What I Learned About Elementary Education
Elementary Education in the Flesh
I learned so much valuable information, ideas, and just a greater understanding of what it truly means to be an elementary school teacher this semester in my practicum classroom. It isn't easy by any means and takes an extreme amount of patience. I knew this before, however being involved in this elementary classroom shed so much light on how much time and effort it really does take. There are many topics that I have learned so much about within elementary education, so let's jump right in about all of what I have learned about teacher education this semester!
First,
Check For Understanding
This was probably the first topic that I was able to connect with what I learned in class to my practicum classroom. I saw this a lot during math lessons. Ms. D would do something similar for each whole group math lesson. The lesson would usually start with a short video that gave a little overview about what the lesson would be covering that day. Next, Ms. D would do a few problems with the students, and last the students would be asked to do 2-3 problems on their own to check for understanding. Ms. D and myself would walk around the room to check that the students were on the right track and assist when needed, but for the most part the students were expected to know what to do. Once they were finished with the assigned problems, they would raise their hands and if they completed the problems correctly, they would receive a star on their paper and be done with the lesson. Most students were able to complete the assignment on their own, but their were always a couple that may have not been paying attention as much and just needed a few quick reminders and then they would be on track again.
Another example of check for understanding that I noticed in the classroom was when they students had to do short tests to do just that, check for understanding on the material they had been learning in class activities and lessons. Students would be called up during their free play center time by either Ms. D or sometimes myself where we would have laptop with various tests that the students would need to do with us. Some examples of these tests were 1. count to 100-students would count as far up as they could and as they were doing this, Ms. D or myself would click yes or no on our laptops if they were following the correct order of the numbers. As soon as they missed one number, every number after that would be counted wrong. This tested their knowledge of how high they could count. Another test they would do was be able to identify numbers in a random order. On the laptop, a number would show up and then the students would have to say what number was on the screen. This tested if they could recognize what various numbers looked like and what to call those numbers. I had not seen something like this before so it was interesting and fun for me to be able to have these one-on-one interactions with the students and test their knowledge. It was great experience for me as well.
Next,
Teacher's Attitude Towards Parents and Students
I am going to start this topic with the parents. I was very amazed at how wonderful of a relationship that Ms. D appeared to have with her students' parents. She did something that I thought was an awesome idea and that I would love to incorporate into my classroom someday and that is creating a Facebook page to keep the parents involved. She uses it as a way to communicate and inform the parents throughout the year. Ms. D posts on notes that are being sent home, so parents can be sure to check their child's bag and be informed about upcoming events and such. It is also a good source for if the students lose a note or if the students are apart of a divorced family, this gives the parents a way to always be informed. Ms. D also uses this page as a way to keep parents in the loop about what they are learning about in class, because let's face it kids aren't the best about telling all about what they learned in school. Ms. D often posts pictures of the students hard at work, which I am sure is reassuring to the parents which makes them feel that their children are in good hands. I hope to apply the same attitude she shows her students' parents in my own classroom. Another way Ms. D showed her positive attitude towards her students' parents is in a way that is probably more common in other classrooms is to invite parents to be apart of classroom parties. I observed this in their Halloween party where many of the parents came and helped the students with their halloween project. One of the parents actually coordinated the project herself which I thought was very cool!
And,
Classroom Management:
There were so many ways in which Ms. D created classroom management within her classroom. One way of doing this is Ms. D's classroom had small table groups with just four students in each table. I know this is common for many other classrooms, but I still see this as a great way to keep the classroom manageable for all the students, teacher and paras. There is not anything distracting for the students to get into around their desks because they just have one tub in the middle with books and their crayon box in front of them with only the necessities. Anything else they may need is in an area easy for them to reach (new sharpened pencils, erasers, etc.). Everything in the classroom has a place so students can't get too distracted and keeps the classroom very organized. An organized classroom keeps the students more on task and able to pay attention better throughout class and I saw this first hand in Ms. D's classroom. A great way that Ms. D helps her students to not get bored with school work and lessons is by giving brain breaks to the students between lessons and such. These brain breaks usually consisted of the students watching an interactive video where they would have to follow along with the dance moves or actions of the particular video. Usually Ms. D plays a couple two minute videos. These small breaks really help the students to get all their jitters out and give their minds a break from learning, so that they can come back to their desks ready to focus and do some more learning. This is something that I saw as a very effective tool in Ms. D's classroom and would like to apply it to my own classroom. Happy students makes for a happy teacher which makes for a happy manageable classroom. The last thing that I noticed as something that seemed to bring good classroom management is having a set schedule and set rules in the classroom. Ms. D had a list of rules posted on the wall on a big poster. Each rule had a picture by it so the young students can easily see what the rules are. This serves as a daily reminder of what is expected of them everyday in the classroom. When the students are having a more rough day of talking too much or acting in a way that does not go with the set rules, Ms. D takes a couple minutes to go over the classroom rules and discuss which rules they may need to think about a little more. This always seems to give the students a reminder and helps them to get on track again knowing that Ms. D is not pleased with their behavior. By doing this, the classroom becomes more functional and enjoyable for everyone.
Last,
Students With Disabilities
This was something that was very new to me. I have not spent much time with students with disabilities in a classroom before, so it was a good experience for me to see this in my practicum classroom. There were two students in Ms. D's classroom that had significant learning disabilities. One of these students did not come in the classroom very often (I will call her I) as she had more trouble than the other student ( I will call him T). I would come in for special projects and and sometimes for center time. This gave her a chance to be around other students and experience fun activities. Although she did not really interact with the other kids, she showed some forms of excitement when being able to participate in fun projects and hands on learning activities. I think this most definitely gave her a sense of purpose. Next, is T. He spent more time in the classroom and was apart of activities and often lessons too. Sometimes he would get upset about this or that and he would need to leave the classroom with his para, but for the most part he was very much apart of the classroom. During the math lessons Ms. D would call on T to answer questions and most of the time he knew the answers and that was very cool to see. I feel that it really made him feel important and like he was doing something right which was really cool to see. When either of the two students had an outburst in the class, Ms. D and the para(s) were very good about getting them calm quickly with little tools such as giving them a stress ball or other toy like that. Or they would quickly get them removed from the classroom in order to not cause too much distraction to the other students. If they did become a distraction, Ms. D would be quick to get the rest of the students on task again and distracted from the previous events. I was not sure before on how I would handle a situation like that, but now I have seen those situations myself, and hope to be able to handle situations like that in my own classroom in an orderly fashion with as little distraction to the other students as possible.
Now, for what I think about all I Learned.....
I am amazed at how much I really was able to absorb it the 45+ hours in my practicum classroom. Above, I talked about some really important concepts I learned about in my Intro to Ed course and how I connected and saw them come to life in my practicum classroom. Although, there is so many more concepts I learned about those above are the ones that really stood out to me the most. I learned so much more in this kindergarten classroom than I ever thought possible. Before beginning in my practicum classroom, I thought I had a pretty good idea of how a kindergarten classroom operated and functioned day to day, but as I spent more and more time in the classroom I realized that yes I knew many things, but there was SO much I was unaware of. I remember my first couple weeks I felt very overwhelmed and started to second guess my career path, but after those first couple weeks, I realized that it still is the profession for me. Kids can be stressful sometimes, but there is no doubt in my mind that I want to do anything else, because for me, the most rewarding thing is to be able to see that lightbulb light up in those tiny heads when they learn something new. The smiles and knowledge that can be given to students as a teacher makes all the struggles seem so small and makes everything worth it. I know this is my calling in life and I am very excited for my teaching journey to progress!
And,
Classroom Management:
There were so many ways in which Ms. D created classroom management within her classroom. One way of doing this is Ms. D's classroom had small table groups with just four students in each table. I know this is common for many other classrooms, but I still see this as a great way to keep the classroom manageable for all the students, teacher and paras. There is not anything distracting for the students to get into around their desks because they just have one tub in the middle with books and their crayon box in front of them with only the necessities. Anything else they may need is in an area easy for them to reach (new sharpened pencils, erasers, etc.). Everything in the classroom has a place so students can't get too distracted and keeps the classroom very organized. An organized classroom keeps the students more on task and able to pay attention better throughout class and I saw this first hand in Ms. D's classroom. A great way that Ms. D helps her students to not get bored with school work and lessons is by giving brain breaks to the students between lessons and such. These brain breaks usually consisted of the students watching an interactive video where they would have to follow along with the dance moves or actions of the particular video. Usually Ms. D plays a couple two minute videos. These small breaks really help the students to get all their jitters out and give their minds a break from learning, so that they can come back to their desks ready to focus and do some more learning. This is something that I saw as a very effective tool in Ms. D's classroom and would like to apply it to my own classroom. Happy students makes for a happy teacher which makes for a happy manageable classroom. The last thing that I noticed as something that seemed to bring good classroom management is having a set schedule and set rules in the classroom. Ms. D had a list of rules posted on the wall on a big poster. Each rule had a picture by it so the young students can easily see what the rules are. This serves as a daily reminder of what is expected of them everyday in the classroom. When the students are having a more rough day of talking too much or acting in a way that does not go with the set rules, Ms. D takes a couple minutes to go over the classroom rules and discuss which rules they may need to think about a little more. This always seems to give the students a reminder and helps them to get on track again knowing that Ms. D is not pleased with their behavior. By doing this, the classroom becomes more functional and enjoyable for everyone.
Last,
Students With Disabilities
This was something that was very new to me. I have not spent much time with students with disabilities in a classroom before, so it was a good experience for me to see this in my practicum classroom. There were two students in Ms. D's classroom that had significant learning disabilities. One of these students did not come in the classroom very often (I will call her I) as she had more trouble than the other student ( I will call him T). I would come in for special projects and and sometimes for center time. This gave her a chance to be around other students and experience fun activities. Although she did not really interact with the other kids, she showed some forms of excitement when being able to participate in fun projects and hands on learning activities. I think this most definitely gave her a sense of purpose. Next, is T. He spent more time in the classroom and was apart of activities and often lessons too. Sometimes he would get upset about this or that and he would need to leave the classroom with his para, but for the most part he was very much apart of the classroom. During the math lessons Ms. D would call on T to answer questions and most of the time he knew the answers and that was very cool to see. I feel that it really made him feel important and like he was doing something right which was really cool to see. When either of the two students had an outburst in the class, Ms. D and the para(s) were very good about getting them calm quickly with little tools such as giving them a stress ball or other toy like that. Or they would quickly get them removed from the classroom in order to not cause too much distraction to the other students. If they did become a distraction, Ms. D would be quick to get the rest of the students on task again and distracted from the previous events. I was not sure before on how I would handle a situation like that, but now I have seen those situations myself, and hope to be able to handle situations like that in my own classroom in an orderly fashion with as little distraction to the other students as possible.
Now, for what I think about all I Learned.....
I am amazed at how much I really was able to absorb it the 45+ hours in my practicum classroom. Above, I talked about some really important concepts I learned about in my Intro to Ed course and how I connected and saw them come to life in my practicum classroom. Although, there is so many more concepts I learned about those above are the ones that really stood out to me the most. I learned so much more in this kindergarten classroom than I ever thought possible. Before beginning in my practicum classroom, I thought I had a pretty good idea of how a kindergarten classroom operated and functioned day to day, but as I spent more and more time in the classroom I realized that yes I knew many things, but there was SO much I was unaware of. I remember my first couple weeks I felt very overwhelmed and started to second guess my career path, but after those first couple weeks, I realized that it still is the profession for me. Kids can be stressful sometimes, but there is no doubt in my mind that I want to do anything else, because for me, the most rewarding thing is to be able to see that lightbulb light up in those tiny heads when they learn something new. The smiles and knowledge that can be given to students as a teacher makes all the struggles seem so small and makes everything worth it. I know this is my calling in life and I am very excited for my teaching journey to progress!
WHAT A FUN SEMESTER!!
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