Accommodations

     Our cooperating teacher at Newington Elementary accomodates for many different learners in her classroom.  She has some students who are very gifted and some that are very slow learners.  To accommodate for these two different types of students, she challenges the ones that are gifted by giving them more challenging activities.  For example, the books that they read during small group time are of a more difficult reading level.  For the slower learners, she creates a small group when she can to give them extra guidance and individualized attention.  She also adheres to many different learning styles in her instrucion by having different forms of instruction.  For example, she has visual presentations on the smart board, interactive games, plenty of songs and dances to remember a particular concept, and different individual assingments for the students.  In her classroom, this teacher has learers with ADHD and a child with cerebral parsley.  The student with cerebral parsley is accommodated by having a shadow with him for the entire day who helps him move around.  The teacher lets him be involved in every activity and will accommodate the activity so he is able to physically participate.  The children with ADHD have their own special spots on the carpet, so they do not get easily distracted by the other students.  Also, they are given special attention when they are behaving well; they are not called attention to when they are exhibiting bad behavior, which I think is very effective because if they are craving attention, they will learn that they only get it by displaying good behavior.  I think all of these accommodations that my cooperating teacher employs in her classroom are very effective and help to run her classroom smoothly and create a learning environment that is best for each and every student.

Social Studies lesson Reflection

    My fourth and final lesson that I taught at Newington Elementary was my social stuides lesson that addressed teh standard of 1-3 and concentrated on teaching the different roles of community helpers.  Overall, I believe that this lesson was succcessful, but compared to my previous lessons, I don't think it was as engaging for the students.  I think I addressed the ADEPT performance standards by using varied instructional strategies that are appropriate for the content and students' ability levels (APS 5).  I asked questions throughout the entire lesson in order to assess the students as well as to keep them engaged.  I also provided content that is appropriate for the standards and objectives of the instructional unit by playing a video that directly applied to the standard and indicator when I was teaching and activating the student's prior knowledge of that content area (APS 6).
     Although I had a positive experience teaching this lesson, I also had room for improvement.  I think I could have improved by providing opportunities for all students to engage in self assessment because some students were more active during the discussion than others (APS 4).  Also, although I used a variety of informal assessment strategies, I also think I could have used a variety of formal assessment strategies to really assess each student's knowledge of the content being taught.  All in all, I taught a successful lesson in confidence that provided a good introduction into the activity that was being taught by Alison.

Mrs. E's Assessment

In Mrs. E's first grade class, she assesses children's growth in literacy by doing benchamrks, Directed Reading Activities, daily observations anecdotal data, and reading tests.  For math, she does daily checking for understanding, assessments and benchmark quizzes.  For social studies, she assesses by checking for participation.  Mrs. E assesses children's social-emotional development by observation and their interaction with others.  Assessment information is shared between grade levels by data meetings via a Title 1 facilitator.  Most of the assessments are teacher-created. 
     Mrs. E makes assessment first and then plans for instruction and if the students do poorly on assessments (formal and informal), then she reteaches.  Mrs. E does use portfolios, each child in her classroom has a file and folder and she keeps all of their work in them.  She uses observation daily, all throughout the day and keeps it in a notebook.  First grade does not have any standardized tests, and she shares assessment with parents by conferences and sending notes home in their weekly folders.  Newington's procedure for assessing and diagnosing children with special needs is that tests are modified (if needed) and standardized tests are modified based on the child's IEP.

Stop and Think: What messages have you absorbed about economic class?

    When I was a child, I did not think much about my family's economic status.  We lived in a big but old house and we lived a comfortable lifestyle.  I do not remember my parents ever worrying about money, but I know that we did not have an abudance of it growing up.  My parents taught my sisters and I to not spend money extravagantly and that money was valuable, but you did not need to spend a huge amount of money to enjoy yourself (we took camping trips and trips to visit family as family vacations, rather than going somewhere expensive). 
    The elementary school that I attended was made up of many different economic classes-from students living in poverty to students who came from wealthy families-so I noticed that there was a difference of economic status during those school years.  I always just thought that children's parents had different jobs and those jobs paid differently so that determined whether your family had money or not. 
     As a teenager, I learned that being "successful" comes from working hard.  My dad especially has always been a really hard worker and has passed down that drive of having to work hard in order to be successful with things such as your career and money.  I always learned that any type of work was "professional" work, it just depends on how devoted you are to your particular job.   

ELA lesson reflection

          I think Alison and I effectively taught a sequenced ELA lesson with our first graders with the ever popular children's book Where the Wild Things Are.  With this literature lesson, I feel that I did have success in meeting most of the ADEPT standards.  I planned and used instruction that promoted active student involvement by giving them the opportunity to each write their own sentences and by having them repeat the directions before they even began working independently (APS 2, 5).  I also planned for efficient transitions from activity to activity by telling them to go back to their desks by calling each table by their “color” and having everybody raise their finished sentences in the air before coming back to the carpet (APS 2).  I believe that I made objectives relevant to previous and future learning by tying my activity into Alison’s lesson by activating their knowledge of the previous lesson (APS 4). 

Even though I again felt very comfortable with teaching this lesson, there are still areas for improvement.  For example, I could have used assessments that are appropriate for ability and developmental level of students by using a tool in the classroom to keep learners engaged and to check for understanding (APS 3).  I also could have improved on continually establishing high expectations for all students by thinking of ways to challenge the “higher” learners in the class.  I could have used a variety of formal instructional strategies in order to find out if the class can retell other stories or if they only knew how to retell Where the Wild things are because I guided them in doing so (APS 7).  All in all, I think I had good control of the class and planned an engaging lesson, but I needed to improve on meeting different learning abilities and developing more assessment strategies. 

Math lesson reflection

     Looking back on my lesson, I think I had many strenghts that made the lesson an overall success.  I provided clear instructions and expectations to students by beginning the lesson by setting behavioral expectations and modeling the activity.  I also implemented instruction that promoted active student involvement by planning a lesson that gave teh first grade students a hands-on experience by having them use teddy grahams as manipulatives to practice addition.  I also believe that I used observations, questions, and other appropriate techniques to monitor progress, because I continually rotated around the room while I was calling out the addition problems and asked questions about how we could get to the correct answer if a student answered incorrectly. 
     Although I felt very pleased with my lesson, I did have some weaknesses that I could improve on in my future lesson planning.  I feel that I ended my lesson rather quickly because it was time for recess for the class, but I need to make sure to conclude lessons appropriately by summarizing what was learned and hear student's feedback.  I also could have differentiated my instruction by providing extra challenge to those hwo needed it or remediation to those who needed it.  In conclusion, teaching this lesson helped me realize my potential for teaching a first grade math lesson, but there are still areas that I would like to improve.

Classroom Management

     I think my cooperating teacher at Newington does extremely well with classroom management.  We observe mostly during large group instruction on the carpet and she has each student sit in an assigned spot on the carpet each time.  The children are supposed to sit criss-cross apple sauce and always face the teacher when she is talking.  If a child is not sitting the way they are supposed to or being very wiggly, she sends them to their desk because they will "learn better" from there without the distractions on the carpet.  She keeps the attention of the kids because she uses interactive games and noises on the smart board and has a very animated and positive attitude when teaching.  Also, every once in a while, she will have the students stand up and sing or dance along with a song or just simply stand to keep from sitting in one area for too long.  I think this is very appropriate, because young children cannot fully learn if they are sitting for long periods of time.  They need physical activity to keep them engaged in the lesson.  If there is a peer conflict, the teacher will encourage the students to work it out themselves.  For example, last week a student kept poking the student sitting next to him.  The student complained to the teacher and she replied with "well why don't you tell him that it hurts you when he pokes you and you would like him to stop doing so."  I think this method is very effective, because it shows the students that some problems should be worked out among themselves instead of just resorting to tattling to the teacher.  
     I would not necessarily change any of her classroom management methods because to me, they seem to work very well with her students.  The teacher concentrates more on reinforcing good behavior instead of calling out bad behavior.  For example, if the teacher sees a student following directions and being good, she will call attention to that particular student and say "I like the way ___ is following my directions", so in that case other students will model that particular student's behavior.  She also does a positive class behavior reinforcement by putting a marble in a jar if a student is exhibiting good behavior and at the end of the day, if there is a certain number of marbles in the jar, the whole class gets a jar.  This motivates the students to follow directions and encourage their classmates to follow directions because their "prize" depends on everybody's behavior.

First Teaching Experience

     I taught my first science lesson this past Wednesday in my first grade classroom.  Overall, I feel my lesson went very well and I felt successful with the class by the end of the lesson.  I was a little nervous about not having control with the kids, especially with a science hands-on activitiy involving water, but when I was teaching I was very confident that I kept control the entire time.  At the beginning of the lesson, I provided clear instructions and expectations for students by making sure that we reviewed the rules of the classroom and the rules of the lesson.  During group time at the beginning of the lesson, the students were very engaged and really enjoyed that I used volunteers to demonstrate what they would be doing with their own objects and with their observation sheets.  I feel that I used instructional strategies in a logical sequence because i spent 10 minutes for the pre lesson (talking and showing kids what they would be doing), 10 minutes for them to try the activity on their own and in groups, and 10 minutes conclusion, (although I could have used a little more time) where we made a graph as a whole group and talked about our observations.  I also used appropriate questioning techniques because I asked them a lot of questions on what the rules were and if they explain to me why we were doing the activity and their findings.
       The things that I would have improved on were explaining more rules about not splashing the water or dropping their objects from a high height because it would splash water onto their desks.  Also, I would have put more emphasis on the conclusion part and describing the objects and why they did/didnt float, but near the end, I was running out of time.  Also, I walked around and observed during their small group experiments, but I wasnt able to devote much time to each student.  Being my first formal lesson in a classroom, though, I felt very confident and really enjoyed the student's reactions!

Stop and Think: How does your individual culture affect your teaching?

     My beliefs from my own cultural background about working with children include that children should always feel comfortable in a classroom setting, children should always be heard and payed attention to by an adult or other children around them, and that children should be able to respect their elders and learn to follow the guidelines that are set.  I think the principles that I just stated are very important to me in terms of early childhood education.  I also believe that children should be able to discover things on their own and be very involved in the learning process by doing things independently as much as they are able to (within their zone of proximal development). 
     Some practices that are "bottom line" for me are making sure the children have respect for adults that are working with them as well as their fellow classmates and friends.  I think it is very important for children to understand that they have to have a level of respect and learn to behave and listen when they are asked.  It is extremely important that a child is willing to behave and be polite in an environment such as a classroom, not just for the teacher, but also for the other students.  I would especially reinforce the habits of being kind to others, helping each other out, and learning and accepting each others differences.  I am pretty flexible when it comes to adapting practices or beliefs that I am accustomed to, or listening to other's opinions,  but I think the practices and beliefs that I have mentioned are very important to instill in a child at an early age, no matter what.

Classroom Setting

     At first sight of my first grade classroom, I would consider it developmentally appropriate because of the physical arrangement of the room.  During the 2 hours that I observed on Wednesday, the class was mostly doing whole group activities on a large carpet in the front of the room.  This carpet was actually a large map of the United States, which I thought was pretty neat because it incorporates learning about geography even while they are only sitting on it working on other activities.  The class has a smart board which they use to do a lot of their literacy activities.  Their desks are set up in groups of 4-5 students in each group, which supports group work and is developmentally appropriate for 1st graders because students need their own personal work space (individual desks) but also this age also still benefits from working in small groups.  There was also a computer station that included 4 computers off to the side of one classroom where students would constantly be going to when it was their turn to work on the classroom's computer learning program.  These computers were still in the classroom, but they were off the one wall so computer activity did not disrupt the rest of the class. 
     The classroom's theme was "under the sea", so the teacher had many decorations around the room of things that related to the ocean and underwater life, which even included a small "swimming pool" in the reading corner.  I thought this encouraged student learning, because classrooms need to have a theme and many decorations to make it an exciting and comfortable environment for students to come into and learn.  There was also a wall of student work of an assignment that the entire class had just worked on, which is important because students need to see their work displayed around the room.  The only thing that I found I would change is that the teacher had the entire schedule for the day written on the white board, but it was written on the write board that was off to the side of the room and next to the door.  I would change the location of the schedule to the very front of the room, because the students should be able to see the schedule easily so they know what they will be doing that day in class.

Bilingualism for children whose home language is English

     In chapter 5 of Anti-Bias Education, it states that "In most industrialized countries other than the United States, children become at least bilingual, and many speak three or four languages.  There is no reason why children in the United States shouldn't have this same advantage."  I completely agree with this statement and strongly believe that bilingualism should be taught as early as the early childhood grades in public schools in the United States.  I have had experience studying and volunteering abroad this past semester and summer and have realized that there are many advantages to knowing more than one language.  Knowing more than one language will help you relate to other cultures, help you develop cognitively, and open up to new experiences and possibilities. 
     I volunteered in a kindergarten classroom in an American International school in Quito, Ecuador this past summer and many of the students were from countries all over the world.  Most of these students were fluent in their home language, Spanish, and becoming fluent speakers and readers in English, and they were only 5 years old.  Even here in a preschool in Charleston, I have noticed 3 and 4 year-olds being able to speak both English and another language that their parents speak. 
     The easiest time to acquire a new language in a person's life is in their beginning years of life, so I think as early childhood educators, we should take advantage of this and implement a bilingual program in today's schools.  As mentioned in the book, it has been found that learning to become bilingual will not hinder a child's English language development, but rather foster their academic progress.  The United States is a growing to become a culturally aware country and I think it would be a huge advantage for our children to have the skills and knowledge of being bilingual or even multi-lingual. 

Stop and Think: What have you experienced about institutional inequity?

     An example of an institutional ism is the stereotypical view on women not being able to do certain things as well as men or not being able to fill certain roles as well as men can. The most common ism that I know concerning men and women and the family is that the husband is the breadwinner of the family and the family stays home and takes care of the house and the children. When my parents were first married, they both had careers, but when my sisters and I were born, my other was the one to give up her job for a few years and take care of the children. 
     Coming from a white, middle-class family growing up, I saw my family reflected in books and other classroom materials often. I feel that this race and socioeconomic status was often depicted in books and materials often in early childhood classrooms, because it is often considered the "norm."
     When I get learning materials for my future classroom, I will make sure to have materials that reflect all of the materials in my class. I will have books that have characters that include many different races, genders, socioeconomic statuses, disabilities and ethnicities. I will do my best to incorporate all these different materials into my classroom, even if the administration of the school does not give me the means to do so. I will make sure to use the children's own home lives as resources and materials as well. I could have the chilren come in with their favorite things from home to share with the class and have them make posters of their families and hobbies to display around the room.

Introduction

   My name is Melissa Miller and I am a senior here at the College of Charleston.  I love reading, traveling, watching movies and hanging out with friends.
     I decided to do Early Childhood Education because I love being around young chilren in an environment where they can learn because they are usually so enthusiastic and eager to try and learn new things.  I admire their attitudes and willingness to share new things and I love to see how they interact with other children.  Being an Early Chilhdood teacher, I hope to be able to influence these children early in their lives and instill in them a love of learning and being in the classroom.  
     When I was a young child I loved playing "school" with my sisters and friends and usually always took on the roll of "teacher".  Also, my mother has been an elementary school teacher, and I have always loved going to her classrooms and helping her out with work and interacting with her kids, so I think that has probably influenced me the most to become a teacher. 

Stop and Think: Learning about differences

     I would say that my earliest memory of realizing that some people were different from me was in Kindergarten and I came home and announced to my mother that "I made a new friend who has brown skin."  I went to Kindergarten at a magnet school in North Carolina, and the school was made up of mostly African-American children, but I dont remember it being unusual to be around so many children with different color skin that I had.  I also had a kindergarten teacher that was of spanish descent, so I knew she had a different accent that I did, but I never distinctively thought about them as being completely different than myself.  My parents, especially my mother being an elementary school teacher, made sure that I knew about other races, religions, and languages, but they didnt teach them to me as being unusual, just a different way to be.  My mother also read a lot of books to me, written by authors of different races so I learned about different cultures that way. 
     I think the moment that changed my ideas and really brought an awareness that people from other backgrounds were different than myself was when my family moved to South Carolina in the fourth grade, and I was put into a predominantly white, middle-class school, which greatly differed from my last school.  Being around more children that shared my own race, economic status and home language made me realize how different the other children at my other school were.  I then considered an "ordinary" person to be english-speaking, caucasion, in a family with two parents and living in a neighborhood like I did. 
     I believe that how children perceive their own social identities depends on their upbringing, their environment that they grow up in, and peer influence.  I think, when children are young, it depends on how much their parents embrace their own culture and how their parents react around other people with different backgrounds.  I also think that the environment that they are in greatly influences their perception of how their social identity compares to other social identities.  For example, when I was in the school with children from many different backgrounds, I thought being different was the norm, but that perception changed when I moved to the school with the majority of children that shared my own background.  I also think that children's social identities change as they become older and they hear comments from their peers, teachers, or other people in society and these comments have an influence on how they see themselves.