End of Semester wrap up!

I learned so much in this semester’s field experience. I learned a lot from the teacher and a lot from the students and their interest as fourth graders. My teacher did a great job getting me involved with the classroom. During reading groups I worked with the mid leveled readers. It was great to see how their skills improved over the two months that I was there and as they got into more author studies it was nice to see them really get involved with the story. My teacher allowed me to grade a lot of the student’s work which allowed me to see just what the students were getting wrong on tests and how they were set up. In the beginning a lot of students did poorly on their unit tests, but my last day they took one and it was awesome to see the kids work so hard. Many of them came up to me and showed me how much they wrote on the open ended questions and were excited to tell me what they wrote about for the story question. Most of the kids used the entire time to take the test and check it over before turning it in. You could tell that when they turned it in they were confident and proud of the work they had done on it. I was not able to see what grades they got, but I am sure that most of them did very well on this exam! I think that a student being proud and confident in their work is half the battle for teachers. We all know that they can do it, but it’s getting them to take pride and really working their hardest. I think that this classroom of fourth graders is on the right track to accomplishing a lot of great things. I learned a lot about lesson planning and organizing the week from my teacher. You must be flexible and organized enough that you can change something in the schedule just like that because you never know if the students are going to need more time on something or if they become really interested in something and want to take more time on a subject. If you put in the right amount of time before or after school it will make your day go so much smoother. It does not have to be a ton of time, just a little to sit down and get things organized for the day. I really enjoyed this semester and my teacher and the class. On the last day I gave the kids a chapter book to read for Christmas and they were so excited about reading it. My hope is that they all take the time to read and discuss with their classmates what is going on in this book. I think that discussion can build more classroom connections and confidence in the classroom. I am looking forward to seeing how this class does in the semester after Christmas break! I will be sure to take a day and stop in to see them!

We must be accountable!

I think that accountability in public schools must be placed on the teacher. Students need to be improving their levels in all subject areas and I think that is a reflection of the teachers ability to work with students and find creative ways to engage them in their learning. I think that teachers should be evaluated somewhat on the performance of the students in their classroom. While their must be some exceptions to this rule, I do believe that most children in a classroom should show certain steps of improvement as they move up in age and grade level. If a student is allowed to simply pass through grade levels without learning materials from the previous grade successfully then it puts them behind and not only does that hurt the child but it hurts the teacher who has that child in the class the following year.

            Teachers should try new things with different students and find new and creative ways to engage each child in the classroom. If something is not working it is not fair to the student to expect them to just do it one way or not learn at all. A good teacher will find different ways to reach out to all students in the classroom. No student is the same and no student should be expected to do everything one way just because the teacher says so.

            If teachers know that they will receive a bonus or higher pay because the students in their classroom show a large margin of improvement then it will encourage them to find new and creative ways to engage students and get them to understand material being taught. I see only positives in holding educators and administrators accountable for student achievement.

            I think this would put teacher morale higher because it would encourage teachers to work together to find new and creative ways to teach. It would encourage them to pay attention to every student in the class and give them the opportunity to learn and grow as a student. No teacher should be afraid of this because it should be used as an incentive to mix up curriculum and do things in a way that will get students excited and engaged in classroom activities.

Having Expectations for All Learners

High expectations for students is something that is very important because it shows them that you believe in them and that you think they can accomplish goals. Children will need stronger leadership to accomplish their goals if they are coming from a lower income family or if they are a minority. It is so easy for these children to fall between the cracks because many times both groups can fall into the minority category. Children who are from poorer families tend to come from a single parent household and may not get as much attention because their family members are working extra hours to try and better themselves and their family.  This is where having higher expectations can actual help the students in my opinion. The expectations can guide students and help them know exactly what they need to accomplish. The teacher can use these expectations to shape curriculum. Students will know what they are learning and why they need to learn it because they know what is expected.

            Expectations that are clearly set at the beginning of the school year can help create a positive classroom community as well. If every student knows and understand what will be expected of them throughout the year it will help your classroom run smoothly. I also believe that the expectations will help them respect you the teacher and help form a positive relationship between all parties. 

            A lot of children do not have positive role models at home and that can cause them to have a lack of confidence. I believe that have expectations and holding students accountable for their actions can help them build confidence in themselves. It will help them understand that there are things that they can accomplish and goals that they can achieve. It may be beneficial to start out giving students small goals that are easily achieved but it will help build their confidence so you can encourage them to work towards bigger goals.

            I will do my best to be sure that all students are able to make goals and that they have the resources and encouragement to achieve these goals. It will help make my classroom a positive environment and the results will show in the child’s achievement levels.

Article Review 2

I read the article that was titled “The Big Class” was written in the Scholastic Instructor. I found this article to be very interesting because it talks about the ever growing class size in American classrooms. The current economic recession has pinched budgets and forced states to cut education thus raising the size of classrooms. This article gives teachers who have never experienced large classes’ ideas to help create a successful learning environment. Main talking points are “Setting the tone, making space, Forge a Community, Being prepared, using groups, and rethinking homework. Throughout the semester several of the ideas talked about in this writing went with different things we learned in classes. I also have witnessed teachers putting several of these methods into place throughout PHM schools. While a lot of classes are not nearly as large as the instructor in this article is talking about these ideas can be used for any class size. The main point of the article is to help teachers realize that if they can simplify their classroom procedures and workload then it makes things easier on you the teacher and the students in the classroom. Students play off of the teacher and if the teacher is getting overwhelmed and frustrated then the students will too. I like the idea of working with the entire class to develop the rules of the classroom. This gives students ownership of their actions and consequences. The article reminds teachers to be creative in setting up their classroom and to make it work smoothly especially when class sizes are large. Group work and centers can help the teacher reach out to all students in the classroom on a more personal level. Groups of 5 with different stations can allow the teacher to walk around and talk to each group or it can allow the teacher to have a station that students come to him or her to get more detailed lesson. Homework was another talking point that encouraged teachers to not take too much time to grade homework every day but to allow homework to be based on a system of checking if it was done or not done. Teachers can assign homework and check to see if it is complete for the grade and then go over answers together as a class for students to check their own work and understand that they will not be punished for incorrect answers, but that they should ask questions for any missed answers.

I enjoyed this article a lot and I know I will use many of the methods talked about in my own classroom. I was familiar with many of the methods and ideas because we have talked about them a lot throughout the semester of classes.  The articles mostly encourage teachers to be creative while finding new ways to actively engage students especially while in a large classroom settings.

Mid Semester Check

I am currently working with a fourth grade class at an elementary school in lower Mishawaka Indiana. The school consists of a wide variety of children from different socio-economic backgrounds. 70 percent of the children are eligible for the free or reduced lunch program.  The classroom that I have been placed in has a wide variety of learners. One child has extreme HDHD issues and his parents do not regularly give him his medicine. The skills that these children have vary greatly. Some are high achieving while others are way below. The difference in students really shows during our math time. Some of the kids cannot multiple or divide and struggle with simple addition and subtraction. These issues are the biggest struggle for the teacher and me in the classroom.  

                I like the way my teacher has her room set up. She has things on the walls that relate to what the students are learning throughout the year. The classroom rules and expectations are understood by the students and the teacher does a good job at enforcing them. The schedule is the one thing that I do not like and that is out of my teacher’s control. The kids go to their Specials every day at 8:45 which is 45 minutes after their day starts. This forces the teacher to split the math lesson into two because they do a part of it before specials and a part after. I think this makes is difficult for the students to really take time to ask questions and understand the concept that is being taught that day. Our language arts time is right after math and goes until lunch.  When we come back from lunch on Tuesdays we have Doctor Popcorn which teaches children about food habits. Next we have science or a daily wrap up time. The way the day is set up, we only have 1 hour after lunch of school time. This is a challenge because the long mornings can make it hard for students to focus during the second half of language arts.

                I enjoy working with the kids in small groups during math and language arts. I have been able to work with the lower level groups and try to help the understand that basic concepts of the day. I enjoy working with all the kids in the class. I taught a math lesson and the biggest challenge was meeting the needs of all the students in the class.  I used the highest group of students to assist other students in the class after they finished their workbook page. This provided me the opportunity to work with 5 students who were not grasping the concepts. It is important to use group work to work individually with students.

I really enjoy my classroom and the teacher. I am looking forward to learning a lot this semester!!

Learning Theories

A classroom that is based on the behaviorist theory would use reward programs to help their students work towards their goals. The reward acts as a stimulus to get the student to work, hard and once the work is done the teacher will reinforce this behavior with a reward or a snack or activity. The behaviorist classroom would focus more on exactly what the student does and not so much have an emphasis on what the learner is thinking. The behaviorist teacher would have a very organized classroom with clear objectives and expectations of students. The students would probably be put on some kind of reward system for their work and behavior. The teacher would guide the instruction and have clear expectations for his or her students.

A constructivist theory based classroom would focus on things that the learner is interested in.  Experiences are very important in this classroom and building on those experiences is how a student learns. A teacher will scaffold the students just enough to give them what they need to learn.  The teacher in this environment will probably be more flexible to go with the flow and create lesson plans to fit the current students needs. A constructivist teacher will most likely use different material every year because he or she will have different students every year who have a desire to learn different things.

The classes could be similar with the reward programs. I believe that both constructivist and behaviorist classrooms can use rewards to encourage student involvement and participation. These rewards can also be used to encourage positive behavior in the classroom.

The challenge of behaviorism is that students may get too dependent on the rewards. It is important for students to have a desire to education themselves and not just work for a reward. Students must learn to educate themselves to a certain degree and work towards their goals on their own without a reward. If students are rewarded for every little thing in the classroom it may encourage them to work hard only while in your classroom. Students also need to work hard outside of the classroom as well.

The challenge for a constructivist classroom style is that students do need to have some scaffolding and previous knowledge of things in order to move up. If students are way behind on a certain subject, it may not be in their best interest to just work towards what ever it is they want to work at. Some students need to have structured math time in order to better their math skills whether they like it or not. It is important to cover all subjects and meet the standards for that child’s education. A teacher must work very hard in order to meet the needs of each individual student who have different interests.

I believe that a mixture of all styles is the best thing for students in the classroom. Teachers need to be flexible and willing to work with their students to find what works best for them. There cannot be a strict one way or the other, because that will not be what is best for each individual student. A teacher must keep an open mind and be flexible to meet the demands of each individual student.

Diversity in the Classroom

I have recently been working with a 4^th grade class at a local elementary school. This school is different than my transition to teaching placement. In this class there are two Chinese students. One of them can speak fairly good English while the other one cannot speak any English at all and moved into the school about 2 weeks ago. In my mind I have question the methods that the teacher is using to best teach the non English speaking student, and I have questioned her handling of these two students in her classroom.

            The student who speaks no English at all basically sits in the back of the classroom and works on a packet that matched words with pictures. I do not know how he does on any of this seeing as the words are in English and not Chinese. The other student who is his cousin, but has been at the school longer and speaks better English sits in the middle of the classroom and is able to work on everything that the rest of the class is involved with. While speaking to other teachers about this student they use words and saying that I do not feel are appropriate and many don’t seem to care much about finding new ways to work with the non English-speaking child. I have also witnessed aids and other teachers demanding that the English-speaking student translate for this cousin, which clearly makes him uncomfortable. The teachers demand him to translate and have said to me how they don’t understand why he does not want to speak Chinese while at school. Students in the class also jokingly bow to these students and make noises and phrases made to sound like they are speaking Chinese. I know that this makes the Chinese students uncomfortable, but I see their teacher giving little effort to stop this from happening.

            This whole situation is very uncomfortable for me because I do not know exactly how to deal with this issue since it is not my classroom. When I have the opportunity I tell the students teasing them to stop, but I think the teacher needs to do some sort of activity to encourage acceptance and to talk about how things certain people think are funny can really hurt another persons feelings. The entire staff in the school needs to understand that they cannot force a child to speak in a different language and should not demand children to translate for other children. I think the English-speaking boy feels uncomfortable speaking in Chinese because others in the class have teased him about it and it makes him different from the others.

            I am not more aware than ever about different children’s feelings and the way they handle these situations in the classroom. The children may be very proud of their culture and language, but certain judgments by classmates and teachers can really put them on the spot and make them uncomfortable. Teachers must not assume anything and we should not treat any students differently than others.

            If I were this teacher I would treat this situation as a diversity lesson. I would have activities encouraging all students to work together and to respect one another. I know that the students who are bowing to Chinese students and saying things to them do not intend to be mean to them, but because they are assuming something about them they are. I will do my best to use these kinds of opportunities to teach acceptance of different races and cultures in my classroom.  It is important that all students feel comfortable while at school, thus providing them with a good environment to learn and grow as students and children.

Letter to my Fourth Grade Teacher

September 21, 2011

Dear Mr. Hendricks,

As you know I am currently enrolled in a transition to teaching program for Elementary Education. As I get further involved in learning different teaching techniques and responsibility I constantly an reminded of how you handled my fourth grade class. One of the things that made you different from most of my teachers is how you managed our classroom. You always had things organized which made our classroom run smoothly. It always seemed that everyone had a job to do and these jobs helped the classroom operate in an orderly way. These jobs kept us busy and also gave us rewards with mini-economy money. The mini-economy money was a great lesson to teach us at that age. We would have to pay fines for poor actions and we would receive rewards for our positive behavior.

                It is funny how growing up I always thought my teachers were the smarted people in the world. I now know this is not true, but the reason I thought this about you is because you were always prepared for whatever it was we were doing. If someone had a question you had a way of helping us work through it to find an answer together. I remember our lessons being put into units that helped us relate things to different things we were doing throughout the day. This strategy helped to give us a different way of looking at a topic. Now that I am in school I know that you must have spent a lot of time successfully planning out your lessons. You used all kinds of different strategies to engage all the students in activities. These strategies kept us busy and it allowed everyone to have a way to be involved.

                I want to thank you for all the hard work you did and continue to do. You have successfully found new and creative ways to engage students in the classroom activities. It is very important to be prepared and be a positive role model for the children in your class. I remember so much about your class because of the way you taught it and the things I learned. Thank you for being a teacher that is prepared and works hard to actively engage your students in classroom activities. You have impacted me more than you know and I hope that I can one day be as affective in the classroom as you are.

                                                Your former student,

                                               

                                                Joshua Schultz

M500 Blog Post #1 Historical Foundations

The modern education system in the United States of America dates back over 100 years before the country was founded. The Puritans formed the first school in 1635 which was free and offered to all children in the colony (Enz, Bergeron, & Wolfe, 2007, p. 14). The first schools were meant to teach the word of the bible and understanding of sermons in order to spread Christianity throughout the colonies. (Enz, Bergeron, & Wolfe, 2007, p. 14)

            During the 1800’s the United States was rapidly expanding. This expansion led to an increasing demand for teachers and schools throughout the country (Enz, Bergeron, & Wolfe, 2007, p. 21). Teacher Education started to become important at this time in part because of people such as Horace Mann, Johann Pestalozzi, and Friedrich Froebel spoke. These three spoke and wrote about their findings to better help the development of children and tools to make schools and teachers more effective. During this same time legislation was forming in certain states to require school aged children to attend school on a regular basis or face fines. During this same period grants were set up for states to fund colleges that would educate both white men and woman in professions that were in demand at the time (Enz, Bergeron, & Wolfe, 2007, p. 24). Schools were rapidly growing and becoming available to millions more American students at this time, but it is important to note that millions more were left out of the education opportunities during this time for things such as their race and or disabilities.

The Progressive and Modern Periods in Education have changed the system to better include all citizens of the United States to receive equal education opportunities. These new rules have allowed citizens easier access to education, but there are still students and parents who struggle everyday for their education rights.

One of the more recent drastic changes to the American Education system was the 1975 Education of All Handicapped Children Act.  This law improved the opportunities for students ages 3-21 to be educated in the “least restrictive environment” (Enz, Bergeron, & Wolfe, 2007, p. 33). Students must be evaluated before being placed in a special education program and have several meetings between school administrators and his or her parents before these tests can be implemented.  I believe that this is one of the most important changes to the United States Education System in its history.

While full inclusion creates a challenge for the teacher, I believe it is the right thing to do in order to provide the best opportunity for the majority of children with disabilities. I want to use my education and personal experiences to make the classroom experience positive and productive for all students with disabilities and learning abilities. From day one I will do my best to create a classroom community that creates a comfortable learning atmosphere and encourages interaction between all students. All students must respect one another and encourage one another in their journey.

 I have been in classrooms that simply group all students with disabilities together at one table and I want to do my best to prevent that from happening. I understand it may be more challenging for me, but I think it is degrading to the disabled and lower ability individuals to be grouped at one table. Students also pick up on it; I have heard students use the phrase “dumb table” to refer to another table in the classroom and sometimes to refer to their own table.  I believe that a successful classroom community helps one another out and if students with disabilities are mixed throughout the room it provides opportunity for students learn and grow. There is something that each individual has to offer and mixing helps all students create new relationships in the classroom. Students will be encouraged to help one another out with their work and that would give opportunity to some of the higher ability learners to assist the lower ability learners with their work. This partnership will encourage community and provide another way to create lasting friendships. I understand that this will not be possible for all individuals, but I want to do my best to make it happen when it is possible.

Lesson planning is so important for all teachers. A classroom can have several different levels of learners. It is my job as the teacher to find creative ways to include all levels of learners in classroom lessons. Whether the disability is mild or severe I will do my best to involve that student with what the class is talking about. I think sometimes students are put into a classroom just because the law says they must be included, but a lot of times they really are not included in the same activities as the rest of the class.  This will take brainstorming and hard work on my part, but I feel it is important because it will make that student feel that they are actually part of the classroom community. I will work with individual students to develop material that best suits their needs and that fully engages their thinking. With the different material I will need to be flexible on how I asses what they have learned. This will take time to develop with each individual student, but hopefully ideas from previous teachers will make this process easier if that information is available.

These ideas all fall into the “Classroom Community” category.  Including students with disabilities in the classroom and its activities will be challenging at times, but I feel it is something every teacher should strive for.  Creating a community through mixing students together and finding ways to engage all students in activities will not only benefit disabled students in the classroom, it will benefit all learners and give them the tools to accept and appreciate all their peers. This is something that will impact them in their everyday life through adulthood. If teachers do not want their students to judge one another, we must not set limitations on anyone in our classroom or make anyone an outsider. It is our duty to create a learning community that caters to ALL learners regardless of their abilities.  

 Reference

Billie J. Enz, Bette S. Bergeron, and Michael Wolfe (2007). Learning to Teach. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.

The Journey Begins!

I have never blogged before so I am testing out my first Post! I just started an Elementary Education Transition to Teaching Program 2 weeks ago at Indiana University South Bend. I am very excited to finally get the correct education and training to successfully teach a classroom full of Elementary aged children!