Friday, September 25

1. Describe one thing that you learned
I learned different ‘tools’ for transition times. I learned to use different noise props in the classroom to grab attention. The effect the tone of my voice can have on the class. Furthermore, different techniques to move students/kids from point A to point B. An example is creating two lines instead of one.

2. What questions do you have and/or what do you still want to know
What kind of teacher will I be?

3. What are you anxious about regarding student teaching/teaching?
Ensuring the students learn.

4. What are you excited about regarding student teaching/teaching?
Beginning Dyad placement and working with a cohort member.

Thursday, September 24

3. What are the different ways student learning is assessed?
It seems students do not realize that they are not constantly being assessed. They tend to think that teachers are always judging, watching what they do. They may be afraid to share answers or contribute to the class for fear the teacher may judge them. In class today, I was observing which students raised their hands when a general question was asked to the class. I think there is often the same group of students responding.

Yes, there may be other reasons for some students not raising their hands. Perhaps they are shy, or perhaps they fear ridicule from their peers. Whatever the reason, it is important, as teachers, we express to the students that they are not being assessed. We want to encourage participation, even when the answers or response may be wrong. Teachers should never want a student to feel reluctant to contribute over fear of being assessed.

Wednesday, September 23

2. Discuss factors affecting teaching and learning in the classroom
A top, perhaps number one, factor affecting teaching and learning in the classroom is behavior management. So much time is spent correcting behavior, little is left for instruction. I can imagine the perfect classroom where students stay on task. In this imaginary room, so much learning would get done. In reality, there will always be behavior issues to address. It seems one may need to make these disruptions minimal so that time is not taken away from learning. This is done in my classrooms by not ‘dancing’ with the students around behavior. The students are clearly told when their behavior is disruptive, and they are given a choice.

However, what happens when it is the same student having discipline problems. It seems they will spend a large amount of time not learning and further falling behind. What a downward spiral they can be sucked into.

Tuesday, September 22

8. What do you notice about the broader school context and how it affects student learning?
I learned the broader school context does not have as much impact on learning as my classroom context. The children spend so much time in class every day, it is imperative the classroom environment is supportive and nurturing. At this point, I see the broader school context as being supportive of the environment hopefully already found in the classroom. Ideally, the school will be working with the classrooms to maintain consistency. With consistency, the children will know what is expected inside and outside the classroom.