My goal for my first professional semester was to consistently engage all of my students during lessons. I feel that at this point in my learning I have improves in this area first by focusing more on student interests. Although I still have a lot to
learn and have only gotten a deep look at a few of my students, I have learned a
lot. For example, I know one of my students (one whom is often disengaged)
focuses WAY better when he is able to do hands on work – something that the rest
of my class really enjoys as well. With this in mind, I have been working
towards more manipulatives in mathematics, more building in science, and using
my art lessons to really motivate this student. Second, I have been working
really hard to use more partner work in my classroom. I find this to be the
easiest for me in math or language arts where I can give them math games to work
on, or books to read together. I think that I often use partners as an
after-thought or a sponge activity and I never make it a priority in my lessons.
This is something I would really like to work on. Last, something that I think
that I have been fairly successful with is integrating technology into the
classroom to engage our 21st century learners. I most often use the smartboard in science, where I get the students to label, uncover answers, etc, but have also used it often in language arts and have thought about using it in art. In addition to these “notebook” activities, I have also used several video clips on the smartboard as attention grabbers for students, and to teach them phonics (through song) and counting (through song). All in all I think the strategy I have been most successful with in my grade 1 classroom is technology integration.
Where I would like to move towards in the future in regards to this growth plan is finding more and more about any students I teach, and I find the best time for quick little conversations to find out about your students is at the very beginning of the day, or at recess. Also, I would really like to start making partner work and collaboration more of a priority in my classroom. Although partner work is something that is often in my lesson plans, it just as often gets cut if I am running low on time. I find that students get really excited about learning when they know there is someone else learning with them, and this other person seems to really motivate them to get started, and to keep going. Furthermore, the final thing I would like to integrate into my future teaching to engage my students is more variety. I find that when things are constantly changing it gets more exciting. For grade 1 I find myself giving them a lot of worksheets, but when they don’t need to do worksheets, that is when they are the most focused. So variety is another direction I would like to head in the future.
learn and have only gotten a deep look at a few of my students, I have learned a
lot. For example, I know one of my students (one whom is often disengaged)
focuses WAY better when he is able to do hands on work – something that the rest
of my class really enjoys as well. With this in mind, I have been working
towards more manipulatives in mathematics, more building in science, and using
my art lessons to really motivate this student. Second, I have been working
really hard to use more partner work in my classroom. I find this to be the
easiest for me in math or language arts where I can give them math games to work
on, or books to read together. I think that I often use partners as an
after-thought or a sponge activity and I never make it a priority in my lessons.
This is something I would really like to work on. Last, something that I think
that I have been fairly successful with is integrating technology into the
classroom to engage our 21st century learners. I most often use the smartboard in science, where I get the students to label, uncover answers, etc, but have also used it often in language arts and have thought about using it in art. In addition to these “notebook” activities, I have also used several video clips on the smartboard as attention grabbers for students, and to teach them phonics (through song) and counting (through song). All in all I think the strategy I have been most successful with in my grade 1 classroom is technology integration.
Where I would like to move towards in the future in regards to this growth plan is finding more and more about any students I teach, and I find the best time for quick little conversations to find out about your students is at the very beginning of the day, or at recess. Also, I would really like to start making partner work and collaboration more of a priority in my classroom. Although partner work is something that is often in my lesson plans, it just as often gets cut if I am running low on time. I find that students get really excited about learning when they know there is someone else learning with them, and this other person seems to really motivate them to get started, and to keep going. Furthermore, the final thing I would like to integrate into my future teaching to engage my students is more variety. I find that when things are constantly changing it gets more exciting. For grade 1 I find myself giving them a lot of worksheets, but when they don’t need to do worksheets, that is when they are the most focused. So variety is another direction I would like to head in the future.