Blog 2

Working with a small group of students can be both fun and rewarding. In elementary school, a small group usually means you're playing a game or doing a fun activity together. I love to hear the little giggles from the children as you give voices to the characters, attempting to bring a book to life. Equally rewarding is the excitement of children winning a game against an adult. Even with all of the fun of working with a small group of students, I still prefer working one-on-one with students far more.

Usually when you work one-on-one with a student, it is because they need extra help with a subject or assignment. The time that stands out the most for me is when I was able to read with a little boy who had been struggling to do so. My heart would break as tears welled up each time he guessed at the words on the page, and they were incorrect. I needed a way to teach him; to get through to him; to help him succeed.

The next time I came into the classroom, I brought a special present. I had written a book all about the him that contained the SVS words the class was working on. We had a relaxing time of him drawing pictures as I read aloud. It was such a relief to see his smile instead of his tears. The best part was the next time I came into class, he still had the little book with him, and he read every word to me beautifully.

Blog 1

Even though I have yet to start my field work as I am waiting to find a schedule that works well for both me and my child's teacher, I have plenty of teaching experience to draw from. As a former homeschooler, as a mother of children that once went to a school requiring 3 hours of volunteer work per week, and as a former teacher in a private school. Over those many years, I've come to see classrooms run in many fashions. Some more like the 1950's model, some that embrace a more hippy-like attitude of child-led learning, and some very modern and tech friendly. However, I've found that no matter the way a teacher chooses to teach, he or she still pretty much prepares and divides their time in much the same way.

This brings me to what a teacher does all day. Yes they pass out assignments, grade papers, sing songs, read stories, and answer questions throughout the day, but what they do is so much more than keeping children on schedule and filling their little heads with facts. In fact, it is an intricate dance between presenting the lessons crafted on their off time, and bending and flexing the subject matter for the students until they see the light bulb of understanding switch on. Sometimes this requires turning the same information over and over again, presenting it in many different ways to accommodate the different learning styles in the classroom. For instance, one day you might have the students practice writing their spelling words, the next they can piece together letter tiles, and on another day, they may sing a song or recite a poem about the words. 

The biggest part of a successful, smooth running classroom is in the proper preparation by the teacher. Teaching is a job that requires you to not only print off worksheets and cut out shapes for a counting lesson, but it requires the teacher to consistently improve his or her craft. Teaching is a skill like painting or dancing; you must keep up with the techniques you find most effective in getting through to your children as well as learn new ones. Whether you are memorizing new songs for skip counting or putting together a lesson on programming a mobile app, you -- as an instructor -- put in many more hours than the ones spent in the classroom.