Classroom Reflection Analysis

My time spent in the Clinical setting, so far, has been extremely inciteful as to how to become a better educator in a classroom setting. Through the data I collected I was able to connect Borich’s Seven Variables of learning to the students. By being in the clinical setting for nearly two months, I have been exposed to new ways of thinking when it comes to structuring a classroom and instructing a classroom. Within this reflection you will find out how I would better plan an effective lesson for the pupils in my future classroom. You will also discover what I will do about certain issues in the classroom and how I will address/fix them.

For the final part of the project, me and the other students, plus the teachers and aides met in the classroom on Monday morning to reflect on the project. During the final round table teachers expressed some concern with communication. I think they felt like it was difficult to communicate with us students since they did not have any contact information from us. A great suggestion was made during the meeting to make a google document that would include all of our contact information as well as updates and information about the all the children who the teachers were concerned about. I feel like this would be beneficial for both the students and the teachers in order to contact each other more easily and to get updates on the children efficiently. During the course of the semester, I felt like the students and the teachers were not on the same page due to the issues of contacting each other. For instance, when me and partner would get to the preschool we sometimes would be unable to fully observe or coach during our time due to other activities happening in the classroom. For example, one time me and my partner came and an employee from the public library was there for her weekly reading activity. I felt a little surprised by this novel situation, but my partner and I would try and adjust our plan to make it feasible to the new situation.

One concept we discussed during class was the demographics of the school not aligning with the demographics of the teachers. A main point we talked about was how a lot of younger grades were taught mostly by white, female teachers. This negatively impacts students of color and their feelings surrounding school and forces an invisible tax on teachers of color working at underrepresented schools. In the school I did my field experience in, Chelsea Heights Elementary school, I noticed this point very clearly. Of all the staff I interacted with who taught at the school, five of them appeared to be white women, one was a woman of color, and two were white men. It was also interesting to note that the woman of color was a paraprofessional, and only interacted with one student at the end of the day. Both of the male teachers were specialist teachers, and taught physical education and science, which are stereotypically male subjects. In the group of homeroom teachers the class I observed interacted with, all three teachers were white and female. Compared to my field experience class, where over half of the students were students of color, this staff ratio was clearly disproportionate to the actual student population. By observing this information, I was able to actually visualize what we talked about in class, and see the population difference between teachers and students.

I have been working in Mrs. Bogner’s 5th grade classroom at Columbus Elementary in Edwardsville, IL. The class itself has a mix of different learning abilities, ranging from very low level students to very high level students. Although it is not considered an inclusion class, there are have multiple students in our classroom who spend a majority of the school day in a special resources classroom where they get extra help in subjects such as math, reading, and English, but then come back into our classroom for subjects such as social studies and science. Certain students may go to the special resource class for just one subject, while other students go in for multiple. My CT classifies all of the students in the class into three different level learning groups for each subject: average, which is the normal 5th grade level, above average or high, and below average or low. When picking a student to work with, my CT and I decided it would be a perfect opportunity for me to work with a lower-level math student who struggles with most concepts. By doing this, I would not only be getting my assignment done, but I would also be helping him with the assignment itself and making sure he was answering the problems correctly. After working through the assignment with him, I reported back to my CT about any concepts he struggled with so she could know what he still needs a little extra work on.

Scenario: I’m teaching a third-grade class of 20 total students. The class consists of the following population:

The sixth section was curriculum compacting. This allows students that already understand the material to move on to harder concepts at their own pace. I do this in my classroom using IXL. I think this how is progressive pockets can come in handy, but again, I do not think it should be a file box at the front of the room, but rather assignments from the teacher directly to the student to advance his learning.

Working with students with special needs, teachers have the responsibility of protecting students’ right. Special education teachers are required to keep high standards and meet best practices. According to the Preliminary Credential Competency Checklist Historical and Legal Foundation 1.4 (2014), two of the best practices that are enforced in the special education field is to individualize education and evidence-based practice (p.1). Being a teacher in a special education classroom, there is a diverse level of learners and each student has an individual method of learning. The role of the teacher is to verify each student’s learning is being met. Individualizing a lesson by making accommodations or modification for them to learn the curriculum. Implementing evidence-based practice is using an educational method of learning that will support the student’s learning based on previous research. Using evidence-based practice in a special education classroom is a key component when a student or students need an intervention to support them in the academic area they are struggling. Special education teachers are responsible for meeting best practice standards for students’ academic learning.

During May 2016, School of Visual Art and Design Professors Amanda Wangwright and Mary Robinson led a group of Honors students on a ten day Global Classroom Program to Japan. Professors and students travelled to the historic city of Kyoto and the modern metropolis of Osaka in addition to day trips to the smaller cities of Nara and Uji. While in Japan, the class visited World Heritage Sites and studied firsthand Japanese cultural and religious practices and architecture. Furthermore, the class produced their own art while abroad at a washi papermaking workshop at the Kyoto University of Art and Design and at modern artist Haruka Furusaka's printmaking studio.

Question 1. How do you make work more meaningful to your students? What motivators are you currently using with your students? Examine the climate in your classroom. What would you change to make it better?

Throughout this English course we have created two different projects thus far. Our first project consisted writing about our literacy sponsor and allowed us to think back to how we developed our literary skills. The second projected consisted of finding a rhetorical statement from a source that affects the Charleston population. Our final project was taking one of the two projects above and changing the medium of it. My rhetorical statement was about how technology should be used in the classroom for younger generations to improve their learning development. Having this topic, I automatically thought about an interesting way to change the medium versus the topic from my first project. I created an article that would be found in a parenting magazine.

This week’s reading continues to give context to what technology integration should be in the classroom. Roblyer equipped me with vocabulary for three types of web-based lessons: Interpersonal exchanges, Information collection and analysis and Problem-solving. While I may not use these phrases with teachers, I will be able to track my coaching in the types of experience I am bringing to the classroom. Currently, I am working with teachers that are collecting information. Teachers are enthusiastically, checking out computer carts for their students to do research on an historical event, a person, or a principal in science. However, reading examples given in the text such as Westward Expansion or Connecting Science Students with NASA Resources, I see that I am going to have the challenge of providing scaffolding from research to web-lessons.

Today in elementary schools, children are far more advanced than my generation of children in elementary school. Countless amounts of their parents are more open-minded, as well as inclined to hold challenging conversations with them at such a young age. Aside from communication, some parents are also helping students brush up on other academic skills, such as mathematics. Parents are not just preparing their students to meet standards in their classes, but to surpass the requirements for their grade levels. In classes, many teachers now take part in three twenty minute rotation activities. This is a formative assessment, that seems like a game to students, but actually allows teachers to reflect on students progress. It also creates this illusion of children being able to have freedom over their learning, and choose what activity they want to begin their rotation periods with. That way, no one is left feeling bored with repetitive lessons, and no one feels overwhelmed with hurried instructed activities. With that being said, I believe Dewey is the perfect representative of this type of learning structure. In this reflection, I will state and explain my reasons why I mainly support Dewey. Next, I will then explain what reasons made me, disagree with Cubberley. Lastly, I will finish up my reflection by readdressing my main thoughts in a brief summary.

My passion about teaching and my students motivated me to learn more about teaching. So, I really have to admit that I enjoyed this course a lot and I was so excited to take this course to know more about the teaching strategies used and the techniques of the classroom management.

Sitting here, I find myself reflecting on the events that occurred in my second year as a classroom teacher. A year that came and went too quickly. A year where emotionally and mentally I was being pushed to the limit. A year where my patience was tested daily by the students that formed the community that was my classroom. A mix that was new, due to the redistricting that our school had put in place for the upcoming school year. A year in which I found my first student of many that I know will always stay in my heart. A student I will always wonder about: Where is he? How is he doing? Has he continued to succeed like I know he can? Has he stayed out of trouble?

While reading through the innovations and strategies offered in the sections entitled, “Structural Innovations” and “Innovations to Improve Academic Learning,” I was able to reflect on my current teaching style. Consequently, I reexamined the areas of class size, the implementation of a school uniform, creating spatial competences, and the utilization of technology in the classroom. Each of these strategies has the potential to increase my students’ success.