Blog Post #5 - 10/19/2015

For this post I plan to address the following questions:
Do you see support for English learners?
What are you seeing in your service-learning experience that is a result of Brown v. Board, Sputnick, and other historical events?

First, I'd like to talk about English Language Learners. There are no apparent students that are majorly struggling with English in Miss Gledhill's class, but there are definitely students who speak more than one language. Although nobody is defined by their level of English, I think there are definitely different levels of English. Miss Gledhill accommodates for all of them with her reading groups. The children are taught according to their level of reading with other kids who are around the same level as them. This setting allows Miss Gledhill to interact more intimately and focus on the different needs if each of her students. 

I think that something that I've seen in Miss Gledhill's classroom has impacted me for the better. There is a little girl named Kim who rides a wheelchair all throughout the school due to a recent knee surgery. Although she is unable to keep up with the rest of her class, she is always appropriately accommodated for. An example of this was when she wanted a drink of water after recess, but couldn't reach the drinking fountain properly. So, Miss Gledhill just went and got a cup of water for her because it wasn't a big deal. I think that this illustrates, to some measure, the affects of Brown v. Board of Education. Although this situation doesn't include skin color, it does include a factor that makes one student different from the others. I appreciate that her differences were cared for quickly like it was no big deal because thats exactly it. It isn't a big deal!

Every visit I've had with Miss Gledhill's classroom has included time for both math and science. So I think that this apparent focus of time is a result of Sputnik. Math and science still may be treated as a priority today, even sixty years later. 

Blog Post #4 - 10/9

I hope that I can answer the questions sufficiently with the time that I've shared with Miss Gledhill's class.

I think an example of engaged learning that I've seen was how she hosts her reading groups. She invites students to her table where 5 or 6 of them are all reading the same book. She instructs them to read aloud in a quiet whisper and to keep reading until they hear a tap of her finger in front of them. Then, they must read louder for Miss Gledhill to hear. I feel that this is a good example of engaged learning because it is sort of hands-on in the sense that they are reading as a team together. Miss Gledhill provides immediate feedback on their reading if necessary. Together the group works to answer questions on their worksheet. This initiates discussion and participation.

Another example of engaged learning could be how Miss Gledhill taught how to write paragraphs. She used the idea of making a sandwich and related it to writing a strong paragraph. Together the class discussed how to make a sandwich and used cut outs to put a sandwich together on the board. This required movement and discussion. She explained how the bread or our topic and closing sentences and everything in between is what adds flavor and variety to both our sandwiches and our paragraphs. Then, the class wrote their own paragraphs on sandwich cut outs for the whole school to see.  

An example of when learning wasn't so engaging could be whenever they do math interventions. The class is given 4 different worksheets to pick from and they just have to complete as many as they can in the given time without any instruction. Although the kids can work in partners, they often times don't get much done because the problems are hard, they don't know where to start without help, so they just goof off and mess around the entire time. I think that this can be engaging if the kids could work better independently, but students aren't very motivated to get much done because if I'm not there, I don't think that there is anyone to help.