LauraEvans-Parent/TeacherConference

This week, my PDS had their Parent Teacher conferences. There were only a few students' parents who did not make it to the conferences, which is good because my mentor teacher told me that usually not many parents come. The conferences lasted for about three hours and during each of them, I sat in the back and listened as I did some homework.I was happy to meet the parents and to see what they each had to say about their children. The parents were all very friendly and seemed genuinely concerned for their children's education. The conferences prepared me for some questions that I may be asked in the future and helped me see how important these meetings truly are. There are a few students who struggle at school and my mentor teacher was able to inform their parents of this and discuss ways for improvement. The conferences went really well and I am glad that I was able to observe and get a feel for the future, in that aspect.

LauraEvans-LessonReflection

This week I started my Action Research and it went well. I read "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" to the students and used props to tell the story. I brought in a big light up palm tree and sticky neon-colored alphabet letters. As I read the story, I would place each letter up on the tree as if they were really climbing it (like in the story). The students really enjoyed the light up tree and the bright letters that were placed on it. They would call out what letters came next and became even more excited towards the end of the story when the tree fell. Overall, I think this lesson went well although there are some changes that I would make if I were to do it again. I would be sure to give myself plenty of room to move around while reading the story because I found myself dropping the letters and feeling a bit flustered. I would also be sure to have some tape close by because some of the letters weren't as sticky as I had anticipated. Even though there were some minor faults to the lesson, the students comprehended it well when six of them were asked to retell the story and answer questions about it.

LauraEvans-StudentLearningStyles

This year I am student teaching in a kindergarten classroom with twenty students. The children range from ages five to six years and some have never been in a school setting; such as preschool, before. So, since this was most of their first experiences at school, it was very interesting to watch how they learn. Most of the students do not know their letters or numbers and cannot write their own names. My mentor teacher said that this is one of the lowest (learning level) group of students that she has ever had. There are several students in the classroom that seem to be ADD or ADHD and there are a couple who may be diagnosed with a mental illness in the future. There are only about eight students that I would consider are on level and where they should be, educationally and socially. For all of those reasons, there is a wide variety of learning styles that these kindergartners learn best from. Some of the students learn better if they are sitting in a chair as opposed to sitting on the carpet with the others. Most of the students need to see a teacher perform the task before they can comprehend it. There are a few students who need us (the teachers) to actually act out and motion to them what to do. I have found that group work and centers is great for this class because there are so many different styles that the children need and it is best for the students to work with those that are on the same learning level as them.

Laura Evans-Relationship With Students

I have become extremely attached to the students in my mentor teachers classroom. They are so young and have so much to learn, I am excited to get to help with that and see their education grow. I have become so attached to all of them, their home lives are very different from what I am used to. This was a big wake up call to me because I just cannot imagine how some of these children live or what their home life is like. We have one student who has been taken in and out of his home because his parents are on drugs. Sometimes, he will come to school so totally out of it and I just wondered what types of drugs he has been recently exposed to because I see those side affects. Another student has been in a foster home, but his foster mom did not want him because he was "too hard too handle." Just recently, the student was placed in a new foster home and switched to a different school. On the day that they came to take him, I was not prepared for how emotional I would be to see this little boy go. There is another student in our room who we are pretty sure is environmentally deprived. She is like a zombie, in a another world, clueless of how to communicate with people. She is a smart student, but she has no clue how to talk to anyone. At first, I thought she would need to be in a special education setting, but as we got to know her we realized that she has never been exposed to anything. I have met both parents and now I can see why this little girl is the way she is. Her parents don't talk to her, they don't show her things and teach her...she is just ignored. My mentor teacher and I have been helping her to learn to wipe her mouth after she eats and to blow her nose if she needs to because she will just leave food or whatever all over her face. I could go on and on about this particular student and how sad I am for her, I just wish I could take her out of the home that she is in because I know that is the reason that she is so out of it.

LauraEvans-My Mentor's Management Plan

Mrs. Costello has a couple of management plans, but the one used for behavior seems to work the best. In the kindergarten classroom there is a pocket chart with each of the students' names in it. There are also four color coded cards by each name to indicate their behavior for that particular day. Green is good, then yellow is for the first time the student misbehaves, red means that they lose recess time, and finally blue means that a note will be sent to their parents. The students seem to respond to this really well, they never want to be "put on yellow". I like this system because the students are given several chances and they are able to see what their behavior is like for the day. The chart is located at the front of the room so the children are constantly seeing it and being reminded to behave. I plan to keep this in mind when devising my own management plan in the future.