Skip to main content

Troublemaker in school observation

     I was assigned a Webster Elementary School fourth grade classroom to work with for my placement. I have only been twice so far. My first day there I was informed of which students had ILPs, were MLL learners and how many were behind in the curriculum. One student I observed during both of my sessions was a young caucasian boy. He is the only white student in a class that's mostly hispanic. The time of day I come in is during their math block, my teacher assigned me four students to work with and I practice math skills with them aswell as reading. While my teacher was teaching the class a lesson on fractions, I noticed one student in particular that frequently spoke out of turn and called things out often. This was frustrating for my teacher and she had to keep stopping to reprimend him. He was in my group of assigned students and during our first meeting together I could tell he was very advanced for his age compared to some of the other students in his class. While I was doing addition, subtraction, and multiplaction with my students we were working with single and smaller double digits and many of them struggled with it. This student was working with triple digits and did very well with them. One thing that made whole group discussions difficult though was this student consistly called out the answer every single time and did not give his peers a chance to think about it before answering. I found this to be a bit problematic as I could tell my other students were very frustrated with this. I had to change strategies and rather than work with them all as a whole, I began quizzing them one by one on a equation which seemed to help a bit. I also had them work on a worksheet on their own first to see what they knew and reviewed it with them after. 

    The second visit I had there, I arrived when we were having a fire drill. I stood with my class and while we were supposed to be silent this particular student kept asking me questions about what we were going to be doing later and I had to keep telling him we can see what were doing when we go inside but we need to stay quiet right now. Once we were back in the classroom, my teacher began instructing students as to what small groups they were going to be working in that afternoon. The particular student from the last session began questioning the teachers instructions and asking why they were doing these groups instead of their other ones. My teacher was getting frustrated when this student kept questioning her when she told him because that's what they were doing first. I could tell she was getting frustrated with this student and told him I would be working with him after my first group and he eventually sat back down in his chair. I worked on math again this session as they were doing RICAS practice papers so I worked through each step with them, this particular student was trying to get ahead though and rushing through it assuming he was correct and when I reviewed it with him I told him they were wrong and where he went wrong. This student is not what I would consider to be a "troublemaker", I think it's just a student who is more hyper active than others.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

Hi! My name is Ashley Loiselle and I am a Junior at Rhode Island College. I am majoring in Early Childhood Education. I plan to open my own daycare in the future with my best friend. I completed my freshman year of college at the University of Rhode Island and decided to transfer for my sophmore year to RIC. Not only did I change schools, I also changed majors. Originally I thought the medical field was something I wanted to do but after working with young children the past few years, I know that is what I would like to do in the future. I love hanging out with my friends and spending time with my family. I like to go on hikes, bake and cook, and am a big movie watcher. 

Finn

 Patrick Finn’s  Literacy with an Attitude  connects with Alfie Kohn’s article  What to Look for in a Classroom . Both authors talk about how schools often focus too much on control and order instead of helping students become active, thoughtful learners. Finn explains that working-class students often receive a basic kind of education that teaches them to follow directions and stay in line. He calls this “functional literacy.” On the other hand, students from wealthier backgrounds are given “powerful literacy,” which helps them ask questions, speak up, and become leaders. This idea connects to Kohn’s writing because Kohn also believes that good classrooms are not about quiet students doing worksheets. He wants schools to focus on group work, student choice, and learning that matters. In both texts, the authors agree that schools need to give all students the chance to grow, think, and participate, not just obey. They also both point out that teachers have a big role...

Kohn

  Alfie Kohn’s article “What to Look for in a Classroom” made me think about what kind of classroom I want as a future teacher. He explains that learning should be meaningful and active, not just quiet students listening to a teacher talk. That idea reminded me of some of my past classes, where I felt bored and uninterested because we only followed directions, completed worksheets, and only listened to the teacher speak. In other classes, the teacher encouraged us to ask questions, share our ideas, and collabarate with one another. I remember feeling more comfortable to speak up and share my ideas than in classes that were teacher focused. Kohn’s ideas about student choice, collaboration, and respect feel important to me because that's when real learning occurs. I believe students need to feel like their thoughts and voices matter in order to grow and build confidence. If classrooms only focus on rules and control, students might stop caring about what they are learning. ...