Teacher Reflection

The goal in every math classroom is for students to achieve automaticity, flexibility, and ultimately accuracy. For each student to excel in the classroom, he or she must first have strong foundational skills in place. This process was challenging for me, but not because I did not understand the needs of the student or how to remediate. The challenge for me, was that I was placed in a kindergarten classroom and struggled to find someone that would provide me with student errors to complete this assignment. Therefore, my reflection is one of an outsider, who has not had the privilege of working with the students or seeing the teacher in action in the classroom. My experience consisted of receiving weekly texts of student work to review, analyze, identify errors, and provide insight to how I would remediate in the classroom.

My time spent in the Clinical setting, so far, has been extremely inciteful as to how to become a better educator in a classroom setting. Through the data I collected I was able to connect Borich’s Seven Variables of learning to the students. By being in the clinical setting for nearly two months, I have been exposed to new ways of thinking when it comes to structuring a classroom and instructing a classroom. Within this reflection you will find out how I would better plan an effective lesson for the pupils in my future classroom. You will also discover what I will do about certain issues in the classroom and how I will address/fix them.

Ms. Penn’s Kindergarten class consisted of 9 boys and 7 girls. This was the last hour of the instructional day, and as I walked in I noticed that the students were already working in centers in groups of 3-4. This class was a little noisy and unorganized as compared to other kindergarten classrooms I have observed so far at Krahn elementary. The students seemed to be enjoying their time in centers and were eager to pack-up after cleaning up in the end since it was close to dismissal.

Prior to my observation, I was eager to have an opportunity to observe a class for an entire school day. While I certainly have a background working in school settings, I have never been able to focus on understanding and evaluating the different aspects of the school day. For my observation, I was placed in an inclusive fourth grade class. Two co-teachers ran the class of eighteen students.

On September 26, I observed in a Head Start Preschool Room at sheldon Preschool, there were 17 children total, 10 girls and 7 boys and the age range was 3 and 4 year olds, within this classroom there was 1 Head teacher, 1 Assistant teacher and 2 interventionist. When you walked into the room there was an open space where the 3 tables were and then toward the back of the room there was a carpet area, block area, housekeeping area, puzzle area, and computer area. There are many materials within the small area, the room seemed crowded and congested. The emotional state seems to have tension, the teacher is a first year teacher, therefor, she is very up tight, and emotional, which this makes her class the same way, which in turn the children are very excitable and emotional. There are many materials within the small area, it is a topical head start room with everything they are to have to make the room complete.

My observation was at Green Valley Elementary School, a small public school near my house. I observed Mrs. Fields kindergarten classroom on an early Monday morning. The first thing I noticed was how crowded the classroom was, there were books, backpacks, learning centers, and children everywhere. The class was fairly big, with sixteen children and two teachers but it was not very diverse. The teacher seemed aware of the classroom cluster but worked around it, she spoke kindly to the children but with authority. Overall the classroom looked and worked like any other

The first class I observed during my guided walk-through hours was Mrs. Corns kindergarten class located in the lower elementary wing. At first glance I notice that the room was vibrant and colorful. There were a few tables serrated around the room, along with an area rug and a rocking chair located in the front of the class. An assistant teacher gathered all students to the rug and began reading a story about the Cincinnati museum. During this time most students were engaged and participating in questions. When a student got a question correct the teacher would show positive feedback by giving them completes. I observed communication between peers, as they discussed their

When a teacher starts preparing for a unit the teacher should utilize the Kansas State Department of Education standards. The teacher should also be aware of the schools standards regarding a particular unit. When utilizing the Kansas State Department of Education standards the teacher should focus on the central concepts surrounding the various topic of the different unit plans. Each unit will address different essential concepts that the teacher should address in various ways. Nonetheless, this essay will focus on the content knowledge required to teach a freshman world history class,in particular the age of exploration. The reason I want to focus on this area of the unit is because I was given the opportunity to create a lesson that fit within this unit.

As I did this week’s reading I felt like I was able to relate to several statements in the introduction and the beginning of chapter one from the book, Why We Teach Now. Nieto started several reasons why teachers are leaving the profession. She also spoke about hearing acronyms, and test related jargon more than learning and fun when it came to conversations about teaching. (2014) I did not want to be part of that anymore so I left the profession for a couple years ago. I felt burnt out, overworked, underappreciated, and frustrated that I felt like student’s needs were not being met.

It is essential for the East Three Secondary School teachers of the Grades 7 -9 students to become familiar with the format, content, and pace of the course before attempting to conduct the sessions. These staff members will require time to meet, discuss, and prepare for the implementation of the course using the resources available for downloading at no cost by Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (2015). Not unlike other new programs started at the school, training for the CWS course will be included as part of the school-directed teacher in-service time or non-instructional time where teachers have days in the school calendar without teaching duties.

During Sequence 5, there were many experiences that shaped the perception of what the teaching profession entailed. The first would be the importance of supporting students’ literacy levels, no matter what subject or content area one might teach. It became evident while administering QRI tests at Sullivan that a majority of the students struggled with reading comprehension and were reading multiple grade levels below where they should be normally reading. Being one whose content is history, it became apparent that supporting my students’ literacy and comprehension skills was paramount to their success across their schooling experience. In addition, the profession of teaching entails supporting all students. The class that I worked with was composed of mostly ELL students and students with IEPs. Using best practices found in Hougen and Buehl are integral in differentiating and modeling for all students in the classroom. This is to ensure that you are meeting the needs of the students and to empower them to achieve their goals in life and prepare them for the real world.

My fieldwork for my diverse populations class was stationed at Brightwood Elementary School. The teacher that I was assigned to was Tonya Johnson. She is an EC pullout teacher that helps accommodate students when needed. During the time that I have been at Brightwood, Ms. Johnson has had me work with several different students and assist them when needed.

In Chapter three of the readings Atwell discusses the importance of setting the tone and establishing structure, organization, and routines during the first week of class. She explains that as a teacher a lot of time is put into preparation for the first week of school because she wants the students to leave excited about the class, the material and her as a teacher, which helps set the tone for the rest of the yr. In addition, she mentioned that it is equally important for her to establish “her role as a teacher, writer, reader of books, responder to literature, and a lover and unpacker of poems” (Atwell,2015). I believe that anybody that has ever worked with children, whether it be in the classroom or coaching sports would agree with her position about establishing a firm foundation and routine during the first week or the beginning of every week, because it will carry on throughout the course of the year or week. The last thing you as a teacher or coach want to do is to scare or intimidate the students, hurt their confidence, or make them dread coming to your class. I don’t think that’s any teacher’s real intension, although it happens all too often. Have you had an experience with a teacher who hurt your confidence or that made you dislike the subject or class? Unfortunately, I have had many teachers whom acted as though they just didn’t care about the students or our success, and that attitude from our teacher/leadership person truly does rub off on the students. I had one science teacher in high school, Miss Whitney whom was very abrasive yet passionate about the subject to the point of overcomplicating the assignments and confusing the students. I still dislike science to this day and I believe it stems from that experience. The unfortunate thing is that it only takes one bad experience for a student to shut down and withdraw from the classroom activities, so in my opinion it is very important for the teacher not only to care about the student’s success, but also recognize much like Atwell that they need to change the way they are doing things to get kids more engaged in the materials, and accept the fact that hands on enjoyment and fun activities are just as effective learning tools as traditional

As I am studying to become an elementary teacher, I am discovering new strategies and disciplines that have helped me become a more active learner and efficient educator. I admire the saying; we teach what we learn. From my elementary education program and classroom field experiences, I have learned that what might work for one student may not work for another. As a future educator, I believe it is essential to continue to fill my teacher toolbox with research, exploration, and application of new methods and approaches to find what best fits the needs of my students. If I discover an activity or strategy that has worked for me personally or has been scientifically proven to work, I am more open to implementing it

I think one of the most valuable lessons I have learned is that success is not spontaneous. It takes work, dedication, time, thought, and an eagerness to achieve. This lesson has been taught to me over and over again, and I was first introduced to it in grade school by my kindergarden teacher. This lesson has shaped my life. I love it because it applies to anybody, it does not matter what their background is, especially as children. Children are insanely impressionable, and I think it is important that they learn as soon as possible that the outcome of their life is completely up to them. This is why I want to be an elementary school teacher. I want to find those kids that may not have the best home lives, the quickest brains, the most