Wednesday, January 27, 2010
First day in Ms. Martins 1st Grade Class
First of all I need to say how much I enjoyed my first field experience at Drayton Hall Elementary! I absolutely loved my 1st grade class. When I arrived this morning, the students were quietly working at their desks on a phonics worksheet. They were concentrating n distinguishing words that contained long /u/ vowel sounds verses short /u/ vowel sounds. I was very impressed with the students ability to quickly grasp this concept on their own and without the teachers help. During the math exercise, the focus was on adding and subtracting by using what they called a "function" unit. The students worked with the teacher for a long time trying to figure out what the different patterns were that made each addition or subtraction problem have certain outcome. This was difficult for some to grasp, but the teacher assured them that they would get it. I think it is important for teachers to continue to encourage kids, especially those who are having a hard time, to help to motivate them to try to understand concepts that they may be struggling with.
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Hi Liza! Sounds like you enjoyed your first morning of first grade. I am in a kindergarten, where I also noticed a lot of encouragement and a teaching style very centered on positive learning. I think this is very important in building the students' self-image of who they are as a student and their attitude about school. I think the early years is when they are being modeled into who they are as students, and so confidence is extremely important! So, are you going to use the pig this semester? I am going to have to go to the fair next year and win a pig like your's!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed your first morning in the field. I'm also in a first grade classroom and I am enjoying it very much. I would have liked to have seen how your cooperating teacher dealt with the children who were struggling with grasping the concept because this is something that I worry about when teaching my lessons. I agree that encouragement is very important for the students, and I also think it's important for the teacher to realize that there will be more than one opportunity to teach a cnocept.
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