Sept. 8, 2010 Classroom/Student Characteristics
After nearly two weeks with students, you should have completed the Classroom/Student Characteristics form. Kellen, Amanda and Laura you may choose one class section to collect information and reflect upon. What are the demographics of your classroom? What have you learned about your students? How will the information you have gathered help you as you take on more responsibility for planning and teaching?
End your comments with your weekly reflection--include a highlight and a stretch. Please interact with each other by responding to at least one other student's posting with a comment or a question.
Home football game is against Montana State on Saturday. The weather has cooled off with temps. in the 60s and lots of wind. Let's hope the team has learned from their mistakes of last week.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Hugs around! Chris
posted by Chris @ 9:48 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
After two weeks of being in the classroom, I am finally starting to feel comfortable with my students. I feel that the demographics in the classroom are very diverse in every aspect. Each student is very unique, and each student has their own way of learning. From the observing and finally starting to teach in the middle of the second week, I can see the differences in which students learn, and how they learn. The students in my classroom come from all over the spectrum. Some students might be more in the high achieving and some students are more at the lower end of the spectrum. I feel that having such a diverse group of learners in the classroom will help how my cooperating teacher wants me to take responsibility in the classroom. She feels that if we co teach together we can better reach the needs of each student.
As for the racial and ethnic composition most of the boys, except for two, are coming from a more white middle to lower class families. The Girls in the classroom are coming from more a diverse composition. I was surprised how many students were identified as ESL. Before I did my characteristics form, I thought that there was no ESL, and then to hear there were actually three, two of which German is their first language. The three ESL students, however, are not going be with the ESL teacher, because of the parents wishes.
Some information that I have gathered from the classroom, that I think I definitely need to know is how the military life impacts the classroom. I knew this was going to be something that I needed to know, but I didn’t know how it was going to affect my first graders. I had an incident where one of my students was not taking his father’s deployment very well that he fell to the floor and wept. I will have to realize that most of these my students are coming from families that have at least one of their family members have been or will be deployed somewhere sometime in their life. I need to remember that some students can have days like those and I just need to be prepared for them.
I feel very fortunate to have been placed in the class I’m in right now. I really feel that I will be able to learn a lot from the teacher I am placed with and the students that are in the classroom. Something that I think that will be somewhat challenging is how chatty the first graders are. Even my teacher has said that this class is one of the most talkative students she has had. I will just need to learn good classroom management techniques to incorporate for the classroom. The students in the classroom are amazing, and I’m having the best time.
For my Classroom/Student Characteristics form I chose my 7th grade seventh period class. The students are one of the liveliest bunch but are good students. They probably represent a good average of the students I see. The class is aligned in rows facing the front of the classroom. There are about 15 students in the class; 6 females and 9 males, aging from 12 - 13. Their range of abilities is anywhere from 5th to 8th grade mathematics levels. There is one student that is autistic, but you can't tell by conversing or looking at him. His only IEP objectives is to break down complex directions and provide multi-modality. He is one of the brightest students in the class and could possibly do well in a higher math course.
The students in this section tend to be very needy in the sense that they always want you to check your work. They are always searching for reassurance that they are doing the correct thing. When they are individually working on something I make sure to walk around and glance at their work. I think this group of students would benefit with group work where they can compare answers with each other and not rely purely on the teacher for confirmation.
The week at school went fairly well. I'm gaining more responsibility and the students trust me as a teacher. They usually ask me questions rather than my mentor. They also are excited when I teach, although my mentor teacher is amazing to watch teach a lesson. My highlight would be all the interactions I have with the students (as corny as that sounds). Whether before/after class or while they are learning the topic, my conversations with them always confirm my decision to become a teacher. My stretch will come later this week I think when I will be filling in for a teacher in another class. Jumping into a new class with new students will be different, but I'm also a little excited to experience something else.
After spending two weeks in my class, I feel I am getting to know my students pretty well. One of the most interesting and exciting things I have found while working with this particular group of students is how different they are from one another. In my classroom, there are 22 third graders between 7 ½ and 9 years old. 10 of the students are girls and 12 are boys. There are five African American students, four Hispanic students, and 13 Caucasian students. The range in ability levels is also significant. There are some third-grade students who can hardly read at a kindergarten level, but there are also students in my class who read at a sixth-grade level. Math skill levels are equally varied. There are four students who currently receive ESL services, and one more student who recently moved here and is being tested. Three of the four students speak Spanish as their native language. There are two students who receive special education in a resource room for part of the day, and a group of six students who receive additional math help through a special program once a week. Two students are in speech, and there is one student who is almost entirely non-verbal and has cerebral palsy. He is in our classroom for half the day and receives special education and occupational therapy for the other half of the day. Also, we have an autistic student who I will be working on a behavior plan for with my teacher. Currently, I am still working on observations and possible goals/ strategies. There is also one student who is in the gifted/talented program.
Teaching in a military school adds a whole new dimension of diversity to consider when lesson planning and dealing with students. As of right now, 50% of the base is deployed, and once they come home another large group of soldiers will be deployed. Even if the students’ parents aren’t currently deployed, knowing people who are or thinking about their parents being deployed in the near future puts a lot of stress on a young child. Additionally, the Bamberg post is home to more of the lower- ranking members of the army, especially those families who live on post. This is important to consider when looking at SES of your classroom.
Although most parents seem to be involved and supportive to the best of their abilities, I have encountered some difficult family situations; such as a students whose two older brothers were recently kicked off base and sent back to the states and a student who was recently taken from the custody of her mother on another base and moved here to live with her father. I’m sure that there are many other situations that I am simply not aware of yet. It is important for me to be sensitive to this when teaching, and to keep in mind that a students’ behavior may be directly related to something going on at home. It is truer here than in any other school I have worked in.
Overall, I am really enjoying my placement. The students continue to challenge and amaze me, along with making me laugh at least once a day, no matter how difficulty of a day it is. I am still trying to get comfortable with the way my teacher runs her classroom and am not sure I entirely understand it yet. However, I feel I have already made leaps and bounds in terms of classroom management and implementing routines. I can’t wait to see what I learn this week!
For my Classroom/ Student Characteristics form, I chose my fourth period freshmen English class. The class has a great degree of variety: ethnicity, gender, ESL levels, native languages, ages, IEPs, academic levels, personalities, and more. The classroom is set up in rows and since they are freshmen coming into the new high school environment, there are high expectations for the students to be responsible, prepared, respectful, and ready to work. There is much to be done to help these students improve their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, and the class is set up to help these students achieve those goals.
There are nine females and twelve males in the class, and the ages range from 14 to 17 (almost 18). The levels of abilities in the classroom vary as well. While some students have IEPs and are ESL, others are very bright and gifted. And while some are true freshmen, others are repeating this course for the second and third times.
On the military base, all students come from families or parents who are employed, and in most cases are provided housing on base. In this sense, while there are still various socioeconomic backgrounds based on ranks, there are no students living in poverty or without a home. The students in the classroom represent a multitude of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, including Latino, African- American, Asian- American, German, other European, and more, along with representing many geographical locations around the United States and Europe.
With this diverse class make-up, it is surprising that there are no students who are limited English proficient, although there are a couple who do some minimal work with the ESL teacher at the school. These students have some German and Polish influence in their writing and comprehension, but do not require any modifications or accommodations within the classroom. There are four special education students, and the majority of their accommodations and IEP modifications include receiving extra time or time in the resource room for assignments and assessments, verbal and visual cueing to stay on task, and self-monitoring and work-behavior plans. Fortunately, Heidelberg High School has an amazing Special Education program and provides paraprofessionals and aides to assist these students and the teacher achieve these goals and objectives.
On top of the wide range of the various characteristics detailed above, being on a military base and at a Department of Defense Dependents School adds extra considerations that need to be taken into account within the classroom. The students must deal with the added stress of military life which includes having one or both parents deployed, frequent relocations, and living in foreign countries and cultures. Knowing a student’s background, especially the current stresses that he or she may be facing, is crucial in every classroom.
Germany is still amazing, and as I get more and more comfortable in the classroom and with my teacher, my experience here is getting better and better. This last weekend, a group of us traveled to Amsterdam to see the Anne Frank house, museums, and enjoy the city. Tomorrow is our Open House, and I am excited to meet my students’ parents!
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Well, the two weeks have been crazy just trying to figure out the schedule and getting organized. I have had the chance to do some assessments for reading, writing and math and the students have a vast array of strengths and weaknesses.
We have 22 students in my classroom and there are five who are in the gifted talented program, one student who is ESL because she has lived on the economy her whole life, and there are no students are 504 or IEP. One student is going through and IEP assessment. We do however have some children that have skipped a year in school and they do seem to be more behind then the rest of the class. The classroom is very diverse from family structure to race. Two parents are deployed right now, some parents are divorced and it is always a revolving door with parents moving or being deployed.
So when I am planning I will have to consider all types of learners. I really have to consider their emotional needs due to the high stress of families leaving, the physical arrangements of desks, and differential learning strategies to reach all types of learners. My teacher has made a group called “super math” and this is where students who have pass the pre-chapter test can go do challenging math problems that will allow them to grow at a higher level. I will definitely will use visual aid such as the smart board and take real life situations and apply them to my lessons so they have a more concrete understanding of the subject I am teaching. Also, with co-teaching strategy we have more one- on -one time with student instruction.
One of my highlights these last two weeks is working with my student who is autistic but highly functional and intelligent beyond his years. I work with him on staying focus and when I ask him if he is done he always responds ….”Well, Miss Gannon, Status COMPLETE” Sometimes he walks around like a frog and shouts out crazy things in class but I enjoy working with him and discovering his strengths.
These past couple of weeks seem to have flown by. I can’t believe that we are in our third week in the classroom and fourth week in Heidelberg. Now into the third week of school I feel that things are finally falling into place and the routines of the class are being settled.
The class that I am in consist of 13 boys and girls ranging from 7 to 8 years old. I must add that they are the most entergentic, happy, and, super adorable second graders ever! 11 out of the 13 have parents that are currently in the service, while the other two have partents that are teachers themselves. Ten of the children are Cacasion, two are African American, and one is Vietmese. Each child brings a little of who they are and where they come from everyday to the classroom.
Every child also ranges in his or her abilites. However, for the majority they can be broken into the three classic categories; below grade level, on grade level, and above grade level. There is one student who is on a 504 but has just moved here from Texas and the school is still working on obtaining the proper paper work. One student is currently being assessed to see if an IEP is needed.
From all of this I feel as though I am beginning to truly understand my students both academically and individually. The information gathered throughout these past weeks will assist in my planning as I begin to take over more control for both whole class instruction as well as individual instruction.
This week I have began taking on more responsibilities in teaching and planning. I have taken over morning warm-ups and calendar, which has been a lot of fun. I also read a story to the kids everyday. From this I feel that I am beginning to establish classroom management, something that I find myself struggling with at times. However, my teacher has been amazing and has given me lots of helpful tips, advice, and guidance. One highlight from this week is that I got to teach:). One stretch that I have is to get one of my students to become more involved in classroom activities and feel more comfortable reading in front of his classmates.
The fact that we are on a military base is something we all have to take into account, and something that most of us mentioned in our blogs. While classroom management for me has not been a problem yet, there are definitely many students at the school with behavioral problems. I especially liked what Camerin wrote in her blog: how some students are in some very unique and difficult situations and that the “students’ behavior may be directly related to something going on at home.” While this is true in schools everywhere, I think it is especially noticeable at the military high school where some students turn to negative behaviors in response to stresses and situations they may be facing. Riding the bus home with the high schoolers every day gives us some more insight into students’ lives outside the classroom walls and more information about the military community in general and strains it can place on students. It is also important to remember that though we are in a fairly secure, military community, with a lot of parents who are actively involved in their children’s educations, some students are still facing very difficult family situations, abuse, and neglect. As Camerin blogged about, I also have some students struggling with situations and family issues outside school, and it is important to always keep these kinds of possibilities in mind when faced with misbehaving or underachieving students. In my own classroom, I have students who currently refuse to do their homework, are struggling in the class, or are repeating this class after failing it once or twice before, and in most of these cases, there are underlying, military- related stresses and strains.
Since there are multiple periods of classes I will start out with my 8th grade Day 1 class which has only 14 students. Overall, they are a well-behaved group with 10 boys and 4 girls. There is one ELL student and a 504 student, however the only accommodations that need to be made are when deciding grouping to encourage inclusion with one another. The ELL student does not need accommodations in PE but may need them in the health classroom. The school as a whole is widely diverse with students from all different backgrounds (and languages) from around the United States.
It is important to know the background of the students and encourage cooperation with one another because many of the students may be new to the community or are coming from another base. I have noticed that students here are accepting of different cultures and very welcoming towards newcomers. Because I work with 7 different PE classes, it has been difficult to get to know every student. As of now, the students that I can remember sadly are those who often show behavioral problems. I have been trying to communicate with the students as much as possible during downtime (between classes, hallways, lunch hour etc). The community here in PHV is very small, so I frequently see my students outside of the classroom. Seeing my students outside of school shows me a bit of where they come from and their families background.
The last week has gone very well. I have continued to co-teach alongside my mentor teacher and gain a solid grasp of the overall behavioral dynamic of each of the classes. I have noticed that a certain activity may go very smoothly with a certain group and other times may take more explaining for another. This may due to only one or two students. Last weekend, I stayed in Heidelberg and went downtown to visit the castle. I was happy to relax for the weekend and see everything downtown has to offer.
The last week and a half has been enlightening for me. As you know I am working in another kindergarten teachers classroom, Dr. Mcdonald for now. I came in without the background of home visits, so I have had do my best in getting to know the students on my own.
I am amazed at many of the student's abilitys with reading and writing. As well as their sometimes shocking worldly views. I have bonded with my 16 students and I know that it is going to be difficult to leave them at the end of my time in their class.
On the other hand I have been growing leaps and bounds in my knowledge and abilities as a classroom teacher. This week I was given the chance to teach a full math lesson and also a mini math lesson. Both were a success and when reviewing days after students had retained the new knowledge. That really lifted my spirits in this sometimes frustrating environment.
I have to admit that the situation has not been ideal in all cases. Dr. M is extremely disorganized and often expects me to know where something is or the class schedule when I have yet to really get to know the school and her classroom. Often her instructions are cryptic, or even worse non-existant and have no idea what her lesson and centers are suppose to look like for the day.
On a positive note I have pushed myself and I am extremely confident in my teaching skills as well as inpressed by my classroom managment skills. Often I feel like the only teacher in the room and this has made me realize that I will excell when it is time for me to have my own classroom.
Watching my students working in my centers was such a pleasure. The students were on task and engaged. I had supplementary activities for students that finished early, so they didn't have time to mess around or get in trouble.
Cyndi has been a great mentor to me in this process as well as her aide Tracy. At the end of the day, I always unwind in Cyndi's room. I then have the chance to hear about their day and learn about the kids that I will be with soon. I have been exploring Cyndi's classroom and getting so many ideas about organization, centers and activities.
I look foward to the next couple of weeks and even more learning opportunities.
Wow! I want to thank each of you for the thorough and thoughtful postings. I am getting a sense of your classrooms and I think the time you are devoting to these reflections may also be helping you. Amanda was the only one to reflect on other comments this week. She did a great job of focusing in on the impact all of you are experiencing on a military base that has 50% deployment. This experience will prepare you for anything and you can speak to that when you go through the employment process.
I've gained great insight from your insights about your students. As many of you pointed out, the diversity ranges from family structure, special needs to race and as you have written, it impacts your classrooms and how you will plan to teach.
Great reflections. Please read each others entries. I'm proud of you!
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