1. I am working in a 5th grade classroom.
2. I am observing at Carrie Busey Elementary School.
3. While doing my observations at Carrie Busey School I have enjoyed working with the children. During each of my observation I have been involved with the students and have worked with the class as a whole. I come on the same day and at the same time every week so I am there for math and social studies class. Along with the classroom teacher there is also a student teacher there. After the math lesson the children are given seat work where the teacher the student teacher and I are walking around and assisting the students. In the past 8 weeks I have noticed that the students ask questions to the same instructor each time. Today I noticed that 2 students in particular are coming for my help more often the others. One boy in the class seems to really like me and relates to my instruction. Today he asked me many questions. They are working on area of polygon in math class. The polygons are on a graph paper and he was having trouble finding the base on the polygon because he did not understand that the first point is not counted. The instructor keeps telling him to count the spaces to get the right number. He still struggled. Today he posed me with this question. I answered it by telling him if I was going to count how many squares there are across an area of the floor I would start counting on my first forward step and not counting were I started. I showed him if you count the first point where you started you would have to start with a jump. This explanation made sense to him and he accepted it and I noticed him a bit later showing another child in the classroom how to correct that same error the way I explained it to him. He was able to complete the exercise on his own now with a greater understanding. A girl in the class was working on a work sheet in social studies class. The question was multiple choices. The question was “Which of the following is not a symbol of the United States.” The choices were the flag, the statue of liberty, the liberty bell and the constitutional congress. She was confused because all of these choices were about the United States. She was convinced that the question was a trick question. I asked her what the symbol for addition is. She wrote down a cross. I then asked her to give me a symbol for stop. She told me a red octagon. I explained to her that these are symbols that represent something. I then went through her choices with her and she was able to see that the constitutional congress was not a symbol even through it is a part of the United States history. She responded back to me that the answer was such because she was unable to draw a picture of this event that every one could understand. I feel that this class is very lucky because they have a number of teachers in the room that can help them. Each teacher has a different out look and some students respond to different people. I left the class today with a feeling of accomplishment knowing that I as able to give the children an explanation that they could except and relate to their learning.
4. I learned about myself as a teacher by understanding that the personalities of the students and teachers are different and it is important to represent situations and questions in different ways so that the students are able to accept what they are learning. Sometimes by explaining something in a different ways more children are able to accept them and understand the material. I learned how important the personality and the way the a teacher teaches is important for student to learn. Since students all have different learning styles it is important for me as a teacher to become well rounded so that I am able to meet the many different styles. I learned that some students may not understand material because of instruction. By providing the students with a variety of ways to learn I can make each student successful.