Day 6: What strategies does the teacher use to actively engage the students? How effective are these?

What strategies does the teacher use to actively engage the students? How effective are these?

After learning about the different strategies in the coursework, it was wonderful to see how the teacher I observe uses them in her everyday teaching. I was helping out in a second grade class.  I love how each student is very friendly and will let you help them finish an assignment. With the different strategies I will try to share explain examples of where I saw them being used:

*Withitness:  When I first got there, the teacher had all of the students reading to themselves in some part of the classroom.  At the same time she was working with 4 students at a time.  She was reading a certain book with the book.  Even though she was not with all of the students she was aware of what the other students were doing. 

*Feedback:  The students were helping the teacher write a story.  They were giving the teacher feedback at what she should do next.  Another way is there was parent teacher conference that was going to happen afterschool.  The teacher would be able to discuss with the parents what the students needs help with.  If the student was there, the teacher could talk with the student and help answer any questions.  This could be effective because the teacher could evaluate what needs to change and what they could work on together.

*Closure: In the class, they read two different kinds of books.  The both were about leaves.  One was nonfiction while the other was fiction.  At the end the teacher asked the students what fiction was and what nonfiction was.  The students were able to recognize the difference between the two.

*overlapping:  There is one of the students in the classroom that has autism.  When the teacher was helping the other students write steps to carve a pumpkin, she was able to talk to the student.  She was able to mange both the student who was getting frustrated and the other students who need help with spelling words. This was effective because she was able to still have control over the class.  But I do see how it is hard to be focused on both at the same time.

*Questioning Frequency:I did notice one day the teacher read a book out loud as a class.  The students were suppose to read along.  She asked questions along the way to make sure the understood.  The teacher asked quite a bit of question in the time frame when they read.  This strategy was effective because the teacher was able to ask questions and see if the students really understood what they were reading.

*Equitable Distribution: To make sure that every student got an opportunity to participate throughout the day, she had a little bucket full of sticks.  She would pull out names for volunteers.  It seem to work great.  Another example was she rotated who was able to help change the date or start the pledge of allegiance.  Someone different each day.  I felt that everyone thought it was fair so these worked great for the classroom setting. 

*Prompting:  When working on math, instead of telling the student that the answer is wrong and then telling what the correct answer is, the teacher asked questions.  Her questions helped trigger something in the student head to help remember what the correct answer is.  (The steps to get to the right answer). 

One example of active learning was the teacher set up some clocks on the ground.  They were not actual clocks but pieces of papers with clock numbers on them.  The teacher would have the students practice telling time.  One person would be the minute hand while another would be the hour hand.  The class would have to work together to find the right time that was desired.

Day 5: What do you think is the most challenging role a teacher plays? Why?

I switched teachers this time.  I am now helping in a second grade class.  I wanted to split my hours and spend half the time in an older grade and half the time in a younger grade.  The reason I did this is to give an opportunity for myself to see what it is like to teach in the different levels of education. 

The teacher that I helped had each child read out loud to themselves.  I walked around and had each child read to me.  I feel the most challenging role a teacher plays is being able to fit the needs of the student.  I listened how each student were reading at different reading levels.  One child could read without problems at a really good pace.  While there was another student that struggled to sound the words out.  The teacher would need to find a way to challenge the student who could read really well  and at the same time find material that would help the other student grow. 

Another example was I helped the students write how to crave a pumpkin in their own words.  Some children had no problem doing this task.  While others need help spelling words.  A teacher would need to balance their time.  They wouldn't be able to focus their time on one student, even if the student needed help but make sure the overall class was accomplishing the task.  One good way to find time for the one student would be during recess or lunch.

Day 4: •What clerical and preparation responsibilities have you participated in?

What clerical and preparation responsibilities have you participated in?

The teacher had a math test to prepare for so I helped double check her answers on the computer.  She had to use a program on the computer because the kids put their answers on a bubble sheet.  I helped her make copies.  I then had to staple all of the copies together. There was a cool machine in the faculty room that took the messy papers and shakes it until it becomes neat.

I helped the teacher staple two weeks worth of spelling packets together.   Before stapling I had to assemble the packets.  Another clerical and preparation responsibility that I helped participate in was I graded the students homework assignments.  The teacher gave me a reference on what the answers should be and I then recorded the scores in the computer.  I know that teaching a class takes a lot of work.  You can't teach without preparing beforehand.  The teacher didn't do the test prep before so we had to do it in class.

Day 3: •What strategies does the teacher use to support students who are English learners?

I am helping in a 5th grade class.  One strategy the teacher used while I was there was reading out loud.  There was a book that all of the students were following along as she read out loud.  This strategy does help support the students who are English learners because it shows how fun reading can be.  Another strategy that was used while I was there was oral language development.  I listened to a student read out loud and then proceed to retell what had happened.  I had to ask him questions to make sure he understood what he had read.  I had to do this process with 2 different students 2 different times.  It was interesting to see how different the students were when reading the words and their answers. 

I went over the students assignment with them as a class.  I would read the instructions and then the whole question before picking a student to tell me the answer.  I strategy I used was exaggerate intonations at times and made sure I talked slowly.  The students were able to know that the right answer was and all were able to understand the assignment.  There was a math test on this particular day.  I helped a few students on a back table with any help they requested.  I was able to go through each problem and make sure they understood.  There was one student in particular who was able to understand much easier with someone being one on one.

I used what I learned in class about English Learners and these 2 websites to write this post:
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/strategies-teaching-english-language-learners
http://benchmarkeducation.com/educational-leader/learning-environment/supporting-english-language-learners-in-reading-and-writing.html