Lesson Two Reflection

         In this lesson we focused on predictions. We read the story 7 Ate 9 The Untold Story. One student was absent so we only had two children. In this lesson we still went very fast through our activities. The students were engaged the whole time and enjoyed the mystery in the story. We all sat between the students to help guide them through the prediction worksheet.

Both students successfully completed the predictions worksheet. They made predictions before, during and after reading. Then they used the text to determine if these predictions were correct or incorrect. After they determine if they are correct they pull evidence to the text to support their predictions. 

This week I learned that the students need to be prompted in a way to get more information. While making predictions we needed them to find reasons for their predictions. The students try to give very general answers. When finding evidence in the book students tried to put answers like they knew this because they read the story or the story told them. We needed to further explain that they needed to explicitly tell what in the story proved their predictions. 

In the future I think I will take more time to explain exactly what I’m looking for in their answers. I think just reading the questions and giving an overview isn’t enough. It may be helpful to have an example of exactly what I’m looking for using a common book instead of the one we are working on so they can’t just copy my ideas down. 

Lesson One Reflection

     This lesson was focused on story maps. The kids were expected to fill out a story map based on a book read to them. The lesson was fully completed and the students had understanding of the work and did an excellent job of pulling out the information to fill in the chart. Unfortunately we got a little bit of a late start so I had to improvise with the students at first. This also was an opportunity for me to get to know them a little more before the start of the content. 

    All of the lesson objectives were met. The summative assessments were all filled out completely correctly and fully. One boy was especially eager to answer all questions and knew all the answers straight away. Another boy was having a hard time focusing in the room and needed to be asked to participate. 

    From this experience I learned that sometimes lessons don’t always go as planned. In this lesson I had to think on the spot. My lessons started a little late so I had to fill the time with students before we started. Since this was the first visit I took this time to get to know them and do a more in depth introduction. 

    In the future I could work better on time management. The lesson was a little out of order and there was extra time. The lesson was planned well but the time allot for activities was quicker than anticipated. In the future I will plan the time better for the lesson. 

Blog 10- “The Future of Healing” by Shawn Ginwright

     Ginwright argues that schools need to switch to a more healing approach. In he article it is explained that children's mental and physical health should be viewed in a new way. Often young people are being treated for their trauma instead of being seen as a whole person. In reality we are not defined by our trauma. We may need to acknowledge our trauma but it should be our main focus to healing. Focusing in on it can cause more harm than good. Youth need to see that trauma isn't what defines you but you move past it not by dwelling on it. In the article it says that we should focus on what is right with us rather than what went wrong. Ginwright gives examples on how to encourage this change in the youth through his article.

Blog #9

 1. The first activity that stuck out to me was the quiz we did that was like two pages. When the test was over the discussion we had were we were told that a test like that should be an insult to us. 

2. Teaching bilingual learners was meaningful to me because I could relate so much to it. Not even in just the sense of education but loosing that identity and loosing your language and culture was so close to how I feel somedays. 

3. The Last thing that stuck with me was the list of what a good classroom should look like. I feel like this list will stick with me for a long time but can also be used in the future as a model for what my classroom should look like. 

Hehir - Toward Ending Ableism in Education - Argument

 In this article Hehir talks about ableist assumptions having negative impacts on the education of children with disabilities. My brother for example has autism. As a child my mom work extremely hard to make sure he had he services he needed while in school. While he was a kid it was easier for him to have the services he needed in school because he was in a group home where they had on sight schooling and it was an organization. As he got older and was placed back in home and then into another group home he needed to attend a regular high school. The high school let him take vocational classes for culinary until they decided it was too dangerous to have him around the knives and he didn't have the right motor skills to continue the program and asked him to pick another one. He eventually picked computer science but didn't finish because it wasn't the program he originally wanted. His handwriting was terrible and he used to have a keyboard to type everything for class and teachers would make a big fuss about him not writing on paper. My brother ended up not graduating he was depressed and blamed the school and bullying. Instead of my mom forcing him to stay in school she thought it was best for his mental health and safety to drop out. His case is extremely severe in how he dropped out but the school wouldn't work with him to better his education and help him finish. 

https://www.perkins.org/resource/tips-handling-academic-ableism-classroom/#:~:text=WHAT%20IS%20ACADEMIC%20ABLEISM%3F,Providing%20inaccessible%20classroom%20materials

Aria - Richard Rodrigues & Teaching Bilinguals Hyperlink

     In the reading Richard Rodrigues tells us about how he was a bilingual learner. He spoke Spanish at home with his family and was shy at school when speaking in English. The nuns went to his home and spoke with his parents about using English at home to make Richard more comfortable to speak at school. Richard explains that eventually he spoke up at school and became more confident but it came with a price. At home more English was spoken because his parents were told this was best for their children to succeed in school but it made him feel like his identity was being taken from him. He grew up speaking Spanish and when English was introduced his family dynamic changed. He would talk to his parents less and could see the change his siblings and parents went through to except this new culture. In the article I found on Harvards graduate school of education website is a story similar to his about a girl who is also a bilingual learner. Asia Yassine grew up in Texas and spoke Arabic. Growing up she was embarrassed in school because she struggled to learn English and needed extra help in class. She eventually learned to be comfortable in school and loved her environment until she grew up and realized that she had to change her identity to be successful in school. She felt stripped of her culture and explains that bilingual learners shouldn't have to loose there sense of identity to be bright in school and instead there culture should be celebrated and used as a tool to learn. 

Harvard Graduate School of Education

Literacy with an Attitude - Finn - Extended comment

 I looked at Megan's Blog and she made connections to both Delpit and Kohn. She first mentions how in Deplete it is said that teachers shouldn't be the only experts in the room. In the article the middle and working class teachers have similar styles of holding back the creativity of the students. In the working class kids are instructed to do exactly what the teacher does and that her way is the only way or even the "right way". In the middle class setting students are taught straight from the textbooks and are to gain the knowledge they are fed. While in the the upper classes kids are encouraged to be creative and are taught in a way that can have more room to grow. The second point she makes is that Kohn's "What to Look for in a Classroom" gives examples of how these classrooms are more worrisome than good. The middle class and working class again are the same where there is no freedom to learn and that there is a set routine and rules to follow. The kids are expected to have the right answers with little mistakes. Another example is the project the kids do where they made unique covers for their project but are not graded on the individuality but only on the information in the work itself. The middle and working class is taught in a way for no growth and this make the kids stuck in the same social classes. Where the upper class students are taught in a way to help them grow and expand on their learning to help them in the future. 

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-social-class-and-why-does-it-matter-3026375