Analyzing Lilly's Motor Skills

“We need to talk about your daughter's performance,” my homeroom teacher, Mrs. Nelson, baldly admitted to my father. “She, no doubt, is a wonderful student,” she beamed at me, yet her smirk did not seem to reach her black, stern eyes, “she has perfect attendance, always has assignments and homework done, never talks unless called on, and just in whole, a polite and good-natured, young lady. But, she is still struggling immensely. As a result, I deem that it would be

| * Listens when spoken to * Listens to other people’s conversations * Recognises and can point to parts of the body * Can string around three words together * Likes to sing nursery rhymes

I watched her fly across the monkey bars with no hesitation or problem. Her shoes came untied while she was running around, and she was able to retie them just fine. Katy is in the stage of actively experimenting to learn about the properties of objects. Piaget refers to this as “little scientists.” Katy also has incredible gross motor skills, which is the ability to perform large body movements, such as running. Katy jumped rope, which showed me not only that she can jump rope, but also that she can jump in place with both feet together. She was also able to skip. Her mother told me that her older sister taught her how to skip. This is an example of social learning. This theory demonstrates that learning takes place through imitating and watching others. Katy also was swinging on the swing. She once jumped out of the swing and skinned her knee, but it did not faze her at all. She just got right back up and started playing again.

As an educator, it is my job to find new ways for my students to learn that coincides with their particular learning style and takes advantage of their strengths. In all practical terms, this will mean finding new ways for each of my students to learn in their own particular way. As a whole, my students will need more reason to learn with authentic experiences, hands-on

Almost every Wednesday, students in my math class worked on real-world activities to connect the textbook instruction to how to apply to life and answer the word problems. Many of my students who scored low on the independent practice from the textbook, scored higher on work after practicing skills with real-world activities. The resources used were in addition to the

Additionally, Paula struggles staying focused and on-task during class instruction. Paula frequently gets lost and distracted with the material in front of her, but Paula makes up for it with her dedication to answer the question correctly. Frequently, Paula observes her peers respond during whole class discussions and also answers some of the questions asked during these discussions. The teacher uses these opportunities as a learning opportunity to highlight the correct answer or guide the students into saying the correct answer. It is great that Paula wants to participate in classroom discussions because she remains fully engaged and frequently offered the opportunity to state his own understandings about the concept or skill he is being taught. Drawing on this observation and the use of intervention work, the teacher can plan future opportunities to allow the students to not only communicate their understandings about the content they are being taught, but to also further drive in the content he is being

For example, about mid-year, she realized that her assessments were not challenging her students or creating opportunities for them to engage critically. Instead of giving up and simply teaching to the test, she began to truly embrace teaching as ongoing inquiry into her view of her students, their learning, their identity and her teaching. In action, this looked like a strong devotion to taking advantage of learning professional learning opportunities and managing up to receive the support that she desires. Her orientation to learning to increase her effectiveness led to the planning and execution of rigorous and culturally responsive teaching and assessments. This critical moment in her teaching, exposed a mindset of high academic (and behavior) expectation, coupled with a view of herself as the teacher & leader responsible for the success of her students.

Ms. Felkins started out with their read aloud, The Odyssey. The students were focused, but occasionally would get carried away with unrelated questions. After read aloud, the students moved on to their word study lesson. Each student had words to cut out and sort. After they cut their words they had a worksheet and made sentences that incorporated their words. As the students were working, Ms. Felkins was walking around the classroom assisting the students if needed. While the other students were working, I individually worked with a student who recently started third grade. First, the student read a short story book to me, and I assisted her with any words or sounds she was struggling with. She practiced her numbers by matching one through

I have had the pleasure of teaching Ally in class for three years; in Advanced Geometry as an 8th grader, Pre-Calculus as a sophomore, and currently as a junior in AP Calculus. In 8th grade, Ally chose to arrive at school an hour earlier in order to take Advanced Geometry at the high school. Even at that young age she knew she wanted to take advanced math classes and push herself academically. Ally's greatest strength in class is her inquiring attitude. She has an unique ability to analyze and reflect on the problem-solving process. While solving complex mathematics problems, she will refine and improve her problem-solving strategy to obtain the correct solution. When I give her exams back, Ally critically examines her mistakes to learn from them often sharing her findings with her peers.

As a student, Sara becomes noticeably distracted in class when she must listen to information that has been repeated to her. Sara’s capacity to quickly store new data in her inventory the first run through compared to her classmates’ capacities to do so explains why she tends to tune out and drift away. Sara’s teacher should make an adjusted instructional plan for Sara, for instance, assigning Sara with small tasks such as counting down from ten to keep her engaged while the other students transition into the next session of class or allow Sara to read every other page to the class to engage her in the story-telling process.

Gracies ability to follow directions have improved impeccably, in the beginning gracie she was in her own world and knew what she wanted. Even though she still knows what she wants she now understands directions must be followed so that we can get it over with. One of her hardest things was the letter worksheets in the beginning, she knew she didn't want to do them and shut down but with the motivation of candy she started doing them. To be honest I used on her and she started doing her work without the candy more and more. Her interactions with kids was always on a good level, she’s very energetic and talkative on days and on others she can be inside her own world and only talk to

For example, Clark explains how at the rate students are going, achieving the “American Dream” they have seen all over television will be next to impossible. For starters, not being able to pass the Basic Skills Test is an indicator of the path that many of the students are headed on, if they do not turn things around. Another approach Clark takes is persuading the teachers to give more of an effort into teaching the students. By forcing the teachers to host after school tutoring sessions, he is able to increase the average Basic Skills Test score as time goes on. A problem Clark is faced with is getting the students to take time out of their day to go to school to learn. As a solution, Clark tells teachers that they will go door by door recruiting students for the tutoring sessions, because the students will not come on their own. Once again, Clark puts fear into the students, but he also pushes the teachers to teach more and finds way to bring students to the tutoring

students. She sets out to learn how to effectively teach and provide an interesting, stimulating,

The classroom follows a partial day inclusion program. Ms. Welsh’s classroom on the second floor of Village School is considered their base area. The student’s belongings are all kept in the classroom upstairs and they spend the majority of their time there throughout the day. All students are taught by both teachers for math, science, and social studies. For reading and writing, Ms. Wilush teaches three students in a pull-out resource room on the first floor of the building. When it is time for students to review those lessons, the three students make their way down to Ms. Wilush’s classroom with the folders and other materials they may need. Once reading and writing periods are completed, the students either return to Ms. Welsh’s classroom or go to an alternate room for specials such as art or music. Ms. Wilush and Ms. Welsh’s relationship can be described as both friendly and professional. Ms. Welsh is currently going to graduate school for special education, so she is learning a lot from Ms. Wilush’s work. At the same time, Ms. Wilush is taking the opportunity to learn from such an experienced teacher as Ms. Welsh who has taught for ten years. They believe that the best way to work efficiently and achieve the most success for each student is

Education provides people with guidance and practical skills necessary in everyday life. For example, when we are purchasing something, we deal with money. Who do we owe the quick calculation we make as we pay for these items? Thanks to our first, second, and third grade teachers for teaching us to add, subtract, multiply, and divide at such a young age. The