Readings for 2/14

Maples: As I started to read this article, it triggered something in my mind that brought me back to TE 401. We had a discussion on different ways to reach out to parents and I remember one thought was going to their house and having a "conference" there instead of forcing the parents to make the effort to come to the school. Before getting in to the rest of this article, it made me think how far is too far? Where do you draw the line on trying to get in touch with parents? I really liked the idea of having the parents do the homework and having them describe their child. This is an idea that I want to take away from this article and use in my own classroom because I think it is really difficult to try to peel away the layers of every student in your classroom. With this assignment, a teacher can know right away what kind of learners, behaviors, and situations he/she is "dealing with". My only concern would just be on how many responses I would get from parents, similar to the concern in the article, and also if this task can be done in any grade. If it is appropriate to start in younger elementary, I think this would be a great piece to have for students records that can be passed on to other teachers. I think it would be interesting to see this assignment in the classroom I am in because I have formed certain assumptions about my students, but like the article states, it is somewhat based on a stereotype and just what I see for a short time. I think that there are a variety of learners in the classroom, but I have no idea what makes them different from one another or why some students might act out when others barley say a word. Having information from the parents about the children could really be beneficial because that might shed light on why some of the students are at the level they are at or do the things they do.

Breitfelder: When reading this article, there was mention of using visuals such as daily schedules, etc. to help some students who have autism in the classroom because they are more visual learners. I thought this was interesting because I am sure that it does help students with autism, but I also feel that some "regular" students might also be visual learners, so would some teachers not provide these visual pieces if they did not specifically have disabled students in their classroom? I know that my CT has a lot of visual supports in her classroom and as far as I know, there are not any students who have autism. She has a whole area devoted to "morning message" visuals such as a calendar, agenda, etc. She also has another board where she keeps track of groups of students for their daily 5 work so they can actually see what they are supposed to be working on and who else is working on that task so they could ask them for help if they needed it. The example in the classroom with the daily 5 work reminds me of the work centers that are mentioned in this article. The students are depending on the visual cues of the posted card to direct them what to do. In regards to supporting a variety of learners, I think this article helped me the best because it gave me numerous ideas on how to set up my classroom so even if I can't personally be helping students one on one all the time, I at least know I have resources set up in my class that can assist the students. I think the hardest part of all of this is just making sure I really push my students and myself to use those resources because I know my instinct is to go and help every student, but realistically I won't have time for that.

Ladson: I selected this article because I am still unsure on how to handle race in the classroom. I think I would have said what it seems like most teachers say that it is easier to be blind by race in the classroom and treat everyone equally, when in reality that may not be the best practice. After reading this article, I think it is important to acknowledge race in the classroom, however I am still a little confused on how much it needs to be acknowledged. Does a teacher need to make it acknowledged amongst the students? Or does the teacher just need to make sure that they can vary the lesson and cater to different students based on their race, similar to catering to students with different abilities? I see a lot of variation when it comes to students in my classroom in terms of race, however I don't really see my CT do anything differently with different students.

Marcus: The tip about setting up learning centers was a piece that I want to take away from this article to incorporate in my own classroom. I think it is important to have different centers that you can use as "backup" options for students who get done more quickly than others or who are being stubborn about a certain task. It was interesting to read the Marcus case because I might have not known what to do if I had a child like that in my class. I don't know if I would have been able to tell that it was giftedness or him just acting out. I think it was really important what the mom said about the teacher being able to challenge the student enough, but not push them to the point of frustration. I think this is something for all teachers to consider with all students in their classroom because each student might only be able to "handle" so much of a challenge and the teacher would have to alter how he/she approachers certain kinds of students.