Wrapping it Up!

 

Reflecting upon this semester, I have learned a great deal about teaching in general. After reading through my first blog, I realized how much knowledge I have obtained this past semester in my clinical setting as well as through my teaching courses.

My first goal I made for myself was that I wanted to learn how to properly integrate all subjects into my curriculum in a creative and supportive way. I made progress with this goal through several lessons I conducted this semester. I integrated weather with a read-aloud, I also integrated a science lesson, with visual arts and language arts, and I also integrated a read aloud with a social studies lesson. For my weather read-aloud, I read a book about the weather and picked out key words in the story. Each student had a partner who had the same word as them. During the story, the children were instructed to raise their hands when they heard their word. At the end of the story, the students were instructed to get with his/her partner and come up with a few words that rhyme with their matching word. The students had a lot of fun coming up with rhyming weather words! Then, I conducted a science lesson that incorporated team work/ respect (social studies civics and government), the use of the visual arts, as well as language arts (more specifically, communication). The students all played a role in simulating an experiment that explains why it rains. Each student had a meaningful job that required the students to communicate with one another about the steps that needed to be taken, drawing their observations, and wrapping the lesson up by concluding what they learned about why it rains. I also learned a lot about integrating subjects through creating my bag-it. Within my teeth bag-it, I did a science lesson on a “plaque attack”, a sequencing activity on the steps of going to the dentist, a graphing activity on how many teeth each member of the student’s family had, and the student read two books with his family about teeth as well. Outside of my clinical classroom, I learned a great deal about integrating multiple subjects into a lesson as well as actually composing multiple subject lessons within my science/mathematics class with Dr. Osorio as well as through my co-teacher unit.

Moving forward through student teaching, I will continue to integrate multiple subjects into my lesson planning. I am more confident than ever in doing so because I have been given the tools and knowledge to carry out lessons that meet multiple standards across all subject areas. I would also like to make this one of my long term goals to continue integrating multiple subjects into my lesson plans. Due to my experience this semester, I am more aware of how little time there is to fit every subject into a weekly schedule. By incorporating multiple standards from various subjects into one lesson plan, it’ll be a great way of making sure my students are getting the best and most effective education for their developmental needs.

A goal I set for myself this semester in addition to integrating multiple subjects into one lesson, was to learn how to make sure that I am meeting common core standards while ensuring that my students comprehend the material. Last year, I saw a lot of instances where teachers were instructing lessons from their school’s curriculum, but moving on once the lesson concluded. There were little-to-no checks for understanding and if there was, it entailed a worksheet that was given a stamp if it was completed, but the worksheets were never graded and assessed. Therefore, teachers were moving on with the curriculum whether or not their students were making connections with the material.  Within this semester, I have learned a great deal about how to gauge where the students are at during and after a lesson through formative and summative feedback that the students provide me. I have learned how to check for understanding while the lesson is being taught by having the students put their thumbs up/down if they understand or do not understand me, mirroring, think, pair, sharing, and many more. I have also learned a great deal about how to design an assessment for the end of the lesson to see if students met the objectives of the lesson I taught them. We did a lot of work with designing and implementing assessments throughout all of our courses this semester and I feel very confident moving forward through student teaching in putting the formative and summative feedback pieces I have learned into action.  Another technique I have learned this semester is designing lesson plans to meet the needs of the students by accommodating and modifying my lessons as well as differentiating my instruction. Within my lesson planning, I am challenged to think about the learner demographic analysis (LDA) of my classroom where I need to design lessons to meet each learner’s needs, vary instruction, as well as plan for modifications within my lesson plans. Throughout my lesson planning, I have learned how to consider the needs of all of the students. Good teaching doesn’t entail teaching to the whole group and having the students journal about what they learned afterwards. Rather, it is about instructing students, getting every student involved in the lesson, and engaging students in a multitude of ways. Having students turn to a partner and teach one another, mirroring, as well as having small groups of students work together are all simple ways for students to be engaged throughout the lesson. Accommodating for students is also really important because not every student meets the standard of where the other children are at in the class. I was challenged this semester to accommodate for students who have autism, ADHD, ELL, or come from a low socioeconomic background. This was a great experience for me as a novice teacher because I was constantly designing lesson plans where I was confronted to think about each learner and how he/she will learn the most effectively. Moving forward through student teaching, I would like to remember all the knowledge I have acquired on making sure each student meets the objectives of the lesson through different forms of feedback and lesson variation.

 

Classroom management techniques are something that I set a goal for myself to learn this semester. More specifically, I wanted to learn more about how to manage a classroom when the students get off track as well as manage the timing of my own lessons.

 

This semester, I have learned a lot of different attention getters to bring the class together. Some of the attention getters I have used in my clinical setting when the students lose focus are, “bada, ba, ba, ba” “I’m lovin’ it” and “Hocus pocus!” “Everybody Focus!” The students loved the attention getters and it was easier for me to bring the class back together when I used an attention getter that they enjoyed. Earlier on in the semester, I taught an interactive read-aloud social studies lesson on The Sneetches. Half of the class played the role as the star belly sneetches and the other half were the plain belly sneetches. The star belly sneetch students had privileges and rewards, whereas the plain belly sneetch students did not have those same privileges and rewards. The objective of the lesson was to teach students that it doesn’t feel good for some people to be treated differently and to remember how it feels to be treated unfairly. The lesson reinforced the students how to show respect and kindness to one another. Because I conducted this lesson with my clinical class, whenever the students were acting out more than usual, I would remind them of The Sneetches book I read to them and would remind the students that we talked about showing respect and kindness for one another and the students would redirect their behavior to being kind and respectful. I implemented this practice several times throughout the semester and every time I put it to use, the students would reassess their behavior and get back on track.

During student teaching, I will use these same attention getters I have learned this semester and will use one that the students connect with the most. Also, I think reading The Sneetches would be a great way to introduce the idea of kindness and respect to all early childhood grades. As previously mentioned, I found that it was a great way to bring the class back together and a positive way to remind students how to be respectful and kind to everyone, including teachers.  

Another aspect of time management I wanted to work on this semester was timing throughout my lessons. Last year, something I knew I needed to work on was moving too quickly through a lesson in fear of running over time. This semester, I still found myself being concerned with the timing of my lessons, but I have learned how to relax and allow the students to process the material I have presented them with. This is something I am setting a goal for myself to continue working on in my future as a student teacher as well as a working teacher. I know time management during a lesson is a skill that will develop as my career progresses and as I become more comfortable teaching. In the future, I will continue to remember to slow down while instructing my students so they can process the material I am presenting to them.

Integrating technology was something I wanted to become more familiar with this semester. Within a few of my lessons, I showed videos using the SMART board and I got more accustomed to using the SMART board. I didn’t get as much experience as I would’ve liked working with integrating technology within my lessons, so this is definitely something I look forward to putting into place in student teaching and beyond.

 

As mentioned above, I have several goals to continue to work on through student teaching and beyond. The following goals I would like to focus most on are: more technology integration, mastering timing for each lesson, and varying materials used in lessons. I feel as though there are so many materials out there for a teacher to be made aware of and I hope that I can learn more about the various materials that are out there for teachers. Hopefully, my student teaching experience will help me become more aware of those materials to the point where I feel confident in using unique and engaging materials within my lessons.

 

Overall, I learned an immense amount of information about teaching, managing a classroom, connecting with parents/guardians, varying instruction and so much more. I will take the information I have acquired this past semester with me into my future as a student teacher and continue to develop these ideas. Below are a few of the lessons I have I implemented in my clinical setting that I discussed in my blog posting.

 

 

Here is a picture of my Bag-It activity on Teeth and all the materials included in the Bag-It!

This is The Sneetches book I used during my lesson on respecting others and showing kindness to others.

This is the rain simulation activity I did with my Kindergarten class! The students loved "watching it rain!"

 

Science Instruction!

Within my clinical setting, I have not seen a great deal of science instruction. My kindergarten classroom dedicates Tuesdays and Fridays from 1:10-1:40 on science instruction. I feel as though 1:10-1:40 is a good time to implement science on the given days because at this point, students have had some time to calm down after lunch and are able to focus on the steps of each science lesson better when they are focused. Seeing as though I am there on Wednesdays, I have not had the pleasure of seeing the instruction in the classroom. However, I have seen some dental health lessons being conducted in the Kindergarten setting which my teacher does consider health sciences.

Some of the science lessons regarding dental health that I have seen are watching a video on dental health, reading a Scholastic article on the topic, and doing activities that helps the students determine the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods. There was also a Scholastic article that taught students, “If you are responsible for something, you must take care of it. Therefore, you are responsible for taking care of your teeth.” Then, the article had the students circle various images of things that helps students take care of their teeth. Below is the Scholastic article I am describing.

 

During science instruction that I have seen within my classroom, my CT will speak very slowly to allow students to work through the task at hand. If my teacher were to move quickly through a lesson, the students would become easily overwhelmed and would get lost with the material. She will prompt them with questions that will allow them to meet the objective. She never gives the students the answer. My CT will always ask encouraging and open-ended questions that push students to thinking about the topic. Almost always, the students will get to the bottom of the question she is asking and answer it correctly.

When the students are engaging in a science activity, they are very thought-provoking and ask a lot of questions. If they do not understand an element of the lesson, they raise their hand and simply ask to have the idea or concept clarified. They enjoy being able to do science activities. When I brought my bag-it to class, I wanted all of the students to be a part of the experiment I was doing with the child who brought home the bag-it, so I did the experiment with the whole class to show the students what the child would be doing at home. I did a dental health bag-it and I simulated what happens when plaque collects on teeth as a result of eating too much sugar. I put water, yeast, and sugar in one cup. In another cup, I put water and yeast. I told the students to watch what happens to each of the cups. Within minutes, the cup with sugar was overflowing and the “plaque” was growing. They were amazed and really engaged throughout the whole experiment. This helped students understand that sugar makes plaque “grow” on your teeth and it is important to brush your teeth and watch your intake of sugar! I look forward to doing more science activities with them for the remainder of this semester.

I wish that I could see more science instruction within my clinical classroom, but I have seen some great components of it on the Wednesdays that I am there even though Wednesdays are not technically science days. I will take what I have seen and apply it to my future career. I am also excited to implement my science lesson next Wednesday on weather. I am doing an experiment with the students regarding what happens in the environment when it rains. We will be working in small groups with clear tubs of water, shaving cream on the top to represent clouds and I will tell students that rain is a result of clouds become filled with too much water. Then, we will pour blue food coloring on top of the shaving cream to represent the rain and the students will see what happens as the weight from the rain makes the clouds heavy.  Here is an image of what will be occurring when I simulate rain and clouds in the environment!

 

In past clinical experiences, I have seen not seen very many science activities aside from one lesson where my 3^rd grade clinical classroom dug for rat bones in a tin pan filled with sand in accordance with an archaeological lesson the teacher was working on with the class. The health science lessons are not something we really focus on very much in our science curriculum at ISU, but I look at this as a good experience to see other elements of science being applied in the classrooms and not just what we have been taught that we will see. I have seen some great science lessons at Cedar Ridge within Dr. Osorio’s classroom. It is really interesting to watch my peers present their lessons and be able to analyze what the students take away from each lesson. The students love to be engaged and get really excited when they are given a task to complete.

Knowing what I have seen in my clinical setting is going to allow me to apply that knowledge during student teaching as well as in my own classroom. I hope I can see some more instruction within my clinical classroom. From the science lessons I have seen at Cedar Ridge, I will take away a lot of the lessons knowing what worked best, what could be improved, and what students connected the most with. So far I have noticed that students really enjoy being engaged in the lesson. This is definitely a practice I will always maintain in my classroom.

Overall, science is something I really look forward to incorporating in my classroom. There are many ways to go about incorporating and implementing science in a classroom setting. I would definitely like to find ways to involve other curriculum such as mathematics, language arts and social studies within my science instruction as well so students are constantly engaging in all aspects of education effectively.

A Leap of Faith

Recently, I have found myself becoming consumed by the risk of leaving behind all that I know to live in Texas. I decided to put my fears and doubts on hold and decided to stifle those fears with some rather inspirational quotes. I once again found myself in love with the idea of taking the leap of faith that I have been encompassed by for the past two years. Some quotes I found to be true to my current state are as follows...

Social Studies in the Classroom!

I have seen social studies instruction take place mostly after lunch. I haven’t seen many social studies lessons because I leave an hour early each Wednesday and tend to miss the social studies lesson for that day. However, I have seen a lot of informal social studies instruction such as social-emotional regulation and awareness. The kindergarten curriculum is based heavily around social-emotional awareness. During read-alouds, my CT will stop the read-aloud and say, “What emotion do you think this character is?” and will proceed to talk to the students about how the emotion looks. My CT also talks about different emotions going on in the classroom throughout the day. For instance, she told the students what the word “hunk” meant (meaning a good looking, muscular man or guy) and the students instantly started laughing and becoming red in the face. My CT pulled one of the students up to the front of the classroom to show the rest of the class how this student was displaying the emotion “embarrassed”. She was red in the face, her body was tense, and she couldn’t stop laughing. This was a great display of emotions and the use of informal instruction such as this are constantly being taught throughout the day.

In addition to seeing a lot of social-emotional awareness taught throughout the day, the Washington Creed embodies social-emotional awareness. More specifically, the Washington Creed talks about respecting elders and teaching the young. Knowing their creed embodies a great deal of respect, they are constantly being reminded of it. Whenever they need to remember what it means, they go over it in their head or out loud and they instantly remember to respect their elders, teaching the young, resting, playing and so forth.

I have also seen history used in the curriculum by discussing President’s Day. More specifically, the reason why President’s Day is celebrated and who the two main presidents that are celebrated are– George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The class would read articles on the president’s lives and contributions to the United States. When a new article or reading is discussed, my CT will refer to the day before to connect the lessons and allow the students to recall what they learned. My CT also connects what they learn in their lessons to everyday life. For instance, when an article or reading talked about George Washington’s clothes, she compared them to the clothes that the students wore and the students were able to make and see those connections. My CT even went as far as to incorporate cutouts of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington on their calendar in place of the date so when they would say the calendar, they would say, “February 15^th, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, February 18^th, etc…” 

As far as economics goes, I haven’t seen a great deal, but what I have seen are posters on the wall of coins. The coins have the image, the value of the coin, and the name of the coin.

My CT instructs students by connecting with prior lessons and asking students what they remembered from the past lesson, why certain things were the way they were/happened the way they happened, and she also connects new concepts to everyday life such as the example I provided about George Washington’s apparel with the apparel the children wear. When a social-emotional issue arises or needs to be addressed, my CT quiets the classroom down and talks to them calmly. She gets their attention by letting her attitude towards the topic reflect upon the issue that needs to be addressed. For instance, when she addressed how one of the students was embarrassed from saying the word, “hunk” she was laughing because it was a funny moment. She has a way of showing the students how it feels through not only her words, but her body language as well.

Students are very captivated by my clinical teacher. They love hearing what she has to say and listen to her every word. Students laugh at her references to different positive emotions and show a solemn look on their face when the topic is more serious. The students love actively participating in social studies lessons. They are always raising their hands and making connections to prior knowledge as well as everyday life. Students will raise their hands and talk about what they learned the previous day with such skill, I am always surprised to see how well they can remember what they learned.

I wish I could see more social studies instruction in my classroom. I believe a large part of this is due to having to leave the classroom an hour early every Wednesday. I think it would be a great learning experience to get to see more of this instruction so I can use it in my future as a teacher. I always seem to learn a great deal in a natural, classroom setting rather than reading about it from an article or book. From what I have seen, my CT does a great job of addressing social-emotional issues in the classroom as well as instructing the students regarding various social studies lessons to the point where they are able to recall previous lessons down to the last detail.

I saw about the same amount of social studies instruction at my last clinical experience in my 3^rd grade classroom at Northwest Elementary. I didn’t see much, if any social-emotional regulation in my 3^rd grade classroom, but I did see a good amount of history lessons. They would learn through song and story whereas this semester, I have only see stories and articles being read so far. As far as what I have learned in classes at ISU, I have seen a lot of civics and government (social-emotional awareness, respecting the community and respect for others), history (President’s Day discussions and lessons), and the economics I have seen entails the posters on the walls of the coins. I look forward to seeing more social studies instruction throughout the rest of the semester.

Seeing what I have witnessed reinforces what I have learned in classes at ISU and provides me with the confidence in knowing how to instruct students in the future. I see what techniques work well with students and what they connect best with. Especially in regards to social-emotional awareness and how my CT sets the mood for teaching them about how certain actions are displayed and how that makes students feel.

 I was able to do my own social studies lesson on the Sneetches and the objective was to teach students that it is important to show that they care about others and ways that they could do so. It was a great experience to be able to teach the students about kindness and respect and I hope that they take what I taught them and move forward with the concepts taught in their future. I will remember these experiences and the knowledge I have acquired through these experiences. I will make it a point to use these opportunities as a means to an end for when I student teach next semester. From there, I will apply that knowledge that I acquire as well as all of the past experiences and use it in my career as an educator. I really hope to learn more about social studies instruction through my coursework at ISU as well as in my clinical and student teaching settings.

 

Below is the Washington Creed and the Washington Way!

 

Literacy Focus in My Clinical Setting

Reading and literacy workstations (Daily 5 rotation) takes place from 10:15-11:40 every day. Then, after lunch a story is read by one of the students for ten minutes a day. Afterwards, RTI and phonemic awareness are practiced from 12:30-1:10. At 1:40, writing takes place and that lasts for 25 minutes. I think it is a healthy balance of literacy and the children seem to be able to pay attention for the entirety of each lesson.

Washington’s literacy instruction encompasses fluency, accuracy, comprehension, and vocabulary awareness. Their Daily 5 rotations are, “read to self”, “read to others”, “listen to reading”, “writing”, and “word work”. During their phonemic awareness lessons, they use the parts of the arms to “chop” words up by their sounds. This helps the students spell the words. I was able to watch students come up to the board to spell out the words after chopping them and most of the students were able to spell the words correctly. I was able to see how effective this strategy was for this specific group of students. I haven’t seen much writing practice in the classroom yet other than spelling smaller words but I look forward to seeing it. I know that the students write a few sentences after a lesson to reflect upon what they learned.  

During literacy instruction, my teacher asks guiding questions such as, “What do you see in the pictures?” and “Why do you think  ___ happened?” She also goes over vocabulary words from previous readings as well as talks about the vocabulary in the literacy piece that they are about to read from. My CT uses a lot of summarizing from previous stories when the lessons interconnect. Prior to reading, she focuses students’ attention and calms them down so they can pay attention during the reading. I was really impressed to see how well the students were able to remember what they had previously learned. For instance, they remembered facts about George Washington’s upbringing from days prior that they had read in a story.

Students in Miss Killian’s classroom are really good at comprehending texts and literacy pieces. She will ask the students questions about previous texts and they will be able to summarize everything that they learned from days before. The students love actively participating in literacy activities and they are more than willing to raise their hands to share their thoughts and findings. I hope that my future students will be just as eager to share their thoughts as my clinical students are.

I think that the students have a great deal of passion for literacy activities. You can tell they really enjoy their literacy throughout the day. I enjoy watching the students learn literacy because they are so excited to partake in the activities. I think their instruction is varied and it is effective for the students. I definitely think their literacy practices are developmentally appropriate. I love seeing students raise their hands to participate. There have been a few times were the readings were targeted for the teacher to read due to its difficulty, but students were more than willing to try and read the passages. Some students were successful in reading the challenging passage and it was really fulfilling to be able to experience that. When I have my own classroom, I will definitely make sure to encourage students to participate in skillsets that they may not feel 100% confident with, but to try their best. This is a very important message for me to drive home to my students.

At my last clinical site, I got to experience Daily 5 reading rotations just the same as I have experienced at Washington. The only difference is that computers were a part of the Daily 5 rotation last semester and computers are not part of the Daily 5 rotation at Washington. The guided reading was done in small and large groups throughout the day in LaSalle, whereas the reading instruction at Washington is mostly large group from what I have seen. There is a reading interventionist that works with four children every day in small groups and individually at Washington. I recall learning about Daily 5 a lot last year in Dr. Sanden’s class. That was something that we acknowledged would be a big part of school’s curriculums in the coming years and it is interesting to see it already being put in place. I also see a lot of scaffolding with reading in my clinical setting. If a student is having a hard time reading or spelling something, my CT will “chop-it” or break it up for the student and then the student will do it independently afterwards.

I will be able to use the knowledge that I receive from the classroom, my clinical site, and my CT to better shape how I will use literacy in my classroom. It is nice to see literacy in a classroom because you can see firsthand what works best and what I think was most effective with connecting to the students. I also look forward to seeing more literacy practices in my student teaching classroom in San Antonio. I think it’ll be interesting to compare the two different states to one another and see what practices are similar and what are different. From there, I can have an even vast knowledge of what practices are successful and use that in my professional teaching field.

Overall, I think my literacy experience has been successful thus far. I look forward to seeing more practices of it in my future. I hope I get to see some of the interactive read-alouds that we discussed so heavily in Dr. Sanden’s class. A lot of the literacy lessons we learned in Dr. Sanden’s class were fun and educational. I was able to see a lot of retelling these past two weeks and I really enjoyed seeing something firsthand after we have talked about it for several weeks in Dr. Husband’s class. I like how Washington uses the idea of “chopping” a word up by phonetic sounds. This helps them spell the words and provides a great foundation for the beginning concepts of spelling and understanding how certain sounds can make a word.

 

Daily 5 Rotation Schedule

Run two 15 minute sessions during this time. Set timer for rotation.

Read to Self                                                                       

Read to Others

Listen to Reading

 

Writing

 

 Word Work  

 

 

I really liked seeing the visual of the Daily 5 schedule. I think it is helpful for students and teachers to have a visual reference in order to gauge their attention and stay on track with the task at hand. Daily 5 is a fun way to engage students in literacy practices. They really seem to enjoy their literacy blocks each day.

Workjobs

Here is the Pinterest link to my first Workjob!

 

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/196399233724104378/

Inspirational Thoughts