1. As we are coming toward the end of the semester and all have been observed, what are some challenges that you have faced during this student observation period? Have all of your lessons gone smoothly? Has your supervisor or your cooperating teacher made any suggestions to you along the way and were those suggestions repeated? If so, what do you plan to do about making changes in your teaching approach prior to next semester when you begin student teaching?
And.........finally.........how do you interact with your supervisor and your cooperating teacher in order to make sure that you are meeting the highest standards (for student observers) set forth by the university and the state?
2. Why is it crucially important to be aware of the fact that students from diverse cultural backgrounds bring different ways of knowing, different styles of questioning, and different patterns of interaction to school?
Deanna-
ReplyDelete1. The challenges that I have faced during the student observation period is little to none. My fifth graders have really matured from the start of September to now, and their progress has been going in the right direction. My lessons have gone smoothly for the most part, although my 3rd observation was a little overwhelming just because I had students get more involved and move around in the classroom, but it did eventually all work out in the end. My advisor and cooperating teacher have been a great support and have helped me become a better teacher. My advisor gave me little suggestions on my anticipatory set and how to make the students understand what the topic will be about. So going forward with my student teaching, I will work more efficiently at creating an engaging anticipatory set. The way I interact with both my cooperating teacher and advisor is by emailing/talking to them about my lesson and how I will be presenting it and the materials I will use.
2. I believe it's crucially important to be aware of the fact that students from diverse cultural backgrounds bring different ways of knowing information to school because it helps the students feel socially and culturally comfortable to ask questions and interact in the classroom. This allows them to interact in a wider range of social groups and feel more confident in themselves as well as in their interactions with others.