First Day in the Classroom
My first day of my field experience was very interesting. I have been placed in a grade 2/3 classroom. I learned very quickly about my learners and what they are capable of. There is a wide range of abilities in that classroom which would make it extremely hard on the teacher. There are students who can read and write extremely well then there are students who do not know the alphabet and cannot spell their name. It was really nice talking to the teacher because she understands that they are all at different grade levels so she does her best by trying to separate the strong from the weak so they can all get the help they need. Despite their abilities, they are all very eager to learn and they are the sweetest kids.
I was very impressed with the learning environment. The teacher has done an excellent job making sure that all of her students are getting the education they need because they are not all at the same grade level. The area was vert clean and well maintained.
The photo I attached is at the end of the school day when everyone has left. I have never had a classroom that has quite looked like this. It was interesting to see a bunch of long tables instead of individual desks. I am not sure if this would make it easier or harder for kids because they do not have a desk to put their supplies in so they would have to store it somewhere else.
Week 4 Blog Post
This week I decided to go in the morning instead of the afternoon so I could experience doing different subjects, however; that did not really happen because it was Halloween. It was extremely easy-going because all the kids were dressed up in their costumes so we did not get much accomplished in the morning. We ended up going to phys. Ed but instead of doing volleyball the students just played a few games since they were all dressed up. After phys. Ed, we came back to the classroom and did a writing assignment. The kids had to describe each costume that was listed with 2 words. I worked with one of the girls that has a learning disability and helped her with it. She told me what how she would describe them then I wrote it down on the white board so she could copy it down.
In my classroom, I do not have as much diversity as I thought I was going to. There are only 3 different ethnicity in my room but there are a lot more throughout the school. Age, race/ethnicity, and gender are more of the obvious forms of diversity but there are some that are not visible. Some that are not visible are sexual orientation, religion, and disabilities. Sometimes it is obvious when someone has a disability but other times you might not have a clue, however; it should not matter how diverse someone is, everyone should be treated equally. I have not been in any other classroom except my own so I am not really sure how the school and other teachers honour inclusive practices but I have noticed what my teacher does in her classroom. My teacher tries to make everyone feel welcome and included when she teaches. She gives all the kids the same work but will modify the assignment to meet the needs for the students with disabilities. She also tries to put the students with disabilities one on one with other assistants and my partner and I so they can get the help they need. She is lucky that she has a lot of extra help because most teachers do not get that luxury.
Me and my School
