The day starts with a professional learning community, or PLC, meeting from 7:30 a.m. until 7:55 a.m. This meeting discussed questions, concerns, and policies in relation to reading and writing. The meeting seemed to happen quickly, each teacher and the assistant principal was discussing and debating using terms that I did not recognize. A majority of the time was spent discussing the different tiers in response to intervention for certain students. After completing my reading in “The Reflective Educators Guide to Classroom Research” I understood the RTI process that was discussed in the PLC meeting a little more. The RTI is an intervention approach that is a part of the eligibility process for emotional behavior disorders and specific learning disabilities. This process is strongly supported by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the No Child Left Behind (Dana, 2014). It will be very interesting to watch this process be implemented.
After the meeting, we picked up the students (about thirty of them) from the gymnasium area behind the cafeteria. Once we got into the classroom, the students had specific procedures that they were to follow at the beginning of every day: flip the attendance card with their name on it, sharpen two pencils, use the restroom and get a drink of water, and begin to read silently while others are completing the morning procedures. I had the opportunity to assist in the enforcement of these morning procedures; since it was the beginning of the school year, the students were moving relatively slowly, so my collaborating teacher (CT) asked if I could help sharpen pencils and make sure that the students were completing the morning tasks. While I was doing this, a young female student informed me that her mother went to USF and said “Go Bulls!”
The schedule for the rest of the day was supposed to started with P.R.I.D.E time, followed by specials, T.P.E or social studies, language arts, lunch (11:35-12:05), science, math, and social studies. This schedule was not followed perfectly, and only really consisted of specials, language arts, lunch, and science. Following specials (which is art, music, physical education, etc.) my CT’s had to attend another meeting. This meeting was in relation to math and science, and general test scores were discussed, rather then specific students and this data was used to evaluate how to better assist the students.
The science activity was interesting, and allowed the students to get up and move around. The students were split into groups of about six and different centers were created, in each center the students had to use a scientific tool. For example, a thermometer was placed in a cup of water and the students had to read the thermometer and write down what they discovered. Multiple other stations were created, each using different scientific tools. Once each group visited every center, the class sat back down and discussed the answers they got. As they were discussing, the teacher discussed how important it is to collaborate and share when it comes to experiments because everybody may have gotten something different.
The math unit was also interesting. The students were given a worksheet and instructed to complete the first two problems, and then raise their hands. If they got both of the answers right, they got a green popsicle stick and were allowed to continue, once the worksheet was finished, they self checked their work and got to read a entertaining math book. If they got one wrong and one right, they were told which question was wrong and that they could retry and raise their hand again. If the student got both questions wrong then they were given a red popsicle stick. The red popsicle stick indicated that they had to go to the small group and work together. One of the teachers would sit at the kidney table with each student that got the red stick and go over the math problems together. I had the opportunity to give the students the popsicle stick that they earned, which would adapt the teaching manner for each student – students that needed individualized approach would have the opportunity for one on one work.
I really enjoyed that the teachers created these centers for the science; it really allows the students to fully enjoy the material being taught and see the significance of sharing/collaborating. The math portion was great too! It allowed the students who needed extra help to receive it.
In addition to these activities the teachers completed a couple students DRA, or developmental reading assessment. This was very important to see because it is required in order to assess the student’s instructional level in reading. I was actually able to observe a female student, who was two levels below the third grade reading level. It will be fascinating to watch her develop. Although she read a lower level story, she seemed to read relatively smoothly, and I was able to assist in the scoring of her comprehension.
Overall this experience was amazing, and I am really looking forward to developing and learning throughout the semester. The only thing that I was surprised by was the lack of social studies in the classroom. With only a fifteen-minute time lot for social studies on the first day, hopefully in the future I will have the opportunity to see and assist in the teaching of social studies.
Recourses
Dana, N., & Hoppey, D. (2014). The Reflective Educator's Guide to Classroom Research : Learning to Teach and Teaching to Learn Through Practitioner Inquiry (3nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Below are some images collected of my internship classroom. Please click on the image to see the full photo. The first is the daily schedule, followed by the month/birthday/class-rules board, an overview of the classroom, and a selection of the library within the classroom.
It is noteworthy that the library inside of the classroom is categorized by genre and there are a variety of reading levels within the selection.