Week 6

        The reading this past week mentioned developing a research plan and differentiated classrooms.  Our field experience has had us do some similar things that would have to be done in developing a research plan.  I have taken field notes, taken up student work, interviewed students, reflected on my experience, taken surveys, and have seen quantitative measures of student achievement.  All of these different strategies have helped me gain more perspective on the classroom environment and the student interactions.
        I have always had a little trouble figuring out how I was going to differentiate my classroom and lessons without it being unfair.  The grade I am working with, 2nd grade, are very set on being fair and if it is not fair, they get extremely upset.  I'm worried that if they see I am changing the lesson for a particular student to make it less or more challenging, they will not understand.  And I do not want to explain to the entire class that I am doing that because this student cannot keep up as quickly as the rest of the class and this student is able to do more than normal.  But I guess over time, the students would get used to this and just let it be without arguing anymore.  We need to try and teach our students that fair does not mean identical treatment but instead means equity of opportunity to grow and succeed.  If we are able to convey that message to the students then they will better understand the concept of differentiated learning and the necessity of it.
        My wondering for my inquiry has been determined and ideally isolated to the subject of math to make data collection a little easier.  My wondering is: how can hands-on activities improve student behavior and learning?

Week 5

        This week has been quite eventful compared to the past few.  On Monday and Tuesday my partner and I had to deal with a lot of behavior problems.  The upside about that was that it gave us an insight on the "not so glorious side of teaching" which was good for us to experience.  It gave us the opportunities to figure out how to handle different situations and issues.
        After reading "Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom" on differentiated instruction, I was able to connect it with my classroom and students.  Differentiation is a classroom practice with a balanced emphasis on individual students and course content.  On Monday, they were learning about "double borrowing" in three digit subtraction.  For example, 403 - 159 = ? where the students have to borrow from the "4" and "turn the 0 into a 9" and then "turn the 3 into a 13".  The students were extremely confused and there was not enough time to truly explain what they are doing when they do that.  There was no time to differentiate the lesson so our mentor teacher just had us teach the students the "rules" which was, of course, still very confusing.
        Lindsey and I were able to teach our Pathwise lesson plan this week and it did not go that smoothly.  We eventually had to break the class into groups for an activity and we broke them up based on their reading levels and behavior.  The students' desks are set up to where there is rarely ever any group work being done so I do not think they were ever taught how to work in a group which our activity very difficult to get through.  One thing that our reading mentioned about differentiated instruction is that you have to be flexible and we definitely were flexible in this lesson.  We had to continue to scaffold certain students that were still having a difficult time and managing groups that did not seem to work well together.  Overall, I think this lesson provided us with a lot of information and insight on how our students work and what they need to work on socially.
        Weekly wondering:  When and how can I provide the knowledge and experience for my students so they will know how to be more successful in collaborative groups?

Week 4

        This week was similar to the other weeks that I have been to at this school.  My mentor teacher had me and my partner teach quite a few lessons while we were there.  Our teacher has had us take over Reading instruction whenever we are there and sometimes has us do math and science as well.  This has been great experience for both of us.
        The reading for our seminar  in "Better Learning" was able to connect with something I did during reading instruction last week.  The chapter about guided instruction was very relevant, I thought, with my teaching.  A major part of guided instruction is scaffolding and I did that for the class through my non-examples that I provided.  I was working on grammar with the class about irregular verbs and their past tenses.  The words we discussed were "go", "do", "see", and "say".  They have learned that if the verb is past tense then you add an "ed" to the end of it.  With the words previously stated, that is not the case.  Those words past tense are "went", "did", "saw", and "said".  I know they can hear what sounds correct but not necessarily notice it on paper so I verbally gave them a couple of non-examples to help them figure it out.  Some of the examples I gave them were "I goed to the market" and "I doed my homework".  The class automatically knew it was wrong and what needed to be changed.  After we filled in the correct answers, we chorally read each sentence together to make sure every one sounded right.
        After doing this, I realized that the students really enjoyed correcting my non-examples because they thought it was funny that a teacher said something incorrectly.
Wondering: By making the students become the teachers of the class sometimes, will it help them to understand and be more engaged in a lesson?

Week 3

        Week three of my pre-internship has been just as rewarding as week one and two.  Although we were only there for two days, our teacher still had plenty of things for us to do in the classroom.  One of the things that I decided to do this week was observe individual students to see if I could figure out their strengths and weaknesses.  There are several students who excel in certain subjects and others, of course, who work at a much slower pace.  This made me think of how the different learning levels would affect the lesson.  According to "Better Learning" there should be a focus lesson, guided instruction, collaborative work, and independent work in every lesson.  In my class right now there just seems to be the focus lesson, guided instruction, and individual work; there does not seem to be time for the collaborative work.  I think if we were able to fit the collaboration in though, it would be beneficial for all of the students.  The higher level students would be able to assist the students that are having trouble and they can discuss why it is supposed to be the way it is.  It also said in the reading that students should not be asked to do unfamiliar tasks independently and I think my mentor teacher does a good job of activating the students' background knowledge before beginning an activity or assignment.
        There was one student that caught my attention this week with a comment he had said aloud but not directed to anyone; he was just voicing a thought.  He said that school was boring and they just sit in their desks and write all day and that is all they ever do.  And after I thought about it, the majority of their day is sitting at their desks.  So this got me thinking of another wondering:  How can I make the classroom more active and engaging for the students while keeping an effective learning environment?

Week 1 & 2

        The past two weeks at my elementary school have been great!  I'm in a second grade classroom  with 19 students.  In my first week, my teacher had plugged me and my partner into teaching different subjects to the class.  I read stories and reviewed vocabulary words with the students throughout the readings.  This was a good way for the students to see that we are teachers, not just volunteers in their classroom.
        The second week of my pre-internship, our teacher had us co-teach an entire day while she did FAIR testing with individual students throughout the day.  She wrote down and planned the whole day for us because there was very little time for preparation and it was very helpful.  We had a few issues with getting the students settled down while teaching some lessons, especially after lunch and free play.  There were times where we actually had to get pretty stern with the students so they knew that we did not appreciate them being disrespectful while we were trying to teach.
        There are a couple of ways that our practicum has related to our reading.  Chapter 1 discussed teacher inquiry which can be used to our advantage.  Some essential points of teacher inquiry are teacher engagement, intentional reflections, and Professional Learning Communities.  We are always engaged with our students and the classroom and are continuously reflecting on our actions and the students' actions to help us be more effective with our teaching.  I also see our weekly seminar as a type of PLC for a group of us (student teachers) to discuss our experiences with our students and teachers with each other.
        Weekly wondering:  How can I present the material of the lesson to the class so they stay engaged?