Journal Entry #8 The Valuable Lessons Learned

We were asked to write about what the most important thing we have learned during our field observation is.  To be honest, its hard to narrow it down to for me because I feel there is many valuable lessons I have learned including different learning styles, the roles of a teacher, the history of education, teaching students with disabilities, classroom management, best teaching practices, ect.   However the one concept out of all of these that sticks out in my mind the most is the theory of Multiple Intelligence.   I love that psychologist Howard Gardner really took an interest in the styles of learning.  He went beyond the basic IQ testing and realized there is more then that.  Through his extensive study and research he came up with the Multiple Intelligence Theories, which basically states that there are at least 9 different intelligences in which students learn.   Some learn visually, others through numbers and graphs and charts, some through hands on experience, others through music, some through reading and studying, and others through activities and crafts.   This concept was so touching and important to me, especially preparing to be a future teacher.  It helped me understand that class curriculum needs to be taught in more then just the basic way.   Kids learn in different ways and different styles and so the more variety a teacher can put into her curriculum the better chances are that the students will understand and learn that.  

I really paid attention to this in my field work observation.   After reading about this concept, I saw these sweet children in a whole new light.  When one normally would judge a student who had a hard time staying focused and was always wiggling, talking, not holding still, they might be judged as a trouble maker.  However after learning about Multiple Intelligence and watching these different students, I realized  that every student was actually brilliant in their own unique way.  The trick was for the teacher to find that strength in each student and focus on that, teaching in a way that would reach out to students of all types.  I felt this concept was crucial to teaching, and also I believe it comes with empathy.  A teacher needs to have empathy and an open-mindedness to the different cultures and personalities of her students.  When one can have empathy and patience it gives the student hope and belief in themselves to be able to achieve and accomplish what is expected of them.   Rather then judging students for their different intelligences, if a teacher can open her heart and do her best to find the right way to reach out to these students, what a difference she can make in their lives and future. I really felt like the teachers I observed were full of love and empathy for their students.  They really went beyond the basic job description and put their whole heart into teaching.  I feel these students were very blessed to have teachers who cared so much.  I could see the difference it made in them when they knew their teacher loved them and was doing everything to help them.   These children are our future, and what they learn now, in school and life will shape and form our society for either the better or the worse.  So I feel that with this new theory of multiple of intelligence and the new openness to teaching curriculum in different and more creative ways, will really benefit and bless the future of our children. I am really grateful for the opportunity I have had to take this class and learn so much valuable information.  I am really looking forward to the day that I can be a teacher and apply these great concepts into my teaching. 

 

Journal Entry #7 Classroom Managment Procedures used to Make Class run Smoothly

In my field observation I was observing a kindergarten class at a charter school.  I really like the system the teacher used to have her classroom run smoothly and give the students an understanding of what is expected of them.   Just like in the video from the class module, this teacher uses a daily routine to keeps things running smoothly.  At the beginning of the school year she told the kids what the routine was and sent home a letter to the parents so they would know also.  Before the first bell rings, the students are to line up in the appropriate place in the lunchroom and wait for the teacher.  Five minutes before the bell rings, the teacher will come and get the students and walk them in a single filed line to the classroom.  There the students hang up their backpacks on their designated hook outside the classroom door.  They pull out their blue folder that contains their homework, and then place their lunch bags in the large bin, and their snack bags in the black box.  When they walk into the classroom they all have assigned seating with their name on their seat.  This class sits at tables.   In the center of the table is a box where all the kids put their blue folder. Every morning after the first bells rings, they have 5 minutes to get ready and then the second bell rings and they all say the pledge of allegiance, the whole school together over the intercom and then they sing their school song.   Every morning before the teacher comes and gets the students she sets a paper out at each person spot.  This paper assignment is what they students work on the first 15 minutes of class.  They call this time Self Start.  Self Start because the students come to the classroom and immediately start working on the assignment without any instruction or little instruction from the teacher.  Since they are in kindergarten, most the time it was a coloring paper that had to do with shapes or numbers or counting.  While the students are working on that, the teacher gathers all the homework out of the blue folder and places them in the appropriate spot for grading.  After the 15 minutes are up, is called Morning Meeting.   The teacher has a giant rug in the classroom with about 25 different squares and inside each square is a different picture, like a butterfly, a car, a hotdog, a balloon, ect.   The students are all assigned a different square to sit on and that is their seat.  It rotates throughout the year.  So after self start they come to the rug and sit in their assigned spot.  There they review the calendar, day of the week, the daily tasks that each student is in charge of.  ( Some students are in charge of emptying the trash bins, other are in charge of moving the calendar marker, or being the line leader, or the door holder, or the ticket hander outer, ect but every student has a specific job they are to do.  )  After the morning meeting, they usually do a morning exercise or song to get the kids woken up and ready to learn.   Then the teacher draws their attention the White board at the front of the classroom where she has written the schedule for the day up on the board for everyone to see.  Since most the kids cant read yet, she tells them what the schedule is and reminds them through out the day.   Then they begin their school day. 

I really like this method because Its important for students to realize what it expected of them and to learn to stay on task.  I also like the self start because it teaches kids to be active and achievers without waiting around being told what to do every second.  I think it is important to have a routine, especially for young students so there are no unexpected surprises or confusion.  It helps them get into the flow of things better and also to learn better.  Writing the schedule on the board I think is a great idea as well because it helps the kids look forward to what is coming next.  Sometimes at school you feel like the activity you are doing is never going to end, but when you can see a schedule and have your teacher say. "Okay just 5 more minutes and then recesses"  It really helps the kids to stay focused.

Another tool this teacher uses is a color chart and ticket store.   she has a big chart on the wall, with different colors.  Everyone starts in Green at the beginning of the day.   If you are doing good and staying on task you can move up to blue.  If you are being exceptional and following all the rules, you can move up to purple, the highest color.   However if you fail to follow a rule, you move down to yellow, which is a warning to change behavior and get back on task, but if you are really having an off day and not following the rules, then you get moved down to orange and a note gets sent home to the parent explaining why they had an off day and what can be done different next time.   Every time you move up a color you are rewarded with tickets.  The teacher decides how many tickets to give you.   At the end of the week, Every Friday, the teacher will have  a ticket store where you can turn in your tickets for prizes, or save them up and get bigger and more prizes next time.  I love this concept because it helps kids work toward something and get rewarded for good behavior, however if they are not staying on task, then the punishment is not too harsh where they hare feeling humiliated and judged.  ITs just a simple reminder and they don't get tickets.  I love this concept so much more then the TOADS program that we watched in the class video.  I felt like the TOADS program only focused on negative behavior and not positive and to me that is not a very good motivator.  Kids are kids and they are so full of life and energy and the desire to explore and be active and just ready to soar, however they do need to be taught boundaries and guidelines, but without breaking their spirits down.  So I really enjoyed this method that this teacher used and hope to use something like this in my teaching.

Journal Entry #6 Best Teaching Practices

I really loved learning about best teaching practices and ways to get the students actively involved.   In the online study of this section, we watched a video clip about "Edutopia, Educational Community"   This video really inspired me for when I become a teacher.  I have been doing research about children who bully and why, and this video really touched on that.   It was about teachers who begin their day with a 20 min morning meeting, however this meeting is no regular meeting, instead what they do is have their students participate in games, or activities that establish empathy and are fun.  The purpose of this, according to the video is to "Teach the students how to care for another, how to be a bigger person, and how to resolve conflict."    In doing this they learn core social skills and how to see and treat others with respect and fairness.   Some of the teachers in this video would use activities such as "Fill up our buckets"  Where one student would sit in the spotlight chair and tell the class something that is special about them, and then each student in the classroom would tell that spotlight student something nice or positive about them.   Then the teacher would ask questions about how did it make you feel to say something nice to someone, how did it make you feel to get a compliment, and they would discuss how this is filling up their buckets.    I loved loved loved this, and there were different ways that each teacher approached this or games that were played but it was teaching the same concept of showing kindness towards others and receiving kindness back.   

I noticed this in my field study and the different method teachers would use to get their students actively engaged.  One teacher I was observing would start the day off by having a coloring activity sitting at each students table and they would work on that for the first 10 minutes, then they would have a thing also called morning meeting, where everyone would come sit on the rug and review the days of the week, counting chart, discuss the weather, questions like "do you like pizza, do you like reading books, do you have fun with the babysitter, ect?   Class note, on the board so the teacher would say, "Dear Class, today is Tuesday. today we are going to go to music, then math, ect. . . I love you, love your teacher.  "  This class note gave the students an agenda of what they were going to be for the day so that class knew what to look for. Then the teacher would lead the class in a exercise routine where it helped them learn to count too, it was a cute little song about now do 20 jumping jacks and the kids would do them while counting, ect. . .
Another teacher I observed had spotlight days.  Where one student in the class got to have a special spotlight day, They brought a poster from home with pictures and writings about things that student loved to to or didn't love to do.   In the morning the student would get to sit in the giant rocking chair and where a special hat and the teacher would hang their posted on the board in front of the whole class and read the student would get to tell the class about their poster, then each student in the class got to ask the spotlight student questions like what is your favorite cartoon/ ect, then they all had a turn to say something nice about that student being spotlighted.  As I was observing this  I loved to watch the student being spotlight just grin as big as can be and they had the sparkle in their eye and were just the happiest ever.    I thought this was such a great idea because every child needs to feel loved, appreciated, and important. and sadly enough, many don't get the feeling from their home life, they come from homes that are lacking empathy and love, so when they can come to school and feel loved and appreciated, what  a difference that can make in their life.     I want to make sure I am doing activities like this when I become a teacher.   Making every child feel loved, important, and wanted, is so necessary in todays world, if we are to teach and raise the children of our future to believe in themselves and be successful individuals.    So these were strategies I saw that related to that section of the video learning. 

Other strategies I saw was one teacher let the students have a side walk chalk day and they went out to the black asphalt on the playground area and had the kindergarteners practice writing their names and writing their letters and numbers with side walk chalk and then let the students  draw a picture of what ever they wanted too.  I thought this was a great teaching method, because not only do they get to get outside and play with something fun, they are learning and being creative at the same time.  Another activity I learned about, but didn't get to really see happening, was each student in the class got a chance to take home Thomas the Turtle for the week.  He wasn't a real turtle, but a big green stuffed turtle.   They were in charge of taking Thomas on adventures and activities and taking care of him, and each night they would write in a journal about what Thomas did today. and then draw a picture of it.  If Thomas got really dirty, some kids would have their parents give him a bath (wash him in the washing machine) and write about how much fun Thomas had.   This helped teach the kids to be responsible for a pet, without putting any animal endanger if they weren't, but also helped them practice their writing and report skills.
In our online class practices, we also read about different teaching terms and definitions.      In my field study, I also noticed teachers applying these methods to their teaching.   One of the most frequent ones I noticed was "Wait Time"   where the teacher would ask a question, let the students reflect a moment or two on the question and how they wanted to answer it, and then she/he would call or ask a student to answer.  Which also brings me to my next definition, "Equitable Distribution"   That means the teacher will call on those that are raising their hands to answer, but also calls on those not raising their hands to answer.  That way it gives even the shy kids a chance to answer and the teacher a window into seeing who is understanding the concepts being taught and who is not.  This brings me to the last definition I frequently saw in the field, and that is prompting.    The teacher asking certain prompting questions, to help the students figure out the answer, without the teacher telling them what the answer is. . . . I think this is so important as well because it forces the students to really think for themselves and get their minds turning and this is such an important thing to teach children to do. 

I really enjoyed this chapter of learning and am just even more excited now to become a teacher and hopefully inspire children to believe in themselves, and give them the love and confidence they need to succeed in life. 

Journal Entry #5 The most important Rold of a Teacher

I feel that the most important role of a teacher is to get to know each student individually.   Get to know their likes, hates, skills, needs, styles of learning, their family life, and their dreams and goals.    I feel this is the most important role in the many roles that a teacher plays because if you do no get to know your students, I mean really know them, then how can you truly help them learn and grow.   Looking back now in my childhood school days, (Elementary/Junior High)   I can reflect upon each one of my teachers that I had beginning with Kindergarten.   I never realized before until reading more about the roles of a teacher in that article, how the teacher truly affected my learning.   I realize back then it was a whole different way of teaching, again like the article said, the teachers then were given the same curriculum they taught the same exact way year after year and were not supposed to alter or change it up.   I feel that many would get stuck in the robotic way of teaching, and forget the reason why they are teaching.   They were just going through the motions, but not really being a part of that child's life.    The classes I truly struggled in, I feel the teacher did not try to understand me as a person.    The only attempt I remember most teachers  doing to get to know each student was on the first day of school they gave you a paper and you were to write you interests, hobbies, birthday, favorite candy bar, how many siblings, ect. . . . but it seems like quickly after the paper was turned in there was not anything ever brought up or referenced to those answers we put down.   However I did have a few teacher, 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade, who truly took the time to get to know each student in their class,  These teachers made a significant difference to me because I felt they truly took the time to get to know me and my family and to reach out when I was struggling and be patient and loving and supportive, and they also provided bonding activities with the class to help the classmates be kinder and show more appreciation to one another.   I wasn't the smartest kid in class at all, but I felt these teacher that took the time, gave me the confidence to succeed when I felt I could not.   I did well in their class because I felt they cared, as compared to the other ones that often yelled, ignored me, thought I was stupid, and never offered any help.    So I feel that as a teacher, it is essential that you have compassion, empathy, and truly a love of people because with these qualities you will have the desire to really try and reach out and do all in your power to get to know each one of your students and how to best teach and inspire them to succeed.   

Journal Entry #4 Teacher Assessment

In this particular field study, I meant with the teacher about assessment testing and the procedures that take place/.    Again this was a charter school so these students get tested four times a year and are given tests to see what level they are on in all areas of learning.  Math, Reading, Spelling, and Shapes and Numbers.  This was for a kindergarten class.   The teacher gives the class a group assignment, and while the class is working on that, she takes each student one by one aside and tests them on different questions.  Since they are in Kindergarten she reads to them each question and writes the answer down for them.   The testing usually takes place the week before parent teacher conference.  They do that so that after all the kids are tested, the teacher will schedule a time with the parents or guardians of each child and review their tests scores with them and other class work they have been doing.   She tells the parents of the strengths that each child has, and then gives suggestions on what can be done to help with the areas where the child might be struggling.   I like that they do this testing often because they can compare their tests scores with each with previous tests to see if the student is advancing or having a harder time understanding.    Also with the testing they take all the tests scores of the class and provide an overall average of where the class is at, that way they can determine if a child is more advance in some areas, or if they are falling behind.   Then the appropriate action is given.   I think this is so great because then each child can get the help they need according to their level. 

Journal Entry #3 Modification Tools for Exceptional Learners

In my class observance, I noticed that the teacher was very attentive to the different levels of learning that each child has.   The School I was doing my field work at is a charter school, so they assign homework according the what level the student is on.  Some parents request lots of homework for their child, and others request no homework for their child, just class work.   With the students that are more advance in their learning concepts, they are assigned homework on a higher level.  I like this idea because then the student is not getting bored in class and despite where the class as a whole is, they are able to continue learning according to their particular level.   There are also some children who are behind the average class level, and for these students they are offered additional classes during regular school time where they can meet with a teacher one on one and get the help and practice they need to understand what they are being taught.   I really like this.  I like how there are modifications to apply to all levels of learning in this school.  

Journal Entry #2  "Equality and fairness in the education system"

 

 

In my recent field study I was again working with a group of Kindergartners.  My assignment this time was to take two children at a time and interview them or ask them questions about their teacher and then they were going to combine the answers and present them in a book to give to the teacher for teacher appreciation week. First of all I should mention that in order to do this, observe different classrooms or volunteer in the classroom and help the students, I had to obtain a background check to make sure that I was no threat or danger to the students.  Also upon entering the school, all doors to go inside the school are locked except the front door right in front of the secretaries desk.  I must sign in at the front desk that I am a volunteer, or visitor, and then I must wear a sticker that says volunteer, or visitor.  They have told the students that any adult they see in the school that is not a member of the staff and is not wearing  sticker to report.   I really liked this concept of all of this to keep the kids safe and protected.   So back to the fieldwork.   As I was interviewing the kids asking them questions like " What is your teachers favorite food?. . . What is your favorite part of Kindergarten?. . . What is something nice your teacher has done for you?. . etc. . . I noticed again the different personalities of the children, but also the many different races within one classroom.  There were a couple Hispanic kids, two Indians, and even one who was part Scandinavian.  I thought about the "Brown vs. the board of Education Case" where they ended segregation and the blacks were now allowed to attend the same school as the whites, however, despite the ruling there were still several problems with bullying, harassment, public humiliation, and even some states where the Governor himself still forbid blacks from entering a white school, such as the "Little Rock Nine" incident.  While interviewing the children, I noticed that race is no longer an issue, at least in Kindergarten.   We live in a time now where there are many different races living amongst us and for the most part I think everyone is given a fair and equal opportunity for education here in the United States.   However there is one problem I have been noticing and noticed a little more today, that is the issue of Bullying.  Despite which race you are, kids now days are noticing the difference in others with the way they dress, their personalities, and their social manner.   I noticed that in some of the groups of two kids I was interviewing, there would be a kid who was really shy and didn't know what to say, and then other kids sitting next to him/or her was telling that kid what to say in such a persuasive way that the kid obeyed and repeated back the answer.  I am not saying that is bullying, I don't think that situation is, but It made me think about the shy kids vs. the loud outgoing kids, and how they might be more of a target for bullying.  So I started to do some separate research about bullying in todays education.  I was surprised to find out that as much as 25%  of children in elementary schools are being bullied, but most parents are not aware of it, and even teachers.   As I was interviewing a boy and a girl, another boy from their class walked by and was making jokes and then tried to push my two year old daughter into the boys bathroom as a joke.  I stopped in the middle of my interviewing, pulled the boy aside and said what are you doing, he laughed this wickedly laugh and ran back into his classroom as fast as he could.  The two kids in front of me started to tell me that this boy was mean and was always pushing them and kicking them and taking their things away.  I asked them if they had told their teacher about it and they said their teacher has a rule that you cant tattle tell on anyone and you are not supposed to tell her when things like that happen but to fix it on your own.  I was surprised about that.  These kids are only in kindergarten and already starting to get bullied, and already being told they cant come to their teacher for help. I thought again about "The Little Rock Nine"  who even with personal guards, were still bullied, harassed, beaten, spit upon, and humiliated in locker rooms and bathrooms and outside of class.   I feel that is still a huge problem in our education system today.  As I was doing my research about this, I was made aware that there have been certain policies put into play when someone does bully, but they problem is they are not counseling with the bullies enough to find out the reason why they are bullying and coaching them how to change their behavior. Until the bullies learn why it is wrong and hurtful and to change their behavior this will remain an ever growing problem in our education system today.  My oldest daughter is also in Kindergarten and she already has been bullied three or four times.   And I feel her school is doing very little to handle this issue.  So This is something that I want to study more as I prepare to be a teacher, I want to push for better counseling for the kids that bully and the kids who are getting bullied, for more parents to be aware of the issue and how to talk to your children about it, and for the teachers and the administrative staff to get more involved.  No child should ever be afraid to come to school and no child should ever feel they have to deal with it alone.  Adults have to become involved if we are to stop this trending problem from growing worse.   Sorry this was a longer post, but something I feel very strongly about.   I hope we can come to a better solution to this issue.