Reflection on my Practicum Experience

  What have been the pros and what have been the cons of spending time in the classrooms you've been assigned?


The pros of spending time in the 5th grade classroom this semester have been the interaction that I have had with all the students and getting to know them better. I also really like my practicum teacher and he is very helpful and encouraging in the classroom.  Also, this practicum is different than my general education practicum last semester with Ms. Borunda in 3rd grade because the first couple of days of practicum , my partner and I jumped right into helping teach a center and help out the students instead of sitting and observing all day long. Math was never my subject in school but I have learned how to teach math and how to teach it in a way that is easy to understand for students as well. However, the cons of being in this classroom is that I have only seen my practicum teacher teach math and with different classes and have only seen him teach ELA a couple of times. The only time that I have seen science was when my partner and I taught our science lesson with the other science teacher with our students. 

Student to Student Interactions in the Classroom

My practicum teacher uses student to student interaction very regularly in the classroom and focuses a lot on doing centers for math and cooperative learning. The classroom is set up with 4 people in each group around the room so no one is ever working alone. Whenever he does centers, he incorporates them teaching each other and the teacher helping out in each one. Also, he makes sure that there are different students from different academic levels in each group so that not all the struggling students are together and lost. The instructional ideas that I have seen in my practicum classroom that I will use in my own is using cooperative and group learning so that students learn how to work together and build off each other's ideas instead of me constantly lecturing in the front of the classroom. I want to focus more on helping them out and guiding them but have the students mainly learn how to be independent learners. I also want to have tables of 4 or so which will give each person a partner and more ideas and different perspectives for problems for students to go off on. 

Dealing with Disruptions in the Classroom

How does your Mentor Teacher deal with disruptions to the learning process from students?  Would you use this method in your future classroom? Why or why not?

My mentor teacher gets the class to come back together by saying " Class, Class" and then they say : " Yes, Yes" and he does that when he wants to tell them something or move on. If not he waits for them to be quiet and stands there staring at them and eventually they take the hint that they should stop what they are doing and pay attention to the teacher. Otherwise, he doesn't do so much when there is disruptions in the class but besides the class being talkative there has not been too much.  I have seen the say a chant and repeat back and forth approach and I might use that approach but wouldn't use the same sayings but something that is more fun and exciting to get the students attention. I would also make sure to position myself in the classroom so that I could walk around and make sure everyone was on task and not causing any disruptions to the class. 

Independent Reading in the Classroom

How does your Mentor Teacher support and encourage independent reading in the classroom?  What unique ideas have you seen that you will carry into your classroom?

First thing in the morning, the students go to their classroom teacher and then immediately head to two specials for the day. I am not usually here during this time because I get to practicum at 10:00 am when they are back in the classroom but when I am at the school earlier, I have seen the students at their library special before they start the main lessons for the day. When I have observed the students in the library, they get to check out books and read and take Accelerated reading tests as well to keep their word count up. The students also visit the librarians turtle when they are there as well and enjoy seeing the turtle and having free time to read and relax. On the other hand, this is the only time that I see the students independently reading because I only see math for the whole day. They are only with Mr. Borunda, the 5th grade teacher for Math and ELA and science and other subjects with different 5th grade teachers. As of unique ideas seen with independently reading, I have not seen anything different that Mr. Borunda has done since I am only there for the Math block but I do like that they are able to have library in the morning which is a great way to start off the day before students dive right into their core classes. I think it is important to set aside class time and a portion of the day for students to be able to read independently to help students gain new vocabulary and enhance their knowledge by learning about a new story or a new concept. This is something that i would want to incorporate into my teaching style when I become an Elementary Special Education Teacher. 

Responsibility in the Classroom

In regards to responsibility in the classroom, my teacher makes sure that students have their work with them everyday and does not let them off the hook if they do not come to class prepared. For example, this week is Parent Teacher Conferences and my mentor teacher today talked to the students today about when they go to their conference to be honest with their parents about not completing an assignment on time and why. I really liked that he talked to the 5th graders today and talked to them like adults and taught them how to own up to their mistakes which is an important thing to do in life and the real world. Also, the teacher in class guides the students with the lesson but mainly focuses on the students using each other to figure out and solve various problems in the classroom.

Student Appreciation in the Classroom

My mentor teacher shows that he appreciates student's interests in the classroom by giving them points when they come to class prepared and are on task. He also shows that he is interested in their opinions and interests with a map that he has on his wall that shows the different colleges that students are thinking about going too and their colleges logos are also seen on their desks as well. Also, last week when I was in his class for practicum, the students were randomly picked to pick videos related to Social Studies and one of the students who was selected wanted to be a Historian so the teacher picked him first because of that interest and then randomly selected the rest through his Dojo app on his phone.

Rules in the Classroom

One rule that I like in J. Borunda's classroom is to have an organized desk and put away any distractions or mess on the student's desk so that they can fully focus on the lesson and be present in class. I can't really think of a rule right now that I dislike in my mentor's classroom. All his rules seem pretty fair.