10-28-10

One of the little girls that I work with seperately every week was not wanting to pay attention this week. She was lying on the floor while she was supposed to be sitting up, closing her eyes, and not answering any questions I was asking her. It was difficult to interact with her and get her to actually pay attention long enough to attain the information.  I felt defeated as I had not gotten her to learn anything yet and pay attention. After a while, I decided to amp up the excitment and make her excited to learn and pay attention. She eventually warmed up to me and my efforts and gave some effort in return. Although we did not get as far as we should have, I felt I had resolved the conflict the best I could do to the situation. And now I know how to assess the situation and attack it the next time something like this happens.

Teacher Interview about Communication

The Teacher at Westwood answered a few questions about how she communicates with the students and parents. She said one of the most important things to do is work with the parents when their child is misbehaving in class. You should win the parents over in a way in order to work hand in hand with them. When a parent asks about their child's progress in the classroom, she said she answeres honestly about the child. This is neccesary and a must if you want to get anywhere with the child and parent in order to reach the students full potential. These days the teacher I work with uses E-mail, phone calls, and daily conduct sheets to communicate directly with the parents. A daily conduct sheet is sent home each day with each child explaining their progress and how well they did that day, as the child's behavior wil change from day to day you must send something home everyday. If a child is bad at school, a note will be sent home regarding their behavior and they must bring it back signed the next day by their parent in order to show that the parent is seeing what is going on at school. Communication is key in a classroom, especially in a Kindergarten classroom where the learning they are doing is essential and behaviors change from day to day.

4th Blog

Yesterday was our 4th day at Westwood and a successful one at that. The teacher has a high level of accountability because they are responsible for their class and what the children learn that day. The teacher I have been with has a special connection with the students because they know they are being taken care of and learning the information well. This is fair because the children are the ones with the teacher and connecting with her. To be "child centered" means for the teacher to be there for the child and not for the money, also to do everything it takes to help the children improve and do tasks needed to become successful. This is important for a teacher because in order to fully teach the children what they need to know and work the classsroom they must be child centered. If I was going to be a teacher in a classroom, I would want an ACTIVboard. They are very useful and can help the children as a whole learn together and see the "big" picture of the lesson. They are many different charts and tools that are helpful and handy, I think, for teachers these days. Communication is very important as the students and teachers must work together to accomplish their work, if a student is not willing to work together they will not get as far. Some ways to promote communication among teachers, school, and parents would be sending home letters of each students progress each week(or more often if needed), have meetings through staff and parent conferences to manage the students and teachers progress in the classroom. This experience at Westwood has been amazing and just increased my want of being a teacher in the future. It has given me great experience and I know it will continue in the right direction.

Another Day at Westwood

Yesterday was another amazing day working with the Kindgarteners. I got to take three kids aside and work with them specifically on their alphabet. It was exciting to know I was a part of their learning experience. The children wanted to work as long as they could with me and did not want me to leave. As I walked around the room while the children worked at stations they kept showing me their progress and what they were working on. They wanted to tell me all about their work and lives, it was exciting to be so loved while in the classroom.