WEEK ONE
What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction?
At this point in my internship the only thing that I have seen in language arts and reading is independent reading and AR tests. Also students are working on nouns both common and proper. Student have been reading a story out of their basal. Worksheets are given on nouns and are based on their stories from the basal.
What have you taught in your internship?
At this point I haven’t been given the opportunity to teach anything. I am observing at this time and helping students with their daily work.
Comment on anything interesting that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum:
Some interesting things about the students in my classroom is that a couple of them have been held back for two years. I have never experienced this before. A new math curriculum has also been set into place and it deals with students using different manipulatives to solve problems. The teachers in this school are diverse. My direct teacher uses basal and workbooks for her students and there doesn’t seem to be any work done individually with any students who struggle with reading the workbooks and basals. My classroom teacher does work with Dolch sight words and students are tested on these every couple of weeks.
Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning:
I have no questions at this time!
Week 2
What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction?
This week our class read a new story out of their basal and they completed the worksheets directly from the basal. Their work sheets are focused on vocabulary, comprehension, and grammar. The teacher uses worksheets from not only the basal but also a grammar. The students weekly spelling words are taken from the basal.
What have you taught in your internship?
Still at this point I have not had the opportunity to teach anything. I was given the opportunity to give a spelling test that the teacher had assigned.
Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.
I have noticed that Valmead is really focused on students reading AR books and taking AR tests. Almost all of their independent reading is done with these AR books and at times I wonder if this process if really that effective.
Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning.
I have no questions at this time!
Week 3
What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction?
Students are still working on the story from their basal. They have read the story aloud and have listened to it on tape. The activities are still the same which includes the comprehension worksheets, the weekly spelling worksheets, and the grammar worksheets from the grammar.
What have you taught in your internship?
Still at this point I have not directly taught anything to my students. I have helped with questions and have monitored them while they were reading or listening along with the tapes.
Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.
The main thing that I have noticed so far is that my teacher uses a lot of worksheets. She does not have the children engaged into the curriculum and there are never anything that lets them explore or create their own understanding of the stories. They do not have the opportunity to connect to the story. Also all the students use the same story from the basal even when it is not on their reading level.
Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning.
How can a teacher who uses basals make sure the content isn’t too difficult or too easy for each child? Is there a way to do this or is it best to not use basals?
Week 4
What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction?
This week my students began reading Sarah Plain and Tall. They read as a whole class and the teachers reads and then calls on students to read different sections. The spelling words for this week come from this text. Students are given a packet of worksheets that cover comprehension, vocabulary, and also grammar. There are some worksheets that allow for students to pull information from the test to support concepts that are true or false.
What have you taught in your internship?
I have read the last 4 chapters of this book with the class and administered their spelling test.
Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.
I find it really interesting that many of the concepts that Sarah Plain and Tall covered were ignored and that the main idea for the students was a packet of worksheets. There were many more opportunities and they were all missed.
Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning.
I have no questions at this time.
Week 5
What have you seen in language arts/reading instruction?
This week my students read a personal narrative out of their basal. My teacher tried to get them to understand the differences of a story and a personal narrative.
What have you taught in your internship?
This week I got to teach for the reading and language arts times. I went along with their earlier subject of personal narratives. I gave student stories that were on different levels and broke them into groups based on these levels. They were asked to read their story and highlight the items that made it a personal narrative; such as, 1st person language, descriptive words, and so on. Afterwards we came back as a whole class and discussed each story then they were asked to brainstorm an idea for their own personal narrative. Once this was completed they were asked to draft their narrative.
Comment on any interesting things that you have noticed about your school, the teachers, the students, or the curriculum.
One main thing that really shocked me was that these students could not write a whole story. Apparently this was one of the very first times that they have ever been asked to write a complete story. They could not come up with ideas or even their own experiences. I was surprised because I would have imagined that this would have been quite easy for them.
Post any questions that you have about teaching/learning.
I did help each child individually when they were brain storming and drafting their narratives. Even though they had my help they still seemed to struggle. I covered all the items that made up a personal narrative and this was to be a review. What do you feel that I could have done to made this experience easier on them? Do you think that it was my instruction or that they had just never really had much writing experience? My teacher felt that I done a great job and she took all of my leveled stories and my entire lesson plan so that she could use it. This is what confused me about the process. She was trilled and impressed with their work and I was so dumbfounded because I truly thought that they should have been more advanced.
