Pedagogical Reflection

It is common for individuals to think that every teacher is taught how different students are and how to adapt their lesson plans

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.

Teachers need to be flexible in how students learn and demonstrate their knowledge and understanding. For example, if a student is having trouble keeping up with written work, the student could accomplish a similar learning objective through a different method.

Since my time at Sparks Elementary I have only been able to observe two routines that my mentor teacher has done with the other 3rd grade teacher’s. To start off the morning, Mr.Locklear meets his class in the cafeteria to greet them before the day get’s started. The teachers then instruct the student’s to set their backpack’s in their designated area and take the materials needed for their first rotation of class. When the student’s have set there belonging’s down, the teacher’s line up the students in the middle of the common area, where the student’s will be lead to their special’s classes like Music, P.E and Art. While the student’s part take in special’s, Mr. Locklear takes care of any last minute assignment’s or note’s he need’s before he start’s teaching his first class. He also take’s part in a weekly meeting the 3rd grade teacher’s conduct to go over any announcement’s or strategies. Once the student’s come back from special’s, Mr.Locklear starts off his math lesson with Mrs. Sanchez classroom. As soon as the student’s enter the class, they are instructed to take out their journal’s and engage with what the teacher is teaching for the first 10 minutes of class. In those first few minutes of class Mr. Locklear introduces the topic or objective that the students will be learning and engages them to participate in the examples he places on the permithian board. He then has the student’s break up into group’s to do their daily math station’s. While some student’s do

making Practice-Based Learning work Reflection on PRACTICE A resource commissioned by the Making Practice Based Learning Work project, an educational development project funded through FDTL Phase 4 Project Number 174/02 and produced by staff from the University of Ulster. www.practicebasedlearning.org Author Patricia McClure School of Health Sciences, University of Ulster www.practicebasedlearning.org contents Reflection on Practice 02

Reflective practice is a set of skills that the early childhood educator should have. Reflective practice is an ongoing process and as an educator, you commit to an ongoing learning about your teaching, by teaching and then thinking about what the educator should have done, what others did, and what happened during the process (O’Connor & Diggins, 2002). However, being reflective educators does not mean that they have to ignore others perspective but it is vital to engage and discuss it with others (Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett & Farmer, 2012). Educators can also reflect on a question or questions in order to challenge their critical thinking (Children’s Service Central, n.d.). It is important to consider different perspectives and consider

‘Reflective teaching should be personally fulfilling for teachers, but also lead to a steady increase in the quality of the education provided for children.’ Pollard (2008, P.4) Here Pollard is suggesting that reflecting on our own teaching experiences is not only important for the standard of education we provide, but also for our own benefit as it can be rewarding and very worthwhile to reflect on our practices. By reflecting on my own practices in SE1, it will enable opportunities to analyse strengths and weakness and how to improve for future practice, which will allow me to develop more as both a reflective and a professional teacher. This idea of reflection stems from Dewey’s (1910) cited in McGregor and Cartwright (2011) ideas where he suggests that there are three attributes which enables us to be reflective, them being ‘open-mindedness’, ‘wholeheartedness’ and ‘responsibility’. By taking responsibility for our own teaching and reflecting upon our actions, it allows us to be open-minded about changing and adapting to new ideas from what we have concluded from our reflections, which then allows us to fully engage with these new thoughts.

•Students tend to imitate what the teacher is saying and doing, instead of figuring it out for themselves (for the most/some part :) ) and understanding why the steps Work.

Identify occasions on which the teacher specifically does not present the ideas that he or she wants students to learn but instead conducts activities in which the students must construct that knowledge for themselves.

Reflecting over the last 6 weeks has provided me with a sense of great accomplishment. I consider myself very fortunate for the opportunity I was provided to perform my practicum hours with Mrs. Lorraine Bott, a 3rd grade teacher at Hazleton Elementary Middle School, Hazleton Pennsylvania. Mrs. Bott was welcoming and informative, and a provided an endless amount of assistance. Her wealth of knowledge, in regard to the students in her class, and her mastery of teaching was the nurturing foundation of the dynamics of her classroom. During the required practicum hours, one of the focuses, was to work with a student selected by the teacher whose reading level was not proficient due to specific disabilities that delay his progression in reading, in addition, the student I selected also displayed short and long-term memory difficulties. At the time of the required practicum, the student I chose to work with was the subject of a child study. The beginning stages of the observation, the child was friendly and enjoyable to work with, but at times displayed some roadblocks in his behavior that were hard to overcome. With that being said, my time spent with the student was very pleasant due to his even-tempered nature and the innocence of his age. Mrs. Bott explained to me that students with display academic difficulties learn to counterbalance for the difficulties and have the ability to learn supplementary skills that are provided through a constant system. I feel the student is very fortunate to have the opportunity to be a part of a classroom dynamic that is supported by a very knowledgeable and qualified teacher who strives to meet the needs of the students in her care.

After reading all the guidelines and examples, I realized that these ideas are very helpful with engagement in the classroom. The Industrial Tic Tac Toe caught my eyes because I am actually using it to complete this assignment and it gives me complete autonomy over my work, which is the point. When trying to engage students, I learned from the guidelines, is that you should give your students autonomy and when you give them choices, they're more willing to engage. Using the Tic Tac Toe assignment is a good way for engagement. When I have my classroom of 6th graders, I want to use this assignment method so that my students have choices. I would also probably do this once a week and give them the whole week to hand it in whenever. I feel

Even though a teacher does have a higher education status than the lot of us, reasons like that doesn’t mean they have the best teaching system; they go by the board and what they believe we all must work on based on the scores and the work of others. As a matter of fact, some begin to wonder, could the question be is the speed of the teacher's lesson be too fast for others? One assignment one day, another one the next then a test at the end of the week; talking about the lesson for a short period of time, then handing out a worksheet doesn’t allow the information settle in the student's mind enough to understand even a small majority of the lesson, as they leave to another class to be filled with new information that takes over. Whereas, even though tutoring is such a thing; some don’t have the ability to be available after school hours, possibly because of a job, or a family matter’ some teachers come to forget that student also has a life beyond school that might be a tad bit of stress to lay on top of the rest that school hand to us. Nevertheless, it seems as though some teachers should try and see that even though one feels confident in their ability to try the assignment, others may doubt themselves and what they know, leading up to them relying on the answers of others to get them the

There are ways teachers can help advance the knowledge of students by expanding their abilities and explain things better than they believe is best. When one teacher believes their way of teaching is better than other teachers it is hard to tell when you can’t see it personally. Ones abilities are too limited to what wiser people can give to you. “In Math, when two-digit division was introduced, the teacher in one school gave a four-minute lecture on what the terms are called. The children were to copy these names in their notebooks… the math teacher in the other working-class school followed similar procedures regarding two-digit division and at one point her class seemed confused. She said, ‘You’re confusing yourselves. You’re tensing up. Remember, when you do this, it’s the same steps over and over again- and that’s the way division always

think I went a little overboard with the information. As I reflect on my curriculum I thought about the fact that maybe I wasn’t being as realistic with the time I spend creating the curriculum. One aspect I pondered about was the time frame that is given to teachers so they can work on their curriculum. I assume it’s a little different than the time we have in a preschool setting. I presently teach two part day classes back to back which leaves little room for planning my curriculum. I think that in the higher grades teachers probably don’t have as much time as I spend on my curriculum for this course. As I reflect on this information I realize I have to set realistic and attainable timelines.

Teaching can be a challenge, you never know what to expect and each classroom will be unique. However, you will always have to be prepare for teaching in a situation you may not be comfertable with. Educating students and practicing proper knowledge on subjects such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation and disability are vital in creating a safe and respectful classroom for all. School is often looked upon as a place of security for students and it is our job as teachers to help maintain that status.