Blog #2

Wow! I am happy to express how delightful my recent classroom experiences have been. I changed elementary schools and have been in the classrooms at Thunder Ridge Elementary in Saratoga Springs. Within the past two weeks, I have spent eleven hours in Ms. Decker’s 5^th grade classroom and also four hours in Ms. W’s Resource classroom. I must say, this Administration and the teachers have exceeded my expectations. They truly welcomed me into their school. Each of these inspiring individuals has invited me to “jump” right in, and actively participate in my volunteering experience. Already there are so many fun things I’m excited to write about. But this week I’ve choose one special day full of sweet moments with the students who just melt my heart.

At 8:30 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012 I entered Ms. W’s Resource room. To my surprise, upon entry Ms. W smiled and embraced my presence within her classroom. Right away (couldn’t even hang my jacket quickly enough), Ms. W put me to work. I worked with small groups of 3 children or one-one-one during this time. The kids I had the opportunity to work with were from Kindergarten through 6^th grade and it literally was too much fun.

The children would take turns reading within their group. I monitored their accuracy, fluency and offered guidance when needed. After completing their reading, I was able to work one-on-one with students while practicing vocabulary and spelling. With the familiar vocabulary words we played a game of “speed,” where a timer was set for 60 seconds and we would flip through the flash cards and see how fast and how many cards they could get through by reading out loud. When new words and vowels were proposed to practice we would say the letter, then what vowel sound it says, and follow that by reading the whole word. Also, they would recognize words that looked and sounded similar and group them to aid in visual comprehension. Another game we played to assist in this concept was “go fish.” As an example, we would each have 5 flash cards and take turns asking one another if that person had an “ee”(or other vowel) that says “E” (or the coresponding sound of each vowel), followed by making a “vowel match” or “go fish.” I am gleeful as I remember all the fun they were having as they learned vowels!

This particular experience exhibited, distinctly the application of teaching with each learning modality while instructing. It is quite impressive really. When I think of how it is imaginably achievable to accomplish such a skill, and then witness it not only transpiring but the effectiveness of the application; just blows me away. In addition to the application of learning styles Ms. W was creative and successful in adapting the curriclum by utilizing instructional stategies, materials, and curriculum content. For this example, after giving the students their spelling test (individualized words to meet their level), all the words were divided into three envelopes; "words I know," "words to practice," and "words for later." 

To top off the sweetness of all this fun, when I’m in the classrooms or the halls, children are remembering me and saying “Hi, Mrs. Marble.” They sure know how to make someone feel special…

Blog #1

Today was my first class room experience as a volunteer elementary school. I helped in the Resource room at Hidden Hollow Elementary in the Ranches. As I prepared to serve in the classroom I visualized what my experience would be like and possibly what expectations I had as a volunteer. Through my ideas, I anticipated a rather small room where one to five children would be working one-on-one with a teacher or an aid. Along my list of projections, I assumed the classroom and teacher would be principally friendly and overall pleased to have another helper. Lastly, I estimated the population of children in the resource room to have considerably more diverse developmental differences. I was mistaken.

To my surprise, what the actual experience presented me was eye opening in a number of ways. First, I was pleasantly surprised by the big, warm and efficient room. By the teacher and her aid’s response, I felt slightly uncomfortable when I initially walked into the room and throughout the hours I was present. It was almost as if my presence was not welcome and almost more of a disturbance to them and their classroom. After introducing myself, the teacher handed me a large stack of bubbled pre-tests to grade. I was happy to help out however she needed. Although, it seemed more as if it was a way for her to put me aside rather than being of service to her. While I was grading the papers, and as kids would come and go, the teacher and her aid would whisper to each other their personal conversations. Clearly, they did not want me overhearing them roasting a specific parent and their child. This was an uncomfortable feeling. Sitting there, grading her papers as if I’m a ghost not listening to their inappropriate and unprofessional conversation.

 As I focused on grading the pre-tests, I intended to concentrate on identifying the children’s abilities and differences, and how the teacher operated and responded to them. In doing so, I observed the children work in two groups of approximately six to one ratio (six children per one teacher/aid). These kids were all in 5^th or 6^th grade and the developmental differences were moderately minimal, where the grouped children seemed to have homogeneous learning disabilities in each subject except in reading and language arts. The developmental differences I witnessed appeared to be somewhat behavioral and focused attention challenges, along with reading comprehension and deficient spelling skills. When the teacher instructed them to work alone, some kids would ask her to read the passage to them out loud (indicating auditory learners). In addition, a few kids worked by themselves on computers to complete spelling and games (nurturing the visual and kinesthetic learners likely). I also found it interesting to observe how the teacher brings the kids attention back to her and the lesson when their attention drifts away. In this experience, the resource teacher would address the child by name, out loud and tell them to stop whatever it was they were doing. This appeared to be effective.   

In summary, I’d have to admit that my projections of what to expect may have been overestimated and unrealistic as far as the room, the participating children and the teachers. However, I feel the expectation of extending a welcome to a volunteer who is willing to serve and learn is an accurate expectation to maintain; Even though it was unconfirmed in this situation. While the social, adult environment was not ideal; I absolutely enjoyed observing the children and the instructional techniques to accommodate the developmental differences of each child.