As I have been doing my observations I have not ran in to very many diversity issues in the classroom. The two classes that I observe do not have many children in the class that are different from others These to classes are both in fairly well off school areas as well as being mostly Caucasian.
I do want to talk about diversity in behavior as part of this. I was in a class the other day that was a very well run class as well as being very structured. For the most part this class had no behavioral issues but did have a couple of students that she monitored a little closer. The first student I felt was just ambivalent to school in general. I could see that she would monitor to keep him on track and then he was so great to get things done and done well. The second child was monitored because he was more active in class and not able to sit and get his work done as well. I did feel that as I observed it was an attention thing. He wanted her to know where he was and what he was doing at all times. I have not seen how teachers deal with issues in the class very much and hope that as I go along in the program I can get more training in this area as it is a concern for me. I want to learn how behavior issues could and should be handled as I know there are students with issues that cause it to be really hard for them but I also can see that some behavior is just for show and attention and I would love to learn how to deal with this to not make it a bigger issue.
I love the idea of exceptional and gifted children in a classroom together. I believe that sometimes pairing them up could be a help to both. I also feel that sometimes you need to have activities that you can have gifted students work on together at their own pace so as to have time with the exceptional students as one on one with the teacher.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Friday, October 11, 2019
Historical Events and Laws in school
I have noticed a lot regarding the laws and historical events regarding schools especially as I have been a substitute in schools. I have the opportunity to see different classes in many schools in our area. As far as the events in the past that shape our schools now a days The launch of Sputnik I feel made big strides in teaching our students more science and technology and we build on it now as STEM is such an important way of teaching in this day and age. I was in a STEM classroom and had the best experience watching as they explored how to make roller coasters with marbles and pool noodles. They worked in groups to figure out what they could make the noodles do to make the marble keep going. Sometimes they would make them go too high and it would stop momentum. It was such a great lesson.
I have been in different schools that have different cultural diversity in each classroom. I have also seen how cultural diversity and how it varies in different areas around our county. I do believe that the opportunity to learn English is so important in this area. I have noticed that even though there are different groups of students the language barrier does not seem to be as prevalent as it has been in the past. Sadly, I have not had any experience learning how our schools teach English as a second language but I would be very interested in knowing how this is accomplished.
I have been in different schools that have different cultural diversity in each classroom. I have also seen how cultural diversity and how it varies in different areas around our county. I do believe that the opportunity to learn English is so important in this area. I have noticed that even though there are different groups of students the language barrier does not seem to be as prevalent as it has been in the past. Sadly, I have not had any experience learning how our schools teach English as a second language but I would be very interested in knowing how this is accomplished.
Friday, October 4, 2019
Engaging Learners in Meaningful Ways
I love the idea of engaged learning. I have never been a person that could learn very much by just sitting and listening. I am a visual learner. I know that there is time that lecturing is needed but I have learned lately that the most important part when you do this is to have discussions and take time to make sure that people understand.
This week I had the best opportunity to see good engaged learning at work. I attended Mrs. Whipple's 5th grade class as they were having a day to make sure that they understood how to do the box method for 2 digit multiplication. The lesson started with 2 problems that she put on the overhead for them to figure out. She called this Hot Math. The questions had multiple answers so they could discuss how they figured out their answers. They did these problems with their partner on white boards. They had a great discussion in the class with white boards as they practiced a few problems of the 2 digit multiplication and the teacher answered any questions they had. Once, they did their review she told them to take their marker, eraser, and white board with them and they were going to do an activity outside. She then told the students that she was separating them into two teams (early birds and later gators) and they were going to go out and each take a turn doing a problem on the 4 square court and see which team could do it the fastest without talking. She let them know that this was a new idea and may not work exactly as she imagined. There were a couple issues but it was a great idea. The students had to work together without speaking. There were enough students on a team that one person could take charge and help get people where they should be. Each student either had to be part of the problem itself, or an answer in a box, or 5 students were the answers being added together to get the final answer. I love thinking out of the box and this teacher definitely does this.
This week I had the best opportunity to see good engaged learning at work. I attended Mrs. Whipple's 5th grade class as they were having a day to make sure that they understood how to do the box method for 2 digit multiplication. The lesson started with 2 problems that she put on the overhead for them to figure out. She called this Hot Math. The questions had multiple answers so they could discuss how they figured out their answers. They did these problems with their partner on white boards. They had a great discussion in the class with white boards as they practiced a few problems of the 2 digit multiplication and the teacher answered any questions they had. Once, they did their review she told them to take their marker, eraser, and white board with them and they were going to do an activity outside. She then told the students that she was separating them into two teams (early birds and later gators) and they were going to go out and each take a turn doing a problem on the 4 square court and see which team could do it the fastest without talking. She let them know that this was a new idea and may not work exactly as she imagined. There were a couple issues but it was a great idea. The students had to work together without speaking. There were enough students on a team that one person could take charge and help get people where they should be. Each student either had to be part of the problem itself, or an answer in a box, or 5 students were the answers being added together to get the final answer. I love thinking out of the box and this teacher definitely does this.
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