Blog #4

The students in my service learning class are engaged in many ways. This last time I went to observe I noticed these three ways they were engaged in learning:
1. In morning meeting they have a different rhyme or attention getter that they use to get to know one another better. This morning they played "Knock-Knock", where the students get to know their classmates last names as well as review their first names.
2. Each day they have a classroom helper. This person gets to help get a lunch count, be a leader of certain activities, and help whenever the teacher needs it. The students love when it is their day to be the helper and they are more involved in the lessons as well as their own responsibility.
3. Today they sang and danced to a song called "Lettercise". They get to use song and movement to review the letters and the sounds they make. This is fun for the kids because they get to move and sing. It also is a great way for those that are still learning their letters and sounds to get practice.

Blog #3

When did a student feel safe and loved? 
Something I have LOVED about my service learning teacher is that the students feel safe to answer questions. I have noticed a couple times when the student gave the incorrect answer. Ms. Booth didn't just say "wrong, try again." She asked the students how they came to the conclusion and then she even would give and example of how she can understand how they would have gotten that answer. She then leads the students to figure out the correct answer. 

What clear routines are established in the classroom?  How do they support a productive learning environment?
In my service learning classroom, they have a routine called "give me 5" (I think it is a school wide routine). When the teacher says "give me 5" The students have 5 seconds to manage their bodies, put their eyes on the teacher, voices off, ears are listening, and are ready to move on to the next thing.  The students know the routine but Ms. Booth will refer to the classroom poster they have when they don't make it in time and they review the standard and what she expects in the class. This allows the students to manage themselves, it prepares them to listen and to learn. 

What does the cooperative teacher do to establish a positive relationship with each student?
Each morning the class has a classroom meeting. She has a time where they greet each other (each day they have a new creative way) she participates in the exercise and takes time to talk to her students individually. Then she listens to how they are doing and engages in conversation. Also just as I said under question one. When students answer incorrect she uses that time to positively build a relationship with the students.

Blog #2 Learning Theories

This week in my observations I noticed that my fieldwork teacher, Ms. Booth, used several learning theories in her classroom to help facilitate learning and classroom management. The theory I observed her use most was behaviorism.  One of the ways that I saw behaviorism was when the students brought back a signed paper they were given a candy. They also had several systems such as class and table tally marks, which the reward was never stated but I can imagine that when the class gets so many points they get a reward.
As an incentive to follow along and participate they had a class money system where they would receive paper pennies they could put in their "banks". I like this idea because it encourages students to participate every step of the way, but it is also a way to encourage learning. You can use money to teach about money, and economy.  As well as use it to teach about simple addition and subtraction. Money is something that can be related to the real life, and teach them about actual life experiences they will use. I really enjoyed my time in the classroom this week. It gave me lots of ideas of things I could implement in my own class one day.