are in Tiers 2 & 3 of Hamlin's RtI Program, so some students need longer time on test, less multiple choice options on tests, and we also pair motions with new vocabulary words after listening to them, saying them aloud and providing example sentences for them with each new story/play we read. It's nice to see what we have learned in action!
ReplyDeleteAnd, kudos to you for jumping in! It's nice that Sally allowed you to do so; your students can truly see you as someone from which to learn since they have had that opportunity from Week 1 (what a relief!). Continue your good work!