TOPIC #1
Share your observations of Standard 3 in your classroom:
• How did the teacher adapt subject matter to student development
• What instructional strategies did the teacher use to present the subject matter?
• What materials, resources, and technologies were used to make subject accessible to all students
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The classroom I am currently student teaching in has a diverse population. Many of the students are performing at a basic or below basic level with only a few performing at the proficient level. My master teacher uses manipulatives in both math and science when ever possible in order to enhance student understanding. The tactile and kinesthetic teaching strategies allow the students to construct their knowledge and provides them with a strong foundation in which to accommodate and assimilate new knowledge. In every lesson she attempts to relate the content to the students on a more personal level. She primes their prior knowledge through questioning or posters before introducing a new concept. Posters are made during most lessons and then hung around the room to serve as references for the students. Mixed- ability level groups are often used to allow for discussion, discovery, and peer tutoring. Each of these strategies enhances students access to content.
ReplyDeleteOne of the ways I incorporate CSTP standard three into my classroom is by coming up with hands-on instructional strategies that support the subject matter. Recently, I used paper airplanes as the hands-on portion for teaching how to convert fractions into decimals and percents. Another way I incorporate standard three is by having well planned and relevant examples that are interesting to the students. These methods help engage the students and keep them interested as the lesson unfolds.
ReplyDeleteMy mentor teacher has been teaching 4th and 5th grade students for many years, so she does a great job at adapting subject matter to student development. When explaining concepts to students she uses examples she knows they can relate to, nothing that is too complicated or difficult to understand. She also allows students to share personal stories during lessons because she says this helps them relate to the concept and are, therefore, more likely to remember it. Another strategy she uses often with her students is to relate new concepts to old ones. This helps students to remember lessons taught at the beginning of the year as well as understand that ideas learned in one subject can be applied to another.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently teaching in a 5th grade class with 34 diverse students. 3 students have IEPs, but they go to resource each day. There are a handful of ELs too. My mentor has taught for 20 years and focuses on building students up emotionally rather than adapting the content. He is "old school" and mainly focuses on textbook instruction. He doesn't think students need bells and whistles to learn. He told me that every lesson doesn't have to be fun and exciting. There are no charts in our classroom, but he does assign vocabulary to each lesson and has students identify it in their homework. A strategy he uses and I like is he copies off the textbook so students can highlight and make marking on it. This helps them with their note taking skills and how to identify the main ideas. He allows them to work in groups, but only once a week if they're lucky. He constantly reviews math topics each morning as a warm-up activity to drill them with basic concepts, which I think is wonderful. Not the most exciting class for adaption, but I am learning a lot.
ReplyDeleteIn the kindergarten class I am currently student teaching in, my master teacher works hard to implement standard three. Every time there is a new concept, she is certain to access their prior knowledge in order to develop a firm basis for them to succeed in the learning of a new concept. She also has many songs, rhymes, and sayings with accompanying motions that she has taught them and constantly refers back to access that prior knowledge and build upon it. When applicable, she uses manipulatives to help the students understand and consistently models any tasks required of them. There are also many posters and charts covering all walls of the room to support the students in their learning.
ReplyDeleteIn my first grade classroom my teacher uses her Teachers Editions to review her lessons and then adds other engaging activities and strategies to enhance her lesson. She relies on the Teachers edition to guide the pacing of the instruction but is always looking for engaging ways to make the lesson more accessible. My master teacher is extremely organized and has a very good system for keeping her "originals" for the different lessons/ worksheets and art projects she used the previous year. For instance, now the students learning about character traits in literature and we just celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday. She has a bin with all the Dr. Seuss activities to go with her lesson plans. My master teacher also coordinates with the 3 other first grade teachers twice a week to collaborate on lessons and find new and improved ways of teaching the subject matter.
ReplyDeleteMy third grade master teacher has just completed a unit on the medieval times. There were many lessons that brought the medieval times to life for the students and engaged them throughout the learning process. The classroom environment included three different bulletin boards that were based on a medieval theme. The first bulletin board was a large medieval castle labeled with math terms and vocabulary based on the book, Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland by Cindy Neuschwander. The second bulletin board was filled with individual golden crowns (made with construction paper) that had colorful plastic jewels on each one representing the student’s progress on their multiplication tables. For each level passed, the student chose a jewel to glue on their crown. The third bulletin board was Sir Cumference and the Knights of the Conversion Table (one of my personal favorites!). This bulletin board was interactive with a math learning center that involved five activities in measuring liquid capacity.
ReplyDeleteMy master teacher taught a lesson on how to build miniature catapults made out of popsicle sticks, straws and rubber bands. The students enjoyed firing their catapults on the school’s lawn. Another lesson was having each student research their own family crests on the Internet and creating their own crest design to hang up above their seats. For a cooperative math lesson, teams of two students created castles made out of sugar cubes and recorded their measurements.
Finally, both third grade classes went on a field trip to Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament. They were able to step back in time with the knights and princesses, epic battles, jousting tournaments, and a royal feast.
These are good observations for Standard 3. Use of manipulative, building of prior knowledge, relating learning to real life, peer tutoring, group work, charts and posters are all excellent strategies for making the content accessible.
ReplyDeleteGabby, it sounds as if your teacher thinks that these strategies are all 'whistles and bells'. This is very 'old school' and it assumes that all students learn the same and are at the same level. I'm sure he is effective, but we teach to a diverse population. These strategies are effective tools to make content accessible to all - not just a way to entertain the students.