Senior Project Reflection

1)      Positive Statement:  I am most proud of my service learning for my senior project.  I feel like I’ve dedicated a lot of time for my service learning, and I feel like my work there was significant.  I loved helping and working with the struggling learners in Mrs. Naccara’s first grade class.  Also, I felt good about my work with Ms. Horwitz students on the Read it! Read it.  I did not only test them, but encouraged them to work hard and be prepared.  I also help those who get a little more frustrated with reading the sight words and give them whatever they need to study.

22)       A.  I would give myself a P+.  I should have kept a better track of time with my presentation overall, so I’d be able to have the class finish the last activity, but I do feel like I met all the requirements. 

B.  For my senior project overall, I’d give myself a P+ because of my independent component one being a little late and having more trouble with it.  However, I feel like I did work really hard in that component and I continued to go help Ms Underwood’s kindergarten class after I finished.  I feel like I tried my hardest in every other component within the senior project.

33)      What worked for me was my topic in general.  I was able to find research and service learning on it.  Most importantly, I really enjoyed working on my senior project since it was such an interesting, fun topic for me, but what worked for me the most was my service learning.  I went above the required hours and gained a lot of work experience with students.  

44)      What didn’t work for me in my senior project was my independent component one, only because I didn’t gather the required amount of hours by the due date.  Though, it was a great experience (observing and helping a kindergarten class) and helped me a lot with getting my answers and getting examples to work with.

55)  If I ever want to work in other schools after high school or different programs to help children, I'd have more experience that can help me easily transition and apply new techniques that I've learned through my senior project.  I've also made connections through my senior project; so, if I ever need recommendations I know who to go to.  

2- Hour Presentation

Here is the link to my 2- Hr template:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1juGpliv4J2PhO6Ht654AjgneVM2HmnqtDXjeNw-EETc/edit

Answer #3

EQ: What is the best teaching method to increase the academic gain of at-risk students in first grade?

Ans 3: Total Physical Response is a strategy (teaching method) that best helps increase the acadmeic gain of at-risk students in first grade.

Evidence: 

• In my third interview Ms.  Underwood explained that she commonly uses TPR because it helps with student engagement and allows them to interact with the content.  She said it works really well with ELL students, and a great amount of at- risk students are ELL students (Mrs.  Hansen [4th interview], Mrs.  Nacarra [Service Learnng]). 
• In my independent component, I not only get to work with students, but also observe the class.  I got to observe Ms.  Underwood use TPR with her students in order to teach addition.  It really helped the struggling students catch up with the other students.  What she did was have the students from two lines, sitting down.  She sat on  a chair and held a small white board where she wrote the addition problems.  When she turned the white board, the two students in the front must stand up if they know the answer, and the first one to stand and get the answer right went to the back of the line.  I noticed that the students were struggling did not know how to add (or use their fingers) or they were just doing it at a slower pace.  However, with the teacher's encouragement, high energy of the game, and the multiple opportunities it offered to win a game, the struggling students started to catch on and got a chance to get at the level of the rest of the students.
• "TPR teaching method can facilitate long term lessons retention and make it fun for children to learn and develop their academic abilities."

Sources:

• Underwood, Sherry.  Personal Interview interview.  17, Jan. 2012. &  Hansen, Melissa.  Personal Interview interview.  17, April. 2012.
• Independent Component, Ms.  Underwood.
• Kiarie, David. "First Grade Teaching Methods - Total Physical Response (TPR)." Suite101.com. 4 Mar. 2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. <http://david-kiarie.suite101.com/first-grade-teaching-tricks-total-physical-response-tpr-method-a353305>.

Room Creativity

1)  I plan on putting different types of posters on the walls, such as encouragement posters and/or posters demonstrating subtraction/addition.  I am going to try to borrow a few from my service learning and create some of my own.  Also, I will make some space at one the far corners of the classroom to make it like the "reading corner" and have children's books laid in that area.  The tables will be set up in groups and will have pencil boxes containing materials on each table. I will either have name tags on each desk already made or have them make it, if there is time. 

2)  The class will take up the role of first grade teachers and come up with a lesson plan that includes activities/assignments and that uses Differentiating Instruction as the teaching method for the lesson assigned.  They will all work in groups and present their lesson plan to the class once everyone is finished.  A visual should be included in their presentation, it can be a representation (such as in big font 1 +2= 3) of what's being taught or an illustration of their idea.

Answer 2

EQ:

What is the best teaching method to increase the academic gain of at- risk students in first grade?

Answer 2:

Small Group Instruction is the best way to increase the academic gain of at- risk students in first grade, when the groups are made up of mixed abilities.

*By mixed abilities, students who are above average, average, and/or below average in reading or on whatever is being taught.

Evidence:

• "These small groups consisted of mixed abilities in reading with one strong student, two or three average readers, and one struggling reader. This reading instruction experience utilized the four block approach and resulted in 57 percent of the first and second graders reading on or above grade level with 43 percent reading at primer or pre-primer level. There were no nonreaders at the end of the year and the children reading on or above grade level were higher than previous years." -  Vicki Lynn Eastman
• In my service learning, I sometimes am put with the struggling students of the class so I can work with them on their math or reading (usually math).  What I do with them is considered Small Group Instruction.  However, the group I work with is usually made up of the same struggling students, which means they are most likely not improving in the subject area.  Although, engaging them with materials such as flashcards and games really helps them comprehend the material.  However, I noticed when there was at least two students who were at least proficient in the content being taught, the other students engaged more and worked at a quicker pace. 
• In my third interview, Ms. Underwood (a kindergarten teacher who also taught first grade) explained that Small Group Instruction helps in targeting the student's needs and allows the teacher to apply certain techniques that can specifically help those few students with their difficulties, thus enabling them to advance to the next step.

Sources: 

• Eastman, Vicki Lynn. "Small Group Instruction: Reading Instruction Utilizing Learning Style Preferences and the Reading Achievement of First Grade Students." ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, (2010): .
• Service Learning/Independent Comp. 1 with Ms.  Horwitz (first grade), Mrs.  Naccara (first grade), and Ms.  Underwood (kindergarten)
• Underwood, Sherry.  Personal Interview interview.  17, Jan. 2012.

Presentation 2 Rough Draft

Here is the link to my 20 minute Lesson Plan:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W3Qw0OiPSooRN7NbT8I3-dAy3hoqDiNs5H7wP8ntdBs/edit

Answer 1

1)  Differentiating Instruction is the best teaching method a first grade teacher can use with her students by enganging multiple types of learners due to it being a variety of methods in one method itself.

2)  I observe a kindergarten class for my Independent Component 1, and not only them, but also the teacher.  Ms.  Underwood is presently a kindergarten teacher, but also was a first grade teacher years back.  I see this method, Differentiating Instruction, at work when I observe her and the class (so what I see are examples themselves).  She was the one who introduced me to this method in the interview.  Differentiating Instruction is 'an approach that assumes there is a diversity of learners in every classroom and that all of those learners can be reached if a variety of methods and activities are used.  The article, "A Teacher's Guide to Differentiating Instruction" states that 'Carol Tomlinson (2000), a noted expert on differentiation, points out that research has proven that students are more successful when they are taught based on their own readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles.'  This teaching method does not ingnore the needs of the different types of learners there is, and recognizes that there is a variety of learners.

3)  As mentioned before, I was introduced to this method by Ms.  Underwood from my third interview.  She is a Kindergarten teacher and was a First Grade teacher.  Also, my First Independent Component has allowed me to observe this method in action; then, there is the article "A Teacher's Guide to Differentiating Instruction".

Presentation Reflection

1)  In what way did the first interview affect your presentation?  Please explain, be specific and use an example.

My presentation was based on the information I received from my first interview with the first grade teacher I do service learning with.  I covered a small part of the information from the interview that I found interesting and related to some of the information I found in the research I’ve done.  The basis of what I presented out came from the additional question from my first interview, which was what do you find most difficult about teaching first graders?  My interviewee had answered that encouraging her students to read and make learning exciting was one of the most difficult parts, but important.  That’s the information I based most of my presentation on.


2)  What you say stood out about your presentation performance and why?

I say that what stood out about my presentation performance was my enthusiasm.  I felt like as if I was telling my friends about the interesting things I learned through my interview, research, and service learning.  In addition, I gave an example of teacher doing a poor job in encouraging his/her students to read by expressing the lack of enthusiasm while he/she tells a story, which was an important part of my presentation.  

3)  What was the most challenging to do and why?

The most challenging was to keep my presentation under five minutes.  I felt like I had so much information to present and a lot to cover in such little time.  When I went over my outline, it seemed like I wouldn’t be able to present everything I wanted, such as the example of the activity the first grade teachers I work with do and also, iinformation towards children being active in reading activities.  I did end up cutting a few parts out, however, and ended up working well for me when it came to time.