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.

As a college student, I am growing mentally and physically. I learned how to communicate with others, manage my responsibilities, realize my abilities and be confident in my life. This course is assisting me in my growth by every Saturday learning a new capability about myself and enriching my mind. Also is helping manage my emotions since I am taking phycology I know more about my depression and anxiety plus I learned that many people have and have experienced the same emotions I have been experiencing.

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

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

I found the parent panel very informative – I loved being able to hear from parents about their opinions on important school related subjects such as new teachers, multicultural education, and homework. Personally, the most interesting aspect of the panel was listening to the parents speak about their thoughts on multicultural education. All four parents expressed that they did not see the importance of multicultural education being included in their child’s school curriculum. One parent explained that her daughter’s school has a culture night where families can come dressed up in clothing specific to their culture and bring ethnic food dishes. However, this parent said that she is fine with that being the only multicultural aspect in her daughter’s school. I found these statements interesting due to another class I am currently taking – ED 525 – whose sole purpose is the implementation of multicultural education into classrooms. In the class, the professor stresses how multicultural education is one the most important aspects of a school’s climate; I was surprised to hear from parents who did not agree.

In some aspects, the twenty minutes I spent microteaching felt like some of the most awkward twenty minutes of my life. In some of former other classes such as MAT223 (Intro to Secondary Mathematics Education) we had done assignments similar to this microteaching activity. I remember our group had the responsibility of teaching another form of proving Pythagorean Theorem. That was a beneficial activity because it gave us teachers in training the opportunity to get in front of the class and solidify a mathematical idea in front of "students". Unlike the MAT223 activity, the microteach activity is a more accurate and beneficial setting; at least that is how I felt while in front of the class.

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.

With the new requirements of this lesson in adding a focal point in the arts, I feared this would produce a challenge for my host teacher’s students. She had warned me on their lack of ability to deal with change as a group. In trying to balance time for an art piece, my plans were to add a small group activity and make a page of their portfolio apart of the assessment. I believe most of the students understood the lesson, but many only seemed to understand parts of the directions alone, and I think that inhibited their quality of work for the pretest, post test, and activity.

Today at my placement, I noticed a different kind of interaction my teacher was having with his students. Instead of focusing on academics or connecting with the student, the teacher was trying to monitor the language, attitudes, and dialogue that happened in the classroom space. The interaction happened before the first period started. There was a student at the teacher's desk getting help with an essay and two other students talking a few feet away. One of the students who was talking made a comment that one of his female African American teachers was horrible because she did not know how to teach or speak. Though the student did not directly say the teacher did not know to teach or speak, the emphasis he placed on the teachers race and the explanation, “she does not speak well but I guess she cannot help that”, made it clear that he meant that the problem was because she was female and African American. My cooperating teacher upon hearing the comment stopped helping the student he was with and turned to the student calling him out saying that the student was being, “Racist, sexist, and a jerk”. They had a brief discussion about how what the student said was inappropriate and that he should try talking to this teacher if he needs help. Overall, the incident was not that intense with the student simply walking away afterward and it ended quickly, but it made me realize this was the first time I had seen a teacher address a student who was looking down on a specific group of

My fieldwork for my diverse populations class was stationed at Brightwood Elementary School. The teacher that I was assigned to was Tonya Johnson. She is an EC pullout teacher that helps accommodate students when needed. During the time that I have been at Brightwood, Ms. Johnson has had me work with several different students and assist them when needed.

Today, more children can run applications and video games than riding a bike or tie their shoelaces – a fact which may frighten parents and educators. It’s our job as teachers to use their interest as a tool for their learning. In this particular lesson, I used Ipads’ to work on student’s fitness level focusing on strength, agility, and flexibility.

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.

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.

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.