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…