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Compare and Order fractions and decimals Lesson Plan

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My First Day at Jefferson Elementary School

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My First Day at Jefferson Elementary School

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My First Day at Jefferson Elementary School

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In collaboration with Arabic fluent- English learning student, Arabic family liaison, and English as a Second Language teacher, this is a memoir from Yousef of his first day in an American school.

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My First Day at Jefferson Elementary School (1)

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See My First Day at Jefferson Elementary School pdf

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Southeast Region through a Black history lens 

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Southeast Region through a Black history lens 

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To teach is to always be a student. It is a reciprocal relationship between teaching, educating, and learning. To be a good teacher, this philosophy must be evident and forefront in curriculum and instruction. While teaching, I believe in constant self-evaluation and questioning. What am I teaching? Why am I teaching it? How am I teaching it and how is that different from the activities involved? What are my intentions in this lesson,  unit, curriculum, year? Are those aligned with the intentions of the students?

In and out of the classroom, students and teachers, as human beings, desire autonomy. Acknowledging a student’s autonomy, at any age, welcomes respect, rationality, and motivation. To address students’ intellectual predicaments and help to extricate students from them by answering questions then guide students to formulate an inquiry method to extricate themselves, develops that sense of autonomy for student academic, emotional, and social growth. Each student deserves individualized education. By allowing students to address their own inquiries within a strong foundation and supportive environment, this is possible. Does that mean that as a teacher, I expect myself to craft 30 individualized lesson plans each day? No, absolutely not. It does mean that I expect myself to encourage students to think about their own intentions and derive their individualized purpose from there.

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Selection of edTPA Comprehension mini-unit lessons, assessments and feedback

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Selection of edTPA Comprehension mini-unit lessons, assessments and feedback

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The purpose of assessments in the classroom has steered far from the original definition: “the action or an instance of making a judgment about something” (Merriam-Webster). The evolution of the word assessment comes from the Latin word, assidere, which means “to sit beside”. This original Latin root is how I believe true and accurate assessments can holistically grow the child. I need to know the child and earn their trust, to literally sit beside the child, observe and assess as we progress through the school year. I heavily rely on formative assessments because it allows me the flexibility to mid-lesson and mid-unit to get an instant understanding of the child’s grasp of a particular skill or concept, and redirect if necessary. I believe summative assessments are much better at assessing the fidelity and accuracy of the lesson plans or unit to convey the objectives to the students. Summative assessments in the traditional sort are data collection points that often irresponsibly reflect the teaching skill of the teacher and thus offer very little pertinent feedback to the student.

Self and peer assessment is also an important aspect of my assessment philosophy. This instills a sense of responsibility and reflectiveness in the child when asked to periodically assess their own learning. Whether self-assessments happen during a lesson to assess the child’s understanding of the learning target or objective or happen after a mastery conversation or project, students can set their own attainable goals to reach the target and gain confidence, autonomy, and independence in their learning.

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The mission in my classroom is to provide each individual learner within our community of interdependence with educational, personal, and emotional growth.

In our classroom, we will value and encourage the struggle learners encounter as an opportunity to grow. We will foster self and social awareness with confident decision making, positive peer pressure, and compassionate behavior. We will not accept compliance at bare minimum rather strive for responsible choices to promote student learning and peer teaching. We will communicate goals, feedback, and expectations consistently and fairly. We share expectations of children and adults, positive and negative consequences, and communication expectations verbally and written at the beginning of the school year and consistently throughout with children and parents. The purpose of ground rules is to stimulate development of self-respect, respect for others, respect for the environment, and responsibility.  We believe that children deserve the freedom to make the right choice at all times. However, we also believe, when the wrong choice is made, it will always have appropriate and correlating consequences that come with it.

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As teaching professionals, I believe we are drawn to the career as a choice because of the innate desire to care for and nurture the future; there is an inherent attraction to optimism and hopefulness. My vision of the teacher I need to become to make schools educative for all begins there. The theories and qualities that guided Mr. Rogers, America’s beloved early educator, also guide me. He and I are both heavily influenced by childhood development psychology theories and principles to treat children with dignity and respect, as we would want to be treated. (Vinopal, 2019). In so much of my research and coursework at Fairfield University, I focused on compassionate and equitable teaching. When these theories are put into practice, it is often piecemeal and devoid of structure by individual teachers, rather than systems and training put in place for cohorts of teachers in schools, providing equitable education for children in that school. These constant findings could have left me feeling defeated; instead, they inspired me to consider my own ideals while strengthening them with evidence. Next, I wonder, what has prohibited any profound research to support compassionate education systems and how I can effect that in the future. I envision continuing my education to research and change policy to better align with the holistic treatment of the child and their education.

This involves understanding my beliefs and relevant research regarding child development, relationships and learning. Then, the relationship between these philosophies integration into a classroom and teacher, school, and policy mindset should be explored because without practical application of theory, it is just empty and devoid of hope for systemic change.

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To create a safe environment for young children to explore emotional growth, conflict resolution, and acceptance.

My goal is to not be a friend, a parental replacement, or teacher but to be an adult community member that children could trust. While teachers encompass many different roles in the classroom and school community, often the importance of a trusted adult is overlooked and forgotten in the midst of the roles of educator, social worker, advocate, and disciplinarian. This overlooked role of teachers is so vital to creating a safe space to develop and explore how and why to build, maintain, and repair relationships. But what does this all have to do with education? By modeling this with students and developing appropriate relationships with each student, students will have access to fulfilling the belonging and love hierarchy of needs, thus allowing safety and capability of achieving esteem and self-actualization. I must acknowledge that healthy relationships don’t appear magically; they take a great deal of thought and effort. The reward of student motivation, achievement, and confidence, in my opinion, is worth all a great deal of the aforementioned thought and effort.

Teachers give their students life-long lessons when they help them discover what they can do when they're going through hard times. Things that won't hurt themselves or anyone else. Children need to know that putting their feelings into words, whether by talking with a caring listener or by writing journals or poetry, really can help. They need to know that painting, drawing, listening to music, or playing an instrument also can help. We all must find our own ways of coping with life's stresses. Helping children begin to do that will serve them their whole lives (Vinopal, 2019).  I believe and showed that if a child doesn’t sense that the teacher cares for him or her, then that child will not be able to learn very much.

To love and care for students from a deep place of respect for each student, their family and their culture.

My goal is to recognize and allow space for children to arrive with feelings, concerns, anxieties, and joys. Children who do not feel accepted and valued or feel they are flawed in some way can feel shame, a sense of unworthiness, and disconnection from others, thus denying themselves the potential to succeed as scholars. The theory that guides this practice in education and child development was presented to Rogers by Margaret McFarland, a developmental psychologist, whom he studied under at the University of Pittsburgh. McFarland worked closely with the highly regarded child psychologist Dr. Spock and Erik Erikson (Vinopal, 2019). Unfortunately, McFarland did not publish very much of her work, instead focusing her efforts outside of the classroom as a mentor to many. One of her many legacies is the tenant that attitudes are not taught, they are caught (Bafile, 2002). In essence, if the attitude of the teacher toward the material is positive, enthusiastic, committed, and excited, the students get that. This is a practical, timely, and effective application of modeling.

It's through relationships that children grow best and learn best. In Darling-Hammond, & Cook-Harvey. (2018) studies of at-risk children, it is shown that what most helps make them resilient is having someone who cares about them. For our most troubled children, the teacher could be the only truly nurturing person in their lives. To develop a culturally responsive pedagogy, I must recognize my own biases, develop an inclusive curriculum, and value the different modes of teaching and learning that exist in students’ communities. By creating an environment that respects cultural diversity and affirms each student’s unique personhood, teachers are, in effect, telling students, “I care about you” (Hammond, 2015).

Develop a consciousness of differences by strengthening EDJI focus within all subject areas.

Affirm differences rather than deny them to promote multicultural perspective. Develop lesson plans that incorporate the theory of multiple intelligences. Accommodate learning preferences of all students. Stay attuned to children’s cultures to improve academic achievement. Visit student’s families to understand family and neighborhood cultures. Healing informed rather than trauma informed classroom practices.

“Cultural differences in learning may be apparent in three areas: learning styles,or preference, interactional or communication styles, and language differences. (Nieto, 2008, p. 176)

Systemic change to embrace ethical and supportive environments to reframe schools as a compassionate and empathetic culture and a place of growth for the holistic learner. Openness and honesty within process and curriculum. Fits goal closing the achievement gaps between marginalized, disadvantaged, or excluded student populations that grow wider each year. Recognition that there is often conflation of hopefulness and desire to impact marginalized populations without addressing systemic problems (Wrigley et al., 2012). The intention feels good, but lack of longitudinal outcome analysis leads to the increased achievement gap. Idealism leads to false hope. (Hodson, 2004).

“The assumption that culture is the primary determinant of academic achievement can be o ver simplistic, dangerous, and counterproductive because, although culture may influence, it does not determine who we are. “ (Nieto, 2008, p. 175)

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I have learned that with reflection, I can recognize my biases and prejudices and decide how to better maneuver the situation. I strive to teach for equity and that means I strive to focus on outcomes based on inputs not on uncontrollable risk factors. My own experiences with gender, race, and socioeconomic status will always influence my awareness of perpetuating inequality; however, I have begun to understand how my own experiences can positively influence through active self-awareness. Before I teach children to engage in practice to self-regulate their emotions and reactions, I have to lead by example and practice those same behaviors. This is not easy for me at all times, emotional and physical fatigue, personal or professional stressors, and just down right grumpy moods, challenge my ability to remain true to the goal of self-aware and proud reactions.

I also learned that I have a respect for students and trust that they are capable of high level achievements and thinking despite circumstances outside of their control. I understood that this is not identical for every student with the same learning disability, or the same skin color, or the same unconventional family structure. I understood that each student’s high level of achievements and thinking is individualistic and relies heavily on a students ability to develop a sense of self worth and confidence. These series of realizations have propelled me to act differently with how I perceive children and my practices of teaching.

Additionally, this means I continuously need to link my own teacher learning and growth and student learning and growth with authentic accountability through self-reflection.

These realizations about myself as a learner and a teacher connect to my vision and goals because as I strive towards an evolving and equitable classroom, self-reflection, caretaker involvement, community building and respect, student interest considerations, and developmental strengths are all aspects of a strong teacher researcher.

Through this brief student teaching semester and the research project that ensued, I realized that I could research to affirm the current studies about child learning and development or I could use that research to better understand my own role in the child’s life within the classroom and how to have a more positive impact. I believe a strong sense of security for each child will ensure an opportunity for success, academically and beyond. And from my research and experience, I know that strong and trusted adult relationships play a large role in developing a child’s sense of security.

Because of the dynamic and diverse community at Jefferson Elementary, and any community school, gaining the trust and support of the student’s families or caretakers comes from a place of respect and acknowledgement. When we know students do not have adequate support, we as teachers can provide that extra attention and perhaps refer to school or community-based resources. When we know students do have adequate support outside of the classroom, that doesn’t mean that we abandon that student in the classroom community but engage with them in different and still meaningful ways. These students may be helpful in role modeling and encouraging other students.

Using teacher research to understand these unique relationships and how they affect learning and growth, I believe will be a powerful way to affect change in my future classroom. This goes hand in hand with inquiring every student’s strength and reminding ourselves that even our most difficult of students have strengths. Then, researching how each student’s strength can lend to a strong and more supportive classroom community to elevate all students.

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What happens when students begin a daily positive affirmation practice, repeating student specific, reading goal oriented statements?

Sub Questions:

What will be the major themes in student selected reading goals?

How will this new practice increase reading minutes, accuracy, or level?

How does repeating a positive affirmation impact perceived competence and feelings about reading?

What does the students home reading environment look like? Does it support literacy? How does the home environment influence a student's reading ability and growth?

supportive

appropriate

language

How will positive affirmations impact challenging attitudes towards reading (defiant, faux/overconfidence, indifference, etc.) ?

What are the literacy practices that my students are in engaging in? Which ones do they need?

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YANELIS JUSINO - Reading SMART Goal Plan 