Intern Year Post #5- 9/16-9/20

This week I attempted to teach my first lesson which allowed the students to use technology. The goal of my lesson was to have my students become more familiar with the laptops, so I created a "laptop scavenger hunt". I assumed because my students went to a "basic skills" computer class once a week so they would have background knowledge to contribute. To my surprise, I was completely wrong and my lesson did not turn out the way I had expected. First, some of the students had trouble logging onto the computer. Then some of my students couldn't read the directions. But, to top it off, the websites were not working properly which caused a great deal of confusion among the class. Once the lesson wrapped up I was very disappointed with how the lesson went. In all my college courses my teachers are stressed the importance of incorporating technology. I keep asking myself, how can this be done when students aren't familiar with how to use it. After this lesson, I am very fearful to use the laptops again.

Intern Year- Post #4 9/9- 9/13

Something very interesting that disturbed me a bit last week happened on 9-11. When I went into school on Tuesday I had anticipated that 9-11 or at least patriotism would be talked about on the morning announcements and throughout the class day. To my surprise, the topic did not come up once and was never mentioned on the morning announcements. At the end of the day I felt a bit disappointed and confused by my mentor teachers approach to the subject. Even though the students were not alive when this event happened, I felt as though they should be reminded of the tragic event that so greatly affected our country. After a few days of thinking, I finally decided to confront my teacher on my curiousness. Without any hesitation my teacher explained due to the large population of middle eastern student, it would be inappropriate to discuss the subject. She further explained that the school did not want to make those children feel uncomfortable or unwelcome. As I listened to my mentor teachers' explanation I began to understand a bit more. Although I do agree it would be completely inappropriate to make students uncomfortable, I do believe the topic should be discussed in some way.

Intern Year Post #3 9/3-9/6

This week I began to take over teaching math everyday. Throughout the past 2 years, I have found teaching this subject has always been difficult for me. I also have worried that I am not explaining the content properly, which results in no student learning. Luckily for me, my mentor teaching specializes in math and science. For math instruction I use the standard manual given to every grade level teacher that lays out each lessons from beginning to end. Sometimes I find this useful because it sequences how the students should learn properly. Other times I feel as though some of the teaching requires certain skills the students may not have already. Something I find very interesting about my second graders is their love for math. On the first day of school my mentor teacher simply asked the class who liked math. To my surprise the entire classroom raised their hands. At first I believed the students just wanted to impress the teacher on the first day, but after teaching this subject I can tell it was not a lie. For the majority of the 90 minute period, the students are activity engaged and always eager to share an answer. I have noticed that almost every student struggles with counting coins but can easily count dollar bills. We use many hands on materials on my classroom such as paper money and plastic coins. It will be interesting to see the students progress while I teach.

Intern Year Post #2 8/26-8/31

(Sorry this post is late.. my grandmother passed away during this week.) Something important that was brought to my attention this week was the idea of differentiation. In the other grades I was placed in at North elementary, students of different skill levels switched classes for certain subjects. In second grade, students do not switch classes for any subject with causes the issue of how can lessons help every student? During my participant year, i completed an assignment of writing one differentiated lesson. I though these lessons were only created every now and then during certain subjects. I now feel that I need to differentiated every lesson plan so that all students will benefit and learn the information. When discussing this idea with my mentor teacher she also stressed how she attempts to differentiate every lesson for her student. In my second grade classroom are children who range from below grade, ESL, TAG, and on-grade. Due to this is is critical to make sure lessons are hard enough yet doable and can be understood by all students.