What are at least three steps you will take in the fall to get to know my students as learners and as people?
I have not yet found out which grade I will be placed in starting the fall, but I have a few general ideas that I hope will work for every grade.
1. Students can create a concept map about their previous learning experiences as well as what they hope to learn and what they like/dislike learning about
2. Students can create an autobiography about their lives, their favorite things, their family, etc. This will help me to understand who they are as people outside of school.
3. I will hold student-teacher conferences. This way the students can tell me about themselves one-on-one and we can form a relationship so that the student (and myself) is more comfortable in the classroom. I can do this during recess or any time where there is extra time as to not take away from their learning experiences in the classroom.
What are at least steps you will take in the fall to learn about your school and its surrounding community?
1. I will get involved in my schools after school or extra curricular programs. This will help me build connections/relationships with the community and find out more about what the students like to do in the area or what types of things they are involved in. I have already looked up my school and I know that there are different African dance/music classes. This could be really cool to watch and see what it’s all about!
2. I will get to know other staff members by volunteering to work school events and attending staff meetings. This way I can build relationships with people other than my CT, students, and families of my students.
3. I will research different things in the area. I have already started to do this! I have looked at my schools website and figured out where it is and what the school is known for. It is called the “school of technology at the arts” and it seems like it will be very interesting and a good experience. By researching the area I can find out about community events that I can attend outside of school to learn more about the community, the people, and different things that go on outside of school.
What are at least three steps you will take in the fall to learn about your literacy curriculum?
1. I will contact my CT and ask her for the literacy curriculum and possibly make copies for myself so I can familiarize myself with the curriculum.
2. I will spend some time observing my CT as she teaches the literacy curriculum in the classroom to make me more comfortable with it and to help me better understand the curriculum itself as well as how to implement it in the classroom.
3. I will interview my CT with questions about the curriculum, her personal thoughts on the literacy curriculum, and the expectations the school has for the literacy curriculum of that specific grade as well as school wide expectations. I know that teachers can have different feelings about expectations than the school/district, so I think it is important to ask both questions.
If you were writing a letter to introduce yourself to your students' parents and families (which you should all do), what are three things you would want them to know about you as a person and/or a teacher?
1. I love teaching. This is what I have always wanted to do and it is my passion. I want my students families to know that I want to be here and to learn from them and I want to build relationships with each and very student as well as families. I will tell them what I believe in when it comes to teaching (that every student can learn!) and look forward to working together.
2. I am a people person and love to get to know others. I want them to know they can come to me with any problems, questions, concerns they have and we will work together to figure out a solution.
3. I love to travel. I’ll let them know that I have spent time in Australia working in classrooms and (soon) will have traveled to Israel as well. I love to learn about different cultures and I think that everyone has something special to bring/teach.
Once you get to know your students as people and as learners, what are three concrete strategies you will use to differentiate instruction?
1. Differentiation the content: This consists of providing more instruction for certain learners as well as less for others. This can be done through modifying instructional activities to meet the necessary needs of different students. When students need more of a challenge I will have prepared a more challenging question, task, or assignment for them to complete to make sure they’re getting the most out of their learning. If students are falling behind or confused, I will be prepared to try to help the student make a connection to what they’re learning or to teach it in a different way (visual, kinesthetic) to accommodate to that specific student.
2. Differentiate the process: This consists of using different materials, strategies, and skills to help diverse learners connect to what is being taught and ultimately help them learn. A few ways to do this are to have flexible grouping, meaning to have students work individually, with others in small groups, or as a whole class. I will use this by having different groups for different projects as well as assigning individual work and whole class work. I will use different manipulatives when teaching and different ways to scaffold lessons and using things like centers for different reading and writing activities during literacy time.
3. Differentiate the product: This consists of what students know and how they can apply what they have learned. This can consist of projects, theatre presentations, writing or creating something to show what the student has learned. Teachers can vary the end product of a lesson/unit by creating different options and different levels of complexity to the assignment to challenge students thinking.
Revisit your work in this class (blogs, logs, New Literacies, etc.) and the topics covered in this class (leading discussions, comprehension, writing, emergent literacy, and so on). What is the one area that we have talked about this semester that you feel you need to grow in the most? What are three specific steps you will take to foster that growth?
Topic: Leading discussions
1. Create an open environment- Since I have not had my own class, I have not been able to create any type of environment. I hope that for my internship year, since I will be their right at the beginning of the school year, I will have some input as to what the environment of the classroom is. Having an open environment will help students to feel more comfortable with sharing their ideas and opinions as well as respecting one another’s ideas and opinions.
2. Let the students share their ideas without correcting them or informing them of my own opinion. I have a hard time with this. I don’t ever want to make a student feel wrong or stupid, but sometimes I say, “I don’t think so,” or “I’m not positive that that is correct.” Instead of doing this, it is important to redirect the students to where the discussion should be instead of the direction they may be wandering in.
3. Have set questions that you want to ask to relate to prior/background knowledge, to redirect, and interpretative questions to make sure the students are on task the whole time. Being prepared to step in when needed, and to start the lesson discussion will be necessary to ensure that the students understand what to be discussing.
Reflect on your learning in the course. What are three pieces of knowledge, insights or beliefs that you have gained from this course specifically that you would want to pass on to future TE 402 students?
1. It is important to accommodate to all of your students needs. We explored accommodation through reading and discussions in TE class and it is a concept that is beneficial to understand and explore to implement in your future classroom.
2. The New Literacies Exploration Plan was a fun assignment. I learned a lot about different technologies and ways to include literacy through technology, and I hope to explore this idea more throughout my internship year as well as beyond that. I encourage future TE 402ers to get to know many different technologies to make literacy fun and engaging for students.
3. Try to hold book discussions over book recitations. When reading the difference between the two, I was amazed at how few times I had ever seen a book discussion. Most of the time, I just observe teachers reading a book, telling the students a few key points and maybe asking a few questions, but rarely do I see the students facilitating their own discussions and asking one another questions and building off of each others thoughts and ideas. I think this is a great thing that teachers should do in a classroom, and although I’m still figuring out how to master this, I hope that one day I will be able to hold book discussions in my classroom.
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