My field experience has been going very well. My cooperating teacher is kind and the students in the class are wonderful! Our class has 21 students and is very diverse. About 1/4 of the class is on an IEP and other students need extra help in certain subjects. So, generally my field experience partner and I walk around the room and provide much needed individualized help. My CT also often uses stations or "centers" for learning and we usually each monitor a center. Another thing we help with is administering assessments. The school we were placed at has not scored well on their MCAs in the past years, as a result, there are many standardized tests and assessments that must be given, so we help with those.
In regards to technology, my teacher often incorporates videos on her smart board. She uses videos for both math and reading (those are the subjects that I am present for) and also to get the students moving during "Brain Breaks". One video she uses for brain breaks is of the song "Because I'm Happy" with the minions from Despicable Me; all the kids dance and clap along. Another video is of the "I Like to Move It Move It" song and Zumba dancing. For math and reading, she uses videos that incorporate concepts into songs. Several of them she replays fairly often so the children know the words and sing along. Today, in math she used a song video about telling time and in reading she used a "Super E" video as well as a song video about consonant blends. The class also has about five iPads. My CT usually has one of the reading centers be iPads and the students play an app game where they slice the letters and/or words that they hear through their headphones.
I hope that everyone else is having a fun time at their field experiences, too, and I'm looking forward to reading about it in your blog posts!
Hi Ivy,
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are off to a great start! I believe my school is in a similar situation regarding MCA results because we also spend a significant amount of time discussion reading comprehension strategies. I love those ideas of "Brain Breaks!" I haven't seen any in my classroom yet, but my CT did play a song about nouns called "The Noun Machine" to which the students enjoyed dancing. That iPad app sounds interesting! Do you happen to know the name of it and whether or not it is free? Enjoy the coming week!
Sorry, Sally, I could not find the specific one that my CT uses but I found a similar one called Slice N' Learn for $.99.
DeleteIt sounds like your field experience is going well. You mentioned the iPads in your post. Is reading the main way the teacher uses these? It seems like the games would provide a fun change of pace to traditional book learning. Have you noticed if the students enjoy the iPads a lot? I know at my school the students seem to really enjoy the opportunities they have in the computer lab to play educational games.
ReplyDeleteHi Nate, yes my teacher only uses the iPads for reading as far as I am aware. Although, there are many different kinds of apps on their iPads for math and just for fun, they are only allowed to use the ones for reading. The students love using the iPads, the students at other centers are always envious of the students at the iPad center.
DeleteIt sounds like you are really enjoying your time at your school! My class also watches those videos you were talking about. The students favorite video is ironically the minion one you mentioned! Every morning before the literacy block begins, my CT picks a different student to pick either a YouTube video to dance too or a zumba activity. It really helps the students because they are really antsy in the morning and it helps them get their energy out. I'm very pleased to see other classes are doing this as well! I hope the rest of your experience goes great!
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