I would say that most of the students speak the same general dialect of English. The ESL student that I work with might speak in a lower dialect, but I'm not sure if that's what I'm hearing. The Practicum has to two ESL students, but I believe both only speak English and the native language has been lost. One of the students does have trouble with English , but it more of a confidence and fluency issue. Once when we were working on her personal ELL work book that is provided for the school, the book prompted me to ask her the definitions of the word. She read the word most of the English words with ease but when I asked her what they meant that is where I could see that she was having trouble with English.
The classroom has a Promethean Board which is used for a variety of things, note taking, videos etc. The teacher also has a mobile mic that she places in front of every student for out loud reading. The student's voice can be heard through out the classroom on the overhead speaker. Mrs. P also encourages internet use. Many of the students are presenting research projects that requires them to do research on the internet and cite their sources.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Classroom Discourse
Typically the types of questions that are ask are the mean of words or how to say these words. Mrs. P always responds in a respectful manner. Today we had a tricky word. Lamented. Students say perplex, " lemontid?" Mrs. P. smiles, "La-men-ted not lemontid." Soon enough another student says allowed, "LAMBENTID." Mrs. P repeats with a smile, "Lamented." Mrs. P. responds to most questions in this pleasant and patient tone.
This is actually a fairly engaged class. One student that stand out as a non-participation would be one of the ELL students. This student speak English fine, however reading aloud is tough and maybe a little scary.
One particular student has a problem with sticking with relevance in discourse. This student is too much fun, however many of his contributions have nothing to do with the current discussion. This is attributed to his disability and today he didn't have his in-class aid so he tried focusing his powers of distraction on me. I tried my best to resist.
I don't get to hear students outside of Q & A and aloud reading. I would say the boys talk more than the girls. Mrs. P's son who is in the class seems to talk a lot in class discussion, because he is comfortable with his mother, as it should be, this attitude transcends through-out the classroom.
I also wanted to add that this is very much an IRE discourse pattern in the classroom which must be very characteristic of Elementary school children. I'm interested to hear what my fellow Elementary school goers have experience with discourse at their practicums.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The wonders of student writing
Student writing is addressed with worksheets, read-a- longs and games. Most days I come in early during their skills block. The skills block includes the expectations for the Benchmark test. Today I want able to see an sample of the students' writing. Not all of these students are from Mrs. P's class. She teaches the mid-level students during this time. I noticed a lot of the students were attaching -ing to infinitive words that needed to be changed such as "exploreing" and haveing". Many also still use a phonetectic based spelling system such as, "yous" for use and my favorite, because it is so creative, "perfefshinal" for professional. The word believe was hard for most students with spells like , "beliefs"( awhile correct spelling not the word they meant), "belives" and "beleive"the last one I'm sure is common for students and must be one of the difficult ones because the teacher had wrote the word on the board.
One student didn't put any distinctive spaces between words. Some students tried to use commas, but used them incorrectly or was a simple imitation of what the teacher had on the board. I was told that they learned how to use commas in the previous grade. I was impressed that one of the students had use colons correctly (half the time)in their paper, which means they must have had a lesson on them.
One student tried to spell the word "animal," "anaimale" and then "amale"
In this particular lesson plan the was called a Self Portrait Poem, it was more of a listing than a poem, one student number their traits. In other lessons, students are being taught the 3 paragrpah form: intro., body and conclusion.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
My first day at SS Elementary
My first day at SS Elementary. I'm pretty excited to be going to SS Elementary I haven't been in a 5th grade classroom since I was in 5th grade. Is it me or are kids getting smaller? The students were more interested in how long I would be in their class than what I will actually be doing. Are they ready to get rid of me already? Everyone was very nice and didn't seem to mind my "active" observation. I'm in the classroom from 9:45 to noon. The class is set up by 45 minute learning blocks from 9:45 to 10:30 is the Reading block, from 10:30 to 11:15 they have art, gym or some other activity this gives me a chance to collect my thought on the first half of class and catch up on any class work that I can do without a book. From 11:15 to 12:oo the students have a Language block.
Reading Block
It was really interesting to hear them read aloud and hear the Miscues. I heard substitutions such as Grandmother's for Grandma's, some sounding out of the words and a lot of self correction. I was really impressed with their oral reading skills. I can't believe how much the use of technology has been integrated into the classroom. I was surprised how eager the students were to read aloud.
Language Block
In their reading block the students looked at grammar today's subject was contractions such as , have not verses haven't. They also studied double negatives and corrections. I noticed one of the students was up set after gym class, it seemed that having to write was only adding to their bad mood. They wrote "grate" instead of "great" and "wud" instead of "would." Their peers seemed to be on a completely different writing level. It must be very frustrating for this person.
Physical Environment
This classroom was HUGE. There are roughly 20 students. The desks were arranged in blocks of 3 or 6. They have one computer, a microwave, a library with a comfortable child size arm chair and a Promethean board. The Promethean board and the teacher's desk were placed in the front of the room. Not all of the students had to sit in traditional classroom chairs either, one student had an interesting pill shaped balance ball chair that she was able to bounce on during class.
Curricular Environment
I didn't see a syllibus , but I could tell this was a very structured environment their entire day is divided by 45 minute blocks with the exception of lunch and recess which are put in an hour block. The textbook seemed to adhere to the school districts basic requirements. They read a story called "The 3 Century Year Old Woman" during class Mrs. P. asked them questions about the text. The students were excepted to raise their hands if they wanted to answer the question. Students were also allowed to get up during class or go to the restroom without permission. While reading aloud if an error was made Mrs. P would gentle correct them. During the language block the students got to write a persuasive paper on any topic they wanted. The topics ranged from "why they should have a class pet" to " Why aliens exist." It was very fun to read the students thoughts and see their writing styles. During the writing time Mrs. P. stayed at her desk and students with question would come to her desk or show their work once they finished.
Human Environment
The classroom was composted of mainly Caucasian students probably middle class. The only non-Caucasian students were a Hawaiian student and an Alaska Native student both who interestingly were ELL student although they now speak English in the home. The mix between boys and girls is fairly even. WE also have two autistic students whom I would classify as mildly autistic and one FAS student. All of the students talk to the teacher, but the students seem to keep to their table or surrounding tables during class time. During gym time I could tell who was friends with who. Overall this is a very good classroom environment the only thing that I don't like is that the autistic/ resource students are placed in the back of the room with a tutor/ classroom aide. I understand why it is done like this but it feels like they are being singled out.
Reading Block
It was really interesting to hear them read aloud and hear the Miscues. I heard substitutions such as Grandmother's for Grandma's, some sounding out of the words and a lot of self correction. I was really impressed with their oral reading skills. I can't believe how much the use of technology has been integrated into the classroom. I was surprised how eager the students were to read aloud.
Language Block
In their reading block the students looked at grammar today's subject was contractions such as , have not verses haven't. They also studied double negatives and corrections. I noticed one of the students was up set after gym class, it seemed that having to write was only adding to their bad mood. They wrote "grate" instead of "great" and "wud" instead of "would." Their peers seemed to be on a completely different writing level. It must be very frustrating for this person.
Physical Environment
This classroom was HUGE. There are roughly 20 students. The desks were arranged in blocks of 3 or 6. They have one computer, a microwave, a library with a comfortable child size arm chair and a Promethean board. The Promethean board and the teacher's desk were placed in the front of the room. Not all of the students had to sit in traditional classroom chairs either, one student had an interesting pill shaped balance ball chair that she was able to bounce on during class.
Curricular Environment
I didn't see a syllibus , but I could tell this was a very structured environment their entire day is divided by 45 minute blocks with the exception of lunch and recess which are put in an hour block. The textbook seemed to adhere to the school districts basic requirements. They read a story called "The 3 Century Year Old Woman" during class Mrs. P. asked them questions about the text. The students were excepted to raise their hands if they wanted to answer the question. Students were also allowed to get up during class or go to the restroom without permission. While reading aloud if an error was made Mrs. P would gentle correct them. During the language block the students got to write a persuasive paper on any topic they wanted. The topics ranged from "why they should have a class pet" to " Why aliens exist." It was very fun to read the students thoughts and see their writing styles. During the writing time Mrs. P. stayed at her desk and students with question would come to her desk or show their work once they finished.
Human Environment
The classroom was composted of mainly Caucasian students probably middle class. The only non-Caucasian students were a Hawaiian student and an Alaska Native student both who interestingly were ELL student although they now speak English in the home. The mix between boys and girls is fairly even. WE also have two autistic students whom I would classify as mildly autistic and one FAS student. All of the students talk to the teacher, but the students seem to keep to their table or surrounding tables during class time. During gym time I could tell who was friends with who. Overall this is a very good classroom environment the only thing that I don't like is that the autistic/ resource students are placed in the back of the room with a tutor/ classroom aide. I understand why it is done like this but it feels like they are being singled out.
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