My Last Lesson for Field II: Planting Seeds

    

I taught my 4th and final lesson for my field II course today in kindergarten at Harbor View Elementary. My lesson was formated very differently than any lesson I have ever taught thus far, in that it did not require much writing or concrete handouts/worksheets or design projects. The theme this week is plants and so I read an Eric Carle book on a seed and how a seed grows, and then had each of the four groups plant seeds n a clear container so that that can hopefully see the roots once it begins to grow. Because I taught the lesson so that each group was given one container and several seeds, I focused some of the objectives of my lesson on teamwork, sharing, and cooperation. I think this is very important to learn and when students respect each other and work together in a classroom there is much more trust and students start to open up more. Being able to trust peers and respect each other allows students to take risks when learning and know that they have their peers' support and that they are all working toward a common goal, not competing with one another. This is the optimal learning environment for the classroom. I know that in kindergarten, students are still very focused on themselves but I think that social skills and working with others still need to be focused on. Many students are not used to having to share with so many other children, especially if they did not go to pre-school. I think the lesson went well and I really think that hands on lessons are great for this age. I hope that in my third field I will do more hands-on and tactile/kinesthetic-based lessons.

 Something I tried new to this semester's placement was using a soft ball to throw to students when they raised their hands so that only the student holding the ball can talk. I really like this and used it last semester and will probably use it in my classroom. It makes learning a little more fun rather than just sitting back, especially if I tell them that they have to be alert because even if they are not raising their hand they may have the ball tossed to them. I also used a magic wand that makes noise to get their attention and quiet them down because Mrs. Noble had suggested a bell but I was unable to track one down. The princess-noise wand I really like though for the time being until I find a bell or something very different (maybe a rain-stick would be something different to try. I am enjoying the experimenting I am getting to do and think I need to open myself up to trying new things and doing things different ways in my third field because part of learning what works for me is going to be trial-and-error and it will be my last opportunity to try some things out before my clinical in the spring. Overall, I really enjoyed my experience in kindergarten and coming into this program I thought kindergarten might be the grade I would ideally want to teach. Thus far, I think I liked kindergarten a little better than 3rd grade, however, it is hard to tell if I liked it better because I really liked my cooperating teacher and the space was better, etc., or if I really do like that age better. Regardless, I have loved both my fields and think teaching kindergarten or third grade would be so fun! I look forward to the week after net to see Sam's last lesson and to do some more observing.

Anti-Bias Childhood Reflections

When I was very young I can remember almost to the point where I can visually picture it and what is what like being in my preschool classroom, the way it smelled, what we had for snack, the cots during nap time, and what activities I did outside and inside the classroom. One memory related to cultural differences and bias sticks out most for me. I remember having a friend who was a little hispanic boy, at Valley Pre-School in Granby, CT where I attended an almost all white school until kindergarten when we moved to CA. I knew he was different but I also know that I really did not care. I can remember that the boy spoke little english but I still played house with him and made him part of our "house family"-I think he was the brother? At age three and four I did not care if my friends were "different" or was not aware that it mattered to others. My best friend until I moved to CA was a boy and I had as many girl friends as I did boys. This meant I played with Barbies and dolls as well as played with trucks and in the dirt. I went to some all girls birthday parties and some birthdays where I was the only girl. I am more aware now of how others react to those who are different but think that I am still someone who has very diverse friends. My best friend in CA is asian and while playing competitive tournaments for tennis (both singles and doubles) my doubles partner was half spanish and half black (a ringer for Beyonce). I never really saw them as a race though because they were and still are like family to me. Even my best friend who is asian, whose family celebrates chinese holidays and traditions, I view as my family. My mom is best friends with her mom and our families are very close. I think that even though I grew up going to schools with mostly white students, from pre-school through to college, I still was exposed to different cultures because the Bay Area in Northern CA is so diverse and my extra curicular activities took me places where I was exposed to diverse people who became good friends. One thing that does make me sad is that my best friend who is asian, who is gorgeous and who models part time, does not like being asian. She tells me all the time how she wishes she had blue eyes and blond hair. She dyes her hair light reddish brown, and tans to the point that she does not even look chinese, who usually have very air skin. She will not even consider dating guys who are asian and never has dated one in the past. It is so unbelievable and sad to me that she is ashamed of her own culture and makes me more aware of how people can make others feel inferior about who they are or how they look. I am sure I have some biases, but I also know how lucky I am to have such diverse friends. My friends are diverse in many ways, including religion, nationality, race, age, what country thy are from, where they live geographically, their interests, gender, etc..

The Seasons

Today in the field I observed Sam teach an awesome lesson on the four seasons. I am so jealous of Sam's public speaking skills and the way she presents her lessons to the class. She is very clear, enthusiastic, and speaks loudly and confidently. The students always respond well. She also is great with classroom management and I thought the class was on its best behavior today. Sam used an activity to demonstrate how the eart rotates around the sun and therefore creating the different seasons. She did this by using two students (two that were well behaved) and phsycially moved them, one rtepresenting the sun and the other the earth. This was a great way to involve kinesthetic and visual learning styles. I thought the second part of her lesson was very well thought out as well. She used a larged posterboard and velco pieces with words or images that can be assigned to the seasons. The students had to match them correctly to the right season and same used informal questioning to assess them throughout the lesson. She did an outstanding job adjusting the lesson for each group depending on ability and the lesson itself can be applied to vary levels as it is, which is very convenient. My favorite part of her lesson was the "grab bag box" with clothing and objects that have to do with the seasons and the students had to match them with the season. I also thought she did a great job with praise and positive reinforcement. I always feel like I learn so much from watching other people teach, both what to do and what not to do, and in Sam's lesson I observed almost entirely examples of what defines good teaching. I definitely need Sam to start coaching me in classroom management as well as my public speaking skills!

St. Patrick's Day & The 5 Senses

Today I taught a lesson to the kindergarteners in my field placement which taught the 5 senses by teaching them facts about St. Patrick's Day, Ireland, and related traditions. I think that the lesson went okay, although today the students had some extra energy becuase of the holiday. Getting them to focus was more challenging and although they were less focused today, I thought that I did a better job with classroom management than I have in past lessons. I first taught to the whole group, a lesson on St. Patrick's day and using each of the 5 senses to learn something. I had the students sit in a circle, which I thought might be a better arrangement becuase I could see everyone and I thought it would be helpful when passing some of the things I brought in around. I don't think it really made a big difference though. After the floor class lesson, I work with the students in small groups, playing Bingo, or as I called it, "5 Senses". The students did very well with this. I connected the senses and St. Patrick's day by including many of the images on the Bingo card from what I had taught the students. When I pulled a card image for the students to mark on their bingo card, I told them what sense you would probably use and gave them one or two hints about the image.

I was overall pretty happy with the lesson and thought the students were enthusiastic. I had to put my foot down with one student who broke the rules and who I had warned. I tend to be a bit of a pushover with students so Mrs. Noble was pleased to see me do this, becuase in a previous lesson I had caved in to a student. She had told me to be more firm and consistent with consequences so that students will really believe me when I warn them and they will respect me. Mrs. Noble also had a great idea for me to try out next class for classroom management, which is to use a hand bell to get their attention becuase it has not been used yet in their class. She said that our student teacher had had the students sitting too long before my lesson and that it made it more difficult to teach. Infact Mrs. Nobel tried to get them to move around right before I taught. Overall, I enjoyed my lesson today!

Today I spent the entire day at Harbor View (which was only from 7:30-12:45 because it was a half day) and was given the opportunity to observe Mrs. Killingsworth teach her class, which Mrs. Noble arranged since we have a student teacher who is teaching full time now. I probably took about 10 pages of note in the first half hour I was in her room. It was so different that Mrs. Noble's classroom dynamics in many ways. I am so glad I had this opportunity because I think it is great to see how different two classrooms in the same grade, at the same school (and right next door to one another) can so so different. The students in Mrs. Killingsworth's class were very well behaved and knew the routine, going about it quite independently. I think that this is mostly due to the students behavior and personality in the class, however I could be wrong. I noticed that even before class started that the students were well behaved and doing activities without having to be asked. Another way that her class was very different was that there is more diversity in the class in regards to the students' race, nationality, and religion. She shared with me that there are students with parents who are Egyptian, Vietnamese, Russian, and there are also two African American students in the class. Mrs. Noble's class is composed of all caucasian-American students. She explained to me that this year was difficult with the students who were from different cultures because they do not always understand the American culture and why they do the things they do in school. She told me that the parents of one student

Simplify... my biggest challenge.

March! More observations of Kindergarten...

It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education-Albert Einstein.

I think that this quote describes what the kindergarten environment is like on a daily basis, at least in  the classroom I am in for my field. I want to focus on improving classroom management this semester but I think I also need to realize that I cannot change some things and I think that maybe my expectations for kindergarteners are too high. Well, maybe too high is not the right way to phrase it, but what i mean to say that their behavior is very different from 3rd grade, where I observed last semester and it doesn't necessarily have to do with classroom management but the age of the student. I wouldn't necessarily say that the students misbehave, but it might be more accurate to say that at this age they are eager to learn. This means that they probably want to touch everything to get a hands on experience, they probably will ask a lot of questions and want to share stories, are eager to participate which may result in talking out of turn, and are wanting to make new friends and interact with peers. If I look at it this way, it becomes more of a positive and I think I will be better able to redirect their enthusiasm and energy in a more positive way.

Today in the field, I tried to look at the students in a different way and I tried to focus on two other students closely, in addition to my case study student. I chose to look closely at three very different children and to compare how they go about different tasks, the skill level, their attitude and emotions, their physical development, and their social interactions. I think this helped me to pick up on new things that I didn't notice about kindergarten students and the range of development and abilities you get in a classroom. I was also able to observe Sam teacher her second lesson and she did an awesome job! I love watching other people teach because there are always things I see that I like and that I am sure will help me to come up with ideas of my own for lessons or different ways of approaching a lesson. I know that as I have reviewed for my public speaking midterm on my own and in the review we did in class, it is continuously emphasized that we think using images. So when you imagine something or are trying to understand something you get a picture of something in your mind to help you to grasp a concept. I think this a good explanation to why visual aids are so important, especially when teaching, and especially for those students who may be beginner readers. So many people are visual learners and therefore visual support in lessons is very important in Early Childhood lessons. We all have different learning styles, but we all do use pictures and images to some degree as a tool to help us when thinking and in the learning process.