Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Alyssa Braud
3/15/16
EDCI 2700
Characteristics of Children with Exceptionalities
Spring 2016
abrau22@lsu.edu
2
EDCI 2700
Field Experience Log of Hours
noticed a word wall with different letters and basic words on it, as well as
numbers, months of the year, and a list of birthdays. There were also many
diagrams of how to do simple tasks, such as washing their hands and being
respectable students. To the back of the room there was a little reading area
with bins of books and puppets. There was also an activity area to the left of
the room with different toys for the children to interact with. There were
three different tables for groups of students to do their work at. Their chairs
had a cloth backing with a big pocket where they stored all of their books.
Both boys and girls sat in groups together. Out of the fourteen students
present, there were only three white students. When instruction started, the
exclaimed, chicka chicka and the class replied, boom boom. She gets
their attention so that they may clean up and put away the current project
announcements, they were working on coloring a picture that had the words
of the colors written where they had to color different areas a specific color.
Some of the students came up to me asking what color the words were
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spelling and I tried to help them without telling them the direct answer. For
on her paper that was already red and asked her what that color was. She
said, red! and that helped her understand the relationship between the
word and the color. After announcements were over, all the children were
gathered by the teacher when she called them my friends to sit down
where their spot was on the ABC carpet. They are told to have a bubble,
which is where they blow up their cheeks, and sit crisscross applesauce so
that the teacher will have their full attention. At the start of instruction, to
slideshow of different letters and they had to say the letters out loud until
they saw one slide that showed fireworks, which meant the kids got to clap.
This happened periodically throughout the slide show to keep the students
on task in an excited state while they anticipated when the fireworks would
appear. I loved watching them get so happy about such a small enjoyment.
After they finished the slide show, the teacher used the projector to play a
reading card game. Two students stood up and the teacher pulled out one of
the cards with three letters on it. Some created words and some were just
meant to be sounds. Whichever student said the word or sound first, and
said it correctly, stayed standing up and walked to the next student on the
rug to repeat the process. One of the students was very excelled in reading
and accurate with his responses. He kept winning over the kids he went up
against. It was entertaining to see them get so anxious trying to beat the
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student that would never lose. If they were not fast enough, then they would
not get to say the word before the other student. When one student finally
did beat him, he was so proud of himself. Some of the students did not even
want to try to sound out the word. When this happened, the teacher worked
with them until they understood how to sound it out so that they will actually
learn how to read instead of just sitting there watching everyone else win. If
they would not cooperate at all, she would not force them. Some students
shouted out whatever they thought the word was, even if it was wrong,
because they wanted to say it first and win. When they did this, Mrs.
McCrossen would look at them and ask them what the word really was until
they got it correct. She would then tell them to slow down. Once they went
through all of the reading cards, she went through all the cards again by
making all of the students say the words or sounds chorally. They also got to
play a matching board game on the computer that was projected onto the
white board. This helped them to pay attention to what they were learning. I
could tell that they had a routine when they all took turns going up to the
board to play the matching game. They also had certain students put up the
super students name after they got the matching questions correct. This
a music video. This gave them a little bit of a break, while simultaneously
keeping their brains active and engaged for the next activity. For the next
activity, they went back to their groups. Mrs. McCrossen said, Hocus Pocus,
everybody focus to gain their attention. She then showed them how to
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make cat ears for their next activity. The additional instructor in the class had
been getting the activity ready for the students while they were in reading
intervention. The students had to color a strip of paper and two ear pieces
blue and write their name on the back of it. The teacher and additional
instructor walked around the room to help each student individually. They
would sometimes take the students hand and show them the correct way to
color to make sure the whole strip was all blue. They also had to help some
students write their name neat instead of scribbly. As they worked on this
activity, the students frequently talked to their peers and helped each other
when they needed it. Some examples of peer help were when some of the
students needed to find a blue marker or did not remember where to write
their name. Their peers would help them find a marker and remind them
where to write their name as they also continued to color. After they were
done coloring, they went up to one of the two teachers and got the ears
stapled onto the strip of paper, and the paper stapled into a circle so that
they could wear their ears. For fun, they also got whiskers and a nose drawn
with special reading teachers and come back later. Some students that left
missed the majority of the reading intervention. The environment of the class
was very positive. The students were all very excited and engaged
throughout the class. Some students did not really want to participate in the
game, but no one was overly disruptive. The room had a very home-like
students sitting around a table with the teacher on the other side to direct
instruction. The classroom had another table to the left of the room, which
had another set of students working on reading. At one point during the
class, there were two classes going on in the same room. The room had
posters all over the walls. There were many posters breaking down different
concepts for math problems. Other posters had lists of different words they
were learning. There was also a lot of student work displayed. It was a small
room that had a table in the back with a few computers on it and different
bookshelves all around the room. The class was very strict and chaotic. Mrs.
Stentiford was very structured in how she taught her students and went at a
fast pace, so that they would be engaged the whole time instead of falling
asleep or not caring. Her tone of voice was loud to keep them awake and on
task. She accentuated everything she said to keep her students engaged.
The class was based on reading. It started with the basics and went all the
way into reading some of a story. The class built topics on top of each other
to get to the ultimate task of reading. These students are expected to work
They started class by getting out their homework from the night before
so that Mrs. Stentiford could check it on the spot, tell them what they did
wrong, and give them the next nights homework to put in their folder. Some
students did not bring their homework with them and she told them that that
was not acceptable. After checking homework very quickly, they got right
down to work. To get the classes attention, she clicked her clicker a few
times. First, she went over the sounds that different vowels make when they
are paired together and made the students say them with her. She also went
over how different vowels sound in different words when they are rearranged
differently. After they went over those sounds, she pulled out a stack of cards
with real and nonsense words on them. She went around to each one of the
five students and showed them a word and asked them to tell her what it
was. If they got it correct, she gave them a piece of cereal as their praise and
motivation to keep with them until she told them they could eat it. This
distracted some of the students and she had to tell them not to play with
their cereal until they were done with the flashcards. Some students had a
lot of trouble with sounding out the words and would either get them wrong
or would not want to say it. When this happened, the teacher broke down the
word into sounds with the student until they got it correct. She then praised
them immediately after. To further help this problem she gave them crazy
visuals. For example, for one word she said to shake and they all started
shaking so that they would remember the word they learned. If one student
could not say the word, then he would give that word to the next student to
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see if they could say it. If they could, she gave them cereal. As she went
through these words, she played a game with them where she would pick a
word at random and ask them to make a sentence with it. This helped
transition them to the next activity. After she went through all of the
flashcards with them, she told them they could eat their cereal. They then
went on to reading out sentences she had written down on cards. She
pointed to each word and they had to say what the word was all together.
When she wanted them to say the word, she would click her clicker to
prompt them. If she heard that one student did not say the word correctly,
she would stop and ask that student what the word was until they got it
correct. When they said it correctly, she gave them more cereal. She showed
them how they need to use description words in their sentences along with
the words they are learning. Once they finished the sentences, she asked
one student to get the story they were reading. They each had one book and
a reading helper that underlined the sentence they were reading to help
them follow along in the book. When she clicked her clicker, they all started
reading together. If they were stuck on a word, she would break it down with
them until they understood it. They went back over the sentence and kept
re-reading it until they knew all the words fluently. She used repetition
throughout the class to make sure they really understood what they were
reading. When they came across a new word, she would stop and take out a
flash card with the word on it so that they could see what it looked like and
what they were talking about in the book. While they were reading, one
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student almost fell asleep, so she made him stand up behind his chair and
participate. While they were focusing on being able to read the story, the
teacher would also ask them questions as they read about things that were
comprehension of the story. She also asked them questions about certain
words that came up in the story and if they remembered going over them in
class. They also made predictions about what might happen in the book
based on the title, cover, and what they had already read. Mrs. Stentiford
really understood what the story was about, she taught them about using
of students in the library with her. At the end of the hour, she came back in
the room to read a different story to the students. The atmosphere of this
class was very interactive and organized. They all worked very closely
together and no one was left behind. They all have to respond together most
of the time and this helps each student out if they are unsure about
homework at the beginning of class and having one student get the books
they were reading. The environment is very positive with all of the treats and
praise they get when they do well. Since the teacher gave the students who
were working hard cereal, this set an example of how all the students should
be acting and the rewards for doing so. She also told them how wonderful
they were doing when they read beautifully. This also caused them to pay
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attention more and stay on the same pace. Overall, the class was very
basic reading skills. The inclusive classroom taught some students that had
more difficulty with reading. These students were taken out of class for a few
all had more difficulty with reading. In both of these classrooms, how the
class started, the creativity of the class, the organization of the class, and
the environment of the class were all alike and different in many ways.
The start of the class in both classes was very similar, but there were
some distinct differences. The inclusive class had students grouped at three
tables with both boys and girls. The self-contained class had one table of five
students grouped together where the teacher sat with them for instruction.
saying, chicka chicka and they replied, boom boom. The self-contained
class was brought to attention when Mrs. Stentiford clicked her clicker. Since
the self-contained class was much smaller than the inclusive classroom, less
effort was needed to gain the students attention. The initial routines in both
classes began straight away. The students in the inclusive classroom sat in
their seats and started the before class activity, while the students in the
self-contained classroom pulled out their homework from the night before
and put away their new homework sheet. The motivational techniques used
in the classes were very different. The inclusion class used motivation in
visual ways. An example is when the fireworks came up on the power point,
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they clapped and when they were done with their reading lesson, they got to
do the polka dot dance. These visuals kept them engaged and served as a
reward for paying attention and doing their work. The self-contained class
had cereal and praise as their motivation. When they read a word correctly,
they were immediately given cereal and told that they were doing a good
job. The inclusion class did not give rewards as immediate as the self-
different activities used in each class. Mrs. McCrossens class was able to
instruction, play a phonation game against other students, and make cat
ears. The self-contained classroom worked with flashcards and read a story
together. This class did not do a variety of activities like the inclusive class
did. Both class lessons were very clear and considered the needs of the
students. Both classes were teaching the basics of reading and the second
more directly with the students to make sure they each understood what
they were learning. The inclusive class taught all of the students together. If
the inclusive teacher noticed one student did not understand, then she would
work with them one-on-one. Both classes actively engaged their students in
learning. Mrs. McCrossen had fun activities in her class that kept the
questions as they were learning to make sure they were involved in the
lesson. Since each student has various abilities, provisions were made in
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each class when the teacher independently helped the students that were
kindergarteners in the inclusive class were given feedback if they said a word
wrong during their phonation game. The second graders were given
feedback when they were asked to read a word or sentence and they said it
correctly or wrong. If they were correct, they got cereal and if they were
class had an additional teacher. The additional teacher in the inclusive class
was there to help create the activities and guide the students while they
class of her own that she taught in the library. Towards the end of the hour,
she came back in the room to read a story with the Mrs. Stentifords class.
Expectations are clear to students in each class. Both classes not only have
posters about how to behave, but the teachers also make the students stay
were having too much fun in the game instead of learning. One student just
started blurting out random words, so she looked at him and told him that he
discipline technique, but it worked for him. Mrs Stentiford disciplined her
students when they were not paying attention. One student started to fall
asleep instead of reading, so she made him stand up and read to keep him
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awake. On the other hand, they both gave their students positive
reinforcement with praise, while Mrs. Stentiford also gave her students
cereal. Transitions from one activity to another went very smoothly in both
classrooms. Before going onto the next activity, the inclusive classroom had
some fun time by dancing to a music video and then went straight to their
desks for the next activity. The self-contained classroom built each activity on
one-another. They started with basics, then went to sentences, and ended
with reading a book. They never paused; they just kept on going to the next
activity. Both teachers are very involved in their students learning process.
Mrs. McCrossen makes everything they do fun and exciting to keep them
learning, while Mrs. Stentiford works really hard with each student and
makes sure they understand what they are learning before going on to the
next topic.
The environment had a different feel for both inclusion and self-
and excitable. The environment of this room was very organized, large, and
creative. This added to the positive learning experience of each student. The
environment of this room was very disorganized, small, and cramped. This
class was in the same room learning something different. In the inclusive
classroom, there was a rug for the students to sit on, a reading center, and a
play center. The self-contained classroom had only one little area that looked
like a reading center for the students. Both rooms had student work
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displayed, but it was harder to see the work displayed in the self-contained
room because there was so much going on. The environment affected the
students learning greatly even if both teachers were getting through to their
students.
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Tutoring Log 1
not want to do it because he was shy. I asked him if he would count to 100 if I
counted with him and he shook his head yes. After we completed this, I went
through addition and subtraction flashcards to see where he was with his
facts. He got stuck quite a few times, so I let him draw pictures on the white
board to figure out the problems. He liked drawing pictures and he figured
out the answers quicker by doing this. I showed him how to break down
with that concept and needs work on being familiar with numbers that add
up to 10. I did not have enough time to get to problems with re-bundling.
With Student 2, I started by showing her all the numbers that add up to
make 10. She recognized the numbers and seemed to understand. Then, I
played a tens game with her where she had to match up the cards on either
side of one card that had a missing number on it, which added with the
number already there to equal 10. After this, I created re-bundling problems
for her to complete on the white board. She kept forgetting to add the ones
place first and I had to constantly remind her on every problem she did. She
got distracted after a while and wanted to play with the flashcards that were
on the table. While we went through the flashcards, I noticed that she was
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very quick with the answers, but still had to think longer about the bigger
numbers. She wrote out the problems on the board when they were too
difficult.
Tutoring Log 2
game where he had to shake this dome that had two dice with one-digit
numbers and one plus/minus die. Whatever the dice landed on, he had to
solve. He absolutely loved shaking this dome. He did really well with this
game, but he still had to draw out each problem to figure it out. I noticed
that he was getting stuck on the problems with doubles, so I wrote all the
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doubles up to 10 on the white board and asked him to solve the problems.
He told me thats easy, but he still did not get most of them correct. I had
to go over them with the student a few times to make sure he understood.
Next, I gave him some bigger subtraction problems to work out with
decomposing. He understood how to use the chart to figure out the problems
and was excited because it was what he was doing in class. I gave him a
out all of the problems in her head really quickly. I then gave her
decomposing problems on the white board. She had difficulty when it came
subtraction in the form of an algorithm, but she did not realize that she had
to decompose the numbers at the top of the problem, so she usually got the
flashcards and she only got stuck on a few double-digit ones. I gave her a
For Student 1, I drew a place value chart on a big sheet of paper and
gave him round tokens to use for each problem. I wrote down subtraction
problems on the white board and asked him questions that prompted him to
would be when I said, Okay, we put the first number in the place value
decomposing using the tokens even though it was the same type of process
decompose from the 100s or 10s place that he needed to take one of those
tokens away and add ten tokens to the place value on the right. I kept
showing him examples over and over, but he just kept guessing instead of
thinking about it. I think I need to stick with simple processes that he is used
to doing.
I gave Student 3 her tokens to put in the place value chart that I made
on a big sheet of paper and she did the problems perfectly in which
decomposing was not needed. When she did have to decompose, she knew
she needed to because there were not enough tokens in the tens place.
Instead of decomposing a 100 token into 10 ten tokens, she wanted to put
how ever many tokens she needed to solve the problem into the tens place.
and 100 equals 10 tens. I counted by ten with her to show on my fingers that
100 is 10 tens, but she still did not understand the process. I just stuck with
Tutoring Log 4
Today I worked on just algorithms with Student 1. I let him pick two
two-digit numbers, which were on white square cards, from a bag and those
are the numbers I asked him to add up on the white board. He seemed to
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catch on pretty quickly with having to carry over the number in the problem.
For example, he knew that if the ones place added up to ten that he needed
to write down the zero under the ones place and bring over the one to the
tens place. He still guesses what the answer is to some of the problems
instead of taking the time to think about it. I have to tell him to draw it out
process of adding larger numbers, but he goes too quickly without making
the hundreds, he got really excited. I gave him simple problems in the
did not understand the concept of carrying over, but she still got some of the
answers correct because she figured out the problems in her head. I
explained to her that she needs to know how to bring the numbers over, so
she adds the correct numbers in the correct place values when we start
adding bigger numbers. I showed her examples on the white board and then
let her do some more problems. I let her pick two big numbers from the
number tiles I had in a bag and those were the numbers she added on the
white board. When she would forget to carryover, I would remind her by
saying, what do we need to do? She then would erase her work and redo
the problem. After doing a few problems like this, I let her do all of the
numbers he would add and subtract. He worked out all of the problems in his
head, but he kept guessing most of the answers instead of taking his time to
figure them out. I had to tell him to slow down and use his fingers if he
needed to. Once he figured out the answers he said, Oh, thats easy. After
we did a few more problems for a little while, he picked two numbers out of a
bag to add and subtract on the white board. He likes to draw out every
problem to figure it out, but he needs to learn to be able to use the algorithm
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way as well. I told him that the algorithm would help him when he adds and
it. She added and subtracted them in her head really quickly without getting
the bag to subtract and add on the white board. She can add and subtract
these bigger numbers in her head really well, but when she has to show what
she carries and borrows over she gets stuck. I showed her how the algorithm
relates to the place value chart by drawing out the problems in the chart and
solving the same problem as an algorithm along with it. She understood how
to do the problem after the demonstration, but when I changed the numbers
in the problem she got really confused again. We will have to work on these
Tutoring Log 6
had two numbers at the bottom of the card that equaled the big number at
the top of the card. One number on each card was blank and he had to figure
out the answer. He did really well with this and did not guess as much.
Sometimes when he tried to draw it on the white board to get the answer he
would draw it incorrectly. He did better just thinking about it in his head.
Other times when he would get the wrong answer he would try to persuade
me that he was correct until I showed him why he was wrong. I would show
him by using my fingers or drawing on the board for him. We spent the whole
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30 minutes doing all of these cards. I showed him how different cards relate
to each other. For example, the numbers 2, 8, and 10 were shown on one
card as 8 and 2 make what, and the other card as 8 and what make 10.
Towards the end, he finally started seeing some patterns. I gave him a sticker
and only got stuck on one problem. I was really happy about this. Since she
do two problems that were similar before changing up the problem so she
could see a pattern of how to figure out the problems. For example, one
problem was 210- 100 and the other was 220- 100, then I changed it up to
210-101. She got tired after awhile so I let her do the harder addition cards
until she had to go back to class. I gave her a sticker for doing so well.
Tutoring Log 7
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Today I played a game with Student 1 to help him stop guessing with
the part-whole cards. If he correctly figured out 10 cards in a row, I made him
put a tally on the white board and however many tallies he had at the end of
tutoring was how many stickers I gave him. He ended up with four stickers.
Some cards he started to guess at, but when he realized if he got one wrong
that he had to start over with getting 10 cards correct to get a sticker, he
wrong, he was really upset because he knew he had to start over. He drew
some of the problems he was stuck on to get the answer, which really helped
him on the more difficult problems. He worked really hard today to get his
reward. He came into tutoring looking sad, but left happy and even waved to
cards. She ended up with eight stickers. She went through the cards front
and back in the time we had. She only made a few mistakes. The mistakes
she made were usually on the problems she was unsure about. Once I told
her it was incorrect she would correct herself very quickly. At the end, she
was answering quicker than I could pick up the card. I was very proud of her
for doing such a great job. When she was going back to class, she showed
Tutoring Log 8
Today we subtracted from 200 on the white board the whole tutoring
Even with the numbers 8-8=0 or 10-10=0 he was spitting out random
numbers instead of thinking about what 8 take away 8 meant. I went through
with him what one minus one was all the way to ten minus ten so that he
could see that they all equaled zero. Then I decided to ask him what ten
minus nine was since I had just gone through with him what numbers would
equal zero, but he still told me the answer was zero instead of one. He
her some problems to do by herself. She figured out most of the problems
correctly. She only got stuck on them when I gave her problems that were
different. For example, after asking her to subtract 200-101, I would ask her
to subtract 200-100. I had to point out what was different to her, like how she
did not have to decompose the tens place when the ones place was zero
minus zero. The only other thing she needed help with was that she needs to
subtract the hundreds place correctly. Since she had to decompose the two
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in the number 200 to make it a one, she would forget and still subtract from
Today I went through all the part-whole cards with Student 1. I told him
not to guess on any of them and I would give him an extra sticker. He did not
guess on any of them, but he did get a few of them wrong from not counting
correctly. For example, he would draw the problem on the board and
incorrectly. I still gave him a sticker because he did not guess, even though
he got some wrong. He went through these flash cards much faster than he
will have to keep working with him on the basic facts to help him with his
from 210. She had more difficulty with this. I showed her what she was doing
wrong when she would decompose, since the tens place was a one instead of
the zero she was used to. We practiced some similar problems until she knew
how to do it. The one thing she really got stuck on was when it was
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subtracting 210-50 where the numbers in the ones place were both zero. She
wanted to decompose the tens place when she did not need to. She also
keeps forgetting that she decomposed the two to a one and to subtract the
Tutoring Log 10
problems he got wrong, or had trouble with, I put to the side and I made him
go through that stack until he got every single problem correct. I made sure
he knew we were doing this because he needs to know it for big addition and
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more subtraction from 200 and then from 210 so that he can see the
of decomposing.
I told Student 2 we were going to try and do part-whole cards under six
minutes. She did the whole stack in five minutes. I put the cards she had
some trouble with to the side and we went back through those when we were
done with the stack. I made her go through them until she got them all
correct. I gave her an extra sticker for doing it so quickly. We went through
subtraction from 200, 210, and 220 today. I showed her how to decompose
from 200, 210, 220, 230, 240, and 250, so that she understood the
that when she decomposed, whatever number was in the tens place was the
number paired with the decomposition. She finally got the hang of it and I
could beat his previous time. He did them three minutes slower than last
time, but I was more worried about him getting them correct than beating his
time. I told him it was okay that he did them slower, as long as he was
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working hard to not guess, and get the problems correct. We went through
the cards he got wrong then went on to 3-digit subtraction. I picked more
decompose more often. He ended up doing very well with this and I let him
pick any sticker he wanted. I was sad that this was the last tutoring session.
I only worked with 3-digit subtraction with Student 2. First I went
through subtraction from 200, 210, and 230 to make sure she remembered
how to do it. I was so happy that she did remember. I then changed up the
numbers and she had a little more difficulty with it. I talked her through it
step by step until she could do it on her own. I would prompt her by asking
her questions like, since the bottom number is bigger than the top number
in the ones place, what do we have to do? At the end, I did a different
problem where she only had to borrow for the ones place and she was
confused, so I had to help her by showing her an example and letting her
repeat the example on her own. The last thing I did was show her how she
can check to see if she got the correct answer by adding the answer and the
tutoring!
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Reaction
A: Classroom Observations
My classroom observations had both positives and negatives that
inclusive classroom because it felt a lot more open rather than stuffy. I also
liked how they did many different activities to keep the students engaged. I
did not really like how the self-contained teacher talked to the kids, but I did
like how she gave them cereal and praised them a lot when they were
correct. I was happy to see the teachers in the inclusive classroom go around
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to each group and help the students with their activities when they were
having trouble. I loved how Mrs. McCrossen called her students my friends.
I feel like that makes the students feel accepted and causes them to respect
their teacher more and do what she asks of them. She also had them sit on a
rug together for their reading intervention, which makes the atmosphere of
he room feel more like home to the students. In the self-contained classroom,
I thought it was nice to see the teacher go over the words with the students
until they fully understood what they were reading. She used a lot of
repetition to ensure fluency and I think it helped the students a lot. During
both classes, the teachers would ask the students what a certain word or
sound was and this is how they informally assessed the learning of their
students. I liked that they did this to ensure they were getting through to
them and help them if they were not. Certain students in each class had
tasks to do, like writing down the super students name or gathering the
class books. This was effective in making sure the allocated time was used
wisely and not wasted by having to figure out who will do these tasks. My
tutoring experience with only two students. I realized that praising the
student a significant amount makes them motivated to keep trying. I did this
by saying how they did so well when they would get a problem correct. I also
gave them stickers when they did really well and played games with them
where they would get stickers for getting so many problems correct. If they
seemed like they did not want to do anything that day, I would give them a
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high five when they would get a problem correct. Doing this really helped
sometimes have attention problems, are not interested in what they are
learning, and lack motivation. I used this knowledge to try and get them
more excited about learning. This is one reason why I used stickers so much
throughout tutoring them. I tried to use some visuals that they really enjoyed
as well. For example, Student one really loved the dice that he got to shake,
so I tried to bring that into tutoring for him to make him excited and more
engaged in that lesson. One other thing I did was to bring in round chips for
them to use instead of always drawing circles as the chips. I allowed them to
use the white board to draw pictures, which is more exciting than just writing
on paper. I also tried to come up with games for them to play. One game was
that if they got so many flashcards correct in a row, they got a sticker. This
made them excited and made them work really hard since they wanted a
bunch of stickers. One other instructional strategy I tried to use was aspects
of explicit instruction. I broke down steps for them and helped them when
they first started practicing a new concept. Then, I gave them immediate
feedback. For example, when I started teaching them subtraction from three
digit numbers, I first showed them how to do a problem from 200. Then I
gave them a similar problem and watched them do it. If they did something
wrong I showed them where they went wrong and worked with them on how
changed the problem and helped them through it. I also used the aspect of
session. The experience of working with children who have disabilities was a
little different from working with non-disabled children. They needed a lot
more motivation to get the work done. I also had to re-explain many
concepts to them so they would fully understand what to do. All in all, I think
the most part, they did what I asked them to do and were happy about doing
it. Sometimes the students would sigh and complain because they did not
feel like doing their work that particular day. When this happened I tried to
use positive reinforcement by telling him that if he did his very best and we
got through everything without complaining, then I would give him a sticker.
This always worked and he did what he needed to do. Other times, he liked
to blurt out answers without really trying to figure it out. I would ask him to
not guess because I knew that he could figure out what the answer was if he
just thought about it really hard. Once he was told to think about the
guesses a significant amount, I would tell him to draw it out on the white
board so that he could actually see it. He usually got all of the answers
correct when he did this and stopped guessing. Sometimes he would start
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getting loud and I would have to tell him to lower his voice a little and he
would. My second student would periodically grab other cards I had lying on
the desk and look at them, but she was still doing her work as she did this,
so I did not say anything. I do not think the students I tutored were under a
into the way I plan to teach. I want to teach a very engaged class with many
fun with learning and be curious about the things they do in school. I want to
try and use positive reinforcement as much as I can for students that need a
acknowledge the good that other students are doing to keep the not so good
students on task. I like the idea of having tasks for certain students because I
think it will help the class run smoothly. The most important thing I have
positivity. I noticed that telling the student how great they are doing and
giving them rewards makes them get excited about what they are learning
and they ultimately do better in class. This was a very positive experience for
me and I think I learned so much in just this one semester of how to best
help any student. It has also really shown me how much I am going to love
teaching and how much more I can learn about teaching in the next two
years. I would say that one negative part of the observations was being in
the very cramped self-contained room when two classes were learning at the
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same time. Something else that was negative was that I never got to see
how the students I was tutoring were doing in their math class. I was never
able to see their tests or any assignments they were working on. All I had
was the packet we got saying what the students were learning each week
and whatever the student told me that they were working on. The one thing I
think the instructors should change is to somehow make sure that the
teacher at the elementary school is giving the college students their tutees
tests scores and what they need the most help on every week. Overall, I
loved being able to get more experience with kids and know for sure that this