Looping Is An Alternative Teaching Practice Essay

During the months of September and October this semester I spent time at two different schools in four different classrooms. Being able to observe different classes and teachers at Westside Junior High and South Live Oak Elementary was a very new and exciting experience for me since I can’t say I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. My experiences at these schools gave me a better insight into the differences between schools, classrooms, and teachers. The purpose of this field experience was to get 10 observation or tutoring hours in an elementary or junior high setting. I chose to observe a

The cycle can be followed by teacher and learner alike and must be followed for learning to be truly effective as described in the following quote: Ann Gravells (2008: 27) “It’s called as cycle as you can start at any point, but you must follow through all the other points for teaching and learning to be effective.”

Teaching theories are as much part of the classroom as the student and the teacher. The effect individual theories have on an environment depends how they are incorporated within the classroom in addition to the influence they have had on the curriculum construction. This essay will briefly look at how motivation theory, cognitive and social cognitive theory along with constructivism have impacted on education and the classroom.

One way students could benefit is that this schooling could provide them with an increased student centered instructional strategy during a year-round school year. These could be activities that activate prior knowledge, hands on projects, in depth discussions, and multiple intelligences. These learning experiences are highly effective, but they are also time consuming. On a multi track schedule, students could also be exposed to smaller classroom sizes, which could benefit the student giving them more time to themselves, and to their assigned teacher for extra instruction.

Some advantages of year-round schooling include improved achievement, improved attendance by both teachers and students, reduced discipline problems, lower teacher stress, increased motivation due to frequent breaks, and increased opportunities for enrichment (Palmer and Bemis). During the two week breaks in between school sessions, students have the opportunity to take classes on karate, ballet, photography, cooking, and swimming. This intersession provides time for hands-on, big project classes that get kids involved in topics that interest them. Intersession can also be used as an intervention for students who are falling behind. “Karl Alexander, sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University, studied 800 students for more than 20 years in Baltimore’s elementary schools. He found that by ninth grade, low-income students had fallen 3 ½ grade levels behind their middle-class peers. And most of that gap was attributable to learning lost over the long traditional summer” (Schulte, 2009). The biggest driving force and proponent of year-round schooling is the effect of the “summer slide.” Students lose two months of achievement in math skills and students from low-income families lose more than two months in reading achievement according to the national Summer Learning

First of all, continual feedback allows teachers to self-reflect on best practices. For example, a teacher can target his/her areas of weakness in order to grow professionally and gain further insight of best practices. Another benefit, of teacher evaluations is higher student success rates. These, for example, are measurable through district assessments and state standardized assessments. If a teachers success rate has significantly improved through modification of practices, T-TESS has served its intended purpose. Finally, yet another benefit of teacher evaluations is the fact that the educator is an active participant in his/her evaluation process. For example, through goal setting, the educator is allowed the opportunity to decide where he/she want to grow. Through the evaluation cycle and the communication therein, the appraiser and educator both take greater responsibility in understanding and meeting established goals. Finally, at the end of the process, student growth is an indicator of a well-developed and integrated evaluation system. These are but a few of the many benefits reaped from an evaluation systems such as T-TESS (TEA,

A teacher who was part of a year round system recounts, “I found myself going through 3 school years without that opportunity for self-assessment and planning for the future of the educational program.” (“The Effect of Year Round Schools” 1999/22 February 2005). With a much shorter summer break, teachers will not have enough time to increase their education, which can benefit the learning of their students. For these reasons, year round schools are not as beneficial as the traditional school year.

My eighth grade classroom is set in a Jr-Sr. High school and is located in the Jr. High hallway, in the rear of the high school. I have thirty-two student desks situated in rows and two small tables at the front of my room used for paper pick up. My desk and computer are in the back corner of the room. The students all have their own Chromebooks and I have a desktop computer as well as a Samsung Tablet. Google Classroom is used daily as well as many other applications suited for 1:1 schools. I also have a projector hanging from the ceiling and two large white boards located on the front and side walls of my classroom. The class that I will be focusing on in this paper is made up of 26 students, 15 boys and 11 girls. One student with learning disabilities, another is an ELL student. This class meets for 55 minutes.

Nelson Mandela once said “Education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world”. School boards today are taking these words to heart, as they are concerned about student’s education more than ever. The solution to their concerns of students weakening education is the method of Year Round Schools. This supposed “education-saving” method offers the same amount of school days except the traditional summer break is exchanged for smaller breaks throughout the year. Although this method is supposed to boost students learning and intelligence it is actually not all that it is cracked up to be. Year Round Schooling essentially causes more harm than good because it does not benefit the students at all, it is a

The idea of year round school is becoming an increasingly popular idea as this calendar is beneficial to both students and teachers. Under this new calendar, students attend school twelve months rather than nine months. Instead of having a long summer break, which can cause learning loss, students have frequent short breaks throughout the year. The effect of constantly learning throughout the year causes students to improve in test taking. When there is a long summer break, not all students have the same opportunities, creating a gap in achievements. Furthermore, teachers have more time to prepare lessons and teach them. Ultimately, students are more likely to excel in school with this new calendar.

The education system in the United States is an ever-evolving institution. As a country we have progressed from one-room schoolhouses, to segregated classrooms, to online learning environments. Congress is constantly passing legislation to better our public school systems and minimize costs to taxpayers. Individual states have also implemented various new systems to try and maximize their education potential. One such alternative is year round schooling. Year round schooling has become increasingly popular over the past few decades and is still a rapidly growing trend.

Year round schooling has been growing more popular among school districts. Just in case if you didn’t know what it is it is a form of schooling that operates 180 days a year. It never closes but has some form of breaks. In this case I will be talking about a year round school that goes for 5 weeks then has 2 weeks off. We will also examine the different point of views from the parents, students, and teachers.

The beautiful campus of Oklahoma Christian University has just recently built a long, paved walking trail. It equals to almost five miles that winds around the campus. Not only can it be accessed by students of Oklahoma Christian, but also by the locals that desire to walk, run, or even bike. However, the trail even offers much more than that for individuals who do not want a five mile workout. A variety of tall trees and small bond circles a part of the trail called ,”The Loop”. Over the years athletes, people who walk their dogs, or even just people who cherish and adore nature, and a healthy lifestyle utilizes it .On the west side of campus near Bryant Rd., “The Loop” contributes to a scenic, relaxing landscape, as it links together exercise

There are many theories that are relevant to classroom teaching today. Marsh (2008, p. 17) states that “each theory is nothing more than a set of reasonable suggestions”. A teacher should look at the information available to them and take what is necessary to achieve a positive learning environment in their classroom. This may mean taking a little part of one theory and combining in with another part of a different theory, there is no singular theory or theorist that encompasses everything that is required in a modern classroom. Some of the most important theories of learning are motivation, constructivism and behaviourism. Teachers choose their teaching style and strategy to complement their students, to arrive at their own personal

During my observation time in a kindergarten classroom, I have noticed that the students have a wide variety of abilities, attention spans, interests, and love for learning. When it comes to the teacher’s instructional strategies, she intentionally takes into consideration all of the above characteristics to make sure each student gets what they need to be most successful. During lessons students are engaged because of the teacher’s ability to implement interests of the student’s into things and giving them options. If an error occurs during a lesson, the teacher normally, allows for the student who got something wrong to try again, or to call on a friend to help them out. This way the students are still giving the answers and not the teacher just telling them the information. The teacher chooses a lot of small group instruction and centers where she can work with a small group, but then, easily monitor all the other groups to make sure they are on task and doing their work.