Urban Education, post 9

     This week, the school where I volunteer was out for spring break, so I decided to reflect on my experiences with the faculty at the school. Throughout this time, I have worked with a variety of educators, kindergarten through sixth grade, as well as Exceptional Student Education (ESE) teachers. The teachers all have various methods for maintaining classroom management. I noticed that the approach is different for the teachers, depending on the grade level they teach, but the similarity is that they stay consistent. Another thing I have observed is that the faculty members at this school all seem to have open communication with one another. They cooperatively talk about students’ needs and work together to complete tasks. This works well for both the faculty and the students. I hope that the school where I will be employed in the future has a similar helpful environment. I am thankful that the faculty at this school has been very helpful to me regarding any questions I have asked about assisting students and managing a classroom.

Urban Education, post 8

     Throughout my experiences of volunteering, I have been able to work with a variety of age groups. The school where I have been volunteering has students from kindergarten through 6^th grade. I have had the opportunity to spend a little time with each age group. I have noticed differences among the age groups, particularly related to their social behavior. For example, the younger children appear to seek out a social bond with me; whereas, the older children only seek out a professional relationship with me and create a bond with the other students in the class. Another difference I noticed is that the younger students typically spend time with the same gender and the older students more frequently spend time with both genders. In third and fourth grades, I start to see this transition take place. As a teacher, I think it is important to remember that children’s needs change greatly from when they enter elementary school at age five and when they leave at age eleven or twelve. We need to be able to adjust to where our students are developmentally and socially, so we can be sure to provide a comfortable, nurturing classroom environment for students at any age.  

Urban Education, post 7

     This week, I worked with an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) teacher. The teacher moves to various classrooms throughout the day to work with different children. At one point, she went into a classroom to pull students from class one at a time to read a passage. I observed her working with each student. When she called a student over, they read the passage, she asked comprehension questions, and then asked questions about the meaning of vocabulary words in the passage, based on context clues. The students were all very different with the areas they struggled with for the reading. Some read with excellent fluency, but then could not correctly answer the comprehension questions. Others struggled with the reading, but knew the answers to the comprehension questions. One of the context clue questions asked, “What does the word ‘quarters’ mean in this passage?” The correct answer was that it meant an open living space, but a student assumed that it meant a coin worth 25 cents. This showed me the importance of utilizing small groups for reading to help provide individualized instruction. This is also true for other subjects, as well. By knowing the specific areas in which a student has strengths or weaknesses, I can better adjust my instruction to meet the needs of all of my students.   

Urban Education, post 6

     This week, I assisted second grade students. While I was present, the students worked on writing and math. During writing, some students stayed with the teacher, while others moved to a small group with an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) teacher. The students had previously read multiple books written by Dr. Seuss. Today, they had to write an essay about their favorite Dr. Seuss book and list reasons why it was their favorite. I walked to different students’ desks to assist them with their writing. I spent the majority of my time where I was most needed, helping the ESE teacher with the small group. The students all quickly chose a favorite book, but struggled to write the reasons why it was selected. When I asked them why they liked the book, they could easily discuss it, but had difficulty conveying their thoughts in writing. This shows me that they are struggling with how to organize and express their thoughts and ideas onto paper.

     Later, I helped a small group with a lesson about counting coins. I had a bag of fake coins and I passed out some to each student to count the value. When they correctly counted the value, I gave them another group of coins. One student was struggling more than the others. He started off by organizing the coins from greatest to least, which was good, but had trouble counting by 25, 10, or 5. This shows me that the student was giving effort and understood what he needed to do, but struggled with counting them correctly. I assisted this student by letting him know when his counting of each coin was correct and counting with him when he had trouble. By the end of the session, I noticed a significant improvement in his ability to correctly count by 25. I am hopeful this student will continue to progress quickly, due to his strong effort and listening skills.

Urban Education, post 5

     This week, I observed upper elementary students’ instruction in reading, math, and science. During reading, there were two teachers in the class and the students were split into three groups. Two of the groups had a teacher providing assistance and there was one group reading without a teacher at their table. Part way through the class, another teacher came in and called on students one at a time to read. As I observed each of the different groups, I noticed that students were in the group that was similar to their ability in reading. I was surprised at the difference in the levels of fluency and comprehension among the groups. This reminded me of the importance of assessing a student’s reading level and providing appropriate instruction for individual students. I thought it was nice that the teacher had extra teachers in the room to assist her with the reading groups. In the upper elementary grades particularly, there can be a large disparity between the higher and lower level students. This makes reading groups all the more important. I was pleased to see that this class appeared to be providing individual instruction for its students.
    
     I also noticed that some students were taken to a different room during math. I inquired and learned that these students were receiving math intervention during this time. During science instruction, the teacher had the students split into groups of three or four and gave each group a whiteboard and marker. They were preparing for an upcoming test. She asked the question and had the students use their textbooks and work together to find the answer. One student per group was assigned to write the answer on the whiteboard and another was assigned to bring the board to show the teacher their answer. I liked this teaching method because it teaches the students how to effectively look up information and encourages cooperative learning. I plan to implement methods similar to this in my future classroom.