My Time in the Field

I learned a lot in my field work. I learned that not every student is the same and they definitely don't have the same learning styles, needs, or likes. My students all challenged me in their own ways. I worked really close to my lowest students, they needed more one-on-one attention. I saw amazing growth in one boy in particular. He blossomed in some thing with the right instruction and guidance. There were many students that shocked me in the three weeks I was there. I had to teach a math unit and some literacy lessons as well. There were a lot of surprises and changes that I had to make to my original plans.
Instead of looking at the individual math lesson plans the entire unit can be analyzed. In each of my lessons I included a differentiated scale or a salsa scale. The salsa scale is my way of determining a student's understanding and feelings of the math concept that was taught. There are three levels in the salsa meter, hot, medium, and mild. At the midpoint of my less I would stop at an appropriate place and ask my class to rate their understanding or how they felt on the salsa scale. If they felt that they understood the information fully and didn’t have any questions they fell into the HOT category. If they still needed clarification of had questions they fell into the MEDIUM category. Last, if they had no understanding and needed to be retaught they would fall into the MILD category. They would show me how they did this with their hands. They would raise their hand high if they were hot, they would put there hand a little lower and give me a sort of get it shake of their hand, and if they were mild they put their hand on their desk. For my hot students I assigned them individual work. If they finished it quickly I provided an enrich activity they could do in pairs. The medium students would work on the back table with me and I would go through each problem with them. If many students in the class showed that they were medium I would model more problems and give better instruction. I never had any mild students, but if I did I would reteach them. I determined the majority of my differentiation in math based on their understanding and feelings.
    My literacy lesson plans were made with very little differentiation. I have a plan for my fast finishers and the lower students. The fast finishers were given more activities to work on in partnerships or individually. The lower students or those that need more instruction would be paired up for activities. In the Text structure lesson plan for literacy I included key words that could be listed on the board for the lower students. In the fluency lesson plan I would want to divide my students into tiers for the reading groups. I would choose the groups according to each individual students reading level and I would take into account their interest or preference. There would be at least three different readers theater groups and three different stories according to their levels. All the groups would be asked to perform the story in front of the class, but there would be accommodations for each group. The lowest group would have their story in hand when they perform and can read from it as they act it out. The middle group can have their story, but would expected to look at the audience and say some lines without looking at their story. Also they would need to add some actions and movement to the story. The highest group would not be allowed to have their story in hand, they must memorize their parts for the performance. They would also be asked to act out the scenes with movement and actions. Another requirement could be that they must make costumes and props. For the text structure lesson plan I would once again set up tiers. The lowest tier would be asked to read the information provided and fill out a simple graphic organizer and write a one paragraph summary or information sheet. The middle group would do the same graphic organizer and write a three paragraph information paper from the reading and further research. The highest group would be asked to create a presentation along with a paper to present to the class.
I feel that my changes would help with those various students and their needs. The more help we can provide for students that better they can do in school. Having specific expectations for the whole class is important, but I feel that allowing those students that struggle a way to complete their assignments is better than letting them fail. The math additions I made or would make could be used to create a better understanding of information for my lower students. They would have the same work as the other class members, but it would be taught in a different setting and in a different way. I noticed that as soon as I worked with them in a more one-on-one setting they understood the material and could work out their math problems. Those students needed a more specific teaching strategy to succeed. Another strategy I didn’t talk about too much is the use of whiteboards during instruction. Instead of just direct instructing the class I would model a math strategy on the whiteboard and the class would help me solve it. Once I feel they understand the basics of the strategy I would assign a math problem and they would do it on their own whiteboards. This allowed me to check their understanding, if they were still struggling I would send them back to their board and work through their problem again. This was also a way for me to gauge their understanding and base the next part of my lesson off their work. I used this as my summative assessment.
    I learned a lot about the importance of differentiation in the classroom. In class we hear about different strategies, but until you are in the field and working you won’t see how important differentiation is. It is an important part of teaching. You cannot teach effectively without the use of differentiation. If I want my students to do well I must teach to them individually and to their needs.