February 17, 2011

Yesterday we went to the elementary school again and I helped the students in groups of three with their "beginning sounds" through a game.The student teacher for the class was back and now she is head teaching the class by herself. It was interesting to see the difference in how the two teachers taught the class and had authority over them. It took a while to get used to the shift in teacher and handle the students there after. I got to help the same kids I usally do but then also help some of the students that I don't usually get to help or see their progress. Again, it was interesting to see the differences in levels of knowledge.

February 11, 2011

1) My class has a procedure where if the teacher needs the kids attention she says "froggy" and they respond "pop pop pop", well during the Valentine's season she switches it to "valentine" and they respond "I love you." It was very cute and got the kids interacted and acknowledging the present holdiay season. I played a math game with the kids two at a time. It was interesting to see the differences in level of math knowledge they already have and just how far the children can be on opposite sides of the spectrum of knowing their numbers(1-10) .It must be hard for the teacher to teach all the different levels of the curriculum that the children are at or having trouble with.

2) The new tardy policy. From a teachers perspective this new policy can have many different sides and reactions. First, it can help students who are usually late and missing parts of class to come on time and be able to recieve the full lesson. Second, it helps the lessons flow more as the teacher will not have to stop whenever a student comes in late and catch them up or change their attendance. But on the other hand, if a student is late to class now, they will be taken into the cafeteria for the entire day. Making them miss the entire class period. As before they would have only missed some of the lesson maybe, if any, and would have been able to pick up the lesson when the arrived at class that day. This way they will not miss just part of class but the entire class period and not be able to make it up until the following day or after school. This can hender a teacher's learning environment and make it hard for lessons to conitinue as needed. If five kids are tardy to class, now the teacher will have to take time out of her schedule/lesson time of the next day to catch those five kids. This policy may get students to get to class on time, in fear of missing the whole day, but students who can't help but be late will suffer and have to make up classwork leading to the classes full potential not being as high as it can on a daily basis.

February 3, 2011

Last week we went back to the Elementary School. In the class I am with, the teacher has a difficult job of controlling an entire class of 6 year olds. In order to get their attention while at stations, if they are getting loud or not, in a normal level voice she says "Froggy" and the children respond "pop pop pop". Her classroom is the frog classroom, therefore everything is decorated with frogs. So she says "froggy" to get their attention, and they know as soon as she says that they must stop what they are doing, respond "pop pop pop" and stay quiet to listen for further instructions from her. She has been using this technique since the first week I was in her classroom and it has worked every single time. The children know this direction and know exactly what to do when they hear it. The children also know that when the teacher's phone makes a certain beeping sound it is time for her to take attendance. They all shout out "attendance!" and then quietly go back to their work, but sit in their seats to make it easier for the teacher. If they know someone is not there, they inform the teacher so she can know if she had not noticed already. It helps the attendance taking process go by more quickly and gives the students a chance to use responsibility in helping the teacher. Those are the two techniques I noticed my teacher using while in the Kindergarten class.