Whenever I start something new, I think it’s important to
set goals to drive an experience and ultimately lead to growth. With that being
said I have three overarching goals for myself. The first one is to use clear
instructions to target all students. My next goal is to gain confidence working
with people who are different than me. The last goal is that I want to gain
experience in working with and accommodating for diverse students.
Now that the goals are set, I need to decide how I will work
to achieve my goals. The first idea I came up with was to get involved whenever
possible during my time in the classroom. This might seem like an obvious way
to gain experience working with diverse students, but I learn best through
hands on experiences. It’s like PDS right now, I feel like I am learning to
apply everything I have learned from my three years at ISU. Part of what I have
learned being in PDS so far is to see what needs to be done and do it without
being told. During our short time in the room or rooms at Brigham I hope to be
able to see what needs to happens and take charge. It’s important to note that
it can be hard being a guest teaching in someone else’s room, so it would not
be big changes like a seating chart. It should or could be something simple
like having the students in a variety of groups. I feel that it can take a few
times being in the room to know how and what is appropriate. My next action
step to help me gain confidence is to working with people different than me is
to simply work with them. There aren’t any classes that teach you how to do
this, it’s something that you learn through personal experiences. I will also
take the lead when possible in order to accommodate from diverse learners. For
example in the preschool room there are a few students who have a native
language of Spanish. I think it’s important to use clear statements and age appropriate
language. Visuals when possible are also
important.
This past week I went into the preschool room. We introduced
ourselves, did a picnic game where we had students tell us their name and then
name a food they would bring to the picnic, then we did a song and closed with
a book. Source
Our activities moved much faster than we had planned for and before we
knew it our lesson was done. There was a slight issue with that, the teachers’
classroom we were in had planned for us to be there for 30 mins. And we only
stayed 10 mins. It was hard to know exactly how long each activity would take.
We also didn’t get the book until a few minutes before entering the room which
didn’t allow time for us to read it over and see what types of extensions we
could come up with. Reflecting on things we did and things we could have done, I
brainstormed a few activities we could have added.
Have children illustrate a picture and label what parts go
with what sense. Source
We could have reviewed the song. Or do this one.
Gone through examples of the five senses. Source
Exceeds: I exceeded by including extension activities complete with images and a video.
Ashlyn,
ReplyDeleteYou have three very relateable goals, which I believe all of us as future educators should focus on improving every time we step into a classroom filled with diverse students who are ready to learn! You thought of some great ideas on how to plan on working toward those three goals, which I also hope to achieve during our time in this school and beyond. You brought up something that I was reflection upon as well, that being the fact that we are guest teaching and have to be conscientious of what our limits are in the classroom. Being as involved and active in the classroom as possible, while remaining respectful of the teacher’s classroom is key to being successful in any situation like this. Therefore, I think another way to make sure our future lessons go smoothly and allows everyone to contribute would be to have the lead teachers assign assistant teachers roles ahead of time, so that everyone has a clear idea of what role they will be playing once we step in that classroom. Then, if the assistant teachers see any points where they can step in and help the teachers leading the lesson that week, they will know to do so. Finally, your extension lessons for our lesson that took place last week would have all been great additions to our lesson! With the use of more visuals and something physical for them to work with, I think this would have been a great solution for the situation!
Ashlyn,
ReplyDeleteI love that you included different activities that we could have done at the end of our lesson. I also talked about how short our lesson was within my original post. I think that the extension activities you provided would have gone great with our lesson! If we could teach our lesson all over again I would definitely include the my five senses worksheet! I think that could have been something we could have done together as a class. We could have made a smartboard slide out of the worksheet and made lines going to each sense then discussed why the ear went with the drum! To make this a hands on activity we could have even brought in some ice cream, a flower, a bunny (fake of course), a picture of the sun, and a drum! In fact, this might be something Julia and I could look into for our lesson at the end of this semester. The lesson that we have to do is supposed to include all the five senses and kind of wrap up the unit.
I also like that you noted how hard it can be teaching in someone else's classroom. There is always a fine line between jumping and and taking initiative and being over controlling. It is especially hard when you are not familiar with the teacher or students ahead of time because you are not aware of the classroom management that is already in place. I think for the future it would be helpful to know if they have an attention getter or what key phrases they use when the students are not paying attention or are misbehaving. This way there isn't any confusion.
Ashlyn,
ReplyDeleteYour goals are very similar to mine, especially wanting to gain more confidence when working with different students that are different than us. I think this goal and learning how to best accommodate English language learners in the classroom will be the most difficult for me. I have been working with many English language learners in my PDS classroom, so working with them at Brigham is nothing new to me. On the other hand, the student's home languages vary a wide range. I've been struggling to know the best way to teach these students and to figure out what exactly they need to help them in the classroom. I definitely agree with your statement about how there are not any classes that are going to teach us to become more comfortable working with students that are different than us, this just comes with experience. I think the more experience I have with this the more confidence I will gain and I will gain more strategies to use while I am teaching. I like how you provided additional activities that could have been done during the lesson. I think our group can have added more to our plan, but we also did not anticipate things going as quickly as they did. Since this happened we now know to always plan more so we are prepared. I also liked how one of your activities that we included was to talk about different examples of the five senses. I think it’s a good idea to show different animals or other things that also have senses and what they use for their senses.
Ashlyn,
ReplyDeleteI think that it’s great that you have three goals! I initially started with one but after we taught our lesson I started to think about my goal and realized that it was very broad and so I added a second one to compliment my first. I love all three of your goals. I can see that you took time to really think about what would not only help you but the students as well. I think all three of these will demonstrate that need!
I feel the same about needing hands on experiences, in any situation, in order to learn. I also think that with PDS I am getting a chance to put everything I have learned at ISU in motion. Being that we are in the same classroom at Brigham I would like to take the time to agree about our class. I think there is plenty that we can do to help these students as well as gain a feel for who these students are. I also agree that it can be hard teaching in another teacher’s room. I sometimes find it hard sometimes to know what is okay for me to do in my own CT’s classroom, let alone a classroom that I am only in once every other week! I am always scared to step on toes but I am hoping that I can work on that this semester at Brigham and in my clinical site. Lastly, your goal that includes you gaining confidence is very tricky. I think this is a goal that requires you to leave your comfort zones on a daily basis. I know this is something that many people struggle with all the time! But it is something that is totally achievable! With hard work and perseverance you will achieve this goal in no time! ☺
Ashlyn,
ReplyDeleteI love that you included a lot of extra resources. I think those are great and many different ways for young students to learn about their five senses. Young children especially need to learn a lot of hands on ways to learn material. Just talking about the five senses or singing songs is not enough for their young minds to wrap around this. These are their five senses! Its how they learn about the world around them so it is important that when they do learn about them it sticks with them. I agree that timing is something that is hard while we are in these classrooms. We are not in there long and the planning happens quickly and not long in advance because we are too busy with our PDS class and other classes and projects to get together outside of class and work on this nor do we have class time for this. It is hard when we are not in these classrooms on a regular basis so we do not know the students as well as we would like and to plan according to the students needs. I absolutely love the three goals that you came up with. I think that they are important and I want to be following your goals as well. I think that they are very good experiences to gain before we are put into our own classrooms by ourselves. I also like how you mentioned about being a guest in someones classroom when we are at Brigham. We need to realize this and set our goals accordingly, but we also need to use this to our advantages. We maybe even need to ask the teachers of those classrooms if they have any tips or tricks that we could use while we are in there and working with their students.