Reading Anchor Classroom

I believe that I am proficient in establishing a classroom setting that calls upon the students to learn in an individual and collaborative manner. I believe that I have sufficiently encouraged positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self motivation. I have shown this in learning activities that have been presented to the students. An example of this would be with the placard assignment, which had the students fill out a sheet that corresponded to four maps to help them figure out what artifacts certain cultural regions would use. During this learning segment, students would have to be self directed after the directions were given, the students would have to use collaborative skills, and they were all engaged during

Through classroom visits, I am able to provide constructive feedback and advice to colleagues regarding their practice in order to help them improve their teaching and learning strategies. In this way, I am able to ensure that the learning experiences of students throughout the department is constantly being improved.

Some of the methods which I can be seamlessly incorporate into my classroom include: (A) provide intentional reflection time for the process of learning to discover the growth which comes from effort, (B) offer specific and purposeful feedback along with constructive criticism , (C) praise students wisely and purposely, (D) teach for the future of yet by demystifying talent and providing tools to bridge gaps, and (E) always celebrate effort and progress. Through intentional incorporation and daily delivery of these practices, I plan to create a classroom blooming with effort and expansion and thus transform the character of all my

The film The World in Claire’s Classroom, 2000, shows us an alternative first and second grade classroom dynamic that Claire helps facilitate by her teaching style and beliefs.While certain parts of the film are socially problematic, in regards to some methods when learning about other cultures, Claire practices very progressive teaching methods and concepts that our class has covered. Because of using these varied teaching methods, Claire is also creating a more indepth and engaged learning environment that appears to have a positive impact on her students. Two concepts that I will be introducing and comparing to Claire’s classroom are Self-directed Learning and The Four Aspects of Engagement. Both of these concepts connect to multiple

strategies and learning tasks to re-engage students (including what you and the students will be doing)

This past Friday, I had the opportunity to interview Carolina Portales. Mrs. Portales is a kinder garden ESL teacher in the Grand Prairie school district. She was nice and kind answering most of my questions, and she even gave me some advices to get through the first year . According to Mrs. Portales the math professional development activities that she has participated in are the ones that the district of Grand Prairie offers. She described her overall experiences learning math as not so good, because she has had good teachers that care about students’ learning, but some other teachers do not. She has not learned everything she needs to learn, but she knows enough to teach, what she needs to teach.

My students are reading, “Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun.” When I picked the book, I anticipated full engagement as many of the anecdotes are similar to that of my student’s lives. Despite the book being an awesome conversation starter, students have become extremely bored. The book does not pick up in action until chapter 10 and we are still slowly making our way through chapter 6. In an attempt to spice things up, I planned what I assume was an engaging lesson. The lesson opened with students participating in a “mix and match,” where students answered several “big idea” questions on a paper split into four squares. Students got the chance to talk to their peers, walk around the classroom and listen to a popular song. However engaging my lesson was, I’m not sure students understood the purpose after we finished. I totally mastered the engagement piece as students were excited and happy, but I know there needed to be another

What effect did your teaching strategies have in terms of promoting student learning and keeping your students meaningfully engaged? (APS 5.A–C)

he most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Indeed, the future success of all students hinges upon their ability to become proficient readers. Recent scientific studies have allowed us to understand more than ever before how literacy develops, why some children have difficulty, and what constitutes best instructional practice. Scientists now estimate that fully 95 percent of all children can be taught to read. Yet, in spite of all our knowledge, statistics reveal an alarming prevalence of struggling and poor readers that is not limited to any one segment of society:

Enrolled in English 5, also known as Accelerated Academic Literacies, my professor assigned a total of three essays, four in-class writings and online grammar quizzes for students to improve with their weakness in grammar. As I reflect on myself at the end of this semester on my work in my English 5 class, I am able to see clearly how much I have improved as a writer. Throughout this semester, as a student, I have cooperated in both written and typed assignments along with peer review editing with other classmates. However, with the daily journals, homework assignments and feedback my peers have given to me for essays, they not only helped me improve so much, but also helped realize my strengths and weaknesses as well.

Reading comprehension is the ability to read the text, process what you just read and then be able to understand what you read well enough to explain it to a fellow peer clearly and precisely. Reading comprehension is a link in the chain that is the five pillars of reading instruction. The first pillar being phonemes, second is phonics, third and fourth is fluency and vocabulary and finally the fifth is comprehension. It’s the caboose of the pillars you might say. While all of the pillars are vital to the ability to read I’ve witnessed many children able to read efficiently and fluently, but not able to explain what they just read. Those children did not suffer from ADHD, and if some of them struggled with comprehension it makes you assume that kids with diagnosed ADHD will most likely have an even harder time. According to Kaprea Johnson, “The ability to read and comprehend is a major milestone in a child’s life and has long standing effects throughout the lifespan” (Johnson, 2013, p. 98). With that being said, the importance of reading comprehension is pretty clear.

Engagement, interaction, and communication are the things that connect people together in society. Also, it are ways that help children learn. In the U.S., schools are promoting engagement in teaching for helping students to improve. There are many methods that the teachers are using to create a strong engagement relationship between teachers and students.

One of the most essential exercises when in comes to professional development as an instructor is to continuously reflect on your perspective, methodology, instruction and behavior within your profession. Doing so ensure that you a growing and improving on teaching skills and building on old strengths to benefit you as an instructor but especially the students that you serve.

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.

There are many aspects to teaching and as a teacher it is necessary to understand the most important aspects of teaching and how they should be incorporated into the classroom. A teacher’s most important job is not to teach specific material but to build relationships with the students and ensure they feel safe and cared for. Once the teacher is able to ensure this then they should focus on teaching, however teaching is more than listing off facts and sharing information with the students. As teachers it is essential we try to engage our students. There are many ways to engage students and each teacher as a specific way they get their classroom involved in learning. During my field experience I have learned the importance of being able to engage students and I have seen what a classroom looks like when students are not engaged. My field experience has helped to reflect on student engagement and how I would place the experience in my philosophy of education.