Reflecting on Different ways of Teaching

I have been volunteering or working in schools since I was a senior in high school. I did most of my volunteering in a Title 1 school in both a 1st grade and 5th grade classroom. It was a brand new building just like other schools in the district. I volunteered with the same teacher for almost four years and really learned a lot from her, and her way of teaching. She also went through the same certification program as I did and uses many of the same philosophies I have been studying and plan on using in my own classroom. Over the past seven weeks I interned in a 2nd grade class in a different city/district than my main placement. This school was extremely different than the school I am at for my main placement. 

I am growing so much as a teacher because of the experiences I am having in the classroom working with different teachers who have very different teaching and classroom management techniques. In my main placement my teacher uses a flip card chart/stars for her behavior system. The flip card chart consists of different cards for each student and each card has 4 colors. At the beginning of class each student starts on green if they are off task during the day or misbehaving and do not stop after one warning than they are told to turn their card to yellow, if they are told a second time they turn their card to orange, if they are still misbehaving the teacher will have them turn their card to red and if they go to red they must fill out a red report telling their parents why they went on red that day. I really like this system because it holds the students accountable for their behavior. Another management piece my teacher uses is that each student has the opportunity to earn a star for good behavior or going out of their way to be nice or do something nice for someone else. Once a student gets 10 stars they are allowed to pick from the treasure chest for a prize.  One final piece for her classroom management is she also gives PAT minutes to the class if the whole class is on task. PAT stands for "preferred activity time" the class can earn up to 20 minutes to have this activity time on Friday. I have seen PAT in many classrooms and I really like this management technique. 

In the dyad placement my teacher used a different management technique instead of using a card chart she used a clothespin behavior chart. Each students started on ready to learn and could move up or down depending on their behavior. If the students clothespin moved up it would go to great job and then outstanding for behavior like helping others and doing what the teacher asked. If their clothespin moved down it moved to either slow down or parent contact. If a student moved down it meant they were not following directions, or they were misbehaving in other ways. I really liked this system and the students really loved it as well because they were able to decorate their own clothespin and they were able to hold themselves accountable for their behavior. Part of my dyad teacher's classroom management consisted of a lot of positive reinforcement for each student. She made sure to tell each student how proud she was of them or how wonderful of a job they were doing. In her classroom there was such love and warmth in the room and it was extremely enjoyable to work in that environment. I could tell that my dyad teacher has been in this career for a very long time. 

I do believe that teaching does differ from one school to the next because each teacher has their own classroom management and ways of teaching curriculum. I have been very lucky to have seen two different literacy programs, and two different ways of creating a classroom library. During my years of volunteering and working in my main placement I have seen a classroom library that is categorized by genre and students take the books whenever they want for silent reading time. There doesn't seem like any rhyme or reason why students pick the books they do and if they are to easy or to hard for the student.  In my dyad placement, the teacher set up her classroom library based on levels of books because the literacy curriculum she teaches uses just right and leveled reading books. During her literacy lessons she would teach a skill and students would need to apply that skill to their own reading. I would love to see this done at my main placement because it is extremely beneficial for students. 

These are just a few things I have seen that are different from district to district, school to school and teacher to teacher. I know that I will not be cloned to teaching a certain way but I am very blessed that I have had the opportunities to work with some great teachers and see what they do in their classrooms, so that when I am in my own classroom I can adopt some of their techniques and use them in my own classroom. 

First Field Trip

              Today, I went on my first field trip as a teacher. I went and saw Robin Hood at the Children's Theater with my 2nd grade class. It was wonderful! I had three students in my group and of course one of those students was M and he really enjoyed himself. He was on task and enjoyed talking about the play and his life with me. It was so sweet because even though I was not sure what he was talking about half of time he was just really happy that I was listening and paying attention to what he had to say. I realized today that sometimes it is not about what story students are telling but it is about reaffirming that what they are saying is important and that we care about what they are saying. It was such a wonderful experience talking with him and for someone who came from Mexico three years ago, his speech is so great! He is progressing so much and I can see such a difference in his behavior and his willingness to learn since when I first started working in the classroom 6 weeks ago.
             On the bus back I had a notebook in my purse and I decided to play hangman with the students because I thought it would be fun for the students and keep them occupied as well as have them work on spelling. They really enjoyed coming up with the words and it was awesome to see M coming up with words to have his fellow classmates guess. After hangman we started to work on math facts and they had so much fun coming up with math facts for one another to figure out. I am glad that I was able to come up with a fun way for the students to learn that kept them occupied on a long bus ride. It really helped me to see that learning can be fun but it just takes creativity and a simple game like hangman can me all the world to some students and their learning.

Writing Lessons 101

            This week I have really figured out that writing lesson plans can be extremely time consuming and there are many pieces to writing a good lesson plan. I do understand that teachers have teacher guides that they use in order to teach lessons to their students but how do teachers know if they are direct or inquiry based lessons. I never knew there were different types of lessons until we learned about direct lesson plan, inquiry based lessons, and concept attainment lessons. I know that these lessons are embedded in curriculum that we will be teaching and that teachers can create lessons based on these specific models.
             When I first started to write my lesson plans for my unit it took me a very long time to complete my first one but after getting back I did a pretty good job on it, so I continued to complete a few more and it got easier as I did my second one and then on to my third lesson plan for my science unit in the spring. Writing these lessons have been such great practice into exactly how I would teach something to my group of students and I am actually enjoying myself as I am writing them because I don't look at it as school work but as something that I need to do for my job which makes is more enjoyable to do than look at it as an assignment. I am feeling more and more like a teacher everyday which is such a rewarding feeling because I know that this is what I want to do with my life and I am enjoying learning all that I can.

Always Learning

              I realized today that I only have about four more visits at my dyad placement. I think it is going to be very hard leaving the second graders that I am working with right now because I have connected with some many of them. But I am looking forward to returning to my main placement because I can't wait to see how much my 3rd grader have grown in their learning. I feel way more confident after working in my 2nd grade class because I am growing as teacher and I have had opportunities to be able to co teach with my master teacher and lead small groups.
              My knowledge about the education career and what it entails has exploded over the past few weeks because I am learning so much about how I would want to manage my classroom and what would or would not work for me as a teacher. I am growing as a teacher in so many ways, I am learning that there is so much work that the teaching profession entails and that in order to be a teacher you have to love it because you need to have all the patience in the world in order to get through the day. Each week,  I feel that I am learning more and more about my self as a learner and a teacher.My master teacher gave me so many different resources she uses for teaching reading and allowed me to take any copies I wanted to build my own knowledge base for my future classroom. I need to get organized because I do not know how I am going to remember where everything is. It is amazing to think that we are half way done with this program and I am realizing now that this is what I am meant to do. I am meant to make a difference in all my student's lives. I am meant to make sure that every student in my classroom succeeds and feels successful in their education. I am always growing and will continue to grow as an individual and as a teammate for my professional community.

Halloween Stories

              The students were asked to create Halloween stories last week and after they were finished they would have Author's Chair which means they would read their story to the class and show their picture that went with their story. M did not write a story the first time the students were asked to write a story about their favorite place, so I was determined to help him write a Halloween story that he could share with the class. When I came in today my cooperating teacher told me that  M was having a rough couple of days and just was not focused or on task. She asked if I would immediately start working with him and get him on track for the day. I love that I have this connection with M and when we work together he does accomplish a lot. We started out reading with one another and then I asked him if he wanted to write a Halloween story that he could share with the rest of the class. At first he was hesitant and didn't want to create a story because all he kept talking about was pizza because that is what was for lunch today, so I decided to try and relate the pizza to a Halloween story and he seemed interested.

              Above is the story that he wrote about a ghost who loves pizza and has other ghosts over for a big party on Halloween. He was so proud of himself and I was very proud of him. After we wrote the story I could tell he needed a break, so we went outside for a walk for 5 minutes and then when we came back he was ready to learn. I have noticed that in order for him to succeed and finish his work he needs to take breaks from the academic aspect and just get some fresh air or just move around. After lunch today he was very focused in math because it is one of his favorite subjects and he does it very well, and when it was time for computers he was very helpful and always made sure his classmates knew what was going on. I think that today he had a better day and I am glad that I am able to help him succeed and feel proud of himself. 

Wonderful Progress!

Here is a piece of spelling work from M. He did this all on his own this week without any prompting or help. He is so proud of himself and is making great progress. Today he made connections from our read aloud to his geography assignment. He also did wonderfully when it came to his math. I am so proud of him and I love seeing all of the progress he is making over the past few weeks.

What Makes Great Teachers-ABC NEWS VIDEO (02-26-10)

I really enjoyed watching this video because it was really refreshing to see other teachers implement creative ways to help their students learn. It made me excited to have my own classroom where all students feel accepted and feel apart of a community of learners. I am looking forward to creating that environment and creating ways that students can use their imagination and be creative when exploring and discovering in their learning.