Schmidt Chapter Four: Great Teachers are Curiosity Seekers

             This was a great chapter to read to review about culture in the classroom. I think it is important to recognize that all students have personal strengths that come directly from their families and the culture that they were raised in. It is important for me to create a classroom environment that is accepting and open to all cultures. I think it is great that God created us all different. If we were all the same life wouldn’t be as nearly as exciting and worth living. God has given us so much by creating different cultures. We want to make sure that every student’s culture is represented and that we take the time for the students themselves to tell about their culture.

                When looking at the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards they have created a standard on diversity. It says, “The competent teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners.” I will accomplish this standard in my student teaching placement in multiple ways. We currently just finished our unit on Black History so that each student from this culture or a different one can understand what it took for the African American race to be where they are today and those who lost their life for this freedom. We also take a class period a couple times a month for “public speaking.” This is where a student can tell us about their family and their interests. This allows the student to share their cultures, interests and routines with the class and we can discuss how our families differ from each other but yet we are all still a community in the classroom.  

Week Three

This week was such a great experience for student teaching. I was able to pick up the rest of my teacher’s case load so I was teaching “almost” full time within the classroom. I was able to plan the lessons with my cooperating teacher and lead each lesson. Even through my teacher allowed me to lead the lessons she was still available in the room if I needed her. There were also times in one of our larger classes that she would step in and co-teach with me. We did this a lot in Literacy workshop. This class was created for students who are struggling in math. We are currently doing a workbook of story problems that relate to life outside school. The booklet is called “Math in the Mall,” and the students don’t seem to mind doing the math since they see how it can be used outside school. Each problem has multiple steps to it and can be solved in many different ways. I would walk through the problem in a way that I though students would understand and then my cooperating teacher would show the class how she would solve it. This way it allowed students to see that there are multiple ways to solving a problem and that students who struggle with math can find the easiest way to solve their math equations.

                I am currently teaching six subjects and they are social studies, math, language arts, literature, literacy workshop and science. In five of the classes I am teaching five students with learning disabilities in math and reading and because of that it carries over the other discipline as well. In literacy workshop I have a class size of about fifteen students. I found this class to be my most challenging. I have a larger class and students that are on all different levels. I also have students with some behavioral issues. For this class I am really trying to work on my classroom management and to have full control over the classroom.

                Being in this placement, I have learned how to put many teaching theories into action. This week in science we are learning about the solar system. As a final project I had them create the solar system out clay. I also connect math into our lesson by students reading a large number the correct way (example: 60,439). We started the lesson by writing the order of the planets on the board. We then looked up the diameter of the planet and wrote that number next to each planet. After that I asked the students to tell me what the smallest planet is to the largest. Each student was given an amount of clay and was given a specific planet to build. They had to work as a team and make the planets proportional to each other. As a class we found that Venus and Earth are “sister” planets so the students creating these two planets had to make sure they were the same size. By creating a lesson that used prior knowledge, visual and tactile it really helped them to learn our solar system, the sizes, and the order of the planets. I was an incredible experience to see my lesson and what I learned in my education classes come to life.

In reading Schmid chapter two I learned that "Eptness is a combination of capacities and meaningful activity. It resides in potential in all students, but it's unleashed through the deliberate efforts of their teacher."
I also learned that as a teacher that I can’t always be just the teacher but I also need to be the learner. In my classroom I want my students to know that they aren’t the only ones learning in the classroom. I want to be able to grow as a learner through each period of my life. Being in a middle school classroom, I see the importance of using real world knowledge and skills in the classroom. In math, I have the students using change and dollars so that they can see that math can affect your life outside school as well.
In my reading

In my reading, I learned many things about behaviors. If I had to choose three they would be: encouragement, feedback, and never being too late. Being in a special education classroom, many of my students have grown up with people telling them that they can’t succeed. I have seen students who have struggled with being confident in the class. It shows by way they answer questions I ask. I want to make sure that I am always encouraging my students and that they know they are in a safe environment to learn and that it is never too late to try again. I want them to know that it is ok if they don’t get something on the first try, as long as they do not give up.

Week Two

 

I can't believe that I am already going on my second week at Hamlin Upper Grades in Alsip, Illinois. I found this week to more difficult than the last. This could be because I am making the move as an observer to a teacher in a matter of a week. I was given a lot more responsibility this week and I really just want to try my best in this placement.

I felt by having a shortened week that my students were more restless. I noticed that they acted out more to me and would fight more among themselves. I had to send a certain student twice to the social worker for saying harmful things about herself or others. This week proved how important it is to have a behavior management plan in order and what the routine of the room is. I am working on how to deal with students and when they misbehave. For the most part I think I have done well but I did have trouble in my larger class of fifteen students to all pay attention at once. Hopefully, I will be more prepared this week and how to keep my class in order.

 Last week I was able to pick up two subjects and to teach them independently. My teacher told me that she thinks that I am doing well and has allowed me to start teaching two new subjects this week. I am now covering social studies, math, science and language arts.

I am very grateful that my cooperating teacher trusts me to be covering these subject areas. Being in a middle school, we have seven periods during a day and during my fifth period is when I have my plan time with my cooperating teacher. Even though I am teaching four out of the seven subjects in my placement I am only doing one subject that is created 100% by me. In our plan books I created a week of what I want to do for our science lesson. We are currently learning about astrology and I moved into learning about the solar system this week. On Monday, I will have students pick a planet name from a jar and they will have to fill out a “research sheet.” The following day I want them to create some type of form of technology to share their findings to their peers. I am very excited to see how the week unfolds of my ideas being used in the classroom. I also found that creating my unit plan from Education 380 has come to use. I created it for a special education classroom at a fourth grade level. I never thought i  be placed in a middle school classroom at a 3^rd-4^th grade learning level. It's been incredible seeing my unit plan come to life in the classroom.

Week One

My name is Ashley Wierema and I am a special education major. For my first placement for student teaching I am at Hamlin Upper Grades in Alsip. I am in a sixth-seventh grade classroom for high incidence special education. Many of my students have a learning disability in certain subject areas. I will be teaching many different subjects during my student teaching. These include: Social Studies, Math, Language Arts, Literature, Literacy Workshop, and Science.

This was my first week at my student teaching placement. On my first day I was able to meet my class that I spend the first five periods with seven students and for Literacy Workshop with a class size of nineteen sixth graders. For my first day I mainly observed and was able to watch my cooperating teacher interacts with her students and to see her teaching style in an array of subjects. Throughout the week she allowed me to lead small discussions or open up her lesson plans. On Wednesday my teacher allowed me to teach the Social Studies lesson and also the Science lesson. From Wednesday on I was able to teach both subjects until the end of the week. My teacher and I decided to co-teach on Thursday during our large class for Literacy Workshop. We broke the class up into two groups and I took my group to the back of the room to teach them the area and perimeter of specific shapes. My teacher did the same in the front of the room. My cooperating teacher made sure that I was part of her planning for the coming week. We wrote notes on what I would be in charge of or what we would try co-teaching. For the next week I will be in charge of leading Social Studies but using the resources from teacher and I will be teaching Science by my own lessons and resources. I will be teaching astronomy and I am able to use the unit plan I created in Education 380 for my class. On Tuesday I will be showing an interactive website on the solar system and the students will be able to explore it on the Smart Board.  

I learned so much in such a short amount of time. I learned what expectations I should have for my students and teaching strategies that are best for students with learning disabilities. One thing that I learned is how to be a model for my students. When I ask a question to my students, I first model on how I would answer or write for the question that we are trying to solve.

I hope to learn as much as I can from this student teaching placement. I have not been able to teach in a high incidence situation and I hope to take away many different experiences from being at Hamlin Upper Grades. I want to be a teacher that can be competent in many placements in special education and where I believe that God is calling me.

It is important to incorporate all the “multiple intelligences” while teaching. I hope that I don’t only teach from one multiple intelligences but learn to figure out ways that my students learn best from. I know that I always learn the best when I have a visual but I may have a student that understands different concepts by listening even being physically active.