Blog Post #7

Blog Post #7

In my service learning  experience I have seen many standards taught and met by students at Vineyard Elementary School. In a recent 4th grade classroom I was in the teacher was able to teach her students about fractions. I now realize that this teacher went through and taught and retaught two of the core standards. One of the standards she taught was comparing two fractions with different denominators. The teacher used a day by day booklet to teach different aspects of fractions and different ways to solve fraction problems. I have also seen many standards taught in math in 1st grade. In her class the teacher taught the idea of "taking away" or subtraction by using a real life problem. The teacher compared student home lunches to student lunches. We then helped the students to determine how many more had home lunch then school lunch. I also then have seen many times English taught through cursive writing in 3rd grade to interpreting stories in 4th grade based on text. Some topics I have not seen Surprisingly I have not seen anything related to computer education in the classrooms I have worked in. I have seen occasional uses of computers but only when "free time" is given. I think that this a missed opportunity. I believe that if teachers used this resource of technology more their students would be able to interact better and have more chances to have a fun lesson they would remember. I believe more emphasis has been shown in both English specifically reading and in math curriculum. I think this may be due to the fact that these topics are generally harder for students to learn and must be continually retaught and built upon. My cooperating teacher feels that standard testing is good to show where the students are at in curriculum but unfair in the number of tests given. I agree with this statement and think that generally testing is a good measure of knowledge and skills yet, I think there is a line where there are too many tests given.

Blog Post #6

Blog Post #6

In the classrooms I was in today I saw many different types of diversity. First, I was put into a 1st grade classroom. I watched as all the children walked in from recess and noted how different they all truly were. They all had unique traits and personalities radiating from their smiling faces. In my first grade classroom, the teacher did very well in making sure all students participated and understood the content of her lesson. My teacher started after recess by having rug time. In her rug time, she asked one student to tell them the day, the weather and about their day. Then she had the student sit down and all students recite a song they had learned earlier that week. She then had the 2 more students come up to practice math they had learned. Each student she picked was random, yet all the classmates supported and helped each other. You could tell there were some students who did not know english too well, yet the songs, repition of words, and classmate support helped the student to succeed in front of the class. There were also many differences between race and ethnic diversity.  The teacher through her intstruction made sure to stop, and ask if anyone had questions. The students that needed extra help also were able to work with a separate teacher in the room specifically to help them. We also visited a 5th grade classroom, where 2 students had disabilities. One clearly had  ADD while another had dsylexia. I was able to help each student work through learning their vocabulary words and also in focusing at the task at hand. In both classrooms, the teachers were very patient with the students and let them work at their own pace. The teachers also went very slow and clearly stated all they were teaching. The teachers also used many non-verbal cues to help those in need to clearly understand the topics being taught.

Blog Post #5

Blog Post #5

 In the many classrooms I have been in throughout the year I have noticed the ways in which history has positively affected the classroom. For example, today the classrooms I have been in are not segregated. All students are allowed and welcomed in to the classroom, no matter what color skin they have. This supports the Brown vs. Board of Education Act which was established in 1954 which stated segregated schools was unconstitutional. In many ways I have also seen how Sputnik, the satellite has effected classrooms. This satellite has changed the way students learn science and has reignited the spark and interest elementary kids have in science. Many classrooms now offer STEM a program which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. In my classrooms, I have specifically seen support for English learners as well. One student that I was able to work with barely spoke English and Spanish was her first language. When I asked the teacher what this student should be doing she encouraged the student to write in her first language, so she could be comfortable in her classroom. When I went up to tell the student her task she smiled at me and said thank you. This is a huge step in education because we have evolved to have multiple cultures in our classrooms and multiple people who have just come to America. There is a large support for these learners though, which I see as an amazing step. This was a possibilty due to the Bilingual Act of 1968 and 1974  and VI Civil Rights Act that permitted no discrimination in education and funding for children to be able to learn still if English was not  their first language.