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.

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.

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.

Similarly, when I am able to co-facilitate the Doctoral Consortium at the Organizational Teaching Society Conference I often get feedback such as the following quote related to my workshop presentation:

“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.

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

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.

The class started with Mrs. Hurn explaining what the students will be doing since this was a new activity. The first activity was a warm-up, where students were to explain the difference between multiples and factors. The main activity for that day was the three different workshops. The first workshop was called Independent Rows, where students used laptops to access Google classroom to work on problems dealing with multiplies. The students were to work quietly on their own. The second workshop was called Problem Solvers, students worked on story problems. The students were allowed to talk quietly with their neighbors, but not work together. The third workshop was called Small Group Instruction, the students worked on problems instructed by Mrs. Hurn. All of the students worked on ratios or multiples problems.

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.

Teaching can be a challenge, you never know what to expect and each classroom will be unique. However, you will always have to be prepare for teaching in a situation you may not be comfertable with. Educating students and practicing proper knowledge on subjects such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation and disability are vital in creating a safe and respectful classroom for all. School is often looked upon as a place of security for students and it is our job as teachers to help maintain that status.

Today, more children can run applications and video games than riding a bike or tie their shoelaces – a fact which may frighten parents and educators. It’s our job as teachers to use their interest as a tool for their learning. In this particular lesson, I used Ipads’ to work on student’s fitness level focusing on strength, agility, and flexibility.

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.

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.

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

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.