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.

Before class even began, there I was, making predictions about how this group of students were going to act during class – it was clear from the beginning that they knew how they were to present themselves in that class. As the students came into the classroom, the teacher greeted them all individually, fist bumping some, inquiring about the personal lives of others. It was a very pleasant environment; the students were courteous to their teacher and upon getting to their seats immediately opened up their books to where they left off last class and started setting up their Chromebooks for their reading journals. The teacher then inspired this demeanor in other students by telling students who were trickling in at the last minute to follow the example of their classmates who already had everything out and ready to go. In addition to verbal responses to and reminders of positive behavior, she reinforced this behavior in her students through posters around the room that detail the behavior she and they should expect to see in the classroom.

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

The sixth section was curriculum compacting. This allows students that already understand the material to move on to harder concepts at their own pace. I do this in my classroom using IXL. I think this how is progressive pockets can come in handy, but again, I do not think it should be a file box at the front of the room, but rather assignments from the teacher directly to the student to advance his learning.

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.

When I arrived to my classroom today, Mrs. Beach’s students were still at their special. This gave us about ten minutes to talk about my upcoming less. Mrs. Beach would like me to teach my lesson on October 24. I am not certain which standard I will be teaching, but I do know that I will be teaching students how to solve story problems using the standard subtraction algorithm. I am excited to teach this lesson, but I am also very nervous because I don’t know exactly how to introduce this topic to the students. At 10:10 A.M., the students returned to the classroom, grabbed their math baskets and sat down at their desks. I am constantly amazed at how well behaved these students are. I cannot to learn more about the management strategies that Mrs. Beach implements in her class.

As I step into the classroom on August 21, 2017, I have one thought: “What’s going to be the difference between my nine and 10 a.m. classes?” When I signed up for the Fall semester, I was aware I would stay in the same classroom, instructed by the same professor (or in this case, doctor) and I would likely mix the two classes up. Although the first class revolved around research and theory and this course focused on emerging media, I couldn’t help but feel similarities between the classes. Each week, three students would present on a topic in the nine and 10 a.m. class. There would be a lecture or video we would take notes over in each class, or discuss an article from Pew Research. For a time, I was worried I would be sitting in class for two hours gaining only the information from my peers. I signed up for Emerging Media to compute how technology is changing society. I was motivated in discussions, but regretted to remember following class our discussion. I was worried this class would be redundant, until I focused in on “The Shallows.” This was the text the class would be based around. I was not impressed at the author’s ideas during lecture at first. Then, on September 13, 2017, I woke up from the redundancy I felt when we discussed technology determinism and the intellectual ethic.

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.

There were many ways to monitor students' understanding and achievement of the mastery objectives during my lesson. Students were continuously informed me about their learning and interpreting information through discussions, explanations, ans written work. These informal observations provided me with opportunities for instruction to be adjusted according to students' needs.

My passion about teaching and my students motivated me to learn more about teaching. So, I really have to admit that I enjoyed this course a lot and I was so excited to take this course to know more about the teaching strategies used and the techniques of the classroom management.

LP 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 are evident in this teaching session.

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.

On December 5, 2017, I spent my fifth session with class 3-213. As a prospective student teacher, this day provided me with a plethora of information regarding questioning. For my first few weeks of observation, I focused on the differing forms of instructional planning, assessment, and interdisciplinary instruction. However, this week I listened carefully to the types of questions the teacher asked the students. Mrs. Diaz is truly a remarkable teacher, who carefully plans her questions to execute informal assessments. She uses these questions to measure student performance, while simultaneously stimulating collaborative and encouragement in the classroom. Based on this idea, Mrs. Diaz continuously asks questions throughout the duration

On November 11, 2017 I attended the Victoria Crossroads Council for Math Educators from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This event is hosted twice a year, once during the Fall semester and once during the Spring semester. The conference is hosted by Dr. Barba Patton and Dr. Teresa LeSage Clements. Students in the education program at UHV in Victoria and Katy, come together to present and teach lessons on Science and Math. There is a morning keynote speaker, a lunch speaker, and a closing ceremony speaker the speakers are individuals involved in the field of education that present on topics regarding education.

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.