Blog Entry #7 Standards

Hello & Welcome!

Today we are discussing standards in the classroom. In my service learning placement Mrs. Porter always makes sure to make her purpose very clear. Every day she writes a learning objective or "target" up on the board in her classroom. This helps her, as well as the students, keep a focus on what is important for each day. That is just on a small scale!

On a larger scale, perhaps coming from Utah Core Standards, is something I have also seen in her classroom. Math, Reading, and Science, seems to have a bigger focus. However, subjects like art and history also have a place! During one of my volunteering sessions the teacher tested the children on that weeks spelling list, checking to see if her students were up to par with where they needed to be. I've seen reading tests, math quizzes, etc. Like I said, some subjects get more attention than others. I believe the reason being is that math and English, can help in other areas as well. They are like building blocks to help the kids excel when they learn about other topics.

I've heard from several teachers that standardized testing has positives and negatives. Sometimes it helps the teachers evaluate their classroom and decide what they need to spend more time on. It helps them be efficient in knowing what needs to be taught or what is expected. However, sometimes it causes the students stress. They worry about test scores rather than just learning. It can also cause teachers to lose creativity in the classroom.

Overall, testing and standards in education are needed. However, that doesn't need to take the fun out of learning, or the creativity out of teaching. My placement has taught me it should be used as a tool.

Until next time,

Megan

Blog Entry #6 Diversity in the Classroom

Welcome back,

Today's blog post is all about diversity! There are an endless amount of things that make us different, unique, and individual. However, as humans, different can often be hard to deal with. Especially as kids! As a teacher one must learn how to lose all prejudice, and put off any of the judgments we may have.

This week in my service learning I tried to identify the types of diversity present in a typical 2nd grade classroom. Although there are several types, two that I found in my classroom volunteering was both race and disability. The classroom had what I could Identify as Caucasian, African-America, Hispanic, and Asian students. There were also students with physical disabilities. One thing that I noted was the fact that the teacher I was observing treated all children equally. Not a single student was treated better, or singled out. The classroom included all of the kids and all the students didn't even seem aware of the differences.

Overall, I think it is important to mention that everything in her room was accessible, to everyone. Students who are physically disabled in any way would be able to access any part of the classroom. There were no English language learners in the classroom (that I could tell), however she created an environment where difference was celebrated and connections were made even among students from different backgrounds.

Until next time,
Megan