December 1, 2009
Valmead Reflection 5
1.) What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction?
Again, I have to say our teacher has such a great routine established its as if they do the same things every day. Morning worksheet, AR testing, basal reading and questioning, small group reading and teacher reads after lunch. I have read several books to the students after lunch. Some of the books have been on the 2nd grade level and others have not. The students like to be read to. They also enjoy reading out of the basal. The last story we read out of the basal was a play “Johnny Appleseed”. I do not think the students full understood that it was a play. They read it as if it was a story. There was no emotion or change in voice. Also, the students read the stage directions without distinguishing between the character and the directions.
2. What have you taught in your internship?
I did two lessons out of the basal, I taught word families, abbreviations, and friendship. I enjoyed being in the classroom and seeing the student learn from week to week. I feel that I has helpful in this classroom. I taught as much as the teacher would allow me. I am thankful the opportunity to get to spend time in this classroom.
3. Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.
Most of the students seem to enjoy learning and going to school. The teacher seem to care about their students. I have seen many lessons on mathematics and Language arts. I wonder where the history and science were. I want to be a teacher that incorporates all the subjects in the classroom.
4. Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning.
How do you incorporate all subjects into a classroom? Do you incorporate more than one subject into each lesson?
Valmead Reflection 4
1.) What have you seen in language arts/reading?
I feel that I have seen the same thing over and over. The teacher has estiablished a routine for her students. Everyday they have a morning worksheet that consist of writing spellings words, correcting sentences, writing a paragraph and putting spelling words in ABC order. While the students are doing their morning worksheet the teacher allows the students to do their AR testing. Each child is required to take an AR test at least three to four times a week. Students seem to enjoy AR. They like going to the library to chose a new book. Each child has a specific colored dot that is their reading level. They are required to only get books on their “dot”.
2.) What have you taught in your internship?
Every morning while the students are doing their morning worksheets I would walk around and help the students who had questions. I found it intresting that most of the studnets had the same questions. If I saw that several students did not understand the question I would ask the teacher if I could explain the question to the class. For example the teacher asked the students to write down all of th spelling words with “EE” in them. The students did not seem to understand what she was asking. I explained that the teacher was look for works that had “EE” in the word. (Feel, sheep) I have taught word families.
3.) Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.
I have noticed that the students seem to enjoy to read. They want to go take AR test and they want to get new books. They are very eager to move up the “dot” system.
4.) Any questions:
Is AR a good program? Does it help students become better readers?
November 28, 2009
Valmead Reflection3
What have you seen in language arts/reading?
Everyday the teacher gives the students a morning worksheet in which they complete throughout the day or morning. The worksheet consists of vocabulary, spelling, correct sentences, making punctuations, adding ending to make word plural and writing a morning story. This worksheet takes up a lot of time and the students do not seem to like them. The worksheets seem helpful but it seems to me that they do the exact things over and over. Later in the day they either read out of the basal, read AR books or work in reading groups.
What have you taught in your internship?
I have taught several reading lessons out of the basil. Students have been reading about realistic fiction stories out of their basils. The thing is the students read the same story all week-long. I feel like they are bored of the story by the end of the week. I have taught/read Judy B. Jones to the class everyday after lunch. The students seem to really enjoy the Judy B. Jones stories.
Comments
Not to excited about subs. Students do not seem to like sub too much. The teacher I was with has cancer and was out a few days. The sub was totally different from the teacher. She was a lot more strict with the students and they are not used to that.
Questions:
Do substitute teachers have to be licensed to sub?
November 16, 2009
Valmead Relfection 2
What have you seen in language arts /reading instruction?
The other day the teacher allowed me to do a lesson out of the basal. The students were reading “Lemonade for Sale”. I used questions out of the basal as well as ones that I made up as we went along. Students wanted to read as I lead the class. They were all willing to read actually eager to read. I enjoyed the basal it helped me. This was my first time every teaching out of a basal or even teaching a reading lesson. It made me look forward to teaching a DRTA or a text talk lesson. I enjoyed the basal because it was information that was easy access. As a teacher I look forward to teaching both out of a basal and using DRTA’s and text talk lessons.
Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.
I think it is very interesting that in my class there is such a mixture of learners. The students are so eager and willing to learn.
November 8, 2009
Valmead Reflection 1
What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction?
In the beginning of class the teacher passes out a morning worksheet which contains the story of the day, fill in the blank spelling sentences, abbreviations and/or plural nouns. The students read quietly at their seat as they finish their morning worksheets. The teacher is teaching the students letterland. I do not think the teacher is very found of letterland I have only seen her teach it once in the past two weeks.
What have you taught in your internship?
In my internship I have helped students with spelling words, plural nouns, mathematics, reading AR books, and abbreviations of days of the week and months. I have not done direct instruction form of teaching but indirect teaching. I help students when they need instruction. Most of the students understand what they are doing.
Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.
I do not understand why the students I am observing work on their morning worksheet for about two hours. I have not seen the teacher actually teach a lesson. I do not know if it is the days that I go on my internship or maybe she does not do “lessons”. I feel that the students are doing the same work over and over. I have not seen no social studies, science, mathematics lesson but I have seen one lesson out of a text book. I think the teacher has been doing a lot of review. I came into the classroom at the end of the nine weeks so I hope that I will be able to see a lesson soon.
Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning.
