Day 2: Working one on one vs. Working with small group.

Tell about an opportunity you had to work with a small group.

Tell about an opportunity you had to work one on one with a student.

I was able to go back to the 5th grade class this past week.  During my visit I helped a little girl write a story down as she recalled it to me.  Her left arm was broken and she writes with her left hand.  She would have had to write a whole page with a cast on.  I was happy to work one on one with her, and I noticed how bright she was.  She gave great detail about the story and I was able to ask her questions about her reading.  The 5th grader was able to tell me the story in her own words.  From her description I would be able to understand what the book was about.  As she was giving me a summary, I could see her interpreting what she was reading in her head.

While I was there the class was working on math  problems (multiplication/division).  I helped a small group of students learning how to divide larger numbers.  They were suppose to solve it using the division bracket (to see it visually).  After they find the answer they were suppose the then take the answer and make a multiplication problem using the 3 numbers.  I found it more difficult trying to work with 2 students than with just one.  I was helping one student understand how to use the division bracket and how to set it.  Then when the one student would kind of understand the other student would need help.  I would start helping the other student understand the same problem.  The first student I was working with would lose focus and not want to work.  Then I would work with student 1.  Overall it was a good experience to work with more than one student, but I could notice how much harder it was to work with multiple students at once.  I loved to see how they started to really understand division.  The students were kinesthetic learning modality because they really learned hands on by actually doing the problems instead of just explaining it.

Day 1: How does knowledge of the way people learn related to the experience of being a teacher?

This is Rachel Harmon's blog.  I am helping a 5th grade class at Orem Elementary.  During my visit I was able to observe the students take turns reading out loud as a class.  There was an assembly while I was there so I was able to go with the class.  It was the book "Evertaster" written by Adam Glendon Sidwell.  It was interesting to observe how he was able to keep the children's attention.  For example the author had some of the students help out by reading part of his book or him being silly and not too serious.

How does knowledge of the way people learn related to the experience of being a teacher?

While I was there I helped out one of the students do their weekly spelling packet.  One of the papers he was suppose to fill out, it had clues and you had to think of which word fit by adding letters. For example, the clue was "These are what musicians read to play music." The answer was notes.  I had to help the student using the constructivism learning theory to find the answer.  That theory states that knowledge is constructed based on personal experience.  I had to use what the 5th grader knew to help him acquire the answer.  Since he had a hard time thinking of the solution, I had to give him hints.  It was rewarding to see the student get the correct answer.  Since being in this class I have been able to acquire the knowledge of how people learn.  This knowledge relates to the experience of being a teacher by the way to help/teach the student information.  The student that I helped on a one on one basics I feel he learns differently than other students.  Just like other students learn differently than each other.  I was trying to help him with the auditory (learning by hearing) modality.  It was working to an extent but I feel if I was using another modality he would of understood easier.

Relating the question back to my experiences at the assembly, I feel the author did a great job at teaching students how to write a book.  He used the different learning modalities, which are: Auditory, Kinesthetic/Tactile, and Visual.  He showed a video (Visual) on how to make graphics in movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Tron.  The students listened to him talk about the steps on writing a book (auditory).  He was able to keep everything on a basic level so they could understand.   The only thing he did to use kinesthetic modality was have some of the students act out part of his story.  Overall I feel my experience at this elementary school was beneficial because I was able to connect what I learned doing the bookwork with hands on classroom experience.