So far, my service learning experience has been so eye opening and wholesome. I have learned so much about myself and students, along with how different classrooms and schools operate... ⭐⭐
For starters, I was nervous when I first entered the classroom. I wasn't sure if the teacher would like me or if I would like how she taught. Silly me - we have developed a great relationship so far and I've learned a lot from watching her teach (both things I do and don't like). She is unlike a lot of teacher. As she strives to really have the students get ready for 6th grade and succeed academically, she also tries very hard to teach them mindfulness and awareness of themselves, others, and world situations. She doesn't sugarcoat anything either. When they are rude to one another, she brings up how rude/disrespectful comments can really sit with a person and that amongst other factors is what can lead to school shootings. She also mentions how lucky the students are to be in school because in some countries females are excluded from school and some children are fighting just to stay alive. I enjoy her class because it isn't just academic - she realizes these 90% of the students in her class are trauma students and don't have it easy. They're really going to need to be self-aware but still be grateful for what they do have because it can always be worse. Even though I plan to be a secondary teacher at the high school level, this is still something I plan to use in my own classroom because it was something we were never taught when in school. Now, on to the academic side of her teaching....
She has an extremely large class - adding 2 more new students to the mix, it upped her class size to 34 students. In order to teach this class in a lecture format, she uses a wide variety of cloze notes. However, I noticed she has a pattern when using this strategy. First, she starts off with some vocabulary words written in really large letters on the whiteboard for all of the students to see. She then asks them if any of them know what it means... those that do raise their hands and share what they believe it is. She usually gives them about a minute each of wait-time; sometimes she will ask a question to see if they will be able to bounce off of that and get closer to the correct answer. Depending on their behavior (if they are being extra rowdy or not), she will give them a couple minutes to partner talk about what it means to them. She doesn't also do group work or partner talks because some of the more gifted students get frustrated and call others "stupid," "idiot," or worse. After asking the class what they think it means, that's usually where I come in and I hand out their work sheets. It either looks like this example of the Cold War cloze-notes or she has them get out their notebooks and she has them write down the sentences, fill in the blanks, and then I go around and check. I asked her between the handout and the note taking which she prefers best and she said that she likes the notes in their own personal notebooks because they are writing down what they are reading and then they have to comprehend what they just wrote and find the most suitable vocabulary words for each blank; she thinks they retain what they are learning more. She is currently teaching them about adding and subtracting fractions, and the Civil War. She uses a combination of notes and videos when teaching them about the Civil War because one day in class one of the students asked why it was important because "it happened like 500 years ago." So she uses visuals to keep their attention and also visually see the statistics and why the Civil War was so significant. She also had each of the students write down their own working definitions of terms like the Union and the Confederates. After they come up with their own definitions, they work together as a class and come up with one final definition. For the Union definition they stated that it "was the North or blue coats," and they found that the confederates were "the South or grey coats." The making content comprehensible lesson that we did in class (EDU220) with the Titanic, is quite similar to how the teacher I service learn for teaches almost all of her lessons. She reads or lectures, stops and shows them a video or asks questions about if they understand, writes certain words on the white boards, and then the process repeats. The video is the exact video she showed to her class so they could get a visual idea of what a cotton gin looked like (Friday's lesson). For the class that she has and the lack of supplies and room in her class that she has - her lessons all come full circle and the students always leave with a new understanding of what she was talking about. It's actually hilarious because when they learn a new vocabulary word that makes them sound intelligent, they use it over and over - gratefully in context!!!
The students.....
One of the only students who is engaged 99% of the time, is one of my teachers ELL students. She works so hard and constantly is trying to improve. During this lesson, she had absolutely no idea what a cotton gin or sugar cane was. "We didn't have those back home where I lived," she told me. A lot of the other students felt the same way and so instead of continuing on with the notes and reading from the history book, the teacher stopped what she was doing and completely shifted gears so that they could put a picture to the words they were reading and trying to remember. She explained to them verbally what it was, and asked if they can connect to anything from their experiences that sounds similar. One of the students mentioned how when she lived in Iowa, they grew a lot of corn and it was hard work like the slaves had to do back in this time. They were making background connections and connecting it with the academic vocabulary!!! She did this so that while they were talking and making connections, she could find the best video or picture to show the kids, without wasting any time. I loved how she realized they weren't getting it, and then went a completely different route to help them understand. After she started to show videos and pictures and used the academic jargon in the book while talking with them, rather then having them take notes from out of the book, they were completely engaged in the lesson. Students shifted from being slouched over in their chairs and laying their heads down on their desks to sitting up straight to see what she was going to put up next.
For starters, I was nervous when I first entered the classroom. I wasn't sure if the teacher would like me or if I would like how she taught. Silly me - we have developed a great relationship so far and I've learned a lot from watching her teach (both things I do and don't like). She is unlike a lot of teacher. As she strives to really have the students get ready for 6th grade and succeed academically, she also tries very hard to teach them mindfulness and awareness of themselves, others, and world situations. She doesn't sugarcoat anything either. When they are rude to one another, she brings up how rude/disrespectful comments can really sit with a person and that amongst other factors is what can lead to school shootings. She also mentions how lucky the students are to be in school because in some countries females are excluded from school and some children are fighting just to stay alive. I enjoy her class because it isn't just academic - she realizes these 90% of the students in her class are trauma students and don't have it easy. They're really going to need to be self-aware but still be grateful for what they do have because it can always be worse. Even though I plan to be a secondary teacher at the high school level, this is still something I plan to use in my own classroom because it was something we were never taught when in school. Now, on to the academic side of her teaching....
She has an extremely large class - adding 2 more new students to the mix, it upped her class size to 34 students. In order to teach this class in a lecture format, she uses a wide variety of cloze notes. However, I noticed she has a pattern when using this strategy. First, she starts off with some vocabulary words written in really large letters on the whiteboard for all of the students to see. She then asks them if any of them know what it means... those that do raise their hands and share what they believe it is. She usually gives them about a minute each of wait-time; sometimes she will ask a question to see if they will be able to bounce off of that and get closer to the correct answer. Depending on their behavior (if they are being extra rowdy or not), she will give them a couple minutes to partner talk about what it means to them. She doesn't also do group work or partner talks because some of the more gifted students get frustrated and call others "stupid," "idiot," or worse. After asking the class what they think it means, that's usually where I come in and I hand out their work sheets. It either looks like this example of the Cold War cloze-notes or she has them get out their notebooks and she has them write down the sentences, fill in the blanks, and then I go around and check. I asked her between the handout and the note taking which she prefers best and she said that she likes the notes in their own personal notebooks because they are writing down what they are reading and then they have to comprehend what they just wrote and find the most suitable vocabulary words for each blank; she thinks they retain what they are learning more. She is currently teaching them about adding and subtracting fractions, and the Civil War. She uses a combination of notes and videos when teaching them about the Civil War because one day in class one of the students asked why it was important because "it happened like 500 years ago." So she uses visuals to keep their attention and also visually see the statistics and why the Civil War was so significant. She also had each of the students write down their own working definitions of terms like the Union and the Confederates. After they come up with their own definitions, they work together as a class and come up with one final definition. For the Union definition they stated that it "was the North or blue coats," and they found that the confederates were "the South or grey coats." The making content comprehensible lesson that we did in class (EDU220) with the Titanic, is quite similar to how the teacher I service learn for teaches almost all of her lessons. She reads or lectures, stops and shows them a video or asks questions about if they understand, writes certain words on the white boards, and then the process repeats. The video is the exact video she showed to her class so they could get a visual idea of what a cotton gin looked like (Friday's lesson). For the class that she has and the lack of supplies and room in her class that she has - her lessons all come full circle and the students always leave with a new understanding of what she was talking about. It's actually hilarious because when they learn a new vocabulary word that makes them sound intelligent, they use it over and over - gratefully in context!!!The students.....
One of the only students who is engaged 99% of the time, is one of my teachers ELL students. She works so hard and constantly is trying to improve. During this lesson, she had absolutely no idea what a cotton gin or sugar cane was. "We didn't have those back home where I lived," she told me. A lot of the other students felt the same way and so instead of continuing on with the notes and reading from the history book, the teacher stopped what she was doing and completely shifted gears so that they could put a picture to the words they were reading and trying to remember. She explained to them verbally what it was, and asked if they can connect to anything from their experiences that sounds similar. One of the students mentioned how when she lived in Iowa, they grew a lot of corn and it was hard work like the slaves had to do back in this time. They were making background connections and connecting it with the academic vocabulary!!! She did this so that while they were talking and making connections, she could find the best video or picture to show the kids, without wasting any time. I loved how she realized they weren't getting it, and then went a completely different route to help them understand. After she started to show videos and pictures and used the academic jargon in the book while talking with them, rather then having them take notes from out of the book, they were completely engaged in the lesson. Students shifted from being slouched over in their chairs and laying their heads down on their desks to sitting up straight to see what she was going to put up next.
I can connect this to multiple different lessons I've learned in class. From the making content meaningful lesson with the Titanic, to the entire 5.1-5.5 readings, everything ties together. I also noticed how she combines the BIC's and CALP. She teaches them the academic language, but lets them reiterate it in a common more simple way so that they can make sense of it in their own brains. She is constantly referring to old lessons she has taught them too - especially in math. If there is anything I've learned the most, it's that scaffolding is key to helping my students not only retain knowledge, but to be able to continue to build off of it. BICs sort of gets lost on her class... although they are only 5th graders, they only really have "playground" conversations when they are literally out on the playground. When in class she is always trying to build on their vocabulary. I think that is important because the better they can speak, the better of they will be in school. I can relate my experience to both Cummins and Krashen but I believe she would agree more with Cummins. On the playground I have experienced first hand that the students are always speaking in their native tongue. She likes to connect with some of the ELL students by having them teach her certain words in Spanish and I think that, that is a great way to build on her relationship with the students while also using their L1 as a tool in the classroom.
A strategy I would recommend is Pictionary or white boards because all of the students in this classroom either like to doodle or draw. They did a lesson in the library focused on why trees are important, only that had to draw not write anything and man can these students draw! It would be something totally different from what they usually do. When I was thinking of strategies, I thought about a specific student would really struggles with his writing. I help him quite a bit and I realized that he will draw what is going on in his head. So instead of writing working definitions, I'll have him draw what it means to him for me. I think this is something the students would have a lot of fun with while learning. Especially for those students who still are having trouble with spelling and writing full sentences. It would also be fun to make it a game, by doing speed Pictionary. This would really be fun for the gifted students in the class since they are all so competitive.
I am frustrated by the lack of help teachers get. The longer I am at this school, the more I realize my teacher isn't equipped wit ha sufficient amount of materials to truly help these students grow academically. However, I'm really excited because this experience in the classroom, as well as what I've learned in my EDU220 class has really brought me to the age and subject I want to teach at. I'm also a little confused on what exactly makes content meaningful... is it the lesson, how the students interpret it, or am I completely missing the mark? If I were to be put into a CLD classroom, I would fail those students. I am in no way, shape, or form prepared to teach any students let alone students who are still trying to acquire a whole different language. This learning and experiences has influenced me tremendously. When I first started this semester, I wasn't sure if I wanted to teach primary or secondary education. Even though I love all of the crazy little 5th graders, I know I will be a better teacher if it is at a higher degree.
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