My Field III experience

I have really enjoyed my time in Field III. It has been my favorite field experience, and I believe that I took away so much knowledge about how to manage the classroom, and I learned about the importance of learning about your students' families and how to incorporate them into the classroom environment. At the beginning of the semester, I was very nervous about going to do the home visit. However, my whole attitude about it was changed after we went to visit our child's parents. I found the home visit to be the best way to get to know more about the child. I learned more than I thought I would about the child just through this visit. I know that as a teacher, I will be sure to make home visits to each of my students families.
Another think that I learned in Field II was about how important it is to stay in touch with the families of your students throughout the school year. It can be through email, or a simple phone call, or through an informal conference if a formal one cannot be scheduled. It is important to let the families know about the child's progress,whether positive or negative, throughout the year. This way, you can work with the families to help the child be as successful as they can be.

Last Day at SES

I have to say that this field experience class was my absolute favorite one. I loved being at Summerville Elementary, and I believe that I learned a great deal from my cooperating teacher and her students. I will take away with me many ideas from her classroom that I will use in mine. I was amazed to see how well the setup of her classroom corresponded with the lessons I saw her teach. For instance, I remember one time when she was teaching a lesson on patterns and she used the pattern that she had created in the class calender to show how patterns can be made. There was just so much thought that I think she really put into how she set up her room before school even started. I think that as a teacher, I will also try to think about how to set up my room so that it correlates with some of the lessons that I will plan to teach throughout the school year.
Throughout the semester we have talked in great leangth about the importance of connecting with your studen ts and their families. I definitly think that Ms. Patte has done a great job with getting to know her students and getting to know their families. I have heard her talk about regularly calling the students parents to talk about both good and bad things. Grant and Ray spoke about how informal conferences like these can be easily done through a phone chat or email if it is easier for the parent. Ms. Patte always seems to be well aware of what is going on in her students home lives which makes me think that she has spent a lot of time getting to know her student's families.
I was amazed to see how much the students' writing skills had improved by the last day we were in the classroom. It was remarkable to see how most of them had gone from not being able to write a full word, to now being able to write complete sentences!!
I have really really enjoyed my experience in the kindergarten class this semester. I hope to continue to stay in touch with Ms. Patte as she is a great resource to have.

Family Information Centers and Family Resource Centers

I really enjoyed reading Chapter 15 in Grant and Ray. This chapter was about how to get family members to volunteer in the classroom. One thing that I learned about family volunteers is that it is important to include families who are bilingual in the volunteer program. These family members can play a vital role in helping other students' families who may not speak English stay connected with what is happening in the classroom. In Ms. Patte's classroom, I have not seen many volunteers coming into the classroom during the school day. However, they may be volunteering in some way outside of the classroom. Grant and Ray also spoke about how it is important to include opportunities for families to volunteer outside of the classroom as their schedules may not permit them to volunteer during the school day.
Grant and Ray also wrote about the importance of forming Family Information Centers (FIC) within the classroom. These are small centers that the teacher can set up for families to come by and get information about what the class is doing, and what future events the clas will be participationg in. These centers are a great way for families to stay informed with what is going on in their child's clasroom. One way that a center can be set up is by having bulletin board set up outside the classroom where parents and other family members can drop by and pick up information on theis child's class. I believe this is what Ms. Patte has set up outside of her classroom.
Family Resource Centers (FRC) are set up somewhere in the school. These centers have school staff on hand who can sit down with families and answer their questions. They can be set up in spare classrooms. They also require funding. Parents and family members can stop by these centers to get information on the school, social services, and other helpful resource information. I am sure that SES has one but I am not sure where it is located.

Being an Asset-based and Family centered teacher

Chapeter 13 of Grant and Ray's text focused on the teachers role as a resource and advocate to their students families. The text talked about the difference of being an asset based teacher and a family centered one. I think that it is very important to be both, but I really liked how they spoke about the importance of being and asset- based teacher. Asset based teachers are those who focus a lot on the good qualities that the students have and the areas that are strong in. They do not ignore the areas the students may be weak in, but they focus on the positives so that this positive energy helps students find confidence in their ability to do things well. The confidence that these students gain allow them to be more confident in trying to work on the areas they are weak in. I think that a lot of the time is spent in the classroom on focusing on where a students weaknesses lie, but I believe that a lot of progress can be made in those areas if the teacher focuses a lot of time on the students areas of strength.
It is also important to be a family centered teacher, because when you are one you are sensitive to the families needs. You respect where their problems may lie and you try to work with them. A resourceful teacher is one that combines both the asset based and family centered approach to their technique for helping families.

The importance of forming relationships with families

I really enjoyed chapter 11 in the Grant and Ray book because it talked a lot about the importance of forming a relationship with the families of the students you teach. As a teacher, it is so important to keep in touch with your students' families. Teachers need to continuously update families on their child's progress within the classroom. At times, it may not be easy to meet with families for a formal conference, so informal conferences such as a quick chat with the mom or dad as they drop off or pick up their child from school are still very helpful. Also, a conversation through email may work almost as well as a face to face conversation if parents have a hard time getting off wrok to meet for a formal conference. If a formal conference can be held however, it is important that the teacher have documents to show of the students work that can help the teacher provide families with evidence of the students progress, or lack of progression. Another great way to keep in touch with families is to regulary make home phone calls.Reasons for making phone calls to students families need to be for both positive and negative reasons. I know that Ms. Patte makes phone calls to her students' parents to let them know that their child ate all of hi/her veggies at lunch. So, it is important to keep in contact with students' families on a regular basis in order to ensure that the students will have the greatest amount of succes both inside and outside of the classroom.

My Final lesson in Kindergarten

The third lesson I taught was a writing lesson about using complete sentences when writing. The students had been reviewing throughout the week about what words need to be resent in a sentence to make it complete. In my lesson, we learned that a complete sentence has 2 components. 1) The sentence must include a who or what word, such as "I." 2) The sentence must also include an action word which tells what is happening in the sentence, such at "playing." The students learned that they must use these words in the sentences they write in oreder for their sentences to make sense. I opened my lesson by putting some examples on the board of sentences that were complete, and sentences that were not complete. I found that most of the students were able to identify which sentences were complete and which were not. We then moved onto our journal writing in which I told a story about my plans for Halloween and drew a picture and wrote a complete sentence in the teacher's journal for all the students to see. I made sure to point out that I had used a who/what word as well as an action word in my snetence in order to make the sentence I wrote complete. After giving the students time to work iin their own journals, I was pleased to see that most of them used complete sentences in their writing! For those who struggled with doing so, I spent extra time with them trying to help them come up with a complete sentence in their journals. Throughout the readings that we have done, I have continuously noticed that all of the texts mention how important it is to scaffold your lesson so that all learning styles can be reached. It is utterly important for teachers to do this in order to help each child understand the concepts that are taught to them.

How to handle abuse and neglect

Chapter 9 of Grant and Ray's text talks about how teachers should deal with students in their classroom who are being effected by abuse and neglect within their homes. This issue is a very serious problem that teachers must be aware of and always be alert to. Teachers have the responsibility of reporting abuse if they suspect that it may be happening tpo one of their students. It is a crime not to report it. Grant and Ray also talked about using corporal punishment within the classroom. They said that teachers need to think about whether or not it is ethical to strike someone else's child. I personally do not agree with it, even if it is legal to do. I think that there are better ways to deal with discipline issues than using corporal punishment. Grant and Ray quoted the NAEYC's code of Ethical Conduct and Satatement of Commitment which says, "Above all, we shall not harm children. We shall not participate in practices that are emotionally damaging, physically harmful, disrespectful, degrading, dangerous, exploitative, or intimidating to children. This principle has precedence above all others in this code." I think this statement clearly defines why we should not use corporal punishment to discipline children. I have never seen a teacher use it in any classroom that I have been in, nor was it ever used on any of my classmates. I know that I will never use it in my own classroom.

My Second lesson on Field III

I taught my second lesson to the kindergarten class at SES last week. I thought that it went a lot better, classroom management wise, than my first lesson. I took the advice of my cooperating teacher and worked on developing "the look," that I needed to give the students when they were misbehaving. I found that the students really responded well when I did this, and I was able to easily regain control of the class. I taught a writing and math lesson to the students. The writing lesson was a journal writing lesson in which the students practice drawing a picture about a story they would like to tell, and then they must write a sentence about it.
My math lesson was about using the terms "less than, greater than, and equal too " when comparing the numeric values of 1-10. Students participated in differentiated groups in which they participated in a variety of sorting and sequencing activities in which they had to determine which sets of numbers were more than, less than, or equal too other sets of numbers that other students in their groups had. The lesson was a great success. For my transition activity that I used in between the writing and math lessons I taught, I had the students play Simon Says. It was a great way to get the kids moving and get ready to move onto the math lesson.
In the Grant and Ray text, I was reading about transitions, such as a move or a big change within the life of a family such as a divorce and the effects it has on children. I thought it was interesting that research shows that children who move tend to make lower grades or have more of a chance of being held back due to the move. There is a new student that just joined Ms. Patte's class 2 weeks ago. Grant and Ray said that it is important that teachers give special attention to new students who enter into the classroom during the school year. Teachers need to be sensitive to the fact that new students may be unfamiliar with the curriculum that the school uses and the teacher needs to take the time to help the student catch up to where the class is academically. Ms. Patte has done an excellent job orienting the new student in her classroom as it seems like this student is caught up with his other class members.

My first lesson in Field III

I taught my first lesson last week at SES. It was a writing lesson in which I had the students practice writing in their journals. The students are practicing how to write sentences. I noticed that some of the students can almost write full sentences, while others are still working on writing one word. For the journal writing exercise that I taught, I focused on using Humpty Dumpty as my topic. Ms. Patte always models the journal writing technique by first telling a story of some kind to the class, and as she tells the story she draws a picture about it. Since the class is focusing on telling stories from pictures, I found a picture of Humpty Dumpty and showed it to the class as I told the nursery rhyme story about it. As I spoke to the class, I drew my picture of Humpty Dumpty sitting on the wall, and I made sure to reinforce the fact that I needed to use at least 5 different colors in my drawing, and I needed to make sure to use as much detail as possible in my drawing . Creating details in the pictures the students draw is always something that Ms. Patte really focuses on during journal time. After, I finished my drawing, I told the students that I was going to write a sentence in my journal that matched the picture that I just drew. I asked the class to help me spell out the words in the sentence I wrote above the picture in my journal. By enunciating the letters in each of the words "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall," the students were able to help me spell out the words in my sentence. Next, I asked the students to draw a picture using as many details as possible and write a sentence that matches the pictures they drew in their own journals.
Overall, I think my lesson went well, however, the students tended to talk when they were not supposed to during my lesson. I think that I would have had more control over the class if I would have stopped the lesson completely each time they talked and waited for them to acknowledge that they should not be talking at that time. This is something that I will definitely focus on the next time that I teach. I think that Lemov was correct when he wrote about the 100 percent technique. It is important that the teacher makes sure that she has the attention of all the students instead of just the ones who always pay attention. In my next lesson, I will focus on maintaining the attention and obedience of 100 percent of the class by continuing to monitor what is going on in the classroom while I teach, and addressing behavioral issues appropriately when needed.
I continue to enjoy, and I look forward to my next experience in Field III!

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall in the 3rd day of Field III!

Last week in Ms. Patte's kindergarten class was so much fun! The kids did a math lesson that involved raw eggs, blocks, and estimation! Ms. Patte explained to the class that they were going to estimate how many blocks would need to be stacked up for an egg to fall from and crack. The students wrote their names on a piece of paper along with their estimation, and then they gave them to Ms. Patte to paste up on the board. Ms. Patte took a raw egg which she had painted the face of Humpty Dumpty on and set the egg on the first block. She called a student up front to help her hold the egg on the block. In unison, the students chanted the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme. When they got to the part where they said "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall," the student holding the egg gently lifted his finger off of it and let the egg tumble off the block. Ms. Patte then looked at the numbers to see if anyone had guessed if it would take one block for the egg to fall off and crack and saw that no one had guessed just one block. She continued to repeat this exercise as she added a block to the stack after each time the egg fell from it without cracking when it hit the floor. Finally, after block number 11 was stacked , and Humpty Dumpty was let go, he fell to the floor and cracked! One student guessed 10 blocks and another guessed 12, so Ms. Patte explained that these students both had estimated the closest number of times to when the egg would fall and crack. This was a great exercise to use to engage students in a lesson on estimation. I definitely would like to use this lesson in my own classroom!
I noticed that Ms. Patte used great classroom management skills upon teaching this lesson, and in past lessons I have seen her teach to create a strong classroom culture as Lemov discussed in chapter 5. For instance, Lemov explains that the five principles of classroom culture that must all be asserted are discipline, management, control, influence, and engagement. I have noticed that as Ms. Patte teaches she seems to have mastered balancing all five of these principles as her students are always so well behaved, and they know what is expected of them in her classroom. I notice that Ms. Patte uses a lot of positive reinforcement in her class. She focuses on encouraging and engaging her students. I think that this is important for teachers to do in their classrooms because it lets the students know that the teacher respects them and believes in their ability to succeed. In turn, students are more likely to show respect in return towards the teacher and more of a willingness to learn and continue to be engaged in the lessons the teacher teaches them.
Since I am not there in the morning to see if Ms. Patte uses a "Do it Now" technique, I can imagine that she does because she seems to use it throughout the day. For instance, her students always seem to know what is expected of them when transitioning from one activity to the next. I notice that Ms. Patte rarely has to continuously remind them what is expected of them. I can remember in my own elementary classes where we would have a " Do it Now," expected of us when we came into the classroom in the morning. Usually, it had to do with a writing prompt that was written on the board for us to write about in our student journals. We all knew that the first thing we must do once we sat at our desks was to pull out our journals and begin to write. I think this a great way to maintain control of the classroom when starting off the day!

Kindergarteners learn the ABB pattern!

Last week, Mrs. Patte's kindergarten class worked on learning about patterns in Math. I thought it was interesting to watch Mrs. Patte's control over the class, and her ability to keep them engaged in the lesson as she taught. Mrs. Patte had the class sit in a circle on the reading rug. She began her lesson by showing her class the familiar math cubes that they had used in previous lessons. I watched as she engaged her class by showing her class the ABB pattern that she could make with the colored cubes as she put them together.The class was able to identify similar patterns they saw within the classroom, such as the ABB pattern that was used in their class calendar. I thought that it was so neat that Mrs. Patte had thought to set her classroom in such a way that there were many ABB patterns that the students could identify throughout the room. I hope that when I have my own classroom, that I too use creative ideas to set my classroom up i a way that I know I will be able to use it in some of the lessons I shall teach my class throughout the school year.
Upon doing my reading of Chapter 4 in Lemov's book, I noticed that Mrs. Patte also uses the Cold Call technique with her class. For instance, when Mrs. Patte had her students in a circle during the math period, she would call on students who had their hands up, along with those who did not. Through this technique she was able to assess who understood the ABB pattern concept and who did not. I can remember that as a student throughout elementary, middle ,and high school, my teachers would all similarly and frequently use the cold call technique. This technique not only helped the teacher to assess who knew the information, and who needed more help, but it also allowed the teacher to have control over the class. The students were better prepared for class because they anticipated the the possibility that the teacher may call on them even if their hand was not raised. I liked how Lemov showed the best way to use the techniques was to have a series of questions prepared to asked students that increased in difficulty. This system is not to be used as a way to pick at students, but if used properly, it encourages students who may know the answer but may not want to raise their hand to be acknowledged for knowing the correct answers and for being prepared.

My first day of Field III!

I absolutly love the kindergarten classroom that I am in at Summerville Elementary! The room is a nice size, and the teacher has collected many great reources to use with her class. Interstingly enough, my copperating teacher graduated from the M.A.T program, and she has been teaching for 20 plus years! She loves teaching kindergarten, and I blelieve that I will learn a lot from her this semester.

One ting I noticed about the way my cooperating teacher teaches is the fast pace in which she moves from one lesson to the necxt. I noticed that she does this in a very efficient way, and it reminded me of the reading we did about planning lessons so that they get direcly to the point of what you are trying to teach. I believe that with small children, such as kindergarteners, their attention span is short, so teachers must plan lessons that will be engaging, and will be able to be taught in such a way that the students quickly comprehend the objective of the lesson. If lessons are too long and drawn out, then teachers of this grade level are not able to keep the attention of their students. I am not syaing that it is not importabnt to thouroughly plan out lessons step by steo, but I think that in classrooms with younger students, the teacher will find it to be more efficient to plan lesson that quickly get to the point of the lesson.

I am excited about this weeks filed, and I cannot wait to learn more about the students' and the family that I will meet.

Field III

I am so excited about being placed in the kindergarten class for my field experience this semester. I have not worked with this grade yet, and I am glad that I will be able to have this experience. I was a little nervous about visiting the family of my case study child, however I think that it will be a great way for me to learn more about the student.
I think that the techniques that we discussed in last weeks class will all be good resources to use in my classroom in the future. I really like the "Right is Right" technique because it is so important for teachers to make sure their students are understanding correct information. I think teachers must uphold their students to high standards by making sure that students answers are 100% correct and not just 50%. I know that this is a technique that I will be sure to use with my students.
I really enjoyed watching the video last week about Dee. It is incredible how busy her days are, and that she is able to attend school. I think that as a teacher, it is important to get to know the families of your students. Dee helped me to realize that the students I will teach will come from all kinds of backgrounds, and I will need to make sure to get to know each of my students and their families.
From the case study I read, it seems that the student seems to be uninterested in doing well in school because he is not engaged. I believe that if the teacher could get to know what the child is interested in then maybe the teacher could use that information to help engage the child and get him interested in learning. The teacher may want to try to use one of Lemov's techniques such as the no opt out technique. If the student understands that the teacher wants him to do well, and encourages him to do his best then the students may begin to like to learn.
I am looking forward to this semester and to my Field placement!