Classroom Reflection

The goal in every math classroom is for students to achieve automaticity, flexibility, and ultimately accuracy. For each student to excel in the classroom, he or she must first have strong foundational skills in place. This process was challenging for me, but not because I did not understand the needs of the student or how to remediate. The challenge for me, was that I was placed in a kindergarten classroom and struggled to find someone that would provide me with student errors to complete this assignment. Therefore, my reflection is one of an outsider, who has not had the privilege of working with the students or seeing the teacher in action in the classroom. My experience consisted of receiving weekly texts of student work to review, analyze, identify errors, and provide insight to how I would remediate in the classroom.

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.

Entering a public school for the first time in 2002, I noticed that there were way more white faces walking the halls than any other race. I taught in a department with 14 other individuals and I was the only black and issues such as diversity and social justice were not on the agenda. Excellence was at the forefront of discussion and the expectations for students was high. I stayed in that school until I realized that the students would be fine without me. At the end of my final school year, I had acquired a position at a school that was on the news for having a gang fight in the bus parking lot, and I wondered if I was moving my career into a war zone. As I transitioned to my new job, I entered the urban school with preconceived notions. The culture made me ask the questions presented by Schramm-Pate, Lussier, and Jeffries (2008), do the people here portray this school as a place of despair or a place of tender hope? Student achievement was at an all-time low and teaching and learning was considered top notch if one could keep an administrator from managing the classroom. It was if the teachers felt that the future of the many black students in the building rested on how well the white teachers chose to manage them (Blackmon, 2008). The students in the building were experiencing several facets of oppression as examined by Young (2013). Being a high minority school, the students were powerless in the classroom and received low level experiences through direct instruction. I can remember observing a 10th grade English classroom where the teacher pulled out sentence strips to have the students put together simple and compound sentences in the hallway. Students who were one, two, and three years behind in school experienced marginalization in the classroom because the teachers and administrators felt they were of no use. One of the administrators told me in the office that there was no point in me worrying about putting students in college prep classes because the students here were not going to college. Students were not being pushed so they could see their potential and more often than not, many students saw no value in school and ended up dropping out. It was truly a place of despair and there

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.

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

In my position as a vice president of curriculum programs, I visit many diverse educational settings in public and charter schools, both large urban and small rural districts. Daily, I face issues of race, gender, culture, socioeconomic class, and disability. Because I work with diverse students and a multicultural workforce, my reflection regarding powerful social and cultural influences leads me to two different conclusions. The first is that many children in the schools I visit are disadvantaged. They are born into immigrant and transient families and live in communities that rank in the lowest socio-economic strata in the country.

While not every teacher teaches the exact same, there does exist a few, fairly common similarities between those I was able to sit in on. Of these commonalities, there were positives and negatives. Typically, one of the first things I noticed during observations of a “good” class was that from the moment students entered the room they knew what to do. Out of the ten observed classes, eight used some form of bell-ringer that was displayed before and during the ringing of the first bell. Yet, of these eight, only four classes successfully engaged in the bell-ringer. Of these three, there was only one that required the teacher’s full input, which came in the form of reading the question. Even still, the four classes that successfully started off the classroom’s time with learning did so out of routine. The two classes that did not use bell-ringers while I was observing did so voluntarily. One was because the students were to be engaged in a Science project within the class, and the other was because they were expecting to leave to take student yearbook pictures. Excluding the Science outlier, classes that did not start off with a bell-ringer or some form of question/activity at the bell tended not to transition as smoothly into lecture or the next planned activity.

As part of the district’s goal to increase student engagement in the classroom, teachers are asked prioritize relationships when handling discipline rather than to use solely punitive measures. To support this initiative, the district has called upon Dr. JoAnn Freiberg from the State Department of Education. For the past two years, Dr. Freiberg has provided training to all administrators and any new teacher entering the district. The idea is to create the capacity amongst staff to use strategies that will allow students to recognize their wrongdoing and think about what they can do differently in future situations. This notion requires a shift in mindset away from simply punishing students every infraction.

This unit was created with my class from the 16-17 school year in mind. My class last year, as a whole performed above average on almost every indicator. I found myself running across a problem I know that many teachers don’t often come across. I found that for about half of my class the curriculum was not challenging enough, for about one-fourth of the class, it was just right, and for the other fourth it was a little more challenging. I know typically this is the other way around, but I designed this unit specifically to meet the needs of all of my learners.

For my practicum, I was placed in a sixth grade English and History classroom. Working with two classes of Fargo middle school students proved to be a great learning experience for me. Prior to my first day with them, I had been questioning whether or not I’d truly like to proceed with earning a degree in education; however, now I am certain I do. One of the most valuable lessons I learned through observation and working one-on-one with students, was that everything in the classroom is subject to change, from the physical learning environment to the timeline of the topics covered.

Throughout the semester, I had a chance to be able to work on all of my goals in almost every combination but still feel I can work on them more. Over the semester I have noticed a lot that I have worked on but still end up freaking out every chance when it came to executing the midterm and final.From taking Modern I my third time I wanted to able to gain insight from each time I took the course.This semester I felt like I took a different approach towards being able to grasp the material as well as having a clear focus what I needed and wished to work on. Evaluating over the course of the semester shows my goals that I wanted to As I continue with taking modern classes in the future there is something that I can always make progress on to keep on improving and be more confident.

Education is the key to many doors. The way one uses that education allows for many different doors to be unlocked. The student I am today and will be in the future is a direct result of my journey through different doors into who I am no. Whether it was procrastinating throughout high school, studying hard in college, or planning courses for a new semester, each choice is a door leading to the next room.

across all the classrooms was the rapport that has been developed in each classroom between not only the teacher and students but the students with each other. It was evident that students are comfortable working in groups and helping each other learn. Students spoke to each other in respectful ways and offered help to each other. The teachers communicated with students in positive and respectful ways that encouraged students’ participation. Another pattern I noticed was that the students were involved in their own learning. There were not teachers giving lectures at the front of the room and students just sitting in desks taking it in. The teachers of this school understand the value of letting the students explore, create, and discover for themselves. There was evidence in each room that the students were taking an active part in their own learning through small group work, independent work, discussion, creating things and using technology. These walk-throughs gave me a view of the school that this is a positive learning environment where students’ best interest is at the forefront.

How were students welcomed when they entered the classroom? How did the teacher generate atmosphere overall? Would you do it differently?

The compelling question that I plan on using for my inquiry lesson is; “What are some important physical and behavioral adaptations that help animals survive in their environment? Students will work in pairs to investigate two animals in a symbiotic relationship, for example, Oxpecker birds and Zebras. Students will research the animal’s habitat, the animal’s physical and behavioral adaptation and how it helps the animal survive and how the animals interact with nonliving and living things.