Observations:
One thing I observed this week during my field experience was that one of the little boys in my class is in a program called “reading recovery”. This is for students who are behind on their reading and have to be taken out of class to work with another teacher on their reading skills. When I was in first grade, I too was in reading recovery, and hated when the teacher would come grab me because she would say “Lyndsey it’s time for reading recovery” all the students knew why I had to leave, making me feel embarrassed. But now, whenever this little boy has to go to reading recovery, other students knock on the door and tell him its time to come “play” for a little bit, and he is never embarrassed. I realized through this that it is important to make kids feel special at this young of an age. When I was doing the program, I was so embarrassed, so I therefore did not want to put motivation into helping my reading improve, but sense this little boy thinks that what he is doing is “playing”, he is excited to leave and feels special, making him want to improve his reading more than I did.
Learning Experiences:
This week the students were learning about vowels and how to apply the problem solving skills to conflicts in stories. As they were learning this material, I also learned that its important to try and relate lessons as much as you can to the students. For example, while reading stories to the class, the teacher would stop reading and ask students if they had once experienced a problem like the one in the story and how they managed to fix their problem. When doing this, the students became much more engaged with what they were reading because they were excited to share their personal experiences with the class.
Reflections:
After reflecting back on this week, I have learned a better understanding of how kids with learning disabilities can have harder times learning in class. There is three students with autism that come into the class in the morning to socialize and watch the morning announcements with the rest of the class. These students have a hard time focusing but love being able to sit in normal classrooms with the other students. This is important because it helps them have the desire to not look at their learning disability a problem that is wrong with them, rather is helps them realize that they too can be just like the rest of the first graders who do not have learning disabilities.
Stories to Share:
This week, the class was celebrating St. Patrick’s day that weekend. It was fun being able to see each of the students come in wearing their green clothes and enjoy reading books about leprechauns. My class also had to complete MAP testing this week as well. I also found this interesting because I remember taking that when I was young and it was very scary at the time. Now when I look back, I can remember how I felt when I was their age and think of ways to help ease their stress and find ways to motivate them to not be so nervous.
Lyndsey's Teacher Cadets Blog 