Field Experience-Week 1

What? This week we started our 3 week field experience. Erica and I are in a 6th grade class at Edgemont Elementary in Provo.

So What? We haven't had the opportunity to teach yet, but we've observed a lot and we've been helping the kids out, especially with math. I've realized I've forgotten all the 6th grade math I know and I've been relearning it as I help the students with their questions. This has been helpful to me because I realize that just because I've learned something in school, doesn't mean I will remember it when it comes time to actually teach it.

The teacher does not use a lot of technology in her lessons. She has played a couple of videos, but other than that she mostly uses the white board when she teaches. The classroom does have a few computers for students to use to type up papers. And they have computers twice a week.

Now What? I think that having computers in the classroom would be very helpful to me as a teacher because I could have my students use the computers to look things up on the internet or to type up assignments. The teacher says that she also uses them as a reward for if students finish work early sometimes. I think if I have computers in my future classroom, I would use them as a reward also.

I think that observing the teacher and helping the students with their questions will be really helpful to me as a future teacher. I've learned so much about how the classroom works and what things work for the students and what doesn't. A lot of the kids in the class really don't understand the math. It is helpful to see what the teacher does to try to help them understand. When I have my own classroom, I will have to use different techniques to help my students understand topics when the way I thought would work, doesn't work. I could teach a whole lesson and they might not get it and I'll have to find a new way to teach it.