#5 Bringing It All Together!

As this semester comes to a wrap and after reviewing my course goals that I had at the beginning of the semester, I realized I have made progress on them, but still have areas of improvement. I definitely developed a closer relationship with my CT and colleagues! I loved the wonderful team collaboration Le Roy brought between the 3^rd grade teachers and my other classmates in the other 3^rd grade classrooms. Everyone was so helpful, and I also think that my CT was more welcoming, helpful, and relatable than my CT from last semester. She is a great role model for first years of teaching and is definitely someone I want to keep in touch with! This is her second year teaching after she graduated from ISU, and she demonstrates good practices we have learned at ISU. Having her as my CT also helped me in making progress on my other goals such as, classroom management. She modeled effective classroom management strategies, which helped with the structure and behavior of the students. This also helped me in seeing how her strategies work, and how I can implement them. She has given me great suggestions, and I would take her suggestions for improvement. I would go over the morning math work every morning with the students, and my CT would always take notes to provide me with feedback on my teaching and suggestions for improvement. She did the same when I implemented my lessons. I learned a lot about different strategies such as, using charts on the wall for writing workshop and read to self (during guided reading), which tells what the students should be doing and what the teacher should be doing. My CT explained how she didn’t do guiding reading in the first week or two, until the students were familiar with what they should be doing. She used a timer and timed their “stamina” for how long they can last without misbehaving or talking out loud. They built it up to an hour until my CT felt they could begin guided reading groups. This is something I would like to implement for future teaching to help with classroom management. Some other ways I specifically improved was addressing issues as they arose in an appropriate manner, giving guidelines and rules in my lessons, giving expectations, and building a relationship with all the students. I think building relationships is really important and gaining the students’ trust. My CT always reinforces the students to make good choices, and she would say, “Show me 3,” which means being respectful, responsible, and safe (the school wide PBIS system). Her classroom management strategies also help in not having to use the clip system as much because students learn how to behave themselves. This is something we repeatedly talk about in class, and I think will definitely help me when I am student teaching.

I also made progress on learning more about how to accommodate for students with special needs. Specifically, the student in the 3^rd grade classroom with special needs was Abe. He has Fragile X syndrome. I never knew exactly what this was. Fragile X syndrome is a genetic dysfunction of the X chromosome, especially among boys, and related to autism. It causes intellectual disability as well as differences in physical and behavioral characteristics such as, elongated face, protruding ears, stereotypical movements (hand-flapping), and social anxiety. Abe has these characteristics as well as being non-verbal. To greet him, you just lay your hand out in front of him and he touches it. He has a teacher aide all day and is included in the classroom. He functions at a very routine-based level. For accommodations, he uses visual charts, schedules, manipulatives, communication devices, computer games/videos, etc. My CT also uses a microphone in the classroom so Abe can hear better, and also so all the students can hear better because Abe can make noises with his mouth. With my observations and discussions with my CT and the teacher aide, I gained a lot more insight on Abe and his disability. I was also fortunate to gain more insight by being able to sit in on a team meeting with Abe’s parents, my CT, teacher aide, special education teacher, occupational therapist, speech pathologist, and paraprofessional.  This was a great learning experience and was wonderful to see how well Abe was progressing this school year (struggling since pre-school). I saw how well everyone collaborated together in providing their information and opinions, and developing outcome goals and objectives for Abe. One of the objectives was for Abe to recognize the faces and names of his peers in the classroom. This would help with his social and adaptive skills. This experience also related to what I have been learning in SED 374, and it was great to see such good practices and models being implemented. This experience will definitely be helpful in the future as I may come across students with the same or similar disability. 

One thing I still struggled a little with was my teacher voice/confidence level, but I think I made some improvements. I would practice speaking at home as I would to the kids, and this helped. I tried being more enthusiastic and having a good tone of voice, which sometimes I think I did better than others. I’m learning that teacher voice and confidence level go hand in hand. I think as I continue growing more comfortable in what I am teaching, I will be more confident and therefore have an improved teacher voice (which includes really knowing the students, content, what to say, etc.). This is something my CT also wanted me to work on, and I will continue to improve on this, especially as I move forward to student teaching. This helps me to know how critical this aspect is in student learning and engagement, and also how it will help me to become a better teacher.

I’m also continuing on improving my time management skills. I progressed as I was making schedules for myself, and planning out what days and time of the day I have to get certain things done. In my clinical lessons, I did well with my time management in my science lesson. I planned out the timing for each part of the lesson, including giving the students time frames for moving to different stations. In the implementation of the lesson, I made sure to watch the clock and keep the lesson moving with a good flow. On the other hand, I didn’t do so well on time management with my literacy lesson. I had planned time frames for parts of the lesson, but it fell through in my implementation. I got caught up in the moment, and also mixed up my timing by thinking my lesson ended at 9:20 instead of 9:10. I definitely need to keep this as one of my goals for the future to continue improving on. This plays a huge part, not only in teaching and learning, but also in everyday life!

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at Le Roy with my CT, colleagues, and especially the 3^rd grade students! I learned a lot more that will help me as I move forward to student teaching and becoming a teacher! Even still, I am going to continue working on these goals I made for myself to keep improving. I’m so thankful to have such a great experience at Le Roy, and I’m glad I got this chance. I’m going to miss the students, and will be keeping the cute drawings and notes they would give to me. It will be bittersweet this last week of clinical, but I’m excited to finally implement my social studies lesson!

#4 Science Focus

Just like social studies in the 3^rd grade classroom at Le Roy, science takes place by quarter (alternating with social studies each quarter, and the last quarter is both subjects). Just like social studies, science is integrated with the writing workshop from 10:00 to 11:00, and some can take place at the end of the day. As I have discussed before, no textbooks are used (only used possibly sometimes to get some content information from the books), and the teachers work collaboratively together in their lesson planning. At the beginning of the year, they did a unit on volcanoes. Then while I have been there, they started a unit on simple machines. My CT introduced them to concepts such as, forces, friction, energy, and the 6 types of simple machines (lever, wheel and axle, pulley, inclined plane, screw, and wedge). My CT said she had the students just watch videos on these concepts, and my CT held discussions with them. She also discussed what work means to scientists and that it means moving an object. I then introduced the first simple machine (lever) for my science lesson. I started with a Brain Pop video on the simple machines (my CT also likes to use Brain Pop, and the students love it!). I then activated their prior knowledge and did a PowerPoint presentation; including showing examples and focusing on where the force is applied, where the fulcrum/turning point is, how the object is being moved, and most importantly how the simple machine makes work easier! The students then worked hands-on in an activity I set up for them in 3 stations. One was with nails nailed into woodblocks and a hammer where the students first tried to get the nail out with their hands and then used the hammer to remove the nail (showing how the hammer can make work easier/finding where the fulcrum or turning point is on the hammer). The next was scissors and straws where the students first tried to rip the straw in half with their hands and then used the scissors to cut it in half (showing how the scissors can make work easier/finding where the turning point is on the scissors). Lastly, was a screw driver and tin cans where the students first tried using their hands to lift the lid and then used the screw driver to lift the lid (showing how the screw driver can make work easier/finding where the turning point is on screw driver or lid). Rules and guidelines were set, and the students definitely enjoyed this activity and engaged cooperatively. For assessment, I used a rubric my CT suggested and usually uses. She used the points I scored for each student in her grade book. The next lesson I saw for science was on another type of simple machine, the wedge. My CT activated the students’ prior knowledge on what they learned about the inclined plane and how this simple machine connects to what a wedge is. She asked for examples of inclined planes and had a short discussion then asked them to pay attention to why and how this relates to a wedge in the video they will watch. She played the video which explained what a wedge is and showed examples. My CT then had a discussion with the class and asked them to get out their flip books. In their flip books they have 6 pages for each simple machine. They write the name of the machine, then draw a line down the middle of the page and on one side they write the definition of the simple machine, and on the other side they draw and write examples of it. My CT had the definition of a wedge on the SMART board, and the students copied this in their flip book. Later, my CT said they will be using Legos to build their own simple machines! :) The next unit is on inventors, which connects to what the students have learned about simple machines. This is easily integrated with social studies, and I will be doing a social studies lesson on an inventor.

                I think that incorporating science into the curriculum is very important and beneficial, and I love that Le Roy does this. I am a little skeptical though about the alternating of quarters for these subjects (science and social studies) and having few specific units on this content. Like I have said before, I think it is more beneficial to have the students expand on their learning in science/social studies and have a wide range of topics. I understand how this can be difficult to fit in within the time period given throughout the school day and year, but as we have discussed in classes at ISU this can be doable given that one knows what and how to teach and integrate science or social studies into the curriculum. If I had my choice, I wouldn’t structure science and social studies like this by quarter. I think the students can benefit more from having these subjects throughout the school year, maybe every other day or every two weeks (as discussed in TCH 277). I think this allows for more topics to be covered, and some topics that should be learned in the beginning of the school year rather than the end or vice versa. I believe this allows for the students’ knowledge to grow and progress and will help them remember content if it is taught throughout the year in an organized/effective manner. Also, from what I have learned in TCH 276, I would love to use science notebooks and be able to do fun, hands-on experiments with my students. There is so much more to science than we think! But with this said, I think my CT does a great job teaching the students science content, incorporating activating prior knowledge, using visual techniques, using modeling and discussion, and reinforcing academic language. I also like how the students will be able to use Legos to build simple machines! I would like to continue using these strategies in my future teaching and lesson planning. I’m still so happy about the effective collaboration team work at Le Roy!

Below are two quotes I found interesting :) 

#3 Social Studies Focus

Social studies instruction takes place by quarter in the 3^rd grade classroom at LeRoy. It alternates each quarter with science, and the last quarter is both subjects (called the content). Social studies (alternated with science) is integrated with the writing workshop from 10:00 to 11:00. Some of it may also take place towards the end of the day. They don’t use any textbooks, but focus on other resources for their units. They did an explorers unit, focusing on the early explorers in the 1400s. This included the Vikings, Vasco de Gama, Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo, John Cabot, and Amerigo Vespucci. In the lesson I got to see at the beginning of the unit, my CT activated the students’ prior knowledge of what they learned about reasons to explore. She held a short discussion with the students and wrote down on the white board what the students remembered (helping them with cues). This included updating maps, claim land, trade, Northwest Passage, religion, food, etc. She then played a video on the Vikings, Eirik the Red, and Leif Erikson. At the end of the video was a short quiz going over the main parts to learn from the video. She had the students try to answer each question, and they talked as a class which was the correct one. Most of them were able to answer the questions correctly. Then I was planning to do a lesson on Vasco da Gama, but this unfortunately fell through, as I wasn’t able to do it because I was very sick. L The 3^rd grade teachers at LeRoy collaborate very well with each other for their lessons and units. They plan together and teach the same topics. I was able to take part in this planning with the other girls (Danielle and Becky) in the other 3^rd grade classrooms. We had a world map cut out that would be used to show the routes that the explorers traveled and different colored string for each explorer to use for the routes. But now I am planning to teach a social studies lesson on an inventor (goes along with science unit now on simple machines). Anyways, at the end of this explorers unit, my CT had the students take a quiz. It was a matching quiz of the 6 different explorers and the students had to match the explorer to the description. My CT said she reviewed with the students and repeatedly noted key words for each explorer for the students to remember. She also let them study with a partner or in a group with the worksheets they already had filled out before they took the quiz. When the students completed the quiz, my CT and I saw that some of the students were getting the answers correct, while others weren’t. My CT had thought most of them would have done better, as she went over the material plenty of times, but it takes into consideration who was paying attention and listening more.

I think that it is great that they include social studies and science in their curriculum, and it can be integrated into the writing workshop. I wonder how well and effective it actually works by having social studies and science alternated by quarters. Also, there are only specific units and topics covered, which I think it is more beneficial to have an expanded learning of topics in social studies. We learned in TCH 277, how to map out a year of social studies curriculum with the Illinois Social Studies Standards +Plus, and this is something I would like to use in my future teaching. But through what I have observed at this site, I think these standards/topics could be integrated within the units and throughout the year. I also like how well the teachers collaborate with each other, and this goes along with what we have learned about grade-level teams. I think this is a very important aspect, and I’m glad I get to partake in planning lessons with the other teachers and my classmates. My CT also shows good instruction in activating prior knowledge and helping the students learn and remember the content. The only thing I would say is making the lessons/activities more engaging or hands-on. This may have helped the students more on their quiz, as some seemed to have trouble on the quiz. I wasn’t there to see how my CT prepared them for the quiz, but it seemed like from what she said that she tried her best. I think that maybe another way to have assessed the students would be to have them write about one thing they learned about each explorer, or matching pictures of the explorers and their names with pictures of the significance of what they did/where they traveled with a description underneath. This helps me to see how critical it is in having the students engaged and listening in my lessons, and determining how the students should be assessed. Also, as opposed to my past clinical in a 3^rd grade class at Fairview where they used the textbook more often and worksheets, this site does not use textbooks. As we have learned, learning straight out of the textbook is not the best appropriate practice. A textbook may be useful, but should not be solely relied on. I think it’s good that LeRoy does not rely on textbooks. But I believe it is also important to consider what is taught and how it is taught. I will definitely be taking this into consideration, and making my lessons as engaging as possible.

#2 Literacy Focus

In the 3^rd grade classroom at LeRoy, literacy instruction takes place in the morning. They have language workshop from 8:30 to 9:00, then reading workshop from 9:00 to 10:00, and then writing workshop from 10:00 to 11:00. My CT would also do a read aloud with the students at the end of the day. They have been working on writing narratives. One was about their personal life, and then another was writing about their opinion about a character in a story and providing evidence from the text. For the narratives on their personal life, they were working on their final drafts. They wrote their rough drafts, and my CT provided them with feedback on their papers. They also have a rubric to guide them in their writing of what is expected of them. Then while writing their final drafts, they take into account the feedback from my CT, and they make checks on the rubric to make sure they are including everything they need to. For writing about their opinion about a character in a story and providing evidence from the text, I saw how my CT collaborated well with them in guiding their writing. She gave them a short fictional story to read, in which they highlighted any important evidence to support their opinion about the character in the story. The question was, “Do you think Kenyon is a good grandson or not? Why?” All of the student had already read the story and highlighted their evidence, but one student was absent in which I read the story to him and helped him highlight any evidence to support his opinion. Then my CT began to ask what they thought of Kenyon, and most agreed he was a good grandson. My CT had the same sheet of paper on the SMARTboard as the students had on their desk to write about their opinion and supporting evidence. My CT modeled how and what to write on the paper, and the students followed along. She first began by writing their opinion on the white board, and creating a short list of 3-4 supporting evidence from the text. To do this she would ask students what they found in the text and what they highlighted. Students would tell great examples from what they highlighted to support their opinion. Then she began to ask what she should write first on her sheet, and students would raise their hand to answer. She continued to ask what to write to make the paper flow and use the supporting evidence they found listed on the board. Students continued to raise their hand to answer, and my CT would gather that info to write on the SMARTboard what they should write down. Students would copy what she writes on the board. Then they stopped for the day, and would continue it another day. For reading workshop, my CT uses reading stations, which encompasses read to self, guided reading with my CT, and SpellingCity. My CT groups the students based on their level for her small group guided reading. She works on a different group each day. They are at a small table while the other students read to self at any spot in the room, and another group goes on the computers to play SpellingCity. For the guided reading, I have seen her work with a small group on reading comprehension and spelling. My CT first went over some spelling words they may find in their reading on her easel. Then they each had the same short chapter book to read and read a few pages to themselves. Then my CT would ask questions for comprehension on what they just read.

I feel that this literacy instruction is very effective and developmentally appropriate from what I have learned at ISU. I like that they use the workshop model, and have a read aloud everyday. I think this is helpful and supporting of the students’ literacy learning. It is important how my CT provides feedback to the students, uses modeling, direct instruction, guided reading, independent reading and writing, etc. This all connects to what I have learned at ISU. I have also seen my CT use running records and informal assessments. I would like to implement these strategies in my own classroom, and I will also plan to use the workshop model including modeling, direct instruction, and supportive feedback in my teaching. My CT is a very good model in how she teaches, and this helps me to see how I can teach.