Communicating clearly and accurately
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Communicating clearly with students is an important aspect of daily classroom life, especially in an elementary setting. Ensuring that instructions and academic content is communicated clearly, I am giving my students all of the information they need to complete a task confidently and independently. Ultimately, this is the goal of creating successful, independent learners.
Each and every day, I begin by going over our daily schedule. I have the schedule posted up on the board in the same place each day. During our daily morning meeting, I have a conversation about each section of our day and what it will entail. The students are highly engaged during this time as they are always excited to see what the day has in store for them.
Another important aspect of clear communication in my classroom is open discussion. I encourage my students to come to me with any problem they are having, whether it be social or academic. By encouraging open-communication, I have built up rapport with my students that teaches how conflict can be solved through open and honest discussion. I believe this is a vitally important concept for 2nd graders to grasp when maneuvering through social situations.
In the future, I plan to continue my policy of open-communication between myself and my students. I would like to improve the number of opportunities to allow students to communicate through social problems independently. I will do this by providing the students with specific communication and problem-solving strategies through direct instruction, then allowing students time to communicate openly with one another in a private setting to resolve social issues.
Each and every day, I begin by going over our daily schedule. I have the schedule posted up on the board in the same place each day. During our daily morning meeting, I have a conversation about each section of our day and what it will entail. The students are highly engaged during this time as they are always excited to see what the day has in store for them.
Another important aspect of clear communication in my classroom is open discussion. I encourage my students to come to me with any problem they are having, whether it be social or academic. By encouraging open-communication, I have built up rapport with my students that teaches how conflict can be solved through open and honest discussion. I believe this is a vitally important concept for 2nd graders to grasp when maneuvering through social situations.
In the future, I plan to continue my policy of open-communication between myself and my students. I would like to improve the number of opportunities to allow students to communicate through social problems independently. I will do this by providing the students with specific communication and problem-solving strategies through direct instruction, then allowing students time to communicate openly with one another in a private setting to resolve social issues.
using questioning and discussion techniques
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In my classroom, questioning is a consistent and carefully scaffolded process that guides my students through their learning. Using questioning to guide learning is so frequent in our classroom that it has become a daily routine. By using questioning during whole group, small group, and individual instruction students are able to think for themselves and evaluate themselves on what they already know and what they need to improve.
Throughout each day, I provide a variety of different types of discussion in my classroom. Sometimes discussion will take place as part of a whole group lesson, and other times students are asked to discuss in a small group setting. Approximately three times per week, students are asked to take part in a one-on-one discussion with a partner in which they relate an ELA standard to one of the books they are currently reading. This process is called Accountable Talk and takes place at the end of our daily Action 100 silent reading block. Accountable Talk is a semi-scripted discussed, as students are asked to complete sentence frames using ideas or resources found in their reading.
In the future, I plan to continue using Accountable Talk as a one-on-one discussion technique. I would like to build on this discussion technique by opening it up to include small group and whole group discussion. I believe that by adding more students to the discussions, there would be a wider representation of ideas relating to ELA standards.
Throughout each day, I provide a variety of different types of discussion in my classroom. Sometimes discussion will take place as part of a whole group lesson, and other times students are asked to discuss in a small group setting. Approximately three times per week, students are asked to take part in a one-on-one discussion with a partner in which they relate an ELA standard to one of the books they are currently reading. This process is called Accountable Talk and takes place at the end of our daily Action 100 silent reading block. Accountable Talk is a semi-scripted discussed, as students are asked to complete sentence frames using ideas or resources found in their reading.
In the future, I plan to continue using Accountable Talk as a one-on-one discussion technique. I would like to build on this discussion technique by opening it up to include small group and whole group discussion. I believe that by adding more students to the discussions, there would be a wider representation of ideas relating to ELA standards.
engaging students in learning
![Picture](/uploads/2/4/3/0/24309009/1393973631.png)
Keeping students engaged in learning is vital to ensuring a lasting impact on student retention of the content being taught. In my classroom, I use a variety of different strategies and techniques to keep my students engaged at all times.
Throughout a single school day, I group my students in many different ways. Some tasks are meant to be completed independently, while others can be done in small groups or with a partner. Often, I will let students choose who they work with, but occasionally I will select student groups. By switching up the grouping of my students, they are able to remain engaged longer and are held more accountable for their work.
One specific example of engaging my students in learning is an activity we did while reading the story Henry and Mudge Go Camping. While activating prior knowledge, I realized that many of my 2nd grade students had never been camping before. Several of them had never been in a tent before. As a way to further engage students in the story, I brought a full-sized tent into the classroom for students to read in. This was highly engaging for the students, as well as a great way to provide some schema to accompany the story. In the future, I would like to use more props like this in my classroom as a way to allow students to make tactile connections to the content.
Throughout a single school day, I group my students in many different ways. Some tasks are meant to be completed independently, while others can be done in small groups or with a partner. Often, I will let students choose who they work with, but occasionally I will select student groups. By switching up the grouping of my students, they are able to remain engaged longer and are held more accountable for their work.
One specific example of engaging my students in learning is an activity we did while reading the story Henry and Mudge Go Camping. While activating prior knowledge, I realized that many of my 2nd grade students had never been camping before. Several of them had never been in a tent before. As a way to further engage students in the story, I brought a full-sized tent into the classroom for students to read in. This was highly engaging for the students, as well as a great way to provide some schema to accompany the story. In the future, I would like to use more props like this in my classroom as a way to allow students to make tactile connections to the content.
providing feedback to students
Providing feedback is a vitally important for educational success. Giving students timely and constructive feedback allows for them to recognize their mistakes and correct them. This process gives students a chance to improve on their areas of academic weakness in upcoming assignments.
I provide feedback to my students in all subject areas and in a variety of different forms. Frequently, I provide students with feedback on completed assignments in writing directly on the assignment. I often choose to provide feedback using writing as a way to give students the option to refer back to my written comments while completing a new task.
Another way I provide feedback to my students is through individual conferencing. This is primarily done during the Action 100 silent reading block. By conferencing with individual students, I am able to research areas of weakness within their reading, and model specific strategies to help the reader improve. I also use individual verbal conferencing in the area of writing to discuss foundational skills as well as the depth of the student's writing. In the future, I would like to expand my individual student conferencing to include math. I believe that helping students target specific areas of weakness in math and modeling strategies that students can apply to those areas with improve overall student math scores.
I provide feedback to my students in all subject areas and in a variety of different forms. Frequently, I provide students with feedback on completed assignments in writing directly on the assignment. I often choose to provide feedback using writing as a way to give students the option to refer back to my written comments while completing a new task.
Another way I provide feedback to my students is through individual conferencing. This is primarily done during the Action 100 silent reading block. By conferencing with individual students, I am able to research areas of weakness within their reading, and model specific strategies to help the reader improve. I also use individual verbal conferencing in the area of writing to discuss foundational skills as well as the depth of the student's writing. In the future, I would like to expand my individual student conferencing to include math. I believe that helping students target specific areas of weakness in math and modeling strategies that students can apply to those areas with improve overall student math scores.
demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness
Flexibility within instruction is one of the most important aspects of being a teacher. The attention span of a student, or classroom of students, can waiver depending on a multitude of different factors. By being flexible with instruction, teachers are able to adapt a lesson to fit the needs of the students.
In my classroom, I always create a detailed plan in my head, and on paper, mapping out each lesson that I teach. Honestly speaking, it almost never goes the way I plan. I recognize that each and every student in my classroom is an individual and will respond to every lesson I teach in a different way. Some lessons make a profound impact the first time I teach it, while others seem to make no impact at all. Either way, I maintain flexibility in my instruction by responding to the needs of my students and adapting my instruction to fit them.
One example of flexibility in my classroom can be seen in the photo above. In this picture, you can see a few of my second grade students working together in a small group. When I originally planned this lesson out, I had students completing the task independently. After a few minutes of observing students looking confused and struggling to the point of frustration, I adapted my lesson to have students complete the task in small groups. By doing this, students were able to bounce ideas off of each other and feel confident enough to complete the task without the help of an adult.
In my classroom, I always create a detailed plan in my head, and on paper, mapping out each lesson that I teach. Honestly speaking, it almost never goes the way I plan. I recognize that each and every student in my classroom is an individual and will respond to every lesson I teach in a different way. Some lessons make a profound impact the first time I teach it, while others seem to make no impact at all. Either way, I maintain flexibility in my instruction by responding to the needs of my students and adapting my instruction to fit them.
One example of flexibility in my classroom can be seen in the photo above. In this picture, you can see a few of my second grade students working together in a small group. When I originally planned this lesson out, I had students completing the task independently. After a few minutes of observing students looking confused and struggling to the point of frustration, I adapted my lesson to have students complete the task in small groups. By doing this, students were able to bounce ideas off of each other and feel confident enough to complete the task without the help of an adult.