My Reflection On My Experience In The Classroom

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

Over these past three weeks, I have had the opportunity to observe and help in Mrs. Lana Thompson’s second grade classroom at the Colman-Egan School District. Mrs. Thompson and her students were very excited and welcomed me into the classroom, which helped me feel even more comfortable. Observing really helped me get a feel for students’ behavior, classroom management, and how lessons are usually run before I dive in and teach one. I absolutely love being able to go into a classroom and seeing what it is really like!

According to the Philosophic Inventory, my two personal educational philosophies are progressivism and existentialism. These philosophies show that I am likely to try and make a change within my class and mold my future students to create a positive change in the world. I will also value the rights of each of my students to believe what they want without fearing persecution by their classmates or other teachers, regardless of whether I agree with their views. The results of this assessment were no surprise as they seem to line up with my personal viewpoints on running a classroom.

I got the chance to see three grade levels during the observation. The first grade I got to see was third grade and they were at p.e. and I even though I only got to observe the third grades for 15 minutes, I learned that it’s important that the kids get up and move every day. Also, that by the kids playing they learn how to work with each other. Then when it was time for the kids to go the teacher blew a whistle and all the kids ran and got into two lines. When the teacher saw that everyone was in line, he started walking while the kids followed in an orderly manner to go to lunch. The second grade level I got to see was fourth grade. I only got to stay in the class for 20 minutes but during that time the kids were

This movie, The Classroom, which was very interesting to watch, discusses all that goes on in the school system, the good and the bad. But it also shows how things at home can affect the way the student acts during the school day. This movie definitely makes you look at students that act out differently, instead of punishing them maybe we should all look deeper into the issue and find a way for the student to thrive and use school as an outlet.

Most of my direct experience working with curriculum is as an public elementary school teacher. I prided myself for many years in aligning the state curriculum frameworks and objectives with the instruction going on in my classroom, and received praise from administrators for sticking to the “playbook”. As time went on, though, I realized that my mixed ability classes were simply not performing up to my personal expectations. I began to create flexible groups for math and language arts, and differentiate instruction based on group needs and student interests. I saw significant improvements in student engagement, behavior and overall achievement.

Today, December 9, 2017, the date of my first ever final exam in a, full semester, college class. This marks a very exciting but stressful time for me.

First and foremost, I am impressed with Mrs. Smith’s first-grade classroom and her educational style. I am fascinated by her ways in encouraging the students to learn to think critically, to be confident, and to be creative. I interviewed Mrs. Smith about how she successfully manages to teach, to encourage, to discipline, to reward, to care and to show respect to the kids in her classroom. In this interview, she was very humble to relate all of her success to loving her job, and to have gained her experience from many years of elementary school teaching. Additionally, she said that she loves the kids in her classroom as if they were her own children. She added that she treats them the way she would want any teacher to treat and

I spent five hours observing a classroom but it felt like spending time in a new world. I observed a first grade classroom at Tatnuck Magnet Elementary School in Worcester, Massachusetts. This was my first opportunity to watch and comprehend a classroom environment with a teacher’s mindset. It was an eye opening experience, I was beginning to see the classroom in components: teaching methods, lesson plans, philosophies, and common core requirements. Listening for how to give directions rather than follow them is just one example of my changed focus while in the classroom. Due to my schedule, I observed the first grade class on three separate days during the morning to afternoon part of the school day. There were roughly fifteen students, a diverse group which included various ethnicities and personalities. I feel that I was lucky in being assigned this class because it was extremely dynamic and I got to witness many activities and strategies in a couple hours. Throughout this observation report I will most likely quote phrases the teacher said as I found them to be key tools when dealing with a situation. For the purpose of maintaining confidentiality in this report, I will change the teacher’s name to Ms. Mallard and also create names for any students mentioned hereafter.

This Learning By Design (LBD) plan has been written for a Year 5 Class consisting of twenty-seven (27) students, fourteen (14) boys and thirteen (13) girls. The student body consists of several Year 5 prefects. Perfects are voted in students that take care of students in other younger grades and set good examples for them. This class of students is based on student data in the learning area of English. The data places students into five (5) different ability groups based on their English skills, knowledge and understandings. The focus of this assessment is structured on the learning area English based on vocabulary, decoding/word attack, fluency, comprehension of fiction/non-fiction (or informational) texts and spelling.

I was given permission to conduct my child study project in PAP community Foundation (Bukit Batok East Education Centre) by Miss Denise Lim, principal of the centre. The teacher present at all my observation sessions was Miss Moriah. All the observation sessions were conducted in a classroom setting in the Hibiscus room. The first two observation sessions were at least an hour long with 15-20 minutes of frontal teaching and another 40 to 45 minutes of classwork in their group tables. The last session was carried out in the same setting but at a different timing with half an hour of snack time and half an hour of emotional awareness session. The frontal teaching part was carried out with the students seated in their groups on the floor facing the teacher and the whiteboard. Students were assigned to carry out their classwork at three different group coloured tables namely, red, yellow and blue.

Every classroom is unique because of the students that can be found in each class are different. As a specials teacher that means that each class we have has a different dynamic which can call for us as teachers to differentiate to meet the needs of each student. This means that one lesson about kicking can look very different from class to class. I would like to first describe to you my school dynamic and how my classes look.

When I started this classes, I was full of expectations, I did not have any idea what topic we could discuss or how I can write my first homework. I could mention some improvement in my skills after started this class; it helped to develop my creative thinking skills, I learned many things such as writing objectively, making Quotation marks and coordinating my ideas better in this language. This class has helped me to express my ideas more clearly in an essay, it has allowed me to create essay organized and understandable to the reader. I did all my assignment on time although many times I had to review them. In many times homework became hard for me and I had to ask my classmate to help. I took the initiative to read material in youtube about this course but I think it did not help me too much. I know that my grade is an accurately reflect of my performance. At the end of this course, I expect to receive a final grade like B+, B-, or C+ because I came all my classes, did my homework and took my exam. I think I have learned a lot but I know that I should focus more on grammar.

I chose to observe Mrs. Tijerina for my classroom observation. There are many reasons why I decided to observe Mrs. Tijerina. I elected to observe Mrs. Tijerina so I could see another teacher’s perspective on teaching Spanish, as she and Mrs. Fiechter are the only Spanish teachers in the school. Furthermore, I never had Mrs. Tijerina for Spanish 2, as the teacher I had left Adams Central. Additionally within the hour I was observing, there were many sophomore students that I knew personally so I was able to ask them on their options of the class. Finally, Mrs. Tijerina’s goal was to teach in a similar way to Mrs. Fiechter’s teaching, and by observing her I was able to compare and contrast the two

As I enter the classroom for the first time every semester, I usually introduce myself to my new students. I pay attention to their body language and try to establish eye contact then, of course, I ask them to introduce themselves: I am particularly interested in knowing their name, age, hobbies but most importantly what difficulties they encounter in learning English. I listen carefully to their short presentations. My diagnostic is not only aimed at evaluating their linguistic skills but also, and just as importantly, focused on their personality.