USE

6th Visit; 1st grade inclusive classroom; 5 students with autism, all high functioning. Worked directly with two of them today.

Before entering the classroom, I always arrive during recess.I join Mrs. T, talk with her and observe the students.

-

Help Mrs. T plan a lesson; putting words like forest, tree, rivers, sister, brother, mother, kind into categories like "mother nature", "family", "actions" to begin a lesson plan on Native Americans

-Observed Mrs. T read the book "Brother Eagle, Sister Sky" to the students; she had them to a picture tour (looking thorugh at the pictures and sharing their observations)

-Completed an "I Know (K), What I Want to Know (W), & What I Learned (L)" chart.

-

Switched to do sensory wok with Mary; assisted her in using the blue ball and trampoline.

-

Observed Mrs. T do reading activities with Mary

Mrs. T asks "Is your brain ready?" to see if the sensory work was enough for Mary to continue with her academic work. Mrs. T does reading from a large book. Ask Mary to sound out the letter. Points to each one with the end of a pencil.

Last semester, I took Curriculum and Pedagogy (Ed 301) and did my field placement in a 2nd grade class. Because I developed a positive relationship with my cooperating teacher and really enjoyed the environment created by the school, I will be continuing my placement there this semester. This is an excerpt from the field notes that I took on my first day in the class.  

-2nd grade class

-1 to 3:30 pm

-two main periods while I am there (math and reading)

-when I arrived, my cooperating teacher immediately included me in the routine of the classroom

-first child that I worked with was Justin, a boy that my cooperating teacher described as “special” (she did not mean this to be offensive)

-Justin has motor control issues (which make it difficult for him to write), as well as speech problems

-He is not at the same level in math or writing as his peers

In working at a kindergarten, I do literacy activities with small groups of students each morning revolving around a short poem or song. These are notes (based on recollection) are from three groups of ten minutes each, with three or four students:

This week's poem is "The old woman who lived in a shoe". The activity on the lesson plan, which I can change, invovled something that I knew would make the kids too silly and would not be helpful, so I skipped to the next day's activity, a type which is normally more successful. As always, we read the poem together (with me reading each line first if the group is not yet reading). With some groups, it takes a lot of time to get started because the students are acting in a silly way: usually several of the same students, although today was a good day for two of those. The reading goes unexpectedly well for the second group, as this is usually where it's most difficult to get started. 

Thesis meeting: Jan. 25, 2013 (10:30am)

Sorry that these notes are a bit dense, but it was my only other academic event other than my other ed. class that occured between Thurs. and Tues.