Blog #6 Diversity in Today’s Schools

The areas of diversity in my Service Learning classroom I saw Linguistic diversity, Racial or ethnic diversity, Family structure, Poverty, Exceptional students learning disability, disorder, or challenge to focus on, Gifted students.

Linguistic diversity: Spanish speaking student with few words.  
Student getting one on one help with speaking words in English. They also get help with in class assignments and are tailored to them.

Racial or ethnic diversity: There are 5 students who are ethnically diverse. They are treated like everyone else.

Family structure: Some students are from broken homes.  Acknowledged and positive feedback when family structures were discussed.

Poverty: Some students are poverty.  They are treated like everyone else.

Exceptional students:  There are about 6-8 students who have some type of disability.  I seen them have one on one time with a Special Ed teacher. 

Gifted students: There is one to two students who are gifted.  I have not seen any special activities.

Working in small groups with "I choose"

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/what-differentiated-instruction
Working in small groups with "I choose"

Diversity

Culturally Responsive Teaching is being positive and communicate of high expectations.  Treating all students equal.  Teaching with the students learning needs in mind.  Respect towards students and students having respect for teacher and peers.  Treating all students that they matter and can succeed and watching them succeed.

Three strategies I saw are:

1. Action thermometer where students are asked a question as a class and they get to respond by going to the front of the room if they agree, back of the room if they disagree and the middle if they are not sure or neutral.
2. Think, Pair, Share where students think of why they answered a question the way they did, pair with a peer to discuss their why then share with the class their why answers.
3. Bottoms up, heads together where students put their heads together while sharing and discussing answers or a topic.  Bottoms are out of the chairs and heads together in a circle.  Everyone is engaged.
4. Pick-A-stick where teacher picks a stick with a students name on it to answer a question instead of calling on raised hands.
5. Musical round the Room where music is played when the students are to change stations.

Teachers need to prepare themselves for teaching in a diverse classroom because diversity is all around us.  We can prepare by keeping an open mind, having back up plans, if possible, for lessons or change the lesson on a whim if needed for students.  For example if a student does not want to participate in an activity have something else they can do to learn the same topic like reading a book. Change the content of what the students learning needs are and communicate to students what they are expected to do and participate.

Blog #5 No child left behind

In my Service Learning Placement I have seen a huge focus in Math.  They work on Math everyday in the classroom.  Their teacher teaches math several different ways so students may learn in their way of learning.  With my own children they have math homework each day.  My older child talks about what he is learning in science each week.  This is due to the push on Science and Math with the launching of Sputnik.  In 2013 the Legislation of Utah passed HB139 for $10 million funding for S.T.E.M.  I think this is also due to the launching of Sputnik.  Science and Math are important to our education so we as a whole can be prepared for our future and compete worldly for jobs.

I have see support fro English Learners.  In my Service Learning Placement there is a student who speaks little English.  B gets one on one with English each day.  I can see the other students do not understand B at times.  B understands some English but not all.  B is getting help with English so B can be successful in school.  Every student needs a chance to succeed in their education.

Being that it is UEA break I was unable to interview my Service Learning Teacher.  She was out of town all week and sick the week prior.  I will interview her in two weeks due to the fact there is no school when I have my Service Learning set up.

Sputnik and the USA Education System

Voice Recording Click Me


http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/

• History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I.  
• That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. 
• While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.
• Sputnik caught the world's attention and the American public off-guard. 
• The public feared that the Soviets' ability to launch satellites also translated into the capability to launch ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons from Europe to the U.S. 
• Then the Soviets struck again; on November 3, Sputnik II was launched, carrying a much heavier payload, including a dog named Laika. 
• On January 31, 1958, the tide changed, when the United States successfully launched Explorer I. This satellite carried a small scientific payload that eventually discovered the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth, named after principal investigator James Van Allen. 
• The Sputnik launch also led directly to the creation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In July 1958, Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act (commonly called the "Space Act"), which created NASA as of October 1, 1958 from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and other 

http://whyfiles.org/047sputnik/main2.html

• Just two weeks after Sputnik I, I.I. Rabi, chair of Ike's Scientific Advisory Committee, warned that the Soviet emphasis on science and math would put the enemy ahead in 10 years. 
• Eisenhower called training scientists and engineers "the most critical need of all... People are alarmed and thinking about science, and perhaps this alarm could be turned toward a constructive result."
•  Congress passed the National Defense Education Act in 1958. The $1-billion law paid for college student loans, scholarships, and scientific equipment for public and private schools. 
• The act emphasized the study of math, science, and foreign languages.The Act gave the federal government an unprecedented role in the education business, and set the stage for more ambitious federal initiatives that culminated in the creation of the Education Department in the late 1970s.  
• Sputnik did not initiate the debate in the United States about the quality of schooling, but it did fuel the movement for curriculum reform. As Rossman indicates, it mobilized school districts to upgrade courses, add requirements for science and math, and buy new course materials.
• The little satellite that could also gave university professors and scientists a chance to contribute to education policy and curriculum. Eager to update teaching methods, social scientists brought new understanding of learning processes, inventing new ways to teach biology, the physical sciences and mathematics. Meanwhile, their colleagues in the hard sciences began an emphasis on laboratory science that continues today, urging that a hands-on approach to science replace rote learning.
• In chemistry, as elsewhere, the emphasis shifted from teaching facts and definitions to a focus on fundamental principles, says Glenn Seaborg, a University of California chemist who discovered plutonium and other elements.
• Seaborg was asked to organize a pioneering chemistry course called CHEMStudy in 1959. In concert with high-school teacher and college professors, the goal was, Seaborg said, to "revolutionize high school chemistry" by updating course content, keeping abreast of modern chemistry, and drastically improving laboratory instruction.

Science and math are important.  It broadens our students minds and helps us keep up with the changing world.  Science and math are all around us.  Without science or math we would not be where we are today as a country.  In my own life my children ask me about how things work and chemical reactions.  They love hands on experiments which they talk about for months and even years.  I love having them engage in science.  I am excited to teach science in my classroom and the STEM program

Magnetic Photo Analysis Assignment

History of American Education


The picture that drew me in was the picture of the woman and her little girl on the steps of the Supreme Court following the decision of Brown vs The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas in 1954.  I was drawn to it because I see hope for a future in the mother's face for her child,  We all want the best for our children.  I want the best for my children.  I want them to have an education and to watch them succeed in their lives.  To me this photo says many things.  It speaks of hope, love, relief, fight, a future and many more.  The feeling of the photograph is hope.  Hope for education.  Hope for equality.  Hope for the future.  The photo was taken because this is a turning point in humanity and education.   This was a BIG deal in the 1950's.  It changed the lives of many which trickled down to the future generations.  It changed the way people were treated and what education they received.  This is a positive thing that happened in our history.  The overall message is everyone deserves the right to an education and the right to be treated equal.   We are all human.  We all deserve to be treated equally.  

Engaging Learners in Today’s Classrooms

In my service learning my cooperating teaching engaged the students in tactile learning by having the students cut out and glue a bat together which will be hung in the classroom for the month of October.  The students learned and practiced their cutting skills and creative skills.  they choose how their bat was glued together and what face they drew on their bat.

A second example is collaboration.  As a class the students worked on a math sheet.  In class the students are working on tallies and how to count them.  They had to count three different dogs and make tallies next to a picture of the dog.  After all the dogs were counted the students had two math problems.  One was addition and the other was subtraction.  The students came up with the answer on their own then as a class they answered to help others. All the students were engaged and participating.

The third example is presentation.   For getting the wiggles out she presents the students with Go Noodle.  She puts it on the overhead screen.  The students LOVE it!  They all dance and participate.  Their favorite is Pop See Ko.  She is teaching them how to dance and to exercise in a fun and interesting way.

The one time the students were disengaged is when the students were on the rug and the teacher was explaining how to do a sentence worksheet.  The students were wiggly and talkative that day.  They were talking and not paying attention.  She got their attention by saying "Marshmallows!"  where the students stop talking and focus on her.  It lasted a moment.  Then she said, "1,2,3.  Eyes on me."  The students respond by saying, "1,2, Eyes on you."  This is another technique where the students know to stop talking and focus on their teacher.  This time it worked.  The lesson could be more engaging by changing up the way the material is presented.  Some ideas are doing the assignment as a class and students participate by writing on their own paper, or having students take turn writing on the board.  The idea that the kids know when to listen with key words is a good way for the class to get in control in a short amount of time.