Oh man, what fun! Though I felt 100x more comfortable just kind of co-teaching than trying to completely teach on my own, I still feel like it was a great experience....
I went to my placement three times this week....
Day 1: Just went to help out with the paper making lesson. The basic steps: blend paper, pour into cookie cutter mold, pat dry, transfer onto non-stick material, decorate. The students had two choices: a tree or a gingerbread man. It went great. My mentor teacher ran most of it, but I explained parts of the process and then helped all the kids on each station. The kids loved it. There was only one little girl who absolutely would not touch the blended paper.... But that was ok because we just had her watch that step and then do all the other steps. Also one boy kept asking if it was candy, which I thought was funny. Then he asked if they would get candy when they got the project back... THEN he asked if one of the statues of a gingerbread man that we had as an example was candy... haha he was adorable. Anyway, everyone was very well behaved. They put a little too much paint on during the decorating process, so we made sure to note that. Also we went about ten minutes overtime, so we also noted that as well.
Day 2: Started out in the regular classroom, just observing mostly. Helped one student with his speech words, just checking off 100 words as he said/recognized them correctly. Then it was off to art. I was really nervous about teaching, so I asked my mentor teacher to introduce the lesson. I then took over demonstrating the lesson to the students, with Anne my helper =) The lesson went ok. I did feel a little overwhelmed trying to keep an eye on all the kids, and I am glad my mentor teacher and Anne were there to get involved with the lesson as well, though I feel after doing the lesson a few times I would get a routine down for sure. I think I let nerves get the best of me, but overall the kids seemed to be having fun and that's really all the matters in the end. I was impressed by how well the students worked in pairs, especially one student paired with another student using a wheelchair. He was so helpful and wonderful with how he worked with and treated her. All the partners pretty much worked fine without any problems. One kid said the blended brown paper looked like hamburger meat, which I thought was funny. They were grossed out by the blended paper at first, but most of them loved getting to touch the mushy paper. Very fun to watch. We went overtime again by about the same amount, which was a problem....
Day 3: Sorry I had to skip out of class early, but I was happy to be able to help out with the last of the third grade classes. Being the third time doing this project, I felt a lot more comfortable. I felt like my mentor teacher and I worked really well together this time around and let the kids do more on their own without telling them the steps as each group came up over and over again. I kept an eye on the first few stations; my mentor teacher called people to go up and managed the decorating station. We ended up finishing about 2 minutes overtime, with the exception of one girl who stayed about 5 minutes extra to put some finishing touches on her project. It was interesting to feel the change within myself from so nervous to much more calm this last time around. It definitely gave me a boost of hope that I will be able to one day be a confident teacher.
I think for me it was just about getting my feet wet with teaching. That's just how I get comfortable with things. I feel confident that by the time I complete my student teaching in my senior year I will feel a lot more comfortable and ready to begin my teaching career.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Visit 6
Monday when I visited my placement I had a few interesting experiences....
After the third grade class finished up a couple chapters of the pirate book they are reading, they began working on their compass roses for their treasure maps. I was pretty impressed with some of the designs they created. Then the students headed down to the gym for a Veteran's Day assembly.
The assembly was really nice, especially considering I don't remember my grammar school ever doing anything like that. The whole school gathered in the gym and the principal gave a brief introduction welcoming everyone. There were members of the community and parents also attending which I thought was great to see support. Up on the wall was a projector running pictures of veterans who were relatives of students and faculty at the school. Then grade by grade the students sang a song they had been practicing in their music class. It was really cute. The sixth grade then did all the songs for each branch of the military, which lined up perfectly with the slides being projected (which were organized by army, marines, navy, etc.) Overall I thought it was great to see how patriotic the school was and all the thought that went into their assembly.
After that, I went down to the art room. There was a little mix up because I thought the art teacher was at the school that morning, but instead she was over at the middle school she also teaches at. So after everything got figured out, I drove over to the middle school to do some observation there. I got to observe two classes, each with less than ten students in each. I found those students to be a little harder to interact with because they really didn't need any help and were pretty focused on what they were doing. But still it was interesting to see how she was teaching them as compared to the third graders I typically observe and help out with.
After the third grade class finished up a couple chapters of the pirate book they are reading, they began working on their compass roses for their treasure maps. I was pretty impressed with some of the designs they created. Then the students headed down to the gym for a Veteran's Day assembly.
The assembly was really nice, especially considering I don't remember my grammar school ever doing anything like that. The whole school gathered in the gym and the principal gave a brief introduction welcoming everyone. There were members of the community and parents also attending which I thought was great to see support. Up on the wall was a projector running pictures of veterans who were relatives of students and faculty at the school. Then grade by grade the students sang a song they had been practicing in their music class. It was really cute. The sixth grade then did all the songs for each branch of the military, which lined up perfectly with the slides being projected (which were organized by army, marines, navy, etc.) Overall I thought it was great to see how patriotic the school was and all the thought that went into their assembly.
After that, I went down to the art room. There was a little mix up because I thought the art teacher was at the school that morning, but instead she was over at the middle school she also teaches at. So after everything got figured out, I drove over to the middle school to do some observation there. I got to observe two classes, each with less than ten students in each. I found those students to be a little harder to interact with because they really didn't need any help and were pretty focused on what they were doing. But still it was interesting to see how she was teaching them as compared to the third graders I typically observe and help out with.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Literacy 2
Multi-modal learning involves using techniques that appeal to different types of learners and using different media to do so. According to an article by Laila Weir, the multi-modal approach is good, as long as the teacher doesn't try to use too many different things at the same time. Then it can become overwhelming for the learner. Students can only process one thing at a time, one sense at a time. Also interactive lessons should not be used for the more basic material, and should instead be saved to help students understand more complex material.
Print-based techniques focus more on traditional approaches such as textbooks to teach lessons. There is less visual stimulation and more focus on discipline, being able to focus, and a more rigidly structured style.
Though i could not find much information on the web about these two viewpoints, from what I gathered, I would say multi-modal is a better approach. I think it would allow different types of learners to succeed and also foster a deeper understanding of the subject matter presented. This is beuase I strongly believe the more angles a lesson is taught from, the more you can understand the material. Plus, our society is becoming completely submerged in the latest technology this and that, and therefore those advances should and can be used to benefit the students' learning environment.
________________________
Weir, Laila. May 9, 2008. "Research Review: Multimodal Learning through Media." Edutopia: What Works in Public Education. The George Lucas Educational Foundation.
http://www.edutopia.org/multimodal-learning-teaching-methods-media
This website gave a discussion on multimodal learning and also reviewed a report put out by a networking and communications company called Cisco Systems. Overall the source is mostly opinion, but also references some statistics about the effectiveness of interactive learning techniques. The author is an editor and writer who has had work published around the world, but it doesn't give any indication of her knowledge or background in educational matters.
Print-based techniques focus more on traditional approaches such as textbooks to teach lessons. There is less visual stimulation and more focus on discipline, being able to focus, and a more rigidly structured style.
Though i could not find much information on the web about these two viewpoints, from what I gathered, I would say multi-modal is a better approach. I think it would allow different types of learners to succeed and also foster a deeper understanding of the subject matter presented. This is beuase I strongly believe the more angles a lesson is taught from, the more you can understand the material. Plus, our society is becoming completely submerged in the latest technology this and that, and therefore those advances should and can be used to benefit the students' learning environment.
________________________
Weir, Laila. May 9, 2008. "Research Review: Multimodal Learning through Media." Edutopia: What Works in Public Education. The George Lucas Educational Foundation.
http://www.edutopia.org/multimodal-learning-teaching-methods-media
This website gave a discussion on multimodal learning and also reviewed a report put out by a networking and communications company called Cisco Systems. Overall the source is mostly opinion, but also references some statistics about the effectiveness of interactive learning techniques. The author is an editor and writer who has had work published around the world, but it doesn't give any indication of her knowledge or background in educational matters.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Visit 5
Today I arrived at my placement, and soon our class was back to reading their pirate book. Once again we broke into groups, this time different groups than last week. I like this because it gives students a chance to work with different peers. Also, once again I'd like to add how much I like the breaking up into smaller groups to read out loud idea. I really think it takes the pressure of reading in front of the WHOLE class away. My mentor teacher has great visual props that go along with the book as well, like a big pirate flag, treasure chest, and some illustrations of the story. I love that because it gets the students more excited about continuing with the story and I'm sure helps the visual learners imagine the story better.
They then began working on creating a treasure map, the first step writing out directions of how to get to the treasure. It was great to see the imaginations these children have. They incorporated geography terms into their islands as well which I thought was great. Also, it presented an opportunity to teach how to spell some new words. And the students don't even realize how much they are learning because they are so focused on creating the coolest directions of how to find treasure on their islands. A lot of fun.
In art class they continued working on their rock art/cave painting/Native American drawings and finished them up. One girl who was having a lot of trouble last week ended up having one of the best drawings/paintings out of the whole class. I loved seeing how happy she was with her work after almost being to the point of tears last week. I walked around and talked with the students about their drawings and why they chose the animal they did (because it was supposed to represent who they are). Overall another very fun project.
They then began working on creating a treasure map, the first step writing out directions of how to get to the treasure. It was great to see the imaginations these children have. They incorporated geography terms into their islands as well which I thought was great. Also, it presented an opportunity to teach how to spell some new words. And the students don't even realize how much they are learning because they are so focused on creating the coolest directions of how to find treasure on their islands. A lot of fun.
In art class they continued working on their rock art/cave painting/Native American drawings and finished them up. One girl who was having a lot of trouble last week ended up having one of the best drawings/paintings out of the whole class. I loved seeing how happy she was with her work after almost being to the point of tears last week. I walked around and talked with the students about their drawings and why they chose the animal they did (because it was supposed to represent who they are). Overall another very fun project.
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