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Observation In Middle School

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One amazing thing that I observed at my field site occurred on Wednesday. I was working with two girls on their math packets, as we usually do for the first half hour. I was doing my best to teach them a little bit more about what they were doing and some tricks to help them develop fluency with the skills they were using. When it came time to work on the project of the day, making kaleidoscopes, the girls chose to continue working on their math with me instead. One of them only stayed for about 30 more minutes, but the other girl sat with me and did math for nearly 2 hours until it was time for lunch. I was impressed by her drive and interest in mathematics at such a young age (she had just finished second grade, but we were working on a fourth …show more content…

After working very well on his math packet for the first half hour, one student did not want to work on our project of the day, a lenticular print made from folded paper. Even though the first step was only drawing two pictures to use for the project, this student did not want to participate. This confused me; he had been focused on his math, but as soon as the material became what I assumed to be more “fun” and engaging, he lost interest. I tried a few different methods to motivate him, as did some of the staff, but we were unable to get him to really engage in the project. I noticed that I value participation and effort more than how many questions a student gets correct. Grades are definitely important, but I would rather have engaged students who try their best and get a range of grades, because I know that engaged students will improve greatly if they are taught well. I also saw this in my previous job. Students who were not motivated did not progress quickly, while students who were, even those who were years behind, made fast progress. Thus, I think one of my most important tasks as a teacher will be learning to motivate students and help them to engage with

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