Blog Entry #5

I think the most challenging role a teacher plays is being the authoritative figure. To me I would want my students to like me and look up to me, but there also has to be a level of respect their as well. They need to know that even though you are their to help them you also need to make sure they know that you are still the boss and are in complete control. I don't want them to think they can walk all over me.

When talking to the teacher I volunter for she agreed with me that this is a really hard role you have to play, but she said what she feels is even harder is all the extra stuff you don't realize you have to deal with. Things like angry parents and bullys. She said she's had a really hard time with a couple student who have been bullys and that dealing with that as well as dealing with their parents has been a real struggle for her.

This lesson made me realize theres so much more to being a teacher than just teaching. There's meetings and early mornings and late nights and recess duty and just a bunch of stuff that you don't neccessarily think of when you think of a teacher. Not that any of it is bad stuff, its just stuff you should probably take into consideration when making the choice for this to be your career. You need to realize all of the aspects of the job and that its not always going to be fun, or that it might even rarely be fun. Even though it may not always be fun I do honestly think at the end of the day it will be rewarding. 

Blog Entry #4

"How do your teacher manage assessment"

This topic actually came up a couple weeks ago before I actually started this module, but it was interseting to learn my teacher's point of view of assessment. The teacher I help is really into using pre tests and then post test surveys to not only see the assesment of the results but to assess her teaching method in general and see if there's anything she could modify to make it better for her students.

She always starts out by giving a pre test that has questions that are somewhat similiar concepts to that which will be on the actual test. She always closely compares this information to the actual test and answers to see the areas of improvement and the areas that weren't improved which I think is really smart. She told me this greatly helps her understand what concepts she needs to teach better and that she can then alter her teaching method and then see how it goes next time and compare again.

My favorite thing she does in terms of assesment though is she always does a post test survey just to ask the students how good they felt about all the information and if there is anyway to make them feel more confident in it. She said that sometimes you don't get anything to really go off of from them but that sometimes they can have great suggestions on new activites and methods to their learning that they will try together in class.

I also asked her if she keeps track of the standards of learning well and how often she is checking to see if her students are reaching their yearly goals. She said that its definitely something she should be better at but that she tries to go through them often and evalutae what standards need more time and which ones have been acheived. She wasn't really confident in how good she is at this so that makes me want to make sure that when i'm a teacher i'm staying on top of those standards and constantly checking and making sure my students are on top of things. I want to give them the best opportunities and learning advantages possible and I truly think that will be easiest for them when they have a good solid foundation from year to year.

 



Blog Post # 3

"What modifications for learners who are exceptional do you see"

 

This question was a little harder for me to see in my actual school field work time setting, and a little bit easier for me to see in my own personal life. My husband has ADD and most of his brother's have ADD or ADHD so i'm used to it in that kind of setting. In my actual field work setting I ended up asking my teacher who, if any of the students, had learning disabilites and it turns out that in the class I was helping with there was only one boy who they thought might be a bit dyslexic. This suprised me becuase I thought I would be able to automatically be able to point out any kids with learning disabilities but he seemed just like the rest to me.

I asked her what kinds of things she does to help him more in his day to day activites and she gave me a pretty long list of things she does that are fairly simple, but seem to have a huge impact on him and his learning. Some of them are:

- Giving him lots of handouts and typed up sheets so he doesn't have to copy as much

- When he does have to copy of the board she tries to write in a multitude of colors

- She always checks his written work to make sure he did get it down correctly

- She gives him a check list to check off everynight to ensure he gets everything done

- She makes sure he's seated relatively near her so she can make sure he's doing okay and paying attention.

All of these things seem so little and not very important but from what she explained to me it really has made a big difference in his learning and understanding. He's done better on tests and is improving on his actual reading and writing skills. It just goes to show how just a little effort can go such a long way and really help a child in need.