What I Have Viewed in
the Classroom
I would like
to start out by saying that positive reinforcement is key when working with
second graders. One wrong word or
negatively charged statement and an entire world can be crushed. A child’s world. It is a very fragile place and should be
treated as such.
During my time in the fieldwork classroom I have seen
many things. One of the first things I
was able to see was a local author come into the classroom and give a lesson on
writing poetry.
Her name is Jackie Sweeney and she has written many
children’s books. She was an earthy sort
of woman and really enjoyed engaging the children. She came up with a sheet that helped with the
collection of ideas to form a poem. The
first exercise she had the students work through involved using their body
parts to make a poem. First she had them
close their eyes and imagine a body part.
Then she asked to write down what that body part reminded them of. For example, one student said that his
nostrils reminded him of a black hole from which snakes emerge. It was very exciting to watch because some of
the ideas that the students came up with were so off the wall and clever at the
same time. Creativity came through that
I did not think second graders were really capable of expressing.
I would place this exercise in the Information Processing
Family. After reading the definition,
the section about the “models provide the learner with information and
concepts, some emphasize concept formation and hypothesis testing, and others
generate creative thinking or enhance general intellectual ability.” (Teaching/Learning
Models, n.d.) It was most apparent that
the students were using creative thinking to enhance their intellectual
ability. They went from not really
knowing how to write poetry to writing some very interesting pieces.
Some interesting skills that I have seen the teacher use
to get the attention of the classroom include a statement where the students
are prompted to respond. For example,
the teacher says, “Clap if you can hear my voice.” The students then clap and he repeats this
method about 2-3 times. The students
eventually calm down and return to work.
When mention of classroom management arises, I do not
feel that a classroom that is quiet all of the time is conducive to
learning. I think that students must be
engaged when it comes to learning new concepts.
With so many different types of learners it is important to be able to
reach all of the learners within the spectrum of learners. The cognitive-constructivist perspective is
“a view of learning which posits that learning occurs when learners are
actively involved in the process of acquiring and constructing their own
knowledge.” (Term Definition, n.d)
During the poetry exercise, the students were asked to write a poem and
then used their own knowledge to sort of fumble their way through the
process.
While I have sat and observed the class, I have been put
to work correcting different types of schoolwork consisting of math sheets,
poems and essays. The students write
their essays in their reader response journals.
These are speckled notebooks with writings on non-fiction and fiction
that they have read. Afterward, the
cooperating teacher asks the students to write answers to some reflective
questions pertaining to the story they have just read. Mr. DeMartino was a language-arts major in
college so he is big on writing and reading.
I usually do some proofreading and editing of the
students’ essays. Through my perusing of
the students’ essays, I have gained a sense of the intellectual abilities of
the students. Some have issues with
spelling and grammar. There is one
student who just has to be brilliant.
He’s scary smart because when I converse with him, I could be talking
with one of my peers.
Another student is constantly commenting on how she is
able to speed through her school work with ease. When I have taught a lesson on occasion, she
has insisted that I give her more difficult work so she can be challenged. During math games she is always the first one
to answer and is very “aggressive” about raising her hand with the traditional
“OOOOOOO!!!!! I know it!!! Pick me or I
will shrivel up and melt into the floor if you don’t pick me” face and voice
intonation. This can be difficult to
deal with. The other students want an
opportunity to answer and also need a chance to hone their skills to better
their knowledge. She can also be a bit
mean when someone else answers wrongly which can rock the above mentioned
fragile world of the child.
Returning to the writing assignments of students, some of
them have problems with writing. I have
found myself writing out the question on the paper and making their essays into
a series of answers to smaller questions.
To break up the information being requested and make it less daunting
can make a world of difference when the student is trying to meet the criteria
of the assignment. I feel that this
method is an example of FLOW.
Fits into the classroom environment.
Lends itself to meeting individual student needs.
Optimizes understanding for each student.
Work well with instruction activities.
Manipulatives can be used during math problems to help
the students understand what is being asked.
When they were learning about double digit subtraction, the students
first learned how to do this with tens.
For example,
60-20 as 89-45
The manipulatives or rods were
in chunks of ten and allowed them to “handle the problem.” A lot of the students were better able to
solve the problem using these tools. I
feel that numbers on paper can be scary and complicated for young students but
when they have “toys” to “play” with, it makes it less alien to them as
learners.
These examples are all
modifications in the classrooms. They
enable the teacher to reach a variety of learners and also help the leaner feel
more comfortable about the material. This
confidence is important as the psychological well being can affect how well and
at what speed they learn. “Often the results of a test do not give a clear
picture of the student's knowledge because of test anxiety. Children who become
very anxious at the thought of taking a test often convince themselves they
will fail.” (Helping Children Succeed in
School, n.d.) Knowing there is a way for
them to learn like their peers can give them the self-confidence to move
forward with less anxiety.
During class at MSMC, it was
mentioned that homework is taken more seriously by students if they know the
teacher will be grading it and cares about their progress. In my fieldwork classroom, Mr. DeMartino
assigns homework and then stamps it to make sure it has been completed. Then he also makes sure that the homework to
be completed that evening is placed into a homework folder. This extra policing of work keeps things on
track and helps young students be more conscientious and aware of the need to
complete their work so they may receive the stamp of approval.
One last observation about my
fieldwork. There have been random
sputtering of states and their capitals.
Mr. DeMartino plays a song that helps the children memorize all of the
states and their capitals in a song. I
do not even know them that well and the second graders just sing the song and
name them off as though it requires no effort.
This is an example of a mnemonic device.
IT helps them use their brains and remember large chunks of information.
References
Helping Children Succeed in School. (n.d.)
Term Definitions (n.d) Retrieved