Classroom Reflection Paper

There are many different types of attachments that I have observed in the Magnolia classroom. Some are attachments to the children’s personal belongings and others are attachments to people, such as the teachers. Growing out of these attachments is good for the children’s social-emotional development.

It is really amazing how excited students get with the possiblity of using the computer in the classroom to assist them with their lesson. The teacher added that she uses it as a reward system, stating how affective it is in maintaining order and control in the classroom. Students knew how to navigate, go to various websites that were related to the lesson and create a folder in which to put their assignments in.

When I first picked this class I had in mind that I speak another language as well, I might be able to bring a different mindset to the class. I can say that the class was not what I picture or would have liked to be. I imagined more of setting where we discuss more languages and how they shape people and their culture.

The classroom is composed of twenty students, nine males and eleven females. From the nine males, two are African-American, one is Euromerican, and the rest are Hispanics. From the eleven females, one is African-American, one is Asian, and the rest are Hispanics

Initially, when I began this project, I applied to a school which I went to called Abington Senior High School. I wanted to observe at this school, so I could see my old teachers and learn from them again. Unfortunately, that did not happen. When I applied, I provided the school with all the necessary clearances and I sent an email to the head of the education department as they instructed. However, the department head did not respond to any of my emails.

At the beginning of the Kindergarten class the class did their normal routine of calendar time. The teacher tells them to go to the carpet for calendar time and that gets them on task. They count the number of days they have been in school out-loud. They also count the days with straws and put them in a ones, tens, or hundreds pocket. The students also keep record of the number of days they have been in school with change. They count out change to the number of days they have been in school. They say how much each coin is worth and who is on it. Lastly, they add a gumball to their jar of gumballs and say how many they have in total. This is a normal everyday morning routine that involves math. TMPs 3 and 6 are used for this routine and SMPs 4, 6, and 8 are used during this time. This activity takes around thirty minutes everyday. I think doing this everyday has really benefited the students. A student found a dime outside and he brought it to me. He knew it was a dime, how much it was worth, and even the president that is on the dime SMP 6.

In the classroom I observe, there are 32 students equally broken up into sixteen boys and sixteen girls. Each one of these students has their own personal chrome book. A chrome book is like a mini laptop that the teacher can assign the students assignments and assessments. A chrome book can be used for any subject. Some example programs on the chrome book are type club, math, writing, educational YouTube, and dictionaries. I see the use of chrome books as a great technology used in the classroom. Back when I was an elementary school student, I did not have chrome books in my classroom. The first lesson I observed on a chrome book was a math lesson. The teacher assigned through her computer a particular practice assessment to the students. The students then clicked to open the assignment and began. I found this technology helpful because if a student was stuck on a question, there was a video tutorial for them to view specific to the question. In fact, there was a specific video tutorial for each one of the questions. At the end, students were able to see how they did immediately. They are able to see their progress toward the actual test coming up. The teacher was also able to see the class statistics overall, and statistics to each question. This let the teacher know what the class struggled with and what should be taught again. Chrome books definitely caught my attention. Technology grows everyday and schools have to keep up with the change. It is interesting to me, to see

On October 31, 2017, I observed at P.S. 45 and was truly bewitched by the entire experience (and not just because it was Halloween!). Antecedent to this observation, I first met class 3-213 the week prior, when they had a substitute teacher. In contrast to their roaring and uncontrollable performance at that time, one could clearly distinguish their significant change in behavior with Mrs. Diaz in the room. Mrs. Diaz is able to control the class with just the sound of her voice or snap of her fingers. It was exhilarating to see how well-behaved and attentive the children were to her. Additionally, my cooperating teacher was extremely helpful and even thoroughly explained to me her methods on classroom management. Mrs. Diaz informed me that she is rather stern with the children and continuously uses positive reinforcement throughout the day. Due to their drastic change in behavior and return to normalcy, I was able to witness Mrs Diaz us key instructional strategies and techniques.

When I arrived at the classroom with my guide teacher, the supervisor was already there. I helped to keep the class in silence in order to greet the students properly, some of the girls were talking and laughing too much and I asked them to be quiet, the three of us greeted the students before starting the class.

The year is 2011 and it is the start of a new year in a new school. I was quite nervous, as I had not met a lot of the kids coming from the other elementary school that would collaborate with my school to create Driver Middle School. I knew these would be the kids I would be with for the rest of my school career until college, so I knew I had to make it a good year. That’s when it happened; the atrocious news article for our school paper.

For this assignment I was unable to ask the teachers at my normal school setting questions due to them being on vacation all this week. That being said I asked one of my favorite teachers who works at the high school I go to. This teacher's name is Claire Hickman, she is the art teacher at Bayshore High School. One of my questions asked how many years she has been in an inclusive learning environment and her answer was 13 years! That’s just 5 years short of my life time so I am sure I can learn a lot from her. I had also asked the overall composition of her classes she mentioned that each class had about 35 students ranging from grades 9 to 12. Of these 35 students 11 would be ESOL, 5 V.E. students, and 1 gifted student. I had even asked if she makes changes on her lesson plans depending on the type of student that are coming into her classroom she said yes. I asked her questions mainly pertaining to students who are ESOL and students who have disabilities. She is extremely open with her views and I knew she would make the perfect candidate to interview.

1. Since I was in a middle school setting, I was given the opportunity to observe multiple classrooms which a variety of different students. In my first class, I noticed that most, if not all students were African American. The ratio was 22:1, where about 18 of them were boys. The second class I went to, had a ratio of 19:1. The ethnicity in this class was again, mostly African American, with a few Hispanics and Caucasian. The third class represented a ratio of 20:1. The ethnicity was made up of mostly Hispanics, Caucasian, with 1 African American child. My final class ratio was 18:1, where most students were Hispanic and African American.

In the classroom where I am doing student teaching I have observed students utilizing a science notebook only three times in the school year so far. Some schools have clusters, while other schools integrate science into their curriculum through other subject such as reading and writing. According to one teacher, the students receive science instruction through STEM, which creates more of a focus for her teaching in social studies instead of science. At my assigned school, the students receive instruction in their native language in science one day and social studies the next. Most teachers put a lot of planning into ELA and math, but not a lot of planning into the science lessons that are part of the curriculum. Part of my belief that science isn’t taught at the same level as other subjects is that teachers don’t feel confident enough when it comes to different science topics.

I have learned a lot for the short period of time that I have been in school in Guadalajara. Thanks to the ten teaching practices I have had lots of hours to practice my teaching. I went from knowing absolutely nothing about teaching, to feeling like I can teach any subject in English at ease. I understand what to do, and what not to do in a classroom setting. My observers helped me improve my teaching from adequate to a professional standard.

Walking into the first two weeks of the EDU program I desired to experience what it would be like to be a future educator and have a grasp of how to help the molding of our youth and giving them the possibility to become future leaders. Doctor dresser was able to bring in a Concordia alumni who had just begun to experience his professional education, career and is teaching multiple different grade levels as a young teacher. When he first walked into the classroom my first impressions were that unfortunately he looked very inexperienced and unsure of what was to be expected of the lecture I thought to myself in the position of a younger student in his classroom this is a person I would not take seriously. He then proceeded to communicate