Tracking in schools allows the educators to control what level of education children achieve. While tracking allows teachers to focus on their classes needs, it can also be seen as a discriminatory practice that does not allow students to reach their full potential. It is sometimes difficult for educators to meet all of the needs in their classroom because children are often on many different levels. Tracking poses a solution to this problem. Robertson states that tracking “enables teachers to structure lessons to the specific needs of students.” It allows the children that are placed in lower tracks to move at a pace that suits them better, while not holding back the students that should be placed in the upper tracks (Robertson). Robertson
“Count minutes spent on ineffective transitions into the classroom, activities to activities, etc, and reduce it by 50%” (Time & Learning, 2011)
Example in Setting: All the children have targets for when they are writing, it might be to use capital letters and finger spaces, when they achieve their target the get to colour in a picture and once
* Observe and record certain elements of the pupil’s academic work therefore taking some pressure off the teacher having to complete all observations themselves.
It is important to ensure that we meet the need of the students on every level. One effective way to do this is to observe, assess, and record children’s efforts and progress. In this way, an educator can prepare to help a child’s progression in the class. Being able to track and refer to the progress of a child helps to ensure greater levels of success. In the end, our program is only as successful as the children in our care. Record keeping can identify areas that need improvement, and allows us to teach to their strong points.
This increase in understanding in the class room and overall school system can be achieved through the implementation of several programs created that target students as well as programs for instructors as well as adding informational posters throughout the school (Weisman et al., 2016, p. 710).
A sense of order within the class can be managed by presenting lessons effectively and establishing positive relationships with pupils- based on mutual respect and rapport. I will, as a tutor, have to develop skills in managing behaviour and use a variety of tactics in order to develop an understanding of students individually and as a group. Hopefully, I will be able to combine that with the correct approach to planning, my approach, the resources to use in order to deal with barriers learners may have adopted towards learning and to maintain a good level of motivation.
This type of observation needs some planning, as the observer needs to keep an eye on the children. A sheet is prepared with the times marked out. At the each of the times on the sheet, the observer watches what the child is doing. It is possible to record the activity of more than one child.
For example, teachers make sure the practice assessments they give out to their students mirror the format of the state assessments. Especially in third grade, where students are taking the test for the first time and have some troubles with filling out bubble sheets and following directions. Across classrooms, teaching practices are aligned to the curriculum and reflect and express set of beliefs about how students learn best through student work products and discussions. In a math lesson, some students worked with the teacher in the front of the room answering a series of tiered questions using large visual representations and some worked with their tables as well. This helps keep students not only engaged but, working together as a team.
Of concern to me is also monitoring of my students. I need them to actively involved in monitoring their progress and finding out from them where they most need help. I want them to take an active part in the learning process and I cannot do it alone. If I can get them to be invested in the learning process they might be able to help me to be a better teacher, who plans her lessons so that they are structured to meet students’ need and take them to the next
Additionally, Paula struggles staying focused and on-task during class instruction. Paula frequently gets lost and distracted with the material in front of her, but Paula makes up for it with her dedication to answer the question correctly. Frequently, Paula observes her peers respond during whole class discussions and also answers some of the questions asked during these discussions. The teacher uses these opportunities as a learning opportunity to highlight the correct answer or guide the students into saying the correct answer. It is great that Paula wants to participate in classroom discussions because she remains fully engaged and frequently offered the opportunity to state his own understandings about the concept or skill he is being taught. Drawing on this observation and the use of intervention work, the teacher can plan future opportunities to allow the students to not only communicate their understandings about the content they are being taught, but to also further drive in the content he is being
Education theory can either be descriptive like the sciences or normative like in philosophy. Education theory postulates what education processes are supposed to consist of; it sets the standards, norms, and goals in carrying out an education process. The scientific education theory gives a set of hypotheses, which have to be experimented and verified. The two approaches have produced two broad categories of education theories, which are the functionalist’s theory of education
The second assumption tracking makes is that the practice is equitable, accurate and appropriate. The third assumption claims student affect will be negatively impacted if they are placed in inclusive groups with higher performing classmates. The last assumption claims teachers prefer tracking as an instructional strategy because they prepare for and teach only one ability-level at a time. Many studies have been carried out to prove or disprove the effectiveness of tracking and analyze any related social impacts. Following is a review of research for both sides of the debate.
Observation is something that educators do carefully to gain information about young children. Documentation is the process of collecting evidence that serves as a record. When teachers observe the young children, it provides the information that the teachers need to build relationships with individual children and enable them to be successful learners. The best way the teachers should learn about children by carefully watching them, listening to them and studying their work. When the teachers are watching and listening to children helps us understand what they are feeling, learning and thinking. Observation is an excellent way to track children’s
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.
The following data was gathered while fulfilling duties as a principal intern at Theresa Bunker Elementary School. The data was observed during five to seven minutes of classroom observation as part of a walk-through in the spring of the current school year. My cooperating supervisor for my internship was able to go on these walk-throughs with me in order to have a productive reflection meeting afterwards. This elementary school has two of each grade level from Kindergarten to sixth grade. Since it was more feasible in this small school setting, I actually was able to do a walkthrough in eight classes. Here I will report my observations from five of those walk-throughs. As I went in to each room I was looking for four