Classroom Reflection

The teacher student relationship is very important for children. Children spend approximately 5 to 7 hours a day with a teacher .We ask ourselves what is considered a good teacher? All of us have gone through schooling, and if fortunate had a favorite teacher. A positive relationship between the student and the teacher is difficult to establish, but can be found for both individuals. The qualities for a positive relationship can vary to set a learning experience approachable and inviting the students to learn. A teacher and student who have the qualities of good communications, respect in a classroom, and show interest in teaching from the point of view of the teacher and learning from a

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 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.

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.

When confronted with learning new and challenging concepts in the field of science, I rely on a variety of strategies to help me make sense of the content material. To begin, during my early educational experience (K-12), I quickly realized that I am a visual and verbal learner, meaning that if I was to truly learn and remember the concepts of a class (and succeed on assessments), I needed to 1) pay attention when the teacher was explaining the content, 2) write down my own notes—both in the form of words and charts/diagrams—and 3) review my notes and other class material frequently.

As I walked into the school the first thing I noticed was the student work on the wall. I could observe the whole writing process on the wall from beginning to end. It was amazing to see their ideas, turn into a rough draft, and then turn into final published pieces (p.143). The school’s focus on integrating literature into every subject was apparent. Students had to write how they found an answer in math and had vocabulary words they learned. Also, in art, they found an opportunity to integrate literature. Every chart, mnemonic device, and procedure had a purpose. I only spent half a day at Ozark North, but I know the teachers set high and ambitious goals for the students, and the students expect an engaging and productive day when they walk into the school.

When starting this class, I was a little concerned as I only have one class of my own this year and thought maybe I was taking the class at the wrong time. The more in depth we go in this class it is helping me more and more at my school because of the types of differentiation we are doing this year. I always thought I differentiated my lessons but through this class and my co-teaching experiences this year I’m learning that I have not differentiated enough. I have felt a pride in knowing that the music that I incorporate into student work time is beneficial. I also am glad to see that the use of pre and post assessments is important.

Dr. Karen Lea (2016) stated that aggressive behavior has been shown to grow from overly severe and punitive parenting, association with highly aggressive peers, and heavy viewing of television and film violence. Several of my students have clearly experienced such environmental influences which have led to the development of attention seeking behaviors, violent behaviors, poor attitudes towards school and learning, truancy, and below average academic progress. My students have also faced poverty, close family ties to gang activity, death or incarceration of a parent, lack of parental supervision, abuse, hunger, online bullying, inconsistent friendships, and rape.

My experience was informational. I was able to see how my students are inside the classroom environment with my teacher how they are in art. I was also able to observe another classroom and see how they differ from my class. All of these are completely different spaces where the children act differently. Comparing these different environments provided a unique insight into how these children act differently depending on who is around. Having been with these children a lot now, I have the ability to interact with them and get to know them individually. This helps in my classroom assessments because I am able to differentiate between how children normally behave and what the normal classroom routine is like.

When I evaluate my school year, many things come to mind. I think about friends. I think about the highs and lows.I also think about how I have grown.My 7th grade year at CMS was full of concepts learned, memorable experiences, and personal growth.

One of the most difficult things to master while teaching is classroom management. Through my experience I have noticed how easily a classroom of seventeen first graders can get off task, but also how easily a teacher can help guide their focus back on task.

The teacher that I have selected for my interview, is one that I have previously used for an assignment in this class. Mrs. Shore teaches freshman Biology, and is a coworker of mine at the ninth grade academy in which I am employed. Mrs. Shore’s classroom management style is one that is very similar to what I had discussed in my reports over the length of this class. She uses a fun, energetic environment, while at the same time clearly depicting expectations about student behavior. She explained to me that she believes talking with students and gaining an understanding about what type of environment works best for them, and then molding numerous styles together. When discussing discipline issues, she notified me that her most difficult challenge is deciding when to punish a student. Mrs. Shore explained that it is vital to be invested in students and know when grace needs to be given, and when discipline actions need to be taken because students can be adversely affected by their home lives and many other factors. She continued to explain that multiple factors should be taken into account before deciding if a student truly deserves to be punished. Another thing that I enjoy about Mrs. Shore is her classroom environment. When walking into Mrs. Shores classroom students are not greeted with desk, but rather a variety of table styles and around the tables students will find large rolling desk chairs. The setup of Mrs. Shores class is what stood out to me the most. Her tables and chairs provide a sense of comfort while also allowing students to learn in an environment different from the traditional school setting. Mrs. Shore explained that she tries to provide a sense of safety and fun to her students.

Many aspects within the third observation have been previously covered, due to its relationship with the previous observations. Mr. Clark’s classroom is full of diversity. The diversity within Clark’s room is not just of gender, race, and colour, but also in the fact that he teaches a grade three-four split. Through the use of a social environment, the students are brought together. Working at tables does more than simply bring students together to discuss and work on school work, but it also builds relationships and friendships. The social environment builds a community within the classroom, a community in which students can go to each other for help and not simply rely upon the aid of teachers. Although the students can discuss problems

This lesson took place at Lawton Elementary, which sits in Oviedo, FL. The second grade class is predominately Caucasian with a few minorities. In the class, there are 11 girls and 7 boys. The class gets along with one another fairly well. I chose this lesson because the topic was aligned with the timeline of the school’s math book and framework. Furthermore, I wanted to try to add art into the math curriculum because there’s a misconception that the arts cannot be integrated into the math curriculum. I liked this lesson because it seemed like a fun way for students to become creative and to visualize a math symbol in a different way. I like that students can view something in multiple perspectives and views.

There are several revolutions in the classroom including: technology, flexible seating in bigger classroom settings, student lead discussions, group based testing, team lead for grades with meetings, and frequent hands on project based learning. I think a lot of these modern classroom changes have been implemented in the district. Not in every school but in most. I know in my school we have all of the above and I can see how these changes have helped in the learning process.