Classroom Reflection

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.

After reading all the guidelines and examples, I realized that these ideas are very helpful with engagement in the classroom. The Industrial Tic Tac Toe caught my eyes because I am actually using it to complete this assignment and it gives me complete autonomy over my work, which is the point. When trying to engage students, I learned from the guidelines, is that you should give your students autonomy and when you give them choices, they're more willing to engage. Using the Tic Tac Toe assignment is a good way for engagement. When I have my classroom of 6th graders, I want to use this assignment method so that my students have choices. I would also probably do this once a week and give them the whole week to hand it in whenever. I feel

After observing in Jihan’s classroom for the Teach phase of this project, my group members and I met to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the classroom and identify areas that needed support for our selected students. From the articles we have read in class, we know that in order to learn a language a child requires the opportunity to be exposed to the language and hear it used and the opportunity to practice using it. With this in mind, we used the Communication Supporting Classrooms Observation Tool designed by Dockrell and her colleagues to examine the language learning environment, the language learning opportunities, and language learning interactions supported by the classroom and teachers. Overall, we found that Jihan’s

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.

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.

From the begin of the meeting, I would need to meet in a conference area. Rather than the workplace which many could see as a position of train, I would discover a gathering room or utilize the educator's classroom to have the meeting. When we got settled, I would take a gander at the lesson designs the instructor intended to use for the perception. When I took a gander at the lesson designs, I would pose a few inquiries of the educator. The principal inquiries would spin around why the educator picked the lesson target that he picked. The educator would then clarify why the objectives were picked and how the assisted and upgraded the educational programs being instructed. Promote dialog would talk about who the destinations would be imparted and how much time would be spent educating and acing those targets general. The second inquiry would rotate around how the instructor planned the lesson. Contingent upon where in the year the lesson was. I might want to recognize what kind of foundation data would be required and how the understudies did acing that material. The instructor could likewise clarify if they pondered any challenges that the understudies may have. On the off chance that the instructor has thought of a few, how have they adjusted to represent those battles so that the understudies could comprehend less demanding. I would likewise get some information about how the instructor would make the lesson pertinent to the understudies in their present or future lives

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.

In today’s society, it is important for educators to know the problems taking place in the classroom and outside the classroom. The two class readings encourage exploration of these ever changing ideas. Both novels complement each other in educating emerging teachers about these controversial topics. The key topics and main themes that reoccur in both texts are gender roles, stereotypes of teaching and lastly, race and racism.

Over the next several pages I will discuss many aspects of education. This will include the role that I am employed, the demographics of the area I work in and specific responsibilities I have as a paraprofessional. I will explore the classroom setting I am in, including the relationship to my students, supervisors, and other disciplines within the educational system.

1. After it was all said and done, the presentation was a success in the fact that a good sample of the technology was out to all. The slides appeared to be in a good order that flowed well with the presentation. It was simple and straight forward, and it was in keeping with the technology that I was presenting. Interesting and not so much boring. I like the video clip of the technology that I was presenting. It was a good length and clear audio that was easily understood at the back of the class.

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.

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.

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.

Today was a very interesting day in Mrs. Beach’s classroom. When I arrived, Mrs. Beach asked about how my lesson went last week and began to explain what today was going to look like. Since today was the last day of school before Thanksgiving Break, Mrs. Beach was using the entire school day as a catch-up day. During my entire observation, the students were working on missing assignments. The teacher has a small whiteboard at the front of the classroom with a list of the recent assignments that have been done in class. If students had not completed or turned in these assignments, their number would be written under the title of the assignment, indicating that it was incomplete. Many of these assignments were very simple and were having students practice their math and writing fluency; however, all of the students were working on publishing their Turkey writings. Some students were still in the rough draft stage of the writing process, but the majority of the students were working on their publications. With that being said, it was pretty challenging to help students on these assignments since they mostly involved copying a story or quick recall; therefore, I spent about a hour and fifteen minutes of my time walking around and taking notes about the things that the students were working on. There were a few times where a student had a question and I was able to answer it, but for the most part, many of the students were independent.

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.