Aevri, one of the little girls in Mrs. L's class, is one of these exceptional students. She has ADHD, and is on medication to regulate her brain, but she is a very busy girl. She informed me of it a couple days after I started working with her class, and I've noticed many of the signs that I learned in Module 3. She tends to fidget and wiggle her legs constantly. Some of her classmates get frustrated with her sometimes, because she can't control her wiggly-ness, and she doesn't think about things before she says them. Sometimes it's taken as her being unkind, but I truly believe that she doesn't mean things the way that they come out. She really is a very sweet girl, and is very good at complimenting others; but when she is in a classroom setting with her peers, she has a hard time connecting with them or the material.
Another student, Kelton, seems to naturally be doing well in each subject. He doesn't need extra time on assignments, he usually finishes early; nor does he have any problem focusing on the task at hand. He helps other students in his group to come to the right answer, and I'm sure this is extremely helpful for the teachers! I think some students will excel in school, simply because they are naturally good at it. Other students need the extra time and encouragement to complete simple tasks. The students in these 2 classes are always given praise for their work, in the form of treats, money to spend at the class store, as well as verbally. They learn from each other, and constantly encourage each other. This relationship between peers is so important for the development of students; it helps them feel confident in school, which will automatically make them try harder, and try to do their very best.
ADHD seems to be a lot more common in elementary schools now than it was when I was in school. Many students struggle to keep their focus on a certain task, and it's not because the teacher isn't fun, or the parents aren't involved in their learning, its simply because some children are just different. They need that extra time to complete assignments, because it's harder for them to focus. I'm sure it's a challenge to keep the other students on task while some children are being distracted or disruptive, but I believe the teachers in the public schools have been given tools to help them prepare these students for life.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Tell About an Opportunity You Had to Work With a Small Group
I have continued with the 5th grade classes, and have been able to work with 2 groups of students. In the past couple weeks, I was able to work with them in math, with order of operations (PEMDAS), as well as rounding numbers. In these groups, there has been the obvious students who remember the things that are taught, and naturally do well. Then, there are others who struggle, even to pay attention, to learn the concept.
While helping the children in these groups, Mrs. S would give the students a math problem, and they would need to come up with the correct answer. There were a couple times where I could tell that she was frustrated, because multiple students would be chatting with a neighbor, or they simply were staring out into space, clearly not focusing on the problem. The children have recess before math, so I'm not sure if it was the timing, or if they are just unwilling to learn at the moment. I would help a few of the children that were obviously struggling, and try to make them understand the concept of rounding numbers up or down, as well as what order they were supposed to complete a math problem like 2*3+7(4-1)+2=? The teachers had put together a fun little video and song to help the kids remember PEMDAS, and for some, it stuck in their brain, but for others, they still need it written out with the definitions of what each letter means in the acronym.
I was a bit surprised that they were already learning the order of operations in 5th grade. I don't think I learned it until 6th grade, but these kids are already tackling this concept. It's so rewarding for the kids who are doing well in the math section, and it's a lot of fun to watch them become so excited about what they have learned. Mrs. S lets the kids come up to the board and show their work on how they solved the problem. She'll ask the students what their answers were, and let them come up to the board and show her what they did. I think this method is extremely helpful for the students and the teacher. The students learn from one another, and the teacher also learns which students are struggling and where, and which ones almost have the concept but are unsure about a single part.
Schools are so different today than they were in the 60's. Now, we have many children of different race in the classroom, and they come from all different kinds of backgrounds. I've been given the chance to work with whites, Hispanic, black, Asian, etc. I think these kids have a great understanding of where they come from, who they are, and what they want to be. I see them play with other children on the playground at recess, and the slightest thought of something like that happening in 1960 was inconceivable. I'm so thankful for the changes that we have made as a society within the span of 50 years. It's incredible to see the leaps and bounds we have made for children in public schools.
While helping the children in these groups, Mrs. S would give the students a math problem, and they would need to come up with the correct answer. There were a couple times where I could tell that she was frustrated, because multiple students would be chatting with a neighbor, or they simply were staring out into space, clearly not focusing on the problem. The children have recess before math, so I'm not sure if it was the timing, or if they are just unwilling to learn at the moment. I would help a few of the children that were obviously struggling, and try to make them understand the concept of rounding numbers up or down, as well as what order they were supposed to complete a math problem like 2*3+7(4-1)+2=? The teachers had put together a fun little video and song to help the kids remember PEMDAS, and for some, it stuck in their brain, but for others, they still need it written out with the definitions of what each letter means in the acronym.
I was a bit surprised that they were already learning the order of operations in 5th grade. I don't think I learned it until 6th grade, but these kids are already tackling this concept. It's so rewarding for the kids who are doing well in the math section, and it's a lot of fun to watch them become so excited about what they have learned. Mrs. S lets the kids come up to the board and show their work on how they solved the problem. She'll ask the students what their answers were, and let them come up to the board and show her what they did. I think this method is extremely helpful for the students and the teacher. The students learn from one another, and the teacher also learns which students are struggling and where, and which ones almost have the concept but are unsure about a single part.
Schools are so different today than they were in the 60's. Now, we have many children of different race in the classroom, and they come from all different kinds of backgrounds. I've been given the chance to work with whites, Hispanic, black, Asian, etc. I think these kids have a great understanding of where they come from, who they are, and what they want to be. I see them play with other children on the playground at recess, and the slightest thought of something like that happening in 1960 was inconceivable. I'm so thankful for the changes that we have made as a society within the span of 50 years. It's incredible to see the leaps and bounds we have made for children in public schools.
Friday, September 12, 2014
5th Grade Classes: What developmental differences do you see in the children in the classroom?
This week, I have been working with both 5th grade classes in a title 1 school; working with Miss L and Mrs S. I've had a group of students from each class, who are having difficulty in geometry. I've been able to work with 6-8 students from Miss L's class, and then 7 students from Mrs. S's class. The rest of the students are doing very well, and are retaining the information that they have learned. The students in my group, are having a difficult time remembering the terms, definitions, and simple shapes. We have been reviewing these concepts every day this week.
These particular students took a review geometry test at the beginning of the year, and completely bombed the test. It should have been a review from 4th grade, but these students have really struggled. I've been working with them for a total of an hour each day, M-F, teaching them the basics of geometry. They are allowed to use rulers to help them with their homework and tests in geometry, which for every child, was extremely useful. We discussed angles (acute, right, obtuse) as well as degrees of angles. They already knew that a triangle has 180*, so I helped them find one angle, "x," when they knew the other 2 angles. We also discussed the definitions of equilateral, isosceles, and scalene sides, and classified triangles into categories of sides and angles. We then discussed the definitions and shapes of quadrilaterals, polygons, parallelograms, squares, rectangles, rhombus, and trapezoids. We had to go over what "parallel" means, as well as "congruent." I realized that the main reason some of these kids are putting down the wrong answers, is because many of them don't understand the problem. They know most of the definitions, and what polygons are, but when it comes to a test problem, they are having trouble understanding what they are being asked to do. Some students needed to review what the terms meant, and others knew what they meant, but would be confused by the question. I tried to relate terms like "quad," "parallel," and "polygons" into life situations (for example, a car has quad number of tires, and is a hallway's walls parallel?), hoping that they would make the connection and have an easier time remembering what the terms mean. I'm hoping they do very well on their retake geometry test today, because I have really tried to help these kids learn the information frontwards and backwards! I used a lot of repetition, because I think this age group needs to hear, see, and touch things over and over for the information to sink in. I know that not all of these kids are going to be visual learners, or auditory, or kinesthetic. I've been having them work with plastic shapes so that they are able to hold them in their hands, see them, and listen to what I am teaching them. My objective is to combine each of these learning styles into a lesson, so that each child is benefiting as much as possible from what I'm trying to teach them; and have been combining these three learning styles into teaching them about shapes. At their age, they need to be able to see the shape, in order to come to a conclusion about the angles, sides, and terminology. I even had them showing me what parallel, acute, obtuse, and right means by using their arms. My hope is, that they will read these words on a test or in their homework, and remember doing the actions.
I was also able to go out with the kids at recess, and observe what it was like from a teacher's point of view. I think it's very important for the kids to have this time to play, get some of their wiggles out, and take a break from learning. I mostly taught in the mornings when the students arrived at school, but also was able to see how they learned after recess on Thursday. I feel like these breaks from learning are just as important as classroom time is.
The children are mostly well behaved, and are very respectful. They listen and are eager to please, and are very good at finding things that need to be done. These kids are so thoughtful and sweet. The girls would usually compliment me on the skirt I was wearing, and the boys would be competitive, trying to answer the questions the fastest. Their personalities come through in their learning, and I was able to use that in my examples as well as saying "the first person to touch their ear can answer my question," etc.
On a side note, Miss L has the most fantastic classroom decor! Her entire classroom is Harry Potter themed, and now I know what I want my classroom to look like. I can tell just from her classroom, she has a passion for reading, and I think that shows in the way that she teaches. They are able to read a book as a class, and most of the children really enjoy it. I think some of the others aren't as engaged because they're simply not as interested in the book.
I've really enjoyed being in the classroom, observing and teaching these children. They are so full of life and so fun to be around. The kids are the reason that am choosing to be a teacher. Being able to interact with them, and learning and teaching from both sides, is an awesome thing to be a part of.
These particular students took a review geometry test at the beginning of the year, and completely bombed the test. It should have been a review from 4th grade, but these students have really struggled. I've been working with them for a total of an hour each day, M-F, teaching them the basics of geometry. They are allowed to use rulers to help them with their homework and tests in geometry, which for every child, was extremely useful. We discussed angles (acute, right, obtuse) as well as degrees of angles. They already knew that a triangle has 180*, so I helped them find one angle, "x," when they knew the other 2 angles. We also discussed the definitions of equilateral, isosceles, and scalene sides, and classified triangles into categories of sides and angles. We then discussed the definitions and shapes of quadrilaterals, polygons, parallelograms, squares, rectangles, rhombus, and trapezoids. We had to go over what "parallel" means, as well as "congruent." I realized that the main reason some of these kids are putting down the wrong answers, is because many of them don't understand the problem. They know most of the definitions, and what polygons are, but when it comes to a test problem, they are having trouble understanding what they are being asked to do. Some students needed to review what the terms meant, and others knew what they meant, but would be confused by the question. I tried to relate terms like "quad," "parallel," and "polygons" into life situations (for example, a car has quad number of tires, and is a hallway's walls parallel?), hoping that they would make the connection and have an easier time remembering what the terms mean. I'm hoping they do very well on their retake geometry test today, because I have really tried to help these kids learn the information frontwards and backwards! I used a lot of repetition, because I think this age group needs to hear, see, and touch things over and over for the information to sink in. I know that not all of these kids are going to be visual learners, or auditory, or kinesthetic. I've been having them work with plastic shapes so that they are able to hold them in their hands, see them, and listen to what I am teaching them. My objective is to combine each of these learning styles into a lesson, so that each child is benefiting as much as possible from what I'm trying to teach them; and have been combining these three learning styles into teaching them about shapes. At their age, they need to be able to see the shape, in order to come to a conclusion about the angles, sides, and terminology. I even had them showing me what parallel, acute, obtuse, and right means by using their arms. My hope is, that they will read these words on a test or in their homework, and remember doing the actions.
I was also able to go out with the kids at recess, and observe what it was like from a teacher's point of view. I think it's very important for the kids to have this time to play, get some of their wiggles out, and take a break from learning. I mostly taught in the mornings when the students arrived at school, but also was able to see how they learned after recess on Thursday. I feel like these breaks from learning are just as important as classroom time is.
The children are mostly well behaved, and are very respectful. They listen and are eager to please, and are very good at finding things that need to be done. These kids are so thoughtful and sweet. The girls would usually compliment me on the skirt I was wearing, and the boys would be competitive, trying to answer the questions the fastest. Their personalities come through in their learning, and I was able to use that in my examples as well as saying "the first person to touch their ear can answer my question," etc.
On a side note, Miss L has the most fantastic classroom decor! Her entire classroom is Harry Potter themed, and now I know what I want my classroom to look like. I can tell just from her classroom, she has a passion for reading, and I think that shows in the way that she teaches. They are able to read a book as a class, and most of the children really enjoy it. I think some of the others aren't as engaged because they're simply not as interested in the book.
I've really enjoyed being in the classroom, observing and teaching these children. They are so full of life and so fun to be around. The kids are the reason that am choosing to be a teacher. Being able to interact with them, and learning and teaching from both sides, is an awesome thing to be a part of.
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