Classroom Reflection

Additionally, Paula struggles staying focused and on-task during class instruction. Paula frequently gets lost and distracted with the material in front of her, but Paula makes up for it with her dedication to answer the question correctly. Frequently, Paula observes her peers respond during whole class discussions and also answers some of the questions asked during these discussions. The teacher uses these opportunities as a learning opportunity to highlight the correct answer or guide the students into saying the correct answer. It is great that Paula wants to participate in classroom discussions because she remains fully engaged and frequently offered the opportunity to state his own understandings about the concept or skill he is being taught. Drawing on this observation and the use of intervention work, the teacher can plan future opportunities to allow the students to not only communicate their understandings about the content they are being taught, but to also further drive in the content he is being

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.

In addition to band and orchestra my course load included music appreciation. While students enrolled in the electives student government, dance, art and music remained in their chosen elective for the entire year, those who did not choose a year long elective were placed on a rotating schedule of electives that changed every 12 weeks. The music appreciation course I taught was part of this rotating elective schedule. During the first session I based my curriculum on the music appreciation text approved by the district. As the class progressed I found that most of the students had little interest in the musical concepts. I tried a variety of teaching techniques to spark the students’ interests, but the result contained work hastily completed if it was completed at all. I was unsatisfied with the results of the first session and decided to change my teaching approach for the next set of

Every week I designed an activity that linked to something happening throughout that week; this allowed the children to have a greater understanding of that particular topic. The feedback from both pupils and teachers was very positive and encouraging. Consequently, at the end of my placement, the art group continued. In my final placement this year, I have joined a year 6 booster group which takes place every Monday after school. Having prior experience of year 6 in my second placement, my support and guidance in this booster class has helped to develop my knowledge and the children’s knowledge even

expectations of the next lesson? How have you made use of student assessment from previous lessons to

Although, it was still necessary that I demonstrate what they were going to do before I did anything. In the beginning, some students struggled with catching from any distance, yet their performance and effort was great. In the last activity (Leap Frog) their skill level was moderate, some struggled with shuffling simply because they did not have on appropriate gym wear. When I noticed this a gave a better demonstration and let most students preform the task in a modified manner. If I did this lesson again I would check for understanding more frequently in all four quadrants of the

The attached artefact is an example of numeracy that a student was working on. The group was looking at how to place value strategy to use within multiplication. This area was identified from gaps highlighted in their recent GLOSS testing. Each student had a copy of the strategy stage, that they could refer to and tick off as they successfully completed the task set for them. The Artefact is an example of my modeling book, which has examples of the students work and input into the group discussion and the students work which they completed both during the workshop and after for their follow up activity. The students individual work also includes my written feedback.

expectations of the next lesson? How have you made use of student assessment from previous lessons to

Finally, reviewing the answers to the worksheet as a class. This is a solid middle of the lesson. However, some ways in which I would improve the lesson are to first include the strategy of walk and talk when the students are discussing the diagram at the top of the chart activity. Including the walk and talk activity helps to incorporate the kinesthetic modality into the lesson. It also helps to get the students up and out of their seats in between their graphic organizer and their worksheet, which will help to benefit the students with ADHD. Another way that I would improve the middle of the lesson is I would have the students work on the Who You Gonna Call? worksheet in pairs. The reason I would have the students work on this worksheet in pairs is because I think it will help them to better understand the material. I would have the students discuss with their partner the decision they are going to make to help Wally. This discussion will help the students better understand the material. One final way that I would improve the middle of the lesson is that I would have large versions of the graphic organizer, and large graph paper. I would use the large version of the graphic organizer to help go over and review the answers with the class. This large graphic organizer can also help to guide discussion. The large graph paper will be used to help with the discussion of the chart. The teacher can help create a chart about how involved the citizens are, and how responsible the member of government is for citizens. The teacher will then use this graph to help the students check

In developing an activity I need to work on keeping my activity focused around my objective. I noticed that I was trying to get the students to do more in the way of multiplication and division than one measurement conversion. Although this activity did have a lot of math in the form of multi-step procedures, I did this to challenge my adult peers when I should have created the activity for a fourth grader. As far as presenting, I feel that I could improve the lesson by making several key points that can be presented within the activity or the opening of the activity that would help to impact student to understand why we are focusing on this particular social

Due to time, the student’s opportunity for free exploration was cut short, which forced, at times, the students to get detracted from the task at hand. Additionally, depending on the future practicum lesson plan objective, I would like to highly consider completing the practicum in small groups, opposed to the large group of twelve children. Splitting into smaller groups will offer students more of an opportunity to learn at their own pace, decreasing the amount of pressure they feel from students who have already completed the task at hand. More so, having smaller groups will decrease the chance for students to copy one another’s work; forcing the students to make the connections for themselves, connecting a mental image of the manipulative to the mathematical topic. Finally, for future practicums, if the topic and manipulatives allow, I would have the students document their discoveries on a more guided worksheet. For this particular practicum, the students were to record their findings on a blank piece of paper. Due to the fact that the blank piece of paper did not offer any guidance or instruction for specific documentation from the students, many did not record their findings. Suppling a more guided worksheet might help students record their findings, in turn helping them learn and recognize the points of the lesson, and help us, as instructors, better assess the students complete understanding of the practicums lessons

Small groups where used as a formative assessment with a check list. As I walked around, some of the students were confused as to how the simulator worked. I helped them through it. Although this was a problem at the beginning, the students liked the visual and learned from it. The way the simulator related the visual to an equation was also an issue with the students. I did explain this on the board before the simulator and most grasp the concept of reactants products and leftovers. This was a change I made from the first class and the explanation on the board seemed to help 80% of the students in the second chemistry class (only one group of 4 was confused). While checking in with each group, I notice by the end of the simulation all but three students understood the limiting reactant concept on a visual/molecular level (92%). One students was not doing enough of the work for me to determine if he grasp the concept. The two students who were struggling were restarted from the beginning where two molecules react with two molecules. Both students then grasped the concept and I watched for comprehension with the next problem. Both understood the next problem. I believe when these students were working with their groups, they were moved too quickly to the second problem. Without grasping the concept from the first question, they were

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

What I planned to do was to explain to the students that points, lines, line segments, rays, and planes are everywhere. They are the building blocks of geometry. Then, I went through my PowerPoint and explained what each of the figures are. I explained that a point has no dimensions and is a location on a plane. It is also represented by a dot. I went on and did the same thing for a line, parallel lines, perpendicular lines, intersecting lines, line segment, ray, and a plane. Throughout the lesson I went through the worksheet and showed the students how to draw, name/read, and write each one of them. After that we did the line song. I should them what each one was using my arms. Finally, I play the game Simon says. During the game, I kept saying Simon says, but then I did not to see if the students were listening. A couple of students were not, but then got the hang of it then. I changed my lesson a little bit by going out of order. I did the PowerPoint first, then did the worksheet, played a game, and then the coffee stirrers.

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.