Elementary Education

One thing I have noticed that the teacher I am observing does with her students is centers.  During theses centers she works one on one and is able to spend more time on specific lessons and topics with the students who need a little extra help.  She will also sometimes have me help these students in the hall if needed.  (Because I work at this school as the P.E. teacher I am aware of different disabilities and special needs). One thing that I love that my school does is that they have technicians that will come around and help students who may need more time to go over specific topics.  The teacher I am observing also has a lot of diverse books and uses various teaching methods to help diverse students.  She allows collaboration and sharing everyday and her class is filled with different resources, posters, and colors.  Another way I see the teachers here adjusting their teaching for the diverse students is enrichment.  They go off of test scores to d...

One thing I have seen my teacher do that I immediately thought of while going through this lesson was how she works with students who may struggle more and possibly have disabilities.  One specific thing she does during math time is she times her students doing an addition or subtraction sheet depending on where they are at.  If they get the sheet 100% during the allotted time then they get to move to the next number.  However there are a few students she doesn't time due to what I can only assume are disabilities or struggles that these students may have.  I love that she makes these accommodations because it allows the students to be able to succeed in something that may be difficult for them.  This goes along with the individuals with disabilities education act.

Some ways I have seen engaged learning in my classroom are allowing games. Mrs. Allsop allows computer games such as imagine learning to help students enjoy class. She also allows various  spelling games.  Some of these include spelling words with blocks or in salt. She encourages partner work so students can collaborate. She also has students retell things to help them remember and it allows her to check for understanding.  One thing I have seen that isn't as engaging is when they come in at the beginning of school they do bellwork where they just do worksheets in their books.  This seems like it isn't as engaging to the students.

This week during spelling, the teacher I am observing gave her students the option of working with a friend to quiz each other, or doing a worksheet to help remember the words.  I like that she did this because she gave students the option of using kinisthetic learning, auditory learning, or visual learning. The students were able to choose which method they felt would help them best.  The teacher I am observing greats her students every morning they come in.  This helps the students feel safe and cared for. She also points out things that she likes that the students do.  The teacher I am with encourages conversations with peers and using kindness.  She uses class and group discussions to help the students feel safe and secure. She makes a point to  call each student by name and have one on one conversations with them daily. The teacher has a schedule on the board that they follow each day.  This allows the students to know what they are doing and wh...

 The teacher I have observed this week used a lot of humanistic and cognitive learning theories.  I  love both of these theories so I am grateful to be learning these from her.   She uses experiences and scenarios to help students learn.   Her students work in groups and try to solve things together.  The teacher I am with also encourages different types of learning.  She does centers where students can learn through technology, reading, and projects.  By doing this each student can try different ways of learning and find a way that best suites them.

The School I will be doing service work at is Sierra Bonita Elementary.  It is a great school.  The principal is Garrett Anderson.  The school is located in the middle of a neighbor so there is not a lot of heavy traffic.  This school has a lot of ways to get the students involved.  They have an Instagram account ran entirely by the sixth grade students.  They have after school clubs and are currently working on putting on a play.  This school has over 850 students kindergarten through sixth grade.  They also have a medically fragile unit which the older students take turns helping them with different activities.  89% of the teachers at Sierra Bonita have been teaching for more than three years.  The students here are very active and love to play.  They are very diverse and all learn differently which can be a blessing and a challenge for teachers  I am very excited to start service teaching.  I already work with these st...