As An Upper Level High School Mathematics Teacher, My Students

It is important for a teacher to challenge disruptive behaviour immediately and consistently. I feel by trying to make lessons enjoyable and providing work that helps students to achieve minimizes disruptive behaviour. The use of good communication by the teacher can also be a useful tool. This includes the use of the voice, phrasing, eye contact and body language. For example, using an assertive tone when making a request or physically positioning yourself near disruptive students.

By being firm with the students, Ms. Lindberg will reduce the rudeness these kids are giving her. You can’t be nice one minute and mean the next. Ms. Lindberg needs to be firm all the time. Raising your voice only further frustrates the teacher. She has to be relaxed but at the same time mean business. She cannot let her frustrations show. Ms. Lindberg needs to be sure to remain calm at all times. I think that if she feels her frustration showing, she could use breathing techniques to help her relax and calm herself down. While using breathing techniques to relax and being as firm as possible, Maggie should be able to be more confident that she has been in the past.

For my Field Experience I chose to observe at Krahn Elementary which is a part of Klein Independent School District. After my approval, I was assigned to four teachers and their classrooms. I observed at Krahn Elementary on six Tuesdays between 15 September 2015 and 27 October 2015, and more or less followed the schedule that was given to me by the Assistant Principal Ms. Shannon Strole. From 8:30 am to 9:15 am I observed Ms. Judy Burkes, who is a third grade Math and Science teacher. Her classroom is comprised of twenty students which range from average to below average learners and a student with ADHD and another with autism. For most part of my observation, M. Burkes had been working with her students on fractions and multiple digits addition and subtraction. From 9:15 am to 10:30 am I observed Ms. Lisa Parker who is a Math co-teacher and resource teacher at Krahn Elementary for grades K-5. During my assigned time, Ms. Parker usually joined Mr. Duru’s fifth grade class of twenty three students as a co-teacher and when required would pull out a group of six students after initial instructions from Mr. Duru and would teach them the concepts separately at a slower pace. This particular group of students with special needs was mostly seen to be focusing more and more on mathematical word problems. These students were students with Learning disabilities, behavioral issues and one of them was a student with ADHD. From 10:30 am to 11:15, I was with Ms. Janice Bluhms, who is a

The initial gut reaction to the quality of Bridget’s assignments is shock and slightly insulted. Considering her performance previously in the class, the actions of Bridget would leave one assuming it was done out of desperation. What is believed could possibly account for her action are several situations. These situations could include, but not limited to, lack of time management, lack of understanding, fear of the grade she is accumulating due to the previous mediocre quality of her work, or also simply not wanting to do the work. Additionally, there could have been a family situation that resulted in Bridget not be able to complete the work. For these reasons continually genuine purposeful interaction with the students is essential. By the second week of the course a call would be made to Bridget to engage her in a conversation about the quality of her work and how to best support her to improve. As the adjunct, through this type of interaction it will be easier to determine the intention of Bridget.

children have started to report her now when she is mean to anyone after we talked to the class

My service-learning practicum takes place in the community setting at Connaught Elementary School in St. Catharines. At Connaught, I am doing a one-on-one mentorship with a grade eight student to help her with her transition into high school. I am at the school twice a week for a half hour; however this position requires a lot of pre planning outside of the school, in order to effectively help her with her transition. My tasks include preparing different activities for each time I go into placement. Our first few weeks consisted of preparing a resume for my student so that in 2-3 years when it comes time that she starts applying to part-time jobs she has a resume already put together, which she can add things and take things away from. Along with resume preparation, we have done a job interview role-play where I am the interviewer and she is the interviewee. In this time, we have had fun days where she would make popcorn, with two other students, and sell it to other classmates. My student has had a lot of problems with a bully, and she has an issue of being assertive to other people- meaning she finds it difficult to state her opinions and she easily gives in to other people. With that, I brought two jars from home and I turned them into “problem” and “solution” jars where we filled each up with a problem and a few solutions to that problem. My position is extremely important because I am a mentor to this student and our relationship involves support, patience, and

I wanted to share with you the behavior problems that we are having with Tiffany Parra in class. On Tuesday 2/9/16, she kept asking to go to the counselors office. I asked if she had an appointment. Her reply was that she did not need one and kept texting on her phone. A few minutes later a male student came to the door asking for her at the counselors office. I later email her counselor, Ms. Nibbelink, if she has call for her. Ms. Nibbelink informed me that she had saw her earlier in the day, but not during 5th block. I saw her walking on the side walk in front of the new building instead of being in class or at the counselors office.

It takes some experience to try to prevent some situations from spiraling out of control. Sometimes it is impossible to prevent when the student is already spiraling before he gets involved in the situation. Then it becomes situation management; trying to de-escalate and move the disruption from a public area. Sometimes it can become necessary to call for backup in the form of other teachers/staff, additional administrators, or in the worst case scenario, the police. Sometimes the student is not the problem. She tries to make phone calls home to keep parents informed; they are not always appreciative of the school’s efforts. They will take out their frustrations on her over the phone, or in some cases in person when they come to school to “take care of the problem”, which they perceive as the staff and administration. She iterates that this is a worst case scenario, but each case requires her to have an abundance of patience and

The team then proceeds to ask the teacher what is some of Mary’s strengths and what are some positives about her. The teacher noticed that Mary was helpful and responsible. Mary could go to the office for the teacher to get her mail and then bring it back to her. She also notices that Mary is more likeable to her when she is on task. She has friends but it seems that she is starting to get on other students’ nerves. In the meeting, one teacher mentions that she has Mary’s brother in her class and she noticed that Mary is good with him. Another teacher has collected some observations and has done some curriculum based assessment on Mary. The teacher observed her during her reading time. She observes Mary not being attentive; Mary was up out of her seat within ten minutes of independent work. She was disruptive with two other classmates by talking to them or bumping into them as she walked by and she was on task for 60 percent of the time compared to another student in the class who was on task for 95 percent of the time. The entire class itself was on task and behaving appropriately expect for Mary during the time that the teacher was there observing.

Heather, reminds me of those people who have book sense but no common sense, she fails to relate to her students on a personal level, and that shows in her poor performance ratings. Heather displays a lack of procedural knowledge, she needs to be sent to a specialized class that focuses on procedural, and she needs to have continuous performance evaluations so that she will know exactly what areas need improvement. Obviously, Heather is motivated when she is designing her training course, but she lacks motivation when it comes to interacting and answering questions. Therefore, her supervisor should sit in on a few of her classes and evaluate her in real time, then immediately talk to her afterwards. Heather’s primary focus is developing her training criteria. However, she needs to put as much emphasis on being able to answer specific questions, and pay attention to the feedback that she receives. Heather has no lack of technical knowledge, but she must improve her procedural knowledge which can help to bridge the disconnection between her training and response to her

Mrs. Beebe pops out of the classroom at least once or twice a day. During this short time, you can always find Charlotte quietly sitting at her desk, doing homework, or reading. She doesn’t goof off or talk. She reminds others, in a very kind and polite way, that they should sit and either read or do homework as well. After recess one day, most of our class was talking to one another when Mrs. Beebe was out of the room. Charlotte was wordlessly sitting at her desk reading. She politely told us we should quiet down and do our work. Charlotte not only showed integrity by sitting and reading mutely on her own, but by also reminding others what to do as well. When we are working, Charlotte doesn’t lean over and talk with her neighbors, she just sits there working in

Discussion: In her class, she just simply grades worksheets every day and most of her students understood the new contents, maybe just a few errors but rare are only two students who miss a lot of questions. When she grades their papers they miss the most but she doesn't necessary fix the problem. If those two student were in m classroom, instead of giving them a worksheet that the will usually miss a lot, I would find a different method of assessment, so I am not setting them up for failure by giving them another worksheet.

Today was another day of my Service Learning, this time I would like to talk more about the students. Each of the students is very different from one another, they act different, they talk different as well as their habits and attitudes. From my person experiences as being a mother and also having some practice from my previous education classes, I easily can define how child is being treated at home. One of the girls in my classroom is very aggressive. Whenever I play with her, she always wants me to be her daughter and herself to be a mother while playing in the kitchen area. She would cook for me and force me to eat; she puts her arms on her waist, stairs at my face and madly tells me that I have to eat it. By observing her, I can tell that she is probably being involved in that type of situation at home. In this case, I just nicely tell her that I am full, and maybe we can play any other game and I try to avoid any other conflicts with her. I saw her doing the same thing with her peers. Mrs. Britanny always notify her whenever she is acting bossy, and tell her that if friends doesn’t want to play she can’t force them.

The third-grade classroom consists of twenty-three students that range in academic levels. There is currently no additional instructional aid such as a teacher’s aide in the classroom. I acted as an aide while being there to observe this student. The classroom presented useful aids such as posters with key terms, classroom rules, class schedule, and objectives for the lessons, along with educational technology such as computers and iPads to use Stride Academy. The instruction is scaffold where the students need to know one part before being able to successful achieve the next part. I was given the student, Jay, to observe and assess. He struggles

A student named Jamie refuses to do her work. She is constantly talking and interrupting the other students and makes no effort to participate in class. The teacher has to constantly reprimand the student and it is causing less learning due to the interruptions within the classroom. She seems somewhat clear of the rules and procedures in the classroom, but is not motivated to follow them.