School Visit & Integration

EDUC 350 
Our visit at the elementary school was very different than what I expected. This school was so much different from what I remember from elementary school. Some of the statistics really shocked me, I knew that it was a low performing school and that it was in an area where poverty was very  present but I did not know the full extent until I saw it myself. I found it heart breaking that these kids were falling so behind. I got assigned a 4th grade classroom which I was excited for since I am not the greatest with the littles. When we walked into the classroom there were only 4 students in there which I thought was weird and throughout the day I kept seeing different kids come and go and I realized they were being separated into groups to work on things they needed extra help with. I was in a reading and math class and the teacher had the students in "centers" with some being on the computers, smart-board or doing flashcards. At first the teacher seemed to be very unhappy about being there but once we sat to talk with her she told us that loves where she is at. During the entire day the students kept alternating classrooms and subjects and I noticed how much of a group effort teaching these children really was. The teachers from the grade level all came together to help these students grow. It was mentioned in the presentation that this school was a growth school and not proficient. The formula for the NC Report Cards are 80% proficiency and 20% growth which I personally don't agree with. They received an F on the last report card which is not good. Something else that took me by surprised was when we were told that they had students coming in who did not know their name! That was crazy for me to think about. Clearly one of the biggest issues at the school was that these kids are mostly living in poverty and we can't combat that. Their parents don't have time to read with there kids or teach them how to write because they are working trying to feed their families. As I was walking around the classroom looking at their work I noticed that most of them had hand writing that I would expect to see from a second grader not a 4th grader, it was then when I realized that they weren't playing when they said these kids were really behind. The needs in this school are very different from others and it is clear to see that they are doing everything to meet all these students where they are and grow them from there. I think the most meaningful thing that happened to me was when were at the smokehouse for specials and I asked some of the students in the back of the line if any of them wanted to be firefighters and this little boy said "Yes I want to save people from the fires" and I realized that this kids aren't any different from others. They still have dreams and they have big hearts full of love. One of the biggest NCTCS that I took away was 2c which states that "Teachers treat students as individuals". All of the students have something going on you have to get to know your students and show them you care. Maybe they don't have a person who cares for them and you have to show them that you do. Figure out what gets them going and give them motivation. I am glad that I had this experience, I saw things I might take into my future classroom like having high expectations from my students and keeping a day to day routine. There were also things I might want to stay away from. It was a good learning experience overall. For outside research I looked up the Innovative school district and how they make their decisions and found this article: http://www.wral.com/5-things-to-know-about-nc-s-new-achievement-school-district/15899993/

EDUC 410
This week in our seminar we talked about the importance of integration and we all agreed that it benefits the students so much. I feel like including every subject into a lesson can be very difficult and takes a lot of time and experience so as we go about our career we will learn how to incorporate every single subject into our lesson. Integrating other topics will force us to communicate with our colleagues and work together to ensure students receive that best education possible. Showing students that what they are learning in other classes can be useful for your class and making it relevant to them can make them excited for learning. I feel like with middle school it may be a little easier to integrate than in elementary school. Having the full knowledge of the content you are teaching will facilitate integration. With us being at the beginning it is hard for us to think about having every subject in one lesson because we still don't know our standards to the full extent. Having the students making connections to other things will be exciting and engaging. We also talked about integrating technology and its benefits. We talked about how it should only be used if it enhances learning rather than just for a distraction or just to say you are using technology. This related to NCTCS 4d which mentions using and integrating technology. We should use technology as a tool to make learning personalized not the lesson to revolve around the technology. 

I will use everything I learned this week to make sure I am using the right tools to instruct my students. I will make sure that everything I do in class has a purpose and make things relevant to my students to grab their attention.