The activity that I did with the children was mostly inspired by my learning plan #1 which had a focus in math. For this activity, I used chocolate bars to represent fractions. The students had a problem which was 4 divided by 1/9 in where they were given four chocolate bars already divided up into ninths. The reason why I chose this activity was because I knew children like being able to visually see things, playing a role in real life. Many of the word problems they get in math are related to food and real objects so I thought about bringing this in, so that they could see how fractions can be seen in a chocolate bar for instance.

In the preparation for this activity I first identified that I was going to use Hershey bars since they are already divided up into even pieces and it would be easier to work with and identify the fractions evenly. Afterwards I knew Hershey bars were divided into twelfths, yet knew that would have given us a big number as an answer so I decided to cut of the 3 pieces of each bar to have the chocolate bars be in ninths. From there I had one of my numbers 1/9 then I decided I was going to work with 4 chocolate bars, and from there I created my equation which I solved myself ahead of time. I also watched many videos relating the division of fractions with actual food.

I believe something that went well was the students excitement for using chocolate also them having something to physically look at and see how fractions can be involved in that. What I noticed during the implementation of the activity was that I was leading most of it, and I was the one manipulating the pieces. Something I would definitely change about this activity was how I went about it, I would instead of writing down the equation actually creating a story problem involving chocolate, and having them kind of exploring/figuring things out on their own and having them be more hands on and able to manipulate the chocolate pieces themselves.

A lesson that I have learned from this experience relating classroom management has been how important it is to form bonds with the students, and to create an environment in where they all feel safe to share; One in where students know they are listened to and that they are cared about. One thing that I really liked was the morning circles, and just being able to talk about what mood they were in and why. Another lesson that I learned I believe would be relating to cultural competence. I learned that a little effort to being more culturally competent goes a long way. I would see the teacher in the class where I was doing my practicum always say words or phrases in Spanish while giving instructions, and she would would often print out classroom text in Spanish to have that option for the children. Many of the students in this particular class did speak Spanish, and were able to have that option for them. At last another lesson learned I believe would be relating to classroom management, I learned how important schedules and routines are. When children were back from recess or lunch they knew exactly what subject they would be working on next and whether to grab a math notebook, or their social studies binder, or their science work.

Based on the student evaluation I would say an area of strength of mine was being nice, friendly and respectful of the students and the teacher. I always had a positive attitude towards any situation, and everyday came in a good mood to work with students. I was also always punctual, and would let the teacher know ahead of time if for some reason I wouldn’t be able to make it. I believe an area of growth that I have is communicating better, I personally struggle trying to convey my ideas across or trying to explain to somebody else what I need. I often get shy to ask people for things or to approach them, and that was a struggle when it came to me having to do things such as the read aloud or the lesson. I felt like I didn’t want to get in the way of what the teacher was doing especially since they were behind on schedule due to the snow days that school got canceled.

Going back to my first blog post the schools mission statement is “every student is known by name, strength and need. We will empower our scholars to be resourceful, considerate, curious, problem solvers who will graduate ready for college, career and citizenship.” In the time that I was here I believe that the school was meeting their mission statement. I would see students always being called by their name not only by their homeroom teacher but also, by other educators and staff members from the office. Apart from this I had various conversations with the teacher from the class I was in, and she was able to tell me the strengths and needs of her students. When it comes to being resourceful. Considerate, curious, problem solvers everyday in the announcements they were reminded about this and in the class I was in a student got to pick students displaying any of the characteristics about mentioned and they would get tickets. The student that would get to choose, would also have to specifically mention how the other student receiving the ticket was either being resourceful, considerate or a problem solver.

After this experience I continue being 100% sure about wanting to be an educator. Although I still feel like I have a lot more to learn, more experience to gain, and plenty of area for growth.

For the read aloud I read a chapter of the book The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. After conversing with the classroom teacher about having me do the read aloud, she offered to help choose a book and told me I could continue from where the class had already left off in their read aloud book or she also gave me the option of reading The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, which was another book they had started. Or I could have brought my own short story. I chose to continue with The House of the Scorpion because I had been present in class during read aloud time, and I could tell the students enjoyed this book. Aside from their enjoyment a couple of the characters names were names of some of the students in the class. The book also contained Spanish phrases, and ways of being of the Hispanic culture; and the vast majority of the class is Hispanic.

Other factors that influenced me in choosing this book was that I didn’t want the students to be in two stories at the same time, or to start another chapter book and leave it unfinished. I thought about the idea of bringing a small picture book, but they are more interested in chapter books. In preparing for the read aloud I read the book from the beginning up to a little bit further from where the class had left off; As I read I came across a few new vocab words that I had to look up the meaning of. I also practiced reading out loud, trying to pace myself and being loud enough for the class.

Some strategies that I used for the read aloud were occasionally pausing, making eye contact with some students, and trying to switch around my pitch and tone of voice when the book was quoting a character. What I learned from this experience was that something that seems as easy as reading can be a bit more complicated than that. I found myself feeling pretty nervous during the read aloud, it is a completely different experience reading independently in your head, or even reading to one student, then that of reading to a whole class.

In the school in where I am doing my practicum the curriculum being used for reading and writing is Lucy Calkins Units of Study. In mathematics they use the Highline School District Curriculum, engageNY, and progress videos. In science they use highline kits, and STEM Next Generation Science Standards. For social studies story path is used and Newsela. What I have seen more in action when I am in the classroom has been the math and social studies portion. My experience with Newsela so far has been good, throughout my practicum I have alongside with the children dissected many newsela articles; I think they are very well written, they have a lot of information yet they aren’t too long that it makes it overwhelming for the children, and I absolutely love that many of the articles are also in Spanish, and the teacher has that option for the students. These articles also introduce some new vocabulary for the children and at the end there are sometimes multiple choice questions, in the class where I am at we haven’t really focused on answering the questions rather there is a focus in understanding the text, and the vocab being utilized. From my perspective and my experience in math with these curriculum’s I believe they are a little bit fast paced, in where one week we are learning something new and next thing you know the test is coming up and then we move on to the next new thing.

As I did a little bit more research on common core and how the state plans on using these as teaching and learning guidelines I came across the initiative on common core. Basically from state to state the standards varied quite a lot, and these standards did not prepare students for the college and career life specially if they wanted to go out of state, since the standards are different. In an approach to having everyone be on the same page or level common core helps set more clear focused goals. Based on the Common Core State Standards: Implementation, Activities, Timelines, Cost, and Input on enhancements there is a Washington Education Reform Plan Framework in where in order to implement this framework first there has to be a connection between state and federal education reform initiatives and the focus on preparing students for college and careers. To implement common core standards teachers have first understand the differences between the old and new standards, and align their material to the standards as well as understanding the new assessment methods.

When it comes to the debate about common core I find that the arguments for it are typically that it helps set clearer standards, that help students be career and college ready by gaining deeper skills. Also that common core sets a foundation for most states to be on the same level and close the gap that there is from state to state standards. For the opposing side, often saw that the transition into common core was difficult for both students and teachers. That it forces students to learn at a quicker pace, in where some can’t catch up some parents believe their children are too young for some of the assignments they are expected to do. I found that another parent, felt like her kid was losing confidence in himself and that the system was “dumbing down” her children because they are expected to use many steps in math for instance instead of using simple common sense steps to solve an equation. I found that some math problems were also worded in a way that made it difficult to understand what the problem was asking the student to do.

Thinking back to the types of management strategies I have observed in my practicum site there are a couple that popped out to me the most. One of them consists of a vocabulary word; Each week the class gets a new vocab word, they learn the definition and use it in a sentence. For instance this past week the word was equivalent, and as a managing strategy every time the teacher wanted to get the students attention she would say the vocabulary word equivalent and everyone would repeat it and then stayed silent waiting for directions. Another method just consists of being quiet until the students realize it and lower their voices as well. I have also seen a very common one which is just simply counting down from five to zero, and by the time we are at zero everyone is expected to be quiet, in their seats, ready for what’s coming next. Another method I have seen that keeps students working on something is giving them options, or letting them know what they will be working on after that lesson. Another strategy that I liked was how every student has a number, and each number is a classroom role they can take, such as line leader, or paper passer helper. Desks are also arranged in teams, and they get points according to how ready their team is, or how clean their desks are, or if they are paying attention. A common phrase that I hear often is “this is doable. In class they prefer not to use terms such as this is “hard” or this is “easy” because we are all at different levels, and although it might be easy for some it might be an area of struggle for others, and all the work is work that the students can all do if they put themselves to it. Undesired behavior for this classroom I believe would be students giving up or not trying at all.

From what I have seen I do believe that all students have the same expectations around their behavior in the classroom and even in the school. Although I have noticed that one or two students get called on a little bit more to refocus or get back on track. Some differences that I noticed between these students and the rest, is that they tend to get distracted easily or give up, they don’t have the patience to try and try new strategies or once they make one mistake they feel like they can’t instead of learning from that. From my experience I have heard the same language being used towards girls and boys, they both have the same expectations in the classroom. When it comes to their behavior towards different teachers, the students are still respectful and polite yet you can tell they seem much happier when they are with their teacher and I think this is because they’ve created a relationship and they already know her and what she expects from them as students.

For this post the two groups that I decided to focus on where those whose first language is one other than English and on genders. After using the Cultural Competence: Personal Reflection Checklist to assess my funds of knowledge on these two groups I realized I was able to relate and understand more of one group than the other. Although I agreed on most if not all the statements being mentioned there were a couple I directly related to myself. Spanish being my first language, and being the language in which I start processing my ideas with, I knew that having limited English skills or having a foreign accent was not a reflection of my intellectual capacity; Or of anyone’s intellectual capacity just because someone doesn’t know how to speak our language does not mean they are not smart.

When it comes to genders, referring to the statements from the checklist I agreed with many of them once again. I believe I respect and welcome families from non traditional family structures such as same gender parents. I would provide the same service to the GLBTQ community, and I understand that culture affects gender roles for each family and even the family roles each person takes. I understand that there are certain biological traits that identify us as male or female, and I also know that many people don’t identify as either and that there are many different gender identities and various points of views and it is something I believe I need to increase my knowledge on.

So far what I have seen in the classroom that I have been going to, the teacher is very understanding and accepting of all her students, she allows them to speak in a language other than english when they are working in groups. She’s also shown interest in the students culture she’s asked questions about dishes they like in their families or activities they do when they visit their home country. Recently I heard a conversation about Lunar new year and it seemed like there was a lot of respect towards the different cultures represented in the classroom

Overall I believe that the school environment in where I am doing my practicum is very inclusive and welcoming towards students and their families. It is highly important to create an environment in where students feel welcomed, safe, accepted, and taken in mind in order for them to be more successful. In the short time that I have been at this school I have been able to presence various methods used to create an environment in where the students can see themselves reflected. There are many factors that contribute to a schools environment, such as the rules, a schools vision statement, displays hanged around and many other. Yet the two areas that I will be focusing on to convey the school environment will be through the relationships fomented between staff and students, and among students themselves, and through the relevance or the connections the students can make between themselves and their environment at this school.

Relationships play a big role in how a school’s environment can be set up. Part of the school’s vision is to know every student by name and this is something I have been able to presence. Not only do teachers know the names of the students in their classroom but also of other students that don’t belong to their homeroom. I have also noticed how the principal and the staff in the office greet students and even some family members by name. Doing so helps students create relationships with their peers, it makes them feel important, noticed and cared about. Particularly in the classroom I have been working in the teacher does something called “lunch buddies” in where she randomly selects a group of students and asks them if they would like to have lunch with her and they just have lunch in the classroom sitting in the carpet and having a conversation about anything the students bring up. I think having these types of activities help fortify the relationship between teacher and student, because the student gets to see the teacher outside of the instructing time, and gets to see another side of them and where the teacher joins in a common conversation not necessarily about an area of study. In the classroom there has also been an emphasizes in group work, partner work, and they also have teams for a project they were working on in social studies. This gives students the opportunity to work with different people and build those relationships among themselves, by helping each other out when they are stuck or by working together to solve a problem.

When moving towards relevance I believe students can see a connection when first walking into the building because there are many flags of different countries displayed on the walls and being able to see your flag represented can give students a sense of pride. The school’s morning announcements are also done in two languages spanish and english, taking in mind that a great percentage of the student body is Hispanic/Latino being able to hear your home language used everyday in the morning announcements makes students feel welcomed and it also lets the students know that they don’t have to limit themselves to only speaking english, that they are welcomed to speak their home language. In the class that I’m working in I have been able to see how the teacher makes the material relevant to her students by giving her students math problems with their names on them and with scenarios that are applicable to them or to their life. Everyday in the morning students get to share their mood for the day and the reason for being in that mood. That is something that students get to share on a daily basis with the class that is relevant to them and it also helps them to be able to name their emotion and set the mood or the environment for that day in the classroom

The site in where I am doing my practicum is Hazel Valley Elementary their mission statement is “every student is known by name, strength and need. We will empower our scholars to be resourceful, considerate, curious, problem solvers who will graduate ready for college, career and citizenship.” In my short time here I have noticed some strategies taken towards meeting this mission statement. One of the things I first took notice of was how every day is started in the classroom in where I am working. First thing in the morning the teacher greets each student by name and then they all sit in a circle in the carpet and go around saying good morning to each other; They then go around once again saying what mood they are in and why. To describe what mood they are in the students use the mood meter that is divided in four quadrants of a different color each, representing what they are feeling. Another thing that I have noticed has been how in the daily announcements the students are reminded that they are “resourceful, considerate, curious, problem solvers”. In the short time that I have been here I’ve also noticed that the students have built a community in their classroom in where there is trust, and they feel safe to share personal experiences and it is evident how the classroom is supportive and considerate towards others.

Hazel Valley has an enrollment of approximately 680 students in where 51.4% of the student body is male and the other 48.6% is female which is about half male half female. Regarding ethnicity 51.2% which is a bit more than half of the student body is made up of Hispanic/Latino students, 16.8% is White, 14.9% Asian, 7.7% African American, 6.1% two or more ethnicities, 1.7% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and 1.5% American Indian. Other demographic breakdowns include english learners (39%), low income (76%), and students with disabilities (18.7%).

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton