Monday, September 29, 2014
Field Day #3
After your third day in Field (for most, that was the week of Sept. 26th). Tell us about your experiences so far...how much are you getting to do with kids? What teacher practices are you noticing (good or bad)? What do you feel you are getting from this? Answer any or all... Don't forget to respond to at least 4 classmates.
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This week, I was in Mrs. Brown's classroom. They had been reading the same story all week and adding different vocabulary words on each time. This time, the teacher was pointing out similes in the reading and vocabulary words they had learned before. They were reading the wolf's version of the three little pigs. We watched them go through this lesson and then we each worked with small groups to read Scholastic newspaper. Some of the kids were getting pretty distracted during the Three Little Pigs story, probably because they had already heard it multiple times throughout the week. I did notice that the teacher made sure to call on different people to answer, even though a lot of the same people were raising their hands. In my group session, there was a girl who wanted to read the whole thing and didn't want to give other people turns. Even when others were reading, she was reading along and going ahead. She also shouted out every answer to the questions I asked or whispered it to the person I was asking. I tried to tell her to give the others a chance sometimes, but some of them didn't even want to read. Should I have just let her continue reading, since the others didn't want to anyway? Any suggestions on how you all would have handled this situation?
ReplyDeleteI think it's hard to correct a student when they aren't your student. I honestly couldn't tell you what I would do in that situation. I agree that it is hard to keep kids entertained because my class is reading the Three Little Pigs also and they are just drawing on the paper and not paying attention.
DeleteI would first ask the girl to write down her answers if she was not called on or if it was not her turn. In that situation she would then be able to help the student who had the turn if they were stuck or double check to see if she got the answer right. If that does not work, then I would ask the girl to draw her answer and write the context clues that we were reading at the time to explain the story at the end. She could save her explanation and instead of interjecting, review everything we had talked about.
DeleteI think it would be best to give the other students the chance to read even if they said that they didn't want to . In my group I had each person read either one or two paragraphs and for those that didn't want to read after the first paragraph I let someone that did want to read make up for it at the end. I think Meredith had a good idea in having the student write things down also a gentle admonishment "Give so and so the opportunity to share and then you can have a turn" may have been called for.
DeleteI would ask the girl to listen to what others had to say or even write it down before she said it out loud. Then I would give clear instructions on reading then when you ask a question specifically call on someone and say that I want to listen to this students answer and we all need to listen and respect what that person has to say.
DeleteLike Danelle said I think it would be best to have each group member read even if they do not want to. The students need to learn the value of group collaboration and that if one student does more than others that will make other students maybe even afraid to read in front of a class because they feel like they cannot read as good as the other person who always reads.
DeleteThat happens sometimes in my experience of working with kids. Normally, they don't like sharing stuffs with other people. When you said "there was a girl who wanted to read the whole thing and didn't want to give other people turns. Even when others were reading, she was reading along and going ahead." I think somehow it would be better if you talked to the teacher in your classroom because she/he is the one who know that student the most.
DeleteI think that is a difficult situation, because you don't want to discourage her enthusiasm, but you also want to give other students a chance. I agree with Nantana, that it might be best to ask Mrs. Brown what she suggests. The activity that Mrs. Brown was doing sounds like a great segue into creating an alternate ending for the stories. This would allow the students to use the different vocabulary words they used to create their own ending and might make the activity more interesting.
DeleteThis week, in Miss. Downey's class, the students were learning about metaphors and similes. To show her students what metaphor and similes are, she pulled up a game on the smart board and they worked as a class to guess whether the statement was a simile or metaphor. Some students grasped this lesson better than others. I think for the most part all students understood what a simile was but they were having a hard time coming up with their own metaphors. I tried having the students pick out some objects they wanted to compare and go from there. Personally, I don't think the teacher did a great job explaining the lessons because she just doesn't seem enthusiastic about being there. I don't get to do a lot with the students besides walk around and watch them work, there isn't a lot of reading involved. I've only gotten to read once with the students since I've been there. I do feel like sentence structure and pointing out the parts of speech are important but maybe the students could point out those parts of speech while they are reading?
ReplyDeleteThat would be a wonderful idea! Not only does it encourage reading in the classroom, but it also helps the students apply what they learned immediately. They each could have their own book as to prevent cheating. It may cause some students to not find a metaphor or simile, but if they cannot find one then they can make one up.
DeleteI think working with an actual book or even an article would helpful in this case. Creating a metaphor is a challenge did the teacher seem to notice that the students were struggling perhaps she is going have another lesson to reinforce the topic. I hope that your teacher begins to let you do more!
DeleteMaybe it would be a good idea to give them a list of similes and metaphors, mixed in with regular sentences. Or write your own story with a lot of examples of each one in it. This way, they could identify the difference between them and it would be guaranteed that there would be similes and metaphors to find. Maybe after doing that, they would have a better understanding of it and would be able to come up with their own easier.
DeleteI believe the students would understand the difference between a metaphor and simile more if they found it in something they were personally reading. I agree with you that she did not teach it very well. I had many students who still did not understand the difference and even what a simile and metaphor were.
DeleteIf the students get to a level where they are reading and pointing out parts of speech, that would be lovely, because there are thing s to this day that i struggle with in parts of speech, at least the identifying part.
DeleteLike Brittany pointed out I think the students will understand the differences if they are writing their own sentences or two. I still stumble on parts of speech that I am unfamiliar with. I look up the definition and then if it does not make sense to me I make my own sentence with the definition in front of me and circle, underline, etc. the parts of speech I do not know. I then write a couple of sentences on my own without the definition to help me remember those parts of speech.
DeleteMetaphor is sometime could be a hard lesson for teacher to teach. This because the teacher has to be a good explaining for elementary grade would be hard for them to come up any ideas of what they think of. I agree with your point that the teacher did a great job explaining the lessons.
DeleteFor my Education of the Exceptional Individual class this summer, I actually created a unit that delt with teaching figurative language, and one of the ways I tried to show students figurative language was to read them farm themed books and then together we would find similes, metaphors ext. in the text. I would write them on the board and then also have a concluding activity for each lesson that would allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of the material. In this setting, I don't think it was a good idea to have the kids work as a class to figure these out, because figurative language is a hard subject to grasp and it will obviously take some longer than others. I think it would've been more effective to have children use whiteboards to answer so teachers could monitor student progress, and also to let students work in groups.
DeleteThis week, Ms. Brown continued the student's work on The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. They read the story together and had previously circled vocabulary words that they were learning the meaning of. The students each had their own worksheet and Ms. Brown read aloud while the students followed. Whenever Ms. Brown came to a circled word, the students would raise their hand and Ms. Brown would ask them to define the circled word. After the story, Ms. Brown had each student discuss with their group why people thought the "Big Bad Wolf" was 'bad' and what clues from the story told them that the wolf was both bad and good. The class reviewed together reasons why the wolf was both bad and good. During this time, Ms. Brown had to step out of the classroom and I took over the class. I was able to have actual time teaching the whole class in the classroom. It was extremely valuable. I had forgotten since the summer how aware children are and how unafraid they are to correct the teacher. I had forgotten the word "open" when I wrote that the wolf had opened the door and a student raised his hand to tell me. It was very helpful.
ReplyDeleteI think that the method they were using this last week is a good way to introduce vocabulary especially compared with the typical spelling test. It allows the students to have guided practice in using strategies to figure out what a word means. I'm really happy you were able to temporarily take over the class, I'm sure it was helpful for the teacher!
DeleteThat's really cool that you got to teach the class for a little bit. Did you continue teaching the same way as Ms. Brown or did you change some things? Did the children respect you or misbehave more after the teacher left?
DeleteWay to go teacher Meredith! :) What do you think the students gained from this activity Ms. Brown had them do, new vocabulary, how to read fluently?
DeleteWhat a great experience for you! And it's always good to keep in mind that everyone makes mistakes! You just have to say oops and continue on with your lesson!
DeleteThat sounds to be fun activity of learning vocabulary by reading "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs." I bet students would love that and enjoy spending time reading with classmates.
DeleteI think by having students point out why the big wolf was "bad" would be a great time to introduce the story of the other side of the three little pigs. Then, she could teach a whole lesson about perspective and understanding that not everyone thinks, or learns for that matter, in the same way.
DeleteThis week the teacher's at McIntire were all working using the technique of "close reading"; Mrs. Brown informed us of this though she didn't explain the process very well. I believe that it how they were working with the same story all week- because they knew the story they were able to think about the one topic (in this case simile and metaphor). As Krista stated it did appear as though many of the students were getting bored of this topic. After the class wide reading we had small groups in which we read the scholastic paper. It was interesting to see how the students I was working with interacted with each other which is something that up until this Friday I didn't have a chance to see.
ReplyDeleteI agree that working with a group was interesting to see, rather than working with individuals like we have done the weeks before. It was definitely a different experience. Did you think it was harder or easier with a group?
DeleteDo you think having different activities and lessons on similes and metaphors could help with the boredness of the topic?
DeleteI think that working on the same material can be beneficial as to know that all students have that background knowledge. There is so much students can learn from text. It is amazing. However, with elementary students, I agree that they were a little tired of the story. They were quite confident in answering all questions, but after a certain amount of time it may help to move on to keep student interest rather than aligning with other teachers the whole time. How long do you think is too long for third graders to spend on one particular story?
DeleteIm really eager for my next observation to see how my students will react in other groups. The group of readers that I was assigned to generally got along and I think they were in the same friend group. I think there would have been a different reaction if there was a specific student struggling immensely or if there was a specific reader that was head and shoulders above the rest. I enjoy working with outliers in either direction and would have liked that opportunity.
DeleteThat's great how you got to observe a group of students working together. So far with this particular class I've only worked with one or two students at a time so hopefully I'll get to see this too!
DeleteI think working into group is the good idea because it can build the way how kids can work in their future. Sharing their opinion and learning difference things from other would be a good thing for students to try working into group by now.
DeleteIm glad you are getting to gain new experiences by being in the classroom! I'm sure the kids love you and I hope you keep learning something new with every new visit!
DeleteI think with reading especially, it is important to create diverse reading groups so that everyone in the group can benefit. This also helps students of all levels see how other students learn and also allows students to get to know one another better.
DeleteThis week I was finally with my originally placed teacher, Mrs. Fitzpatrick. They were behind due to a science demonstration, so I actually helped with a few of the students English homework. I helped one student with a worksheet in which she had to match which words were similar in meaning (like stream and brook) and also with a worksheet that she had to determine what type of error was in the sentence. After that, I helped two students with their writing assignments. They had to use "juicy details" in order to describe an experience in their life. One kid wrote about her adoption (kind of weird to write about, but I didn't stop her. I didn't feel like it was my place) and the other kid wrote about playing tag with his friends. He had trouble starting at the red line when writing. Mrs. Fitz said we should be at the normal routine next time.
ReplyDeleteThat is great that you got to work with them on "juicing up" their writing assignments. I think that it was great that you let the girl write about her adoption because some kids don't like talking about that and that is a great way to express herself. Do you believe that helping them write correlates with helping them read?
DeleteUsing sensory and descriptive details is an extremely important part of creative writing and recalling. In terms of recalling I'm talking about writing about life experiences which when you use certain details, you can paint a picture in your mind. The fact that they using "juicy details" early on is prepping them for later in life academically.
DeleteWas there a prompt to what they were writing or was this just free-writing to practice working with "juicy details"? I agree that writing about an adoption experience may be a little odd but perhaps it's something she needed to express, like Brittany said.
DeleteI'm glad you are flexible and will to help the students with whatever they need at the time you are in the classroom. Just be open to what the children want to write about and encourage them no matter what! Unless it is like completely inappropriate, in that case suggest something else to write about.
DeleteThis week I really didn't do much with the students. I discussed with them what funny or interesting sentences they found in the the story The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. After this the teacher talked about metaphors and similes and how they are different, Then I helped with a couple of pairs of students with trying to come up with their own similes and metaphors. Miss Downey had a game on the SmartBoard on metaphors and similes. There was a sentence on each slide and the students had to determine if it was a simile or a metaphor. Miss Downey wrote in the white board that a simile compares two things using like or as and a metaphor compares two things without using like or as. The students will then hold up one finger for a simile or two fingers for a metaphor. Miss Downey would say if your holding up this number explain why you think that. The number she always called on was the correct answer. She never allowed the students to fail and show why that their answer is incorrect. I feel that I am not really getting the experience I need of teaching students to read and help them read. I only have read once with the students and it was only for 5 minutes.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry you are not getting the experience that you need. I hope that that changes soon. I think that if nothing else your experience is helping you see teaching methods that you would not like in your classroom. Sometimes, future teachers learn the most from teachers that they do not like because they are able to continually try to improve each lesson in their minds. Do you see any students that had the "wrong" answer ask Miss Downey or another student from our class why they were wrong or do they just move on once Miss Downey reviews the "correct" answer?
DeleteWe did the same lesson about similes and metaphors in Ms. Brown's classroom, but she didn't do an activity on what they were and I don't think she explained it very well. I think doing the activity and having it up on the board was a good idea to teach them about it, but it sounds like your teacher wasn't using the activity to its full potential. What would you do differently if you were teaching this lesson?
DeleteI think seeing yourself fail and finding out why and how you came to that conclusion is healthy for not arriving there again. that may have sounded a bit weird, but its very apparent in the world of sports. practice makes perfect and it is part of the learning process to get back on the horse and try again, just slightly altering the approach.
DeleteI am sorry to see you are not getting the experience you need. I believe that a true teaching experience is very hands on like Meredith's were she was able to actually teach the class or more than just reading 5 minutes to the students (as you pointed out). Do you think Miss Downey is not calling on the wrong answer because she is afraid the student may be embarrassed if she points out that it is the wrong answer to the class?
DeleteMeredith: No when the student had the wrong answer they weren't ever called on and they never asked why it was wrong because they never had the chance to even if they wanted to.
DeleteKrista: If I was teaching the lesson I would show examples of similes and metaphors on a reading we read as a class and engage students to come up with similes or metaphors as a class. Then when doing the powerpoint presentation I would show them what happened when you get the answer wrong and then ask students who had the wrong answer why they thought their answer was right.
Caitlin: No I think she doesn't want to ask the question because she just wants to get through the lesson. That is what it seems like to me. And there were multiple students who had the answer wrong.
I missed my second week, but will be making it up tomorrow morning. My third observation went pretty well. I got to observe Ms. Brown's class this time and i think this will be my permanent spot. This time the class was working out of scholastic magazines. they were grouping up with each of the visiting college friends and reading with us. I had a group of two girls and two boys and we chose to read outside in the hallway on the floor sitting indian style. We were reading about hotspots and forest fires. I had my group of boys and girls all take turns reading a paragraph. There were definitely stronger readers than others and i noticed that right away and would give more attention to those students with pronunciation help. When it was time to answer the questions at the end of their reading, my students were throwing their hands in the air to answer faster than anything. not only were they excited to be reading and learning but they were comprehending a pretty good deal as well. My favorite observation day thus far.
ReplyDeleteI think that's great how you're having a great experience! Sounds like you have very enthusiastic learners which is always great! I've also never heard it called 'Indian style' before! I've only ever heard crisscross applesauce!
Delete*the first half of class was devoted to going over similes and metaphors and providing some examples of each from the students as well as the teacher.
ReplyDeleteFor this week I was again in Ms. Speer's class. During this class she had the students read a scholastic article on maps, cardinal directions etc. The students were instructed to read with us (like in previous classes) except this time they were allowed to do a crossword puzzle. This time my buddy seemed more interested because he was able to take breaks in between readings to make them seem shorter. My buddy is still showing lack of interest for reading but I seem to get him engaged more when I have him act out the story he is reading. For example I had him show me what was on the North side of the room and describe it to me.
ReplyDeleteI like how I have a kid who does not necessarily like reading because it is challenging for me and at the end of this observation I would have gained skills needed to make a student engaged in reading. I am grateful that I am learning these skills before I teach so I know what I will face in a classroom with more than just one student who does not like a subject.
I love the idea of having the student show and describe to you the north side of the room! What a great little brain break for him! Sounds like you're having a great experience!
DeleteI think you're doing a great job with him and keep encouraging him!! I am also grateful for getting this opportunity to get experience and gain more teacher like skills!
DeleteOn the next day last week, I got a chance to go again because my another class got cancer but I seriously totally for got to post this on time and also I didn't get a place to work there on time like other students in class.
ReplyDeleteSo what I did in the class was helping Mrs. McDaniel prepare the materiel for math lesson plan for morning session. I am so glad to work with her this semester. She is so sweet and welcoming me whenever I come to work. All students some of them can't remember my name so I let them call me Miss Nan in stead of Nantana.
So they would read aloud the number, it is more interesting how she teach how to count in Spanish as well. I love hearing their voice.
I totally love this class and the teacher's attitude because she has a positive attitude that I would love to be in my future teacher. Even sometimes it goes wrong but I believe she will make everything right anyways.
I'm glad you got paired with a teacher you enjoy and can look up to. Maybe when you become a teacher you will steal some of her techniques to be like the great teacher she is. Also, it good that you told the kids they could call you Mrs. Nan because if a name is too hard for them to say then they won't say it and you don't want them to not know your name!
DeleteI am two days behind everyone, so my third field day experience was this past Friday October 10th. I am still doing the same thing I did the other two times I was in the classroom. I am paired with Brooke and we read together and do activities with the reading, except this time Brooke got to pick out picture books of her choice. We were not reading chapter books like other children in the classroom. This is how I know that Brooke is not as advanced as the other children. We got through three picture books. I could tell while we were reading the first one that she has read it before because it seemed like she memorized the words. She was still getting words wrong as we were reading. She reads really fast and sometimes I think she just randomly says what she thinks the word is, but does not actually look at all of the letters and let the word process in her head. Brooke will say a word wrong and I will say no let's sound it out. When she sounds it out she mostly always gets the word right. She just needs to slow down. Some teacher practices I am noticing is that I really need to stay patient with the student and keep encouraging them. They will get it, they are just learning slower than others. I am learning how to model for the student, so while we are reading I will stop and demonstrate a personal connection by saying 'this made me think of the time I…' The I ask her what it made her think of personally. I will also ask her to predict what will happen later on in the book.
ReplyDeleteThis week, I was really excited to see that my student, Jayna, was reading a chapter book!!!! Mrs. Speer had decided that she could try a chapter book and I could tell that Jayna was more interested in reading because she was reading chapter books like a majority of her peers. Jayna was reading a book from the Cam Jansen series. I do think it is important to get kids into chapter books early, even if they aren't the best readers, because it helps them realize they can read chapter books, and that they aren't much different than picture books. I started the little girl I nanny, Grace, on chapter books this summer and had a similar reaction. Although she was sometimes frustrated with the length of the book, she was always so proud of herself when she finished a chapter. I also think Mrs. Speer keeps close track of her students progress. She seems to have a lot of great ideas and philosophies that I would like to eventually adopt and use in my own classroom.
ReplyDelete