I have had an interesting week and a half at Quibbletown Middle School. I'm working with 8th grade language arts students. My first observation in on Thursday, the last class period that I have. I'm kind of nervous because they are the lower level class and do not engage in as much group discussion. They are also chatty and do not like to listen because it is the end of the year and they know they are just going to the HS anyway. The majority of the student have just stopped working. I wish they wouldn't be so lazy. My main concern is that they will be chatty and not cooperative while my supervisor is there.
Other than that my junior field has been going so good! My cooperating teacher is great! She has helped me so much and gave me so many tips! The three other classes that she has are all very good. I haven't worked with her first period class yet because they are accelerated and are working on a different story. Her other three classes that I am working with are reading Flowers for Algernon. I taught one day last week and this week I'm teaching every day. I feel that it is so invigorating! I'm going to be so sad when these 3 weeks are over because I absolutely love being in the classroom.
I will say that the first activity I did with the students was a gallery walk, which introduced them to Flowers for Algernon. It was a great way to engage the students and get them to think creatively. Yesterday I did a phonics lesson, which allowed the students to relate to the main character of Flowers for Algernon. Today, I did a lesson also relating to the story that dealt with punctuation. I think it is important to bring other elements of Language Arts into your lessons when reading a short story, poetry, novel, etc. Otherwise, the students tend to learn one thing and then just move along to the next item on the curriculum. When you constantly incorporate things from all areas into your lessons it lets the students see certain things over and over again. I think that it makes it easier to build, relate, and remember things such as grammar, the writing process, sentence structure, punctuation.
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I also forgot to include:
There are ELLs in some of my classes. They are either spanish or indian. Two students,which are spanish-speaking, are in two different class periods. One is a boy and one is a girl. I have observed that they do not participate in class and are among the students that do not do the work that I will assign to them.
The other two students, who are indian, are in the same class period. These girls make me so happy! They always to their work and ask questions when they have them. Also when we engage in class discussions they always raise their hands to participate.
I have noticed that the students that are not either Spanish, African American, or Portuguese at the High School where I am doing my field work also do not participate. These students however are highly intelligent. I think they may just be shy and feel out of place. Fortunately, I was able to open up at least two of my students. I am proud to say that they now actively participate and I am always sure to thank them for their efforts.
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