Essay On Structural Innovations

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.

As I have learned through experience, diverse classrooms full of “windows and mirrors” are the best learning environments for me. By having different perspectives, or windows, in a classroom, it enables students to glean from various experiences. Mirrors, or similar people with similar experiences, are also important to have in a classroom setting so that students can relate to each other and feel comfortable. Over the years of my school career, I have found myself stuck seeing many windows, and not many mirrors, due to lack of diversity in the schools I have attended, but once given the opportunity to learn in a more diverse classroom, my experience improved dramatically.

“Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.” This is a quote from an Irish poet named W.B. Yeats. This statement can be a powerful force for the life of an educator. As a student learning the art of teaching, I have been placed in a couple of different schools to gain more experience and insight to what I will be doing for a career. This semester, the experience came from a school named Eastwood Elementary, located in rural Pemberville, OH. They have a newly renovated school and state of the art facilities to use. For my field experiences this last semester, I was involved in ProjectSuccess. For this project, we were given the opportunity to tutor certain students to help improve their reading skills. Lessons for each session were provided and I was given two students. I tutored Jessica, a kindergartener and Davis, a fourth grader. Through ProjectSuccess, I have been able to connect theories learned in class to how tutoring was going. Different theories that were connected involve the sociocultural theory, Social Cognitive theory, and Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development.

Throughout this class, I have been able to rediscover a part of myself that has been hidden away since high school. When I decided to attend the University of Northern Iowa and become a Biology BS and a Biochem BS major, I in a way decided to put to death part of the old me that I liked. I was an entertainer, and this class has helped bring that out in me again.

On November 6th, 2017 at Fulton County Juvenile Court Center. Upon my arrival at the building, I was immediately asked to see my ID, but I had left all my items in the car so the two officer had to make sure that I did not have a phone and proceeded to let me enter the court house through a metal detector and asked me to place my notebook in a gray box to be sent through a dual-energy X-ray system. As I walked in the courtroom, it took me by surprise of how the set-up was because I was thinking that it would look like the courtrooms that are presented on television. Although, this set-up was very different. In the courtroom they had a total of four benches on the right side and three on the left side. Most of the probation officer, school counselors, and other people that were working on the behalf of the juvenile defendant were sitting on the left side of the room and that is where I decided to sit as well. There were no raised layers except for the judge. There was no defendant box, but there were two stands on each side facing towards the judge for both parties. While observing the people that were coming in for a hearing it took me by surprise that none of the young adults or parents were in business causal clothing. Majority of the cases that were being heard were dealing with the African American ethnicity.

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 had two opportunities to try activities with students at the Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Arts, as a part of the development of the curriculum and an effort to boost health education at the school. During my first visit, I was asked to give options for three nutrition activities. Students were able to choose between creating a visual representation of the 24-hour food diary they had just completed, redesign a food label, or write a song about deceptive labeling practices. Because this is an arts high school, participants showed little apprehension about participating fully without any social reservations – a problem that I will admit is much ore of an obstacle in other populations during initial stages of implementing arts integration strategies. Students showed no hesitation whatsoever, and were excited to be able to show off their artistic practices to a guest. With a little encouragement, students produced sophisticated work far beyond what I had expected. One student, for example, turned her food log into a comic, while another chose to create an abstract drawing of her food melting together. A group of students, dissatisfied with a piggyback song they were trying to write, elected instead to do an extensive freestyle rap. When the time came to share their work, every student excitedly volunteered. Students looking around the room were quick to note that there were virtually no vegetables represented amongst the food diaries, which led into an impromptu

When walking into Mrs. Fatones’ second-grade classroom one can almost feel the positive atmosphere from the smiling faces of the students. The classroom had a very traditional look to it. The rows were set up in aisles but each child had a partner except for one child who was considered the “trouble maker”. Mrs. Fatone preferred to use the chalkboard rather than the smartboard and her desk was directly in the front right corner overlooking the whole classroom. There were not many posters or work on display but on the right side of the wall was the “100 Board”. Every student that receives a 100 on a quiz or test, their work will be put up on the board. Mrs. Fatone stated “the students love this feature to the classroom because it gives them an opportunity to shine. I also see that it pushes students to try to do well on quizzes or test.” The 100 board enhances the physical environment because it gives students a sense of belonging and achievement.

Today at my placement, I noticed a different kind of interaction my teacher was having with his students. Instead of focusing on academics or connecting with the student, the teacher was trying to monitor the language, attitudes, and dialogue that happened in the classroom space. The interaction happened before the first period started. There was a student at the teacher's desk getting help with an essay and two other students talking a few feet away. One of the students who was talking made a comment that one of his female African American teachers was horrible because she did not know how to teach or speak. Though the student did not directly say the teacher did not know to teach or speak, the emphasis he placed on the teachers race and the explanation, “she does not speak well but I guess she cannot help that”, made it clear that he meant that the problem was because she was female and African American. My cooperating teacher upon hearing the comment stopped helping the student he was with and turned to the student calling him out saying that the student was being, “Racist, sexist, and a jerk”. They had a brief discussion about how what the student said was inappropriate and that he should try talking to this teacher if he needs help. Overall, the incident was not that intense with the student simply walking away afterward and it ended quickly, but it made me realize this was the first time I had seen a teacher address a student who was looking down on a specific group of

After reviewing my selected article, taking notes and reviewing my old notes, the author's goal has remained consistent. I noticed that although the author gives brief accounts of what his peers experienced, the main focus is to emphasize how his experience is a big part of the reading. The author's use of words like "I", "I'm", and "I've", place further emphasis on his main goal of getting the reader to recognize his main ideas. Throughout the article, the author also provides the reader with distinct dialogue between the teacher, his classmates, and himself. While reading, I noticed that the author points out how the teacher seemingly spares no expense of being strict on any students, with the author stating that she "belittled" anyone, regardless of their background. However, the author personalized the article by explaining how the teacher would use his work as examples in the classroom.

This semester I observed Mrs. Sizemore at Walter Williams High School. She teaches two math 3 inclusion classes and one math 3 honors class. I learned a lot from watching Mrs. Sizemore teach, assisting the students with math worksheets, explaining problems on the board to the class, and talking with Mrs. Sizemore during breaks. The following three class articles, “Tracking from Theory to Practice,” “Trust in Schools,” and “The School and the Community” are all applicable to the experiences I had.

On the morning on September 29th, 2017, uncertainty, anxiety, and excitement were three of the best words to portray my emotions. I was uncertain of what my role within the classroom would be and how the students would receive my presence; I was anxious to commence this new experience and put my classroom knowledge to the test to further my education; But, most of all, I was excited to meet the students that would ultimately begin my long career in making a difference in kids’ lives through education.

While reading chapter 3 this week, there were three main concepts that stuck out to me more than some of the other did. The three major concepts which got my attention while reading were; literature as content, reading hypothesis, and question of transfer. To me, all three of these concepts have a major part in today’s education system and making sure that all children are getting the correct information and knowledge needed. Of course, everything that was mentioned in this chapter holds an important key to writing and reading in the education field. Although for me these three concepts listed made me really think about.,m;lpo9 what I will want to do within my future classroom. To give all students the best start to the rest of the school career and in later stages of life. I want to be the teacher who does everything possible to make sure every student feels like they are given the best care and aren’t stressed or overwhelmed with the things going around them. Reading and writing are one of the most basic life skills needed for everyone and starting at a young age and continue to expand the student's knowledge of information.

With the new requirements of this lesson in adding a focal point in the arts, I feared this would produce a challenge for my host teacher’s students. She had warned me on their lack of ability to deal with change as a group. In trying to balance time for an art piece, my plans were to add a small group activity and make a page of their portfolio apart of the assessment. I believe most of the students understood the lesson, but many only seemed to understand parts of the directions alone, and I think that inhibited their quality of work for the pretest, post test, and activity.

When Mr. Gibson came in to speak with us today about how he goes about teaching his classes, or getting along with the kids in his class, formulating lesson plans, etc. I was taking down a lot of notes, I had viewed Mr. Gibson as a strong, authoritative figure, with a bright sense of humor when it came to certain things about our class or perhaps people that he had recognized A lot of the little things mean a lot to Mr. Gibson because he is learning every day. He loves that he gets paid to help people by using his belief system and his teaching had clicked Even more when he became a parent. Mr. Gibson makes sure that the “Bellwether” Kids are always focusing in his class. As your kids worry about their home, when they arrive at school and