Role of Educators: Beyond Teaching Module 5

            I think that the Teachers as Mentors Guidelines is an excellent source for teachers to learn how to really connect and help students. There are five main points which include, beware of stereotypes in your thinking and teaching, take advantage of technology, let students know you believe in them, take the time to establish and maintain relationships, and if a more formal mentoring system is set up be sure participants are trained and monitored (p. 537).  These main points are followed by things that an educator to do to meet these points. I think it is important for teachers to be mentors to our students. We have such an impact on their lives, and we really are a huge part of shaping who a student is and how they perform. One point mentioned was to showcase accomplishments of former students.  I remember as a young student many teachers would explain a big project and they would have examples of former students’ work from previous classes. This really helped, especially since the students’ examples that were used were not much older than us and we knew them personally.  I have also experienced this in college.  I was in an Advanced Composition class at Governors State a few years ago and I received a very high grade on a paper.  When I received my paper back there was a note on it from the teacher that was asking if she could have a copy of my paper to hand out in the rubric for next semester’s class as an example. This really gave me confidence in my writing skills, especially since I wasn’t sure how I would do in an advanced class. I think that keeping touch with students and keeping the door open to provide guidance in the future is helpful (p. 537).  I am friends with some of my former grammar school teachers on Facebook and there have been a few times that I have asked for advice and I have receive it. Most of these teachers are now retired and I believe that it is great that they are still willing to help former students from over 10 years ago.  I look up to them and this is the kind of teacher I hope to be one day.

           

            I believe that a student’s family is a large part of their success in school.  We can teach students, mentor them, and be there for them, however we cannot be with them twenty-four hours a day.  The skills and studying habits that they learn in school need to be carried over at their homes.  A large part of student success is family involvement.  This includes informing the student’s family about what the student is learning, procedures in school and making sure that families help the student succeed. The Family and Community Partnership Guidelines are a good way for teachers to know how to involve families in a student’s education.  One of the guidelines includes helping families find a comfortable and helpful role in their child’s homework (p. 526).  One of the points made in this section is to have some homework assignments that are fun and involve the whole family (p. 526).  I remember creating a family tree as a child.  This assignment involved finding pictures of family members, researching their occupations and culture, and putting together a poster board that showed all of this information. I think that this was a good project that helped my parents really get involved with my school work. Luckily, I always had parents who were very involved in what was going on at school and helping me with my homework.  However, a project like this was fun for not only me, but my parents enjoyed looking back at their family members.  Another point made was if no one is home to help with homework, set up other support systems.  As I got older (around 3^rd-4^th grade), I went to an after school program for a couple of hours, because no one was home.  My grandparents could have picked me up, but my parents thought it was a good idea to be in a place with other students and teachers who could help with homework.  We sat in a classroom and completed homework, but there was always a teacher there if we had questions.  This was a good way for me to receive help if I needed if, even if my parents could not give me help immediately after school.

            The Coping with Anxiety Guidelines is something that really stuck out at me in this week’s readings. I have had anxiety for a long time and I think that these guidelines are very accurate in helping to reduce a student’s anxiety.  One point it mentions is to write test instructions on the board or on the test itself instead of giving them orally (p. 455).  I remember that I liked it more when teachers would write instructions on the board, because then I would be more focused on the test, instead of being focused on the directions and getting something wrong.  Since many tests a broken into different parts and each part has different directions, I liked that many of my teachers put directions on the board.

            I like that the text offers many guidelines for different situations.  I find that these guidelines will be helpful when I start teaching.  As educators, we need to know how to handle situations and these guidelines serve as a good starting point. Helping our students succeed is the main goal of all educators.  Whether is it helping families be connected to their child’s education, helping them with anxiety, or being mentors, teachers need to know how to deal with all of these situations and help students through them.

Making Connections: Module 4

I have always been interested in different cultures and learning about other people’s cultures and beliefs.  I found the subject of creativity and diversity interesting. I found it interesting that participation in multicultural experiences fosters creativity (p. 341).  Research found that multicultural experiences support both creative processes, such as retrieving novel or unconventional ideas from memory, and creative performance, such as generating insightful solutions to problems (p. 341).  The research also states that even though students may not be able to travel to Tibet or Turkey, they still could become more creative problem solvers if they learned about different cultures (p. 341).  I want to continue to learn about other cultures and I feel like I could learn a lot from my students who are from different cultures or have different beliefs.  I want to be able to teach my students about other cultures, because I think that this is important for their growth and development.  In my classroom, I want for all of my students to learn from each other.  I would probably plan a cultural project similar to the one we did in our Intro to Education class, so that my students can learn about not only the students in their class, but other cultures and beliefs.  I think that it is interesting that being multicultural fosters creativity. I can see how this is true, because learning about different cultures and beliefs can expand your mind and people who are multicultural will be able to pull ideas from all different cultures to create something that is well thought out, original and diverse.

                Another subject that I found interesting and relatable was about learning in a digital world. I was surprised by many of the statistics that were stated.  Over 35% of children ages 6 months to 3 years have a T.V. in their own bedroom, there are DVD players in 95% of homes and 27% of the children have a DVD player in their bedrooms (p. 385).  It also stated that TV was on all or most of the day in 35% of homes, and children spent more time watching television than they do in any other activities except sleep (p. 385).  The only part of the statistic that I was surprised by was the age of the children who had televisions in their room, I think that 6 months to 3 years old is a very young age to have a television in their room. I have also seen very young children with cell phones.  I think about how much technology has changed since I was young.  I am only 25 years old, but I cannot believe how much things have changed.  Technology is a blessing and a curse at the same time.  I feel like we are so dependent on technology, myself included.  When I am bored, I am sitting on my phone, or when I start playing a game I lose track of time.  I also feel like technology has made it so easy to do things and that we learn less. I personally am not very good at directions.  Having a GPS on hand all the time has helped with anytime I need directions, but I have not gotten any better at directions by using it and feel like I am very dependent on it. I feel like in the classroom, technology can be used for many different things and they can be very beneficial, but we should not solely rely and use only technology.  We need to make sure that we are making person connections with our students and I feel like technology sometimes takes away personal connections.

                 I really enjoyed reading about the reading strategies.  The book discusses two mnemonic devices called READS and CAPS to help students remember the steps involved in reading strategies (p. 326).  READS stands for review headings and subheadings, examine bold faced words, ask what do I expect to learn, do it-read and summarize in your own words (p. 326).  CAPS stands for who are the characters, what is the aim of the story, what problem happens and how is the problem solved (p. 326).  I think that mnemonic devices can really help students remember things.  I want to teach my students different devices for different topics as a way to help my students remember things.  If I teach them about these devices, they can use them in other classes or for other subjects and create their own mnemonic devices.  I had never seen the READS mnemonic device when I was in school, but I think that would have been a good device to use.  This device will help students who have trouble understanding and remembering what they are reading.  It will also help students who don’t know how to get started with reading a large amount of material.  They will be able to use this device and take steps on starting to read and comprehend the material.

                Connections are important in all aspects of education.  We need to make personal connections with our students and not let technology take over and get in the way.  Our students need to make connections with the material and they can do this with the use of mnemonic devices.  Our students need to also make connections with other students and people who are different from them.  Not only does learning about different cultures and beliefs increase the likelihood that students will feel more connected with others, but it also increases their creativity which is and will be an important tool for the rest of their lives.

Psychology and Classroom Management Module 3

                I found the Classical Conditioning video interesting.  I have seen this happen in animals before.  My aunt and uncle had a huge dog that would jump onto the counters. They bought a bell to use in order to get him to stop jumping. At first, he would not respond to just the bell alone.  They then would ring then bell while telling him to get off of the counter. They worked on this for awhile, while still having to yell at the same time. After a while of does this, they tried just ringing the bell instead of yelling at the same time and it worked. Their dog knew that the bell meant that he needed to not jump on the counter.  I was curious to see how classical conditioning worked in the real world, so I watched another suggested YouTube video titled Classical Conditioning by Professor Sara House. Professor House talked about how during finals week at her school campus there were often ice storms, which caused branches to fall and hit the students on their head. The students would respond to the branches falling by shielding their heads. She also stated that normally before the branches come crashing down, there would be a crackling sound first. After a few times, Professor House would hear a crackling sound and automatically shield her head without even thinking about it. She had been classically conditioned to respond to a crackling sound that she wouldn’t normally have responded to. I found this example interesting, because it made it easier to understand real life human examples of classical conditioning.  I am going to make an effort to pay attention more to see if I get classically conditioned in any situation, because I find the whole concept very interesting.

                Positive reinforcement is defined as strengthening behavior by presenting a desired stimulus after the behavior (p. 251).  Positive reinforcement occurs only when the behavior produces a new stimuli (p. 251).  I find positive reinforcement interesting, because it can help change behavior which can be beneficial in the classroom.  By using positive reinforcement students will be more motivated to change their behavior.  My sister is currently receiving her Master’s degree in Psychology and she works as an Autism Support Staff worker where she tutors students with Autism at their homes. She talks about her use of positive reinforcement with the children that she works with a lot.  It is a big part of helping her students, and even students that she works with who are on the high spectrum of Autism understand and respond to her use of positive reinforcement.  I was nervous at first when completing the activity for positive reinforcement, because there was so much information, but I ended up completing it with only one incorrect answer.  I know that positive reinforcement will be something that will be useful to use as a teacher and in the future when I have my own children.

                Chapter 13 (p.477) talks about the importance of having establishing classroom routines. This is a large part of classroom management, because by having a routine students are aware of the policies of the classroom, there is less confusion and chaos and teachers spend more class time teaching the students rather than telling the students what they should be doing.  I think that establishing your own classroom routines from the very first day of class is key in classroom management. By starting out class with routines, students will quickly learn what is expected of them and there will be less problems with classroom management.  Students need to be in a structured learning environment, so that they can learn without the chaos of an organized classroom and teacher.  Routines help the students by keeping them on task and organized, but they also help the teacher by keep the teacher organized and having the ability to dedicate more class time to teaching.  I liked how the routines included everything from the upkeep of desks, participation and communication. I remember many of my classes growing up having routines for turning in homework, lining up when coming into the classroom or school, writing assignment down on the board and then in our assignment notebooks and completing bell work to start the day and avoid morning chaos.  I think that by having these routines early in my career as a student made it easier to know what was expected of me and how to act in the classroom.

                Teaching is not just about going to a board, reading and handing out homework.  Teaching involves a well-structured class and organization.  There is psychology involved in teaching students and knowing how to teach and reinforce good behavior.  To be a successful teacher, we need to go beyond the books and board and really get to know our students and know to how teach them how to behave, become organized, reward positive behavior and use positive reinforcements to correct behavior.

Classroom Management

Classroom Management Bad Example
http://goanimate.com/videos/0a5MSwiFpANU?utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=linkshare&utm_campaign=usercontent

This video shows a teacher's poor classroom management. There is one student, Paul who interrupts, sleeps and does not bring his homework to class. The teacher becomes extremely frustrated with Paul from the first interruption and yells at him. When she collects homework, she becomes even more frustrated that he does not have it and calls him and all of his actions out in front of the entire class. She yells at him and refuses to teach him. There are many problems with the way the teacher acted. She should have addressed the problems privately so that she does not interrupt the entire class. She is also embarrassing the student and making him feel worse for his actions, instead of trying to figure out the reason that he is acting out. She could have started with eye contact with the student (p. 488), non-verbal signals might work and the teacher should use this as a first step. The teacher could also have in place a set of graded list penalties for not turning in homework, starting with a reminder, then moving on to a warning, staying after school and a parent-teacher conference (p. 489).  She yells and forms an unhealthy relationship with the student, and therefore he will be unlikely to come to her with problems that he has, respect her or change his actions. After yelling (which should not have occurred the way it did), she needs to reform a relationship.  This should happen immediately and can include things such as asking the student for help or complimenting the student's work (p. 489).

Classroom Management Good Example
http://goanimate.com/videos/0xdZbpIeSXVE?utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=linkshare&utm_campaign=usercontent

This video shows a teacher's good classroom management. The same students from the previous video is acting the same way. Rather than yelling directly at the student when he interrupts, she makes a general statement about interrupting. This is known as a verbal hint and can include name-dropping, or making a humorous comment (p. 488). When the student does not have his homework, she asks to speak with him privately. This teacher followed this practice of imposing penalties privately, which can include moving closer to the student, not reminding the student in public about their behavior or making arrangements to speak with the student privately (p. 489). Rather than yelling at the student, she sits down with him to ask him questions to figure out what is going on in his life. She asks about his understanding of the material and his home life. She is forming a good and trusting relationship with the student and she also offers him extra help to better understand the material. By talking to the student privately, this avoids embarrassment and disruption of the entire class. She shows the student that she cares and that he can come to her with problems. Rather than kicking him out of class, she offers the student extra homework help and offers to take him to the school counselor to speak with her. She gets down to the root of the problem, instead of becoming aggravated and exploding. Along with speaking to the student, the teacher can also introduce a Problem Diary, which is where students record what they were feeling, identify the problem and their goal, and think of other possible ways to solve the problem and achieve the goal (p. 489). This along with talking to the school counselor should improve the student's behavior.

Culture, Language and Connecting with Students: Module 2 Blog

             Pragmatics involves the appropriate use of language to communicate in social situations-how to enter a conversation, tell a joke, interrupt, keep a conversation going or adjust your language for the listener (p. 170).  While pragmatics and children learning how to communicate with others is an interesting topic on its own, the part that stuck out for me while reading this section was that it mentioned culture.  It stated that the rules for the appropriate use of language vary across cultures (p. 171).  I found this interesting and made a connection with this reading material, and our discussion board topic about the importance of recognizing how cultures different and the importance of knowing the culture or ethnic background of students.   By knowing that different cultures have different rules for language, we are able to connect with students on a different level.  This can eliminate confusion in the classroom, because a question that may seem “normal” for one group of people may seem like an odd question to another group of people from a different background.  Personally, I want to be able to connect on all levels in some way with all of my students and since communication is a key piece in a classroom and while trying to form connections, I believe that this information will come in use when I begin teaching.  I will make it a point to remember that what may seem “normal” for me, may be a question that a student has never been asked before.  In the classroom, I will remember this and perhaps ask students the same question in a different way, ask them a different question, or explain to them why I am asking the question that seems odd to them. 

               

                Another interesting topic this week was bilingualism.  I found it interesting that if children are exposed to two languages from birth, bilingual children (children who speak two languages) reach the language milestones in both languages on the same schedule as monolingual children (p. 175).  I think that being bilingual is very important in the world today.  We live in such a culturally diverse world that being able to speak multiple languages will allow connections with people who normally you would be unable to connect with due to language barriers.  If children are raised bilingual from a young age, and are taught both languages, they are able to learn both languages easier and reach milestones at the same time.  Many jobs require or prefer someone who is bilingual, so if children can be taught from a young age, they can continue to learn another language as they would English, and it will benefit them as they get older.  One of the children that I used to babysit for had a daytime nanny who was of Spanish decent.  The boy’s parents were not bilingual, but his nanny was teaching him Spanish.  He was able to speak Spanish and English, and even knew some words in Spanish before he knew them in English.  He would also watch cartoons in Spanish with the nanny, in order to learn more words.  I believed that this was a wonderful thing for him to do.  He was learning English on a consistent basis from his parents, and Spanish from the nanny.  This not only helped his mind grow at a young age, but it made it easier for him to become bilingual, since it was started at a young age. 

            The last topic that was discussed in our readings that I connected with was suicide.  The readings state that up to 10% of adolescents have attempted suicide at some point, but even more have considered it. This is a topic that is very personal for me.  In high school I had a close friend commit suicide.  I often wondered if there was anything that myself or anyone else missed or could have done.  Up until this day, I still do not remember any warning signs that are listed in the book such as a change in eating or sleeping habits, weight, grades, disposition, activity level, or interest in friends (p. 146).  Her behavior never changed.  She walked around smiling, maintained good grades participated in sports and was part of the group just as before.  In my case, it was something that was internal and she did not let anyone know about it.  The day that she committed suicide, I was working as a library aide during homeroom. She came in smiling and saying hello as normal, checked out a book and said that she would see us tomorrow.  Little did I know, that would be the last time I saw her. I received the call a few hours after school and myself and everyone who knew her were shocked. When I looked back at the book that she checked out that day, I found that it was a book of poems about peace.  I wish I could have saved her or that she would have talked to someone, but unfortunately this was not the case.  This is one reason that one of my goals as a teacher is to really get to know my students and leave the communicated open with them. I want my students to know that they can trust me and that even if they feel as though no one cares or is there for them, that I am and will be there.  

            The topics that I chose for this post are all from different subject areas, but I believe that each one is important in its own way.  Each of these topics can help my connection with my students and learn more about them.

Teaching is More than Books and Lesson Plans: Module 1

                Emotions, learning, and the brain (p. 39) is one part of this week’s readings that stuck out to me.  It stated that there is a clear connection between the brain and classroom learning in the area of emotions and stress (p. 39).  The reading goes on to discuss a student named Patricia who struggles with math and has connections of negative experiences to math.  It also states that if students feel unsafe and anxious, they are not likely to be able to focus attention on academics (p. 39).  This topic stuck out for me, because it is something that I can relate to.  I have dealt with anxiety for a few years now, not just with academics, but in my daily life.  The story about Patricia connecting negative experiences to a subject is something that I have done in this past.  Math has always been a hard subject for me, and after having a bad experience with an online math class, I was scared to take any other class for fear of failing.  I was eventually forced to take more classes to finish my degree and I was extremely nervous at first.  I was able to work through my issues and succeeded in the class.  I think that having this experience personally will allow me to better help my students who have this type of anxiety.  Having dealt with full on panic and anxiety attacks, I have found many strategies that work to calm me down, and I would use these strategies to help my students.  I will share my experiences so that my students know that they are not alone and they will get through and succeed. 

                Another part of the readings that I can relate to is the Cliques and Friendships section.  It states that when there is a falling-out or an arguments, when rumors are started and pacts are made to ostracize someone, the results can be devastating (p. 82).  Unfortunately, rumors and pacts will always play a part in schools.  I have seen firsthand this type of pact and rumor telling within a 7^th grade classroom.  I heard some of the rumors that were being told, and I was shocked to hear what these young girls say about each other.  I found it very sad that at such a young age people are already trying to break others down.  Some of the rumors that I heard were so bad that I could not even imagine adults saying these types of things about each other.  One of my main goals as a future educator is to encourage every one of my students and make sure that they have high self-esteem and confidence.  I do not want any of my students to feel left out or like they are not good enough.  However, I am also realistic and I know that not every student is going to be best friends, and that’s ok, but all of my students will respect each other.  I will not tolerate any disrespect towards others in my classroom and will be very diligent about keeping up with what is going on with all of my students, how they feel and if they have any problems.  I will make it a point to check in with my students and help to solve any problems that are occurring.

                All of the students you will teach grew up in a world of media, mobility, and machines (p. 85).  I have seen children as young as eight have their own cells phones.  The question posed in this section was: What will it be like to teach students who send and receive over 100 text messages a day, and who can’t focus on your class when a Facebook posting appears?  I believe that technology is a blessing, but can be a curse in the same sentence.  In the classroom, technology can do amazing things and help students learn, but at the same time it can also distract students and make it difficult to have face to face relationships.  I believe that this will be a difficult task to overcome in the classroom.  However, by enforcing strict rules about the use of cell phones and social media sites during class time, I believe that some of this difficulty can be overcome. 

                Teaching has never been and will never be an easy job.  It goes so far beyond having students open books and lesson plans.  There will be many obstacles in all different categories including anxiety, technology, friendships and so much more.  However, with good classroom management, rules, discipline and open communication I believe that I will be able to overcome many of these obstacles and manage a successful classroom.   

Trinity Christian College Field Experience Form

Trinity Christian College Field Experience Form

Context for Learning

Description of School and Students

 

About the School Where You Are Observing or doing Field Experience

School Name and City: Beacon Therapeutic School  Chicago, Illinois

Type of School: Elementary school, Middle School, High School, or Other: Elementary School

Setting: Urban, Suburban, or Rural: Urban

 

Write your responses to the three questions below in paragraph form.

1.       List any special features of the school or classroom setting (e.g., themed magnet, classroom aide, bilingual, co-taught with a special education teacher, pull-out program).

Each room has at least one teacher and one aide.  The school has a Speech Pathologist and an Occupational Therapist.  There is also a school counselor.  Since this is a behavioral school, there are aides that sit in the classroom to monitor the halls and to intervene and take students out of the class if they need to be removed.  There is a calming room where students who are pulled out of the classroom go in order to relax and be brought back to class.  If a students is pulled out of class a set amount of times within on day, they are required to spend the rest of the day in a room with themselves and another teacher outside of their normal classroom.

 

2.       Describe any district, school, or cooperating teacher requirements or expectations that affects the planning or delivery of instruction, such as required curricula, pacing plan, use of specific instructional strategies, or standardized tests.

Since this school is strictly a Special Education school, all of the students have IEP’s or 504 plans.  The teachers, principal, aides and other specific workers are required to follow what is in the student’s IEP or 504 plan.  This affects how the way students are presented certain material, how they collaborate, what work they do independently and how they are tested.  For example, I witnessed one student taking a make-up test, but it was required that the teacher sit by the student and read the questions out loud to the student. 

 

3.    For special education only: List any educators with specialized expertise in the school/district (e.g., specific disabilities, subject-specific pedagogy, English language development, speech therapists).

The educators at Beacon Therapeutic are all trained and possess degrees that allows them to work in a Special Education setting.  The educators have a teaching degree along with an LBS 1 certifications.  This school has an ELL teacher.  There is also an Occupational Therapist and a Speech Pathologist that work with students who need these types of services as indicated in their IEP or 504 plan.  Each classroom has at least one teacher and one aide who possess a Paraprofessional license in the state of Illinois.  There is also a school counselor that meets with all of the students at the school.

 

About the Students in this Class [Give a brief or one word response]

1.    Estimated percentage of students eligible for free/reduced lunch: approx. 75%

2.    Grade level(s): K-3^rd grade

3.    Number of

a.    students in the class: 11

b.    males: 5

females: 6

c.     English language learners: 1

d.    students identified as gifted and talented: 0

e.    students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 plans: 11

4.    Complete the chart below to summarize required accommodations or modifications for students receiving special education services and/or students who are gifted and talented as they will affect instruction. As needed, consult with your cooperating teacher to complete the chart. The first row has been completed in italics as an example. Use as many rows as you need.

 

Special Education Category	Number of Students	Accommodations, Modifications, and/or Pertinent IEP Goals
Example: Learning Disability	Example: 4	Example: Close monitoring, follow up, and Resource Room
Learning Disability	11	IEP and 504 plans
Behavioral Problems	11	Motoring of all students with aide in hall
Speech Pathologist Appt. Occupational Therapist	2 1	Students meet with Speech Pathologist Student meets with OT

 

About the Class You Observed

1.       How much time is devoted each day to instruction in the classroom? Describe the class periods (if applicable)? Choose a content area of your specialty or major. How much time is devoted to teaching that subject?

There are not set class periods in the class.  There does not seem to be set times for each lesson completion.  The only set time I noticed was the time that the students leave the normal classroom to go to the computer lab for a computer class.  In this class students work on the computers completing the same educational game, but work at their own pace and move up levels as they can.  Students who see the Occupational Therapist or Speech Pathologist are pulled out of class during the day for a set time to work with them.  There is also set times and days that the school counselor meets with each of the students.

 

 

2.    Is there any ability grouping or tracking? If so, please describe how it affects your class.

                        During much of the day, students are separated by their grade level within the class to work on assignments.  I am not sure if this really would be considered ability grouping, since the class in mixed with Kindergarten to third grade students and they would have to be separated in order to complete work at their own grade level.

 

 

3.    Identify any textbook or instructional program you primarily use for instruction. If a textbook, please provide the title, publisher, and date of publication.

                        I did not see the students using textbooks.  There were worksheets for the Math lesson.  There were also books that the younger students were working on their reading with. 

 

 

4.    List other resources (e.g., SMARTBoard, manipulatives, online resources) used for instruction in this class.

                        This class has a television that is used to watch educational movies.  It is also used to watch movies that the children choose on certain special days.  There are four computers in the classroom.  The children split up by grade level for most of the day to complete tasks, and while some are working directly with the teacher, there are other students who are playing educational games on the computer.  There is also a classroom IPad that is used during a time when a student has finished their work to play an educational game. There is a regular white board in the classroom, but I did not witness it being used, as much of the classroom instruction is verbal and in small groups.

 

 

5. What do you know about what your students know, what can they do, and what are they learning to do? What do you know about your students’ everyday experiences, cultural backgrounds and practices, and interests?

                        The students in this class all have various learning disabilities.  There is one students with Autism who was non-verbal before starting, but can now say a few words and is learning more every day.  The students need extra help as indicated in their IEP to complete tasks.  They are all working at a grade level that is lower than theirs.  Many of the students in this class have had hard home lives.  A majority of the students come from poverty stricken families and many are also in foster care.  Some have had horrible life experiences from abuse to family loss and have not lead normal childhood lives.  They are all at this particular school because of their learning disabilities and all of the student also have behavioral problems. 

  

 

6. Describe one teaching event. What best practices in teaching were used?

        One event I observed was the third grade students being taught a Math lesson.  As indicated in the student’s IEP’s the teacher read the questions out loud to the students.  All four students were seated together at a round table with the teacher and myself.  The other students in the class were on the opposite side of the room with the aide who was working with them.  I thought that this was nice, because it did not interfere with any of the students learning.  The teacher read the problems out loud, while the students looked along on their worksheets.  She also gave students a chance to read the problems out loud if they chose.  As the teacher read the problems, the students would work together to answer the question.  I thought that the collaboration between the students helped them to better understand the problem.  Once the question was answered, the teacher would check to make sure everyone understood the problem and had the correct answer written down before moving to the next question.