Most of you have probably heard about No Child Left Behind. This federal mandate has put a lot of pressure on schools to be accountable for student achievement. It has encouraged districts to realign their curriculum with the state standards. The curriculum is not a guide that sits on the teacher’s shelf. It consists of the course content. You will learn a lot more about curriculum in your program here at LU. However, you should be able to observe the following from your cooperating teacher regarding curriculum and content.
Does the teacher:
• Have a course plan which identifies the units, topics, tasks and skills which will be covered during a specified period of time?
• Have a daily plan or structure which identifies the skills and supportive facts, concepts and principles needed for the lesson?
• Begin the lesson with a review of what was covered during the last session?
• Provide exercise activities or skills practice where students can practice and apply the material learned?
• End the class with a summary of what was covered and “learned” during the class period?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hey, I'm first. Go Me! To answer the question—yes, my host teacher does all those things.
ReplyDeleteFirst off - he has a master lesson plan that he works from. Secondly, he puts an outline of the daily schedule on the chalkboard. Thirdly, he usually begins the lesson with a short summary of where they are in the material and hands out any packets he has for the kids. Fourthly, he usues different teaching techniques: notetaking, quizes, group partnerships, discussions, ect. to accomaodate a wide variety of learners. As towards that last point, he does try to end the class time with a quick summary, but often times he simply runs out of time.
So when thinking about the specified questions asked I realized my teacher doesn't complete each task stated. My tyeacher does however review and provide activities for learning. I am observing a kindergarten class so I don't believe that there is an actual way for her to review in a straight forward way. My teacher picks a certain latter and focuses on that for the day and has activities to go along with that. Also, my teacher will have a certain number and have activities with that as well . because of the ages of the students, the class curriculum had to be modified in order to provide the best possible learning experience possible. Also, every day when class begins, the teacher indirectly reviews what was covered the day before by asxk questions such as: "What letter does the work pizza start with?" and questions like that.
ReplyDeleteJulia,
ReplyDeleteMy teacher does not complete all the tasks listed either. I don't necessary think that every single task needs to be met. I'm sure it makes a stronger impact, but my teacher does not cover every single task and I am finished with my observations; after 30 hours with her I would definitely consider her an exceptional and effective teacher. I think each of these tasks probably depend on the grade level and specific subject.
My teacher did not review the previous lesson every day. Every few days they had a review, but it was mostly just added new information and practicing the old. She does review the lesson at the end of the day and make sure everyone has a strong grasp on the subject. She provides a worksheet with every lesson to help the student practice the new information over and over again. It helps add the lessons into their long-term memory. I think the way she does it is really good.
ReplyDeletei observed third grade and my teacher had the same daily routine everyday, unless something came up. Everyday i would go after lunch and they have the same routine, everyday. I'm not sure if she follwed everything on the curriculum, i think it would be impossible. I talked to my teacher a week ago when the kids were doing an activity, she was talking to me about how she has been a teacher for 12+ years now and due to the NCLB school and teaching has changed so much. They give her so much paperwork and handouts that she cannot keep track of them all. She spends alot of time on math with the class and had to get them ready for the MAP test. She is always reviewing old math material before starting new math material.
ReplyDeleteMy teachers are always reviewing the information from the lesson before. They are always taking quizes and always seem to have everything planned. If for some reason they feel teh class is struggling with the information they always have another lesson to teach to help them get a better understanding of the material. they always try to take a differant approach to new information and also try to get the students to each other and to help each other. the classes that I watched were CWC classes, so with these classes they had to move at a slower pace to keep everyone togather. With this there was more time spent on certain areas, but they alway had some new activity to approach the same information from the day before.
ReplyDeleteI think that at the elementary level of education you can only set up a routine for the students. At that age they are still trying to understand why they have to go to school. Plus establishing a routine for the students will help when they get into there education futher. As long as the teacher keeps practicing the information in the routine in the classroom. They should retain the information. In the middle school and high school level that is when reviewing will show more promise.
ReplyDeleteI like Dana's teacher's idea of providing a worksheet with each lesson plan. My host teacher (and many other teachers at FHN) does something similar. He assigns vocab/worksheets at the beginning of each chapter and the students can then fill in the answers as they go along. This forces them to stay awake and pay attention, it also makes comprehension easier for them because they can see where the material is coming from.
ReplyDeleteMy teacher treats her students equally. I am not sure if she does have a no child left behind policy to where she makes sure each student is kept on the same pace or not. But I do have a feeling that she teaches the students equally, if they need help she will give it, but i believe it is their opportunity on if they want to learn, want to ask help, or want to succedd she will not push them to do this.
ReplyDeleteMy teacher is very well organized and likes to get things done when he wants and how he wants. no questions asked. he is an older italian guy who is a little "old school" i guess you could say. he believes in the "yes mam" and "yes sir" kind of responses and expects that every time, teaching the children proper manners. he also knows how to get the students involved very well. a crossword activity was assigned to the kids for veterans day and they had to find every word in the song "god bless america" and then they went over it in class the next day word for word. each kid raising his or her hand multiple times.
ReplyDeleteJordan, I think that this teacher is a little over the top. I think that he could have chosen a better way to go about defining the words to the song. Like he could use a group work, in that he could assign different groups of lets say 4 people and then assign a section of each song to define the word for, so that the group could collaborate the information that they all found. Also I think that the yes man yes sir thing is a little over the top. I agree that you want to establish a good teacher student relationship in that you don't have the students treating you with disrespect and to not have them walk all over you but still I think that makes them fear you in a way especially if they are younger children, this might not make him very approachable. I agree with the manners thing I think that, that is very important!
ReplyDeleteMy teacher treats her students equally and everything. I love her routine in the morning it even makes me feel comfortable being in her class as an outsider. She does very good at reviewing and asking the children questions and giving each person the opportunity to talk. The thing that I love that my host teacher does is she has a "Piece of News for the Day". Its where each child gets to share a piece of information from the night before or from the weekend. The children love it and she is very engaged in what they have to say also. This also helps them with their speech as they are in First Grade.
ReplyDeleteRoutine... Routine, Kayla, I couldn't agree with you more. These kids are in Fifth Grade and they are “molded.” EVERYTHING my cooperating teacher does throughout the day is planned and “if” she has to veer from the plan, she usually has backup! I have never seen such an organized teacher. One thing I have observed just from her being so organized, she is a great role model for her students. The days all have a nice flow and the team teachers work well together. I now have a small idea of how much stress is put on the teachers to get their students ready for the MAP tests.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important for teachers to let children know what they are going to learn and review afterwards, so that they know the goals/focus/purpose of lessons, activities, or worksheets. I also think it is particularly important for teachers to review past lesson concepts the next day to increase students' retention. Students need to understand that one lesson ties into another, and if they have problems understanding something, they should get help because it will affect their performance in other areas and lessons.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be a good idea if elementary teachers gave out weekly syllabuses whether on paper or online (email, website, etc.) to students to give to their parents. This way parents would know what their children are learning each week, and could help their children be prepared in areas which they would be weak or need extra help.
• Have a course plan which identifies the units, topics, tasks and skills which will be covered during a specified period of time?-Yes my teacher did this daily.
ReplyDelete• Have a daily plan or structure which identifies the skills and supportive facts, concepts and principles needed for the lesson?-She'd sometimes do that it depended on if she was prepared.
• Begin the lesson with a review of what was covered during the last session?-No my teacher never did that. That could have helped the students out alot.
• Provide exercise activities or skills practice where students can practice and apply the material learned?-yes we do that alot in my class because the students need practice to grasp the new content they learned.
• End the class with a summary of what was covered and “learned” during the class period?-Yes my teacher does that in every class.
The teacher Jordan is observing does not sound like he could handle changes to his routine. If he has to have things finished "when he wants and how he wants, no questions asked," then maybe he cannot adjust to his students' needs. He needs to be somewhat flexible and able to adapt to his class's abilities. For example, it would not benefit anyone for a teacher to advance with future lessons when a majority of the class did not understand the previous lesson. The class would fall further behind, and the teacher would probably become more and more frustrated with student comprehension or lack thereof.
ReplyDeleteTO:Kayla Mitchum
ReplyDeleteI remember when my teachers used to always review for map tests all the time. I like that your teacher reviews everything that they learned in their pasted lessons or just old material. My teachers never did that and my teacher i am observing doesn't either. It would help out alot better too.
My teacher meets every one of the things listed. She is very organized and has each weeks lessons planned a week or two in advance. There is never an assignment given without an explination of what they are learning or how this will help them with other assignments.
ReplyDeleteI agree with some of the comments about Jordans teacher...the teacher does seem a little over the top. There is a point where routine gets out of hand..routine is good until it comes to a point where you cant change it at all.
ReplyDeleteMy teacher also met all the needs, but unlike loren's teacher mine wasnt as organized, she had lesson plans for every day but allowed it to where she could bend n flex with the childrens needs for example ifthe kids where grasping the info real easy then she can move on faster but if the kids are havn proplems with it then she can spend more time going more into it,
ReplyDeletei have noticed that all the teachers that i have been watching have been really good about reviewing what they went over in the last class and tying it in with the current days lesson. Most of the teachers will write a the agenda a week in advanced on the board so everyone knows what is going on and help the teacher stay on track.
ReplyDeletemy teachers are also very organized and this helps becuase it shows the students that the teacher wants to come into class and get things done. when the teacher takes their job seriuosly the students are more likely too
ReplyDeletei agree that my teacher should not be as strict as he is because it causes the younger and more shy students not want to talk to him, making him basically unapproachable
ReplyDeletei have not yet had a chance to get into a classroom yet. however, my mom is a fifth grade teacher and she starts every week with an outline of what is to be done that week. then every day she breaks it down on the board and the students are to write it in their assignment books so there is no question as to what has to be done. my mom is very organized and finds it difficult when things are not exactly on time, so i know she tries really hard to stay on topic to insure that everything said at the beginning of the week is accomplished. if for some reason that doesnt happen its not too big of a deal but she does try to keep things as orderly as possible.
ReplyDeletebailey...i think that news thing your teacher does is an awesome idea. im sure kids in first grade get excited to share something and thats a good time to start with speaking in front of the class!
ReplyDelete