Reflection: Knowing Your Students This is my second year as a kindergarten teacher at San Vicente Elementary, the batch of students this school year has shown a great results among the rest of the other kinder class. It is based on our quarterly STAR Early Literacy assessment that my students take which is computer based. Most of my students are into technology so using an Ipad was a whole lot of fun. The results surprises me as I know the rest could have done well. I’ve always wondered why this year I felt the need to strengthen my teaching on character education that geared towards caring about each other’s feelings and behavior management to this particular group of children. However, I do feel as if they lack the skills to relate to each …show more content…
Bronson (2012) expresses the significance of self-regulation as a foundation to build the students to become self- directed learners (Copple, 2012). I’ve always tried to target my students to become independent and responsible for learning, especially since for most of them are fresh in a classroom setting. At this age, my students have not fully built on their self- control and social competence. They haven’t mastered the concept, as they are still learning, but I can see some improvements since they first started. They have shown that they are able to control their behavior in the classroom setting (p. 97); however, they lack the ability to exhibit self-control when they are outside the classroom. I believe that their environment truly affects their behavior. They still need to learn how to assess their surrounding and make judgments on how they will behave or act (Copple, 2012). These children are still actively learning ways to improve through observing the behaviors around them. I feel that it is difficult to implement the proper behavior when it is not reinforced at home. I don’t think giving rewards is teaching them anything so I’ve stopped giving extrinsic rewards (stickers) because I want them to feel that they can still manage with being rewarded. Children today are accustomed to receiving and looking forward to rewards as a mean of showing positive behavior. I want the child to fully understand the …show more content…
Speaking proper English is a struggle for all of them, as they tend to use the wrong verb tense all the time and also gradually learning new words. I could see a difference between the students who have family support (parental involvement) and those that don’t have the support (Copple, 2012). I feel that it is important to create a relationship with my students so that they can see that I understand where they are coming from. This relationship will encourage them to open up and increase their “motivation to learn” (Copple, 2012, p. 47). Culture plays a big role here on island and the way that they do things; I can see the influence of culture when they respond to questions or tasks given to the students (p.48). I would like to apply and build on a curriculum that is comprehensive and target their mind to focus on higher order of thinking (Copple, 2012). I will organize on engaging activities but now with higher expectations to build on their cognitive, social, and private speech skills. Overall, I believe my classroom is unique as many of my students are kinesthetic learners; I allow my students to sit in their own comfort, as they are able to complete their assigned task. Journal and writing activities and reading in the library is free seating are allowed. Most of them choose lying on the floor in front of the board compared to sitting on a chair; however, we have a deal that they may choose their comfy
When it comes to “rewarding”, the way Gelb describes it, it is “something given only for extraordinary effort (Gelb).” In addition, Gelb explains in the article that “‘bribing’ is the child expecting something for good behavior, even if, in that particular situation it’s the right thing to do (Gelb).” The problem about bribing a kid is that this act is not conducive to the child’s maturation. When a parent “bribes” a child for accomplishing something that the child is supposed to do, this act conditions the child’s mind.
A classroom should be filled with a wide variety of languages, experiences, and cultural diversity. An effective teacher understands the importance of culturally responsive teaching, and recognizes the significance of including students ' cultural references in all aspects of learning. Having an enriching classroom that engages all students does not mean making judgments about a student’s culture based on their skin color, gender, or socioeconomic status, rather it means knowing each student in a way that is individualized. According to the authors of The First Day of School: How to be an Effective Teacher Harry Wong, race, gender, religion, financial statue, and skin color is the least important factor determining a student’s achievement. Moreover, demographics and culture are not an excuse for students’ lack of achievement.
“In a positive reinforcement-based system, animals are rewarded with something they like for responding appropriately to the caregiver’s cues or commands,” (Laule 2). Mr. Byrne could try adding more engaging material, and send them to the principal’s office when they continue to be
They must first see the differences between rewarding older and younger children. Children who have not yet gone through adolescence should be rewarded for things such as effort, teamwork, and perseverance to finish an activity. These are traits that they are still learning about and so, when they succeed in fulfilling tasks, then they should be rewarded. On the other hand, older children who are attending high school and college have already learned those lessons, and so don’t need for them to be acknowledged quite as much. Instead, they should focus on obtaining the skills they need to become independent.
As an educator, I have continually worked to increase my understanding of how cultural differences can affect learning. Specifically, working with ELL populations and different cultural communities to improve reading and writing in the classroom, educating myself to better understand cultural diversity, supporting students that are at risk of falling below grade level expectations as the Manager of Issaquah School District’s Elementary Summer School program, and
Issues of cultural diversity are more focused, especially in the class room setting. There are several techniques that may be applied to teaching to accommodate students of diverse backgrounds. Teachers must first be aware of stereotypes, ethnocentrism, and biasness. They should apply management techniques to the physical space as well as students’ behavior. Multiple intelligence theory active learning, technology and multi cultural education are among some of the techniques that may be applied to teaching in the class room.
I was chosen as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for the Fall 2015 ZOOL 2403 Labs due to my performance in the previous semester’s lecture section and lab. I was selected from over 120 nominations to fill a limited 57 spots. As an undergraduate teaching assistant I was assigned a lab section that I went to each week and I assisted the Graduate Teaching assistant in teaching, identifying, explaining structures to the students. I was also expected to set up assessments and mini practicals for each lab, and help proctor the lab practical exams.
My Reflection of Real Talk for Real Teachers Real Talk for Real Teachers written by Rafe Esquith has been thought provoking as well as entertaining to read. I have learned a great deal from reading this book and I hope to implement a few of his ways in my future classroom. I can relate too many of the stories that have been told in this book because this is real life in a school environment. I would like to break my summary down chapter by chapter.
Repetition with positive rewards always makes out to be a better influence for a child’s upbringing and how they react to the set goal. I would like to say that Operant Conditioning is a better form of learning because it is strengthened by positive consequences or weakened by a negative consequence. You reward to improve behavior, or you take away or time-out to give them time to think about what they did wrong. Classical Conditioning is a learned conditioning stimulus, like conditioning yourself to study for exams in advance to pass classes. Effective planning for study time results in passing grades and passing your classes.
IDEA lists three ways of being culturally skilled in the classroom. This includes the teacher being culturally alert in the class to connect the gap of learning about other ethnicities, learning to communicate to students in unwritten and non-vocal styles, and know the different views of the cultures, for example, skin-to skin contact, no communication, the clothing of the student, and simple gestures. This is important in my eyes because my school alone is very diverse, and I had my share of teachers that did not respect a certain students religion or culture. This upset me and made me want to learn more about different cultures and religions. It also leads me to want to work harder to become more culturally aware, and diverse for my future students and willing to do what I can to break down barriers that may be created by students of different cultures or religions.
Additionally, educators at this school include learning experiences that allow students to explore events, concepts, issues, and themes from multiple perspectives. The imperative aspect of the curriculum should be relevant to the lives of diverse students and should reflect their everyday aspects of life and daily experiences. As a principal, Mr. Stone, takes every effort, in constructing small learning environments, fostering continuous relationships between adults and students, and creating advisory systems for academic
One of the unique aspects of the Department of Child Development and Family Relations is that many of the department’s large core courses offer teaching assistant opportunities to undergraduate students. Teaching assistant opportunities are valuable for undergraduate students to decide whether to apply as a graduate teaching position, great addition to a resume, and for a letter of recommendation. From my teaching assistant experience, I was able to fully grasp the concepts of middle childhood development, form a new appreciation for professors and teaching assistants, and reflect on myself as a student. In addition, I had the opportunity to strengthen several essential skills such as organizational skills, leadership skills, and communication
Ms. Laura also encourages these choices by letting the students pick some of the centers in the morning, she will usually have 2-3 set centers and then give a child or two the option of picking a center. The room arrangement supports children, because she has quiet activities next to quiet activities, so if a child is trying to read a book they don’t have blocks in the same area. She also made sure to be aware of different family’s cultures, by labeling items in different languages and making sure when you look around the room there
The purpose of this essay is to identify how important it is to have a diverse classroom setting. Students from all over the world enter the 21st century classrooms bringing a little bit of home with them. It is crucial that teachers are aware of what is happening and educate themselves in how to reach a student. Children are similar but different at the same time. Students learn in many different ways like for example observing, listening, demonstration, speaking and etc.
All students deserve to be treated fairly as individuals. When considering the diversity of the class members, we will celebrate the uniqueness that the differences contribute. Because I have high expectations that all my children can be successful, adjustments may be necessary because everyone is not the same (Burden, 2017, p. 115). It is vital that a spirit of understanding and edification is active amongst the students and from the teacher (Romans 14:19, King James Version) to produce fruits of mutual respect: reduced bias, positive academic outcomes, enhanced problem solving, and healthy group dynamics (Cousik, 2015, p. 54). For differences that stem from culture, gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, the adjustments will involve bridging the cultural gap between the students’ diversity and the curriculum.