Year 1

What I learned from my eight weeks in the school system.

Being able to be apart of the classroom from year one of schooling has made it very clear that is exactly what I want to do. Being in the classroom setting has given me a glimpse into my future. I had a great educator to learn from and will be able to take tricks and tips from this first experience into my own classroom one day. 

as for classrooms, I learned that not all classrooms or schools are the same, the needs of student differentiate a lot. Where I was located some of the students have a reduced curriculum with records of adaptations. Which means that the content, product and environment are specially tweaked for each of these students. Sometimes its as simple as having a set of earmuffs to cancel out the noise. But this also means that the students are assessed more through conversation and observation compared to standard testing and skill to see where they  are making improvements. By doing this you are able to promoting knowledge for all students no matter their skill level. 

Technology is also integrated into the classroom setting with the use of the smart board and interactive videos for the students to engage in subjects such as math for a more hands on experience. The kids in my classroom are all given individual white boards and markers to do the questions the video gives while one lucky kid gets to answer it on the smart board. Tools such a Chrome Books, podcasts and Youtube videos are also used. There are also multiple games available on the computer for the students to play that are educational. They are called learning centers and from what I’ve seen the students love playing them. Dreams-capes for example Is a game where they must use their English and typing skills or in my classroom the  favorite is Prodigy, which is a game that requires the students to answer math problems to advance. The students always ask to play it and bring it up whenever possible. Also Due to the limited size of the library, students can now use technology to access even more books using a website called Epicbooks. 

Co-teaching with another teacher also provides students more than one way to learn the material. By having more than one teacher the students are able to learn from more than one point of view since not everyone learns the same way. By teaching with another teacher they can also learn from one another about what works for them but might not work for someone else expanding their teaching knowledge.

Teachers have to walk a fine line between being inclusive and not being to over the top so they don’t experience backlash from the parents. A Lot of the students in the classroom are not exposed at home to the LGBTQ community. Teacher tries to expose students to the LGBTQ community in subtle way by including books that might not have the stereotypical family and by Adding other sources for material when teaching that uses more than just the gender normative parents.

I cant wait to experience more time in the classroom.