Megan Cordner Final Paper: Legacy Elementary 4th and 2nd Grade April 25, 2013

I. Introduction I believe that I have learned and grown not only as an educator at Legacy Elementary, but as an individual. Each placement offered me the chance to work with so many different types of students and teachers. I found that behind every below average, average, or above average student and teacher is a person who needs to be loved. Every teacher and student has their strengths and weaknesses. The challenge is being able to work with peoples imperfections and show them by example how they can become better. II. General Reflection on Placements Average and above average teachers, just like students, are everywhere you go. In fourth grade I discovered that students can create their own organizers, do more independent work, and work well in groups and partners. This was not always the case in second grade. In second grade I had to do a lot of prep work for each lesson, make graphic organizers for students, allow time for stations, sharpen pencils, and choose wisely the activities I could use in small groups and partner work. I found that it was safer to do more partner work than group work. In addition to planning and preparing my lessons, I had to also collect all my station work and small group materials for each day. I did not have to plan for station work in fourth grade. I also discovered that my grading changed in second grade than in fourth. I was more lenient in my second grade grading than in my fourth grade. I expected my fourth graders to be more responsible and take action for themselves. Overall, despite the age and content differences, both classes made connections, discussed what good readers do, used graphic organizers, and took tests. I learned that while I am not in love with every aspect of teaching, I am still in love with being a teacher and changing the future by changing lives. I was reminded of the fact that I am in no way in charge of everything, nor could I be. I can only ensure that my best is implemented in all that I do everyday. III. Reflection on Candidate Competencies Content knowledge was my biggest strength. Since I love learning, it was my favorite part of teaching. I enjoyed relearning the material I was taught when I was my students age. Within the content knowledge competencies, I demonstrated a clear understanding of the content that I

taught within my Civil Rights, Tornado, Verbs, and Linking Verb fourth grade units without having to rely extensively on the teachers manual. I did the same in my second grade units on Landforms, the Solar System, and the Metric System. In both locations I elicited students prior knowledge by asking questions such as What do you know about____? and Can you tell me what we learned yesterday? In addition, while we made new connections throughout our learning, the students were asked to identify the connections that they made as either text-to-self, text-to-world, or text-to-text. Throughout my teaching experience in fourth grade I used multiple representations to illustrate different concepts. When demonstrating what boycotts are, I set the class up as if it were a barber shop. I boycotted one particular student to illustrate my point. During a lesson about tornadoes, the students were allowed to observe how a vortex is similar to water going down the drain in a sink. In math, the students made lines, rays, line segments, and angles with their arms. I would ask the students to make a particular symbol with their arms. This allowed to students to actually BE the word that we were discussing. My class and I also discussed different viewpoints and theories throughout our lessons. While reading a story about a family that sailed on a ship, we talked about the advantages and disadvantages of having one job on the ship over another. We also talked about how life would be different if you lived on sea (school, holidays, and entertainment). While studying tornadoes, the students decided which person they would like to be in various situations. Would they want to be a meteorologist, storm chaser, rescuer, or citizen during F1-F5 tornados. In selecting materials that were accurate, in-depth, comprehensive, and appealing to students, I chose to use materials that I had accumulated from AMSTI training. For math, I used several AMSTI geometry activities that allowed the students to actively explore shapes. I found myself having to search out additional resources within my Geometry unit. I taught a lesson on rays and angles. At the end of the lesson, I realized that my class needed more practice with identifying and labeling rays and angles. I went to my cooperating teacher and shared my concerns. She directed me to many resources that she had that went beyond the text. I researched which material would provide the best help and implemented it. During my unit on hurricanes and tornadoes, I used animated guides that depicted the formation of these natural disasters. Within my weather unit, I incorporated a Readers Theater on the life of a raindrop in the Water cycle. This allowed me to cover science content across the curriculum. I found myself having to research throughout many of my lessons. During Social Studies, there was talk about the Vulcan in Birmingham. I then had to research more about the topic to share. Within my unit on tornadoes and hurricanes, I found animated guides that walked one through the development of hurricanes and tornadoes. This was very helpful to me and my students. I also used multiple representations to illustrate different concepts in my second grade placement. When demonstrating what landforms are, I demonstrated what landforms where in multiple ways. Not only did the students draw, match, and define each landform, but I would act

out each landform. During Social Studies, I incorporated visual aids to assist understanding. When studying about the Sun, Moon, and Earths orbit and rotation, I used students to demonstrate the difference between the planets orbit and rotation. In math, the students not only worked independently, but in partners. When studying the measurement and the Metric System, the students would measure objects around the room. The students were have trouble gauging how long a metric is, so we measure the width and lengths of the entire room so that they would have a known length to compare other lengths with. My class and I also discussed different viewpoints and theories throughout our lessons. While studying about where and how people live, we discussed the life of Native Americans. We also compared and contrasted three different places that three students lived around the world. While studying landforms, we talked about the life of a geographer. We have also learned and studied who our ancestors are and how they lived. In addition, we have studied the life of an astronaut. In selecting materials that were accurate, in-depth, comprehensive, and appealing to students, I chose to use materials that other teachers had used for the specific topics I was teaching . For math, I used the Go Math series. While studying the Solar System, I pulled from a plethora of resources for my three week unit. I found myself having to search out additional resources within my Metric unit. I went to my cooperating teacher and shared my concerns. She directed me to many resources that she had that went beyond the text. I researched which material would provide the best help and implemented it. During my Reading lessons, I used online resources to increase the students understanding. Within my Science unit, I incorporated a Math lesson on the differences it took each planet to orbit the Sun. This allowed me to cover Math content across the curriculum. I found myself having to research throughout many of my Science lessons. I realized the first day with my students that I needed to research more about our Solar System. This was very helpful to me and my students as I was better prepared to answer their numerous questions. . The competency, Pedagogy: Managing the Learning Environment, was my second strongest point in teaching. I found the behavioral management plan in fourth grade to be one of the best I have seen. For this reason, I feel that it became one of my greatest strengths. The behavioral management plan that was implemented by my teacher in the second grade placement at Legacy did not always demonstrate fairness, supportiveness, and consistency. So, during my two weeks of full time teaching, I incorporated behavior plans in my second grade class that I had used in my fourth grade class. I ensured that students were rewarded and punished on an individual level as well as a class level. When a student was caught doing good, they would get a sticker for their Caught Chart. When the students filled their chart, they received a small prize. When a group was on task, I would give them a popcorn ball to put in their popcorn box. At the end of the week, whoever had the most popcorn in their box would get to have popcorn.

This plan allowed for student discipline issues to be minimized by student engagement. The fact that I had minimal behavioral issues is evidence that my students were actively engaged in the learning process. I feel that the students responded well to the behavioral management plan that I incorporated into the classroom. They were so busy trying to get caught being good that most students didnt pull stripes during my two weeks of teaching. I incorporated several routines into my teaching that enhanced a positive and effective learning environment. In addition to using Give Me Five, I used a transitional countdown to assist my class in moving in and out of class activities. Give Me Five is a student guide for placing their eyes on the speaker, closing their lips, tuning their ears to the speaker, sitting up straight, and quieting their hands and feet. When Give Me Five is said by a teacher, all students perform the commands previously mentioned. It is a great way to capture the students attention. Which ever group gave me their attention the quickest would get a popcorn ball. Every morning before I taught, I would lie out the materials that I would need for each lesson throughout the day. I realized very quickly that teachers have little time to no time to prepare for one lesson after the next throughout the day. I found it helpful to make subject piles on the counter that contained everything I needed throughout each day. When the day ended, I would file away what I used and prepare what I would need for the next day. If I did not have my materials laid out, my transition to the next subject would not go smoothly. In addition to planning and preparing my lessons, I had to also collect all my station work and small group materials for each day. When I would grade papers, I strived to provide positive reinforcement for all students. I congratulated those students who had done well with words such as awesome, great job, love your work, and amazing. Students who did not do as well, I write words of encouragement. I let them know that I know they can do better and would find something that I can leave a positive comment on. For example, one student had not completed their work correctly, but they had spent time on making their work neat and presentable. Therefore, I praised their handwriting and encouraged them to pay close attention to the directions of the assignment. My critical thinking was not my strongest attribute, or competency, in the beginning of my teaching, but as I learned more about the content that I was teaching and the level of learners that I had, my ability to ask questions that would strengthen the students critical thinking skills increased. This allowed me to make a weakness one of the best parts of my lessons. The most effective part of my lessons quickly became the questions that I asked. I loved developing questions that caused my students to really think. I learned that the wait time for questions that promote higher order thinking should be increased. The time that I gave a student to think about a question correlated with how high or low of a question I was asking. While the wait may seem long, it is definitely worth it when a student provides an amazing answer in response.

In second grade created and implemented Math, Language, Science, Reading, and Social Studies units that promoted critical thinking, problem solving, and inquiring. For example, in Math, the students would measure objects around the room. This helped to peak their curiosity. They would also receive problems that they would have to solve independently after they had worked the problems together as a class. Throughout our reading lessons, the class would predict what would happen next. We used details from the story and context clues to critically analyze our story. Science and Social Studies offered excellent opportunities to provide lessons full of student inquiry. The Solar System was a great unit. I was impressed by the level of student questioning. I discovered that one of the hardest things about teaching is actually synthesizing the mass amount of information that is given. While reading Social Studies, Science, or Reading lessons, the class and I would pull out the information that was pertinent. Once we identified the key points, we were better able to conceptualize and make applications to what we read. It was a challenge in the beginning to know what would be too much content and not enough content taught for second graders. Throughout my lessons, I incorporated problems that were related to each students life. Questions such as What would you do if and How would you have reacted if were great ways to ignite conversations and pair-shares that were connected to the students life. During the reading of The Signmakers Assistant , the students shared about their own favorite sign and connected the characters experiences to their own. Within Just Like Josh Gibson, the class discussed something that they wish they could do. We discussed professionals that we would like to meet and the type of professional we would like to become. Communication was a second competency that was not initially my greatest strength. It is a challenge to be able to enter into a classroom in which you do not know the students, what they have learned or know, and be able to intelligently portray information that will be on the best level of understanding for them. In fourth grade I quickly discovered that if you make a mistake in your grammar, they will tell you. Sometimes they are right and at times they are wrong in their corrections, but I am happy that they do it. It offers many great teachable moments. For example, which is correct: an or a historical account? Through trial and error, I quickly learned how many directions is too many. A great lesson that I incorporated step-by-step explanations was within a lesson I gave on hurricanes. The class and I drew out the main five steps that happen when a hurricane forms over the ocean. We used a land/ocean map to illustrate and label the steps that were occurring. This allowed the class a visual representation of what happens during a hurricane. Within my second grade placement I quickly discovered that students will help you to speak clearly, without errors, and at an appropriate level. If you use words that are above a students level, many questions will follow. It was a challenge to adjust my instruction after coming from

fourth grade to second. I stumbled a few times while I attempted to adjust my communication for my second graders level of learning. I also had to learn through trial and error in second grade as well. I quickly learned how many directions is too many for second graders. I learned to repeat each step of my instructions multiple times before moving on to the next piece of instruction. I also learned that no matter how hard you may try to be clear, there may still be situations in which the students may not follow your logic. For example, on one occasion, the students were seated on the reading rug. I asked them to think about something in their seat. The students began to stand up and return to their seats. I had meant for them to think where they were seated, not in their seat at their desk. Providing specific, clear, and relevant details was a practice that I had to implement before the lesson began. While I was preparing/writing my lessons, I had to reflect how I was when I was my students age. This would help me to give examples that the class could relate to. If I tried to think of examples during my lesson, I tended to give examples that were more relevant in my life rather than theirs. This applied in both fourth and second grade. Not only did I demonstrate active listening skills, but my students did the same. When someone in the class was speaking, all were respecting and attentive to what they were saying. There were situations in which I had to reprimand the class for being rude to with myself or another student, but they were quick to make up for their wrong. Before I handed out an assignment, I also inspected it. It is amazing how many errors you can find in material that is supposed to be student/learner friendly. The resources that I have collected for use in my future class are grammatically correct and effectively convey information. If I came across a test or worksheet with an error, I was wisely informed to put a post-it note on it as a reminder to fix it before I make copies the next year. IV. Conclusion The best way for me to sum up my journey experiences is through a reflection that I made during my fourth grade placement: I have learned more in this one week of full-time teaching than I have in my college career! I commented last week that teaching was much like juggling. I would like to add on to that statement. Yes, being a teacher is very much like being a juggler. But it takes juggling to a new level. Teachers dont just juggle different balls of the same size and shape, they juggle an assortment of balls of varying shapes, sizes, and textures. Time management is a small, slippery ball that you just cant seem to hold onto. Dealing with behavioral management issues is similar to juggling a big, red beach ball- you just cant miss it. It is ever present and always staring you in the face. Then you throw in a few spiky interruption balls, a few content-loaded books, a couple bags of marbles for parents who are constantly questioning, complaining, or requesting, a pack of pens for grading, and a dozen rectangular tests and you have the most talented juggler in the world. It would be simple if you were juggling

three similar, symmetrical balls, but that just isnt the case with teachers. I wish it were, because professional jugglers make at least 50, 000 and teachers could easily put them to shame!