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This is Mrs. Vis's classroom, my first placement as a CAPS Education student.
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This picture was captured while I taught a Character Ed lesson on Responsibility.
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I am going to miss these students and the relationships I built with them throughout the month I was placed within their classroom.
Mrs. Vis Classroom Reflection
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Reflect on 3 things you learned or gained insight through working with your cooperating teacher. Think about teaching strategies, classroom management techniques, student engagement, student relationships, classroom organization etc. Be complete and detailed in your reflection of the topics you choose.
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Throughout my experience in Mrs. Vis’s classroom, I have learned a lot about classroom management. From the start of my first day observing Mrs. Vis teach I was in awe of the way her students knew what to do without her having to say a single word. This was all connected back to the routines and guidelines Mrs. Vis has within the classroom. An example of this is right when the students are done saying the Pledge of Allegiance the kids go directly back to their seats silently. This is very surprising to me due to all of the energy these kids have. This example shows me how valuable routines can be when talking about classroom management.
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Another thing that I noticed while shadowing Mrs. Vis was that she feels that relationships built with her students are very powerful. This can be seen every morning she has each kid individually check in with her. During this time she asks them how there night went and how they are feeling today. Mrs. Vis truly cares for each and everyone of these kids. On Mondays they students share with each other about their weekend. This may sound like some ordinary things but Mrs. Vis makes this special by responding with interest to what every student shares. Mrs. Vis truly opened my eyes to how special relationships with students can be, I have now added this into my own philosophy.
A strategy that I notice Mrs. Vis use a lot of is “turn and talk.” This strategy keeps the kids engaged while she is teaching because they never know when or what she will ask them to turn and talk about. I feel that this strategy is also very powerful when you have kids that learn at different paces within your classroom. I feel this way because it allows for the kids to share their thinking while gaining a peer perspective of the topic. This is an easy way of modifying learning for the students which I will use in my future classroom.
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Reflect one of your lesson plans by answering the following questions: Character Development -- Responsibility
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What was the objective of the lesson?
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The objective of the lesson was to teach the students what responsibility is, what it can look like, and how they can use it in their everyday life.
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In general, how successful was the lesson? Did the students learn what you intended them to learn?
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I feel that this lesson was very successful because they took it seriously. Before I started the lesson I told them about how responsibility is used everyday and how important it is.
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The students also learned what was intended which was seen during the game. The game went very smooth which shows they now are making connections between choices and consequences.
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To what extent were the lesson goals and objectives appropriate for your students?
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Before I did the lesson the students were struggling with body responsibility. I feel that this really elevated the lesson. It is also in the 5th grade curriculum that they have to be taught and graded on this throughout the year.
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Did you make any modifications/adjustments to your plan during the lesson? If so what were they, and what motivated these changes?
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The time slot that was given was shorter than normal therefore if i could do the lesson again I would choose a shorter video so that we could get through the entire lesson before it was time for me to leave.
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I would use a string to connect the choices and consequences throughout the game. Kind of like a road map which would be an enhanced visual for the 5th graders.
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SMSU Reflection Paper
Most people that want to become a teacher do not get the opportunity to student teach until their first or second year of college. With that being said, I would like to start by saying this opportunity has been awesome and I am super grateful to have gotten this experience as a senior in high school. It is crazy to think about how this experience has brought me so much more knowledge about teaching, and has brought new ideas that I one day would like to carry out in my own classroom. Throughout this experience I have learned so much from the teachers in the classroom and the strategies they use, to the way special education students act and how to plan lessons to fit their disabilities.
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The most prominent teaching theory I saw that was present in this classroom was the attempt to fulfill all types of learning styles. By the observations I made most of the students seemed to be visual learners. The teachers made visual learning present within the classroom by providing a daily schedule specific to each student. They also used cut out pictures cards, that they would hand to the student when they needed a reminder. An example where the teachers used the visual reminder card that sticks out in my head is when a student was anxious and having a melt down during morning meeting. The teacher immediately handed him a card that had the word calm on it and the student repeated the word “calm” back to her, took a deep breath and became comfortable with his surroundings. This was an amazing and incredible strategy that this teacher used to transition the student quickly back to a comfortable state. Another theory that the teachers within this classroom used was behaviorism, the teachers in this classroom feel that the student is shaped through positive and or negative feedback. This was very noticeable in the classroom as the teachers would constantly be making comments (positive or negative) to the students on their every move. For example, if the student was just sitting calmly in their chair the teacher would say, “Awesome job sitting calmly in your chair!” These theories seemed to be very valuable in this special education classroom.
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While observing this classroom I noticed that a lot of techniques and principles of teaching were used throughout the day. One that was emphasized a lot was “time on task.” Every activity that the students did they had a count down up on the board for when it was time for them to move on to the next activity. I agree with this technique because a trait of many autistic students is to become anxious when they are uncertain. With that being said the timer gives them certainty of the amount of time they can spend on a certain task. However I also disagree with this technique because autistic students are also very unpredictable at times. Therefore the student could have a five minute meltdown which wastes five of the ten minutes allowed for the activity. I feel this technique is valuable but also negative as it stops the students learning at the sound of a buzzard.
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Although I have talked about the importance of the theories and principles used within this classroom, I truly feel that the greatest gift of teaching is the relationships you are able to build with your students. On my first day of observing in this classroom, I didn’t know if I was going to last. I had not been around this many autistic children at once before, and the chaos in the room completely consumed me. By allowing myself to feel this way at the beginning, I have grown and appreciate the ending so much more. If I hadn’t I would have never been able to understand the amount of gratitude a students morning hug gave me. Although forming relationships with these special education students looked different than it would in the ordinary classroom, it also felt different.
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Overall this opportunity was amazing… the good, bad, ups, and downs were all apart of a great opportunity to learn about the profession and ways of teaching. I truly believe that there is no greater way of learning then doing, and that is exactly what this opportunity has offered me. Although this is just the beginning of my journey I have learned so many valuable skills that I plan to take with me as I continue on my journey to becoming a future educator.