Level III Blog 1

Jessica Garcia
Sep 9, 2015
3 min read

Though it is only two years of age difference, the way things work in fourth grade is so much different from second grade. First off, they are much more independent. I noticed that the teacher uses less incentives such as tickets or candy. They are still used once in a while but much less. The teachers uses praise at times such as, "I love how Amy is sitting quietly and reading." They all have jobs such as "lights leader" and "paper passer". I find this to be very effective and plan to use it in my future classroom.

The way the students are seated is conducive to the Kagan strategies . The students are seated in groups of four, with two groups of three. They are often asked to turn to their face partner or shoulder partner to answer a question posed by the teacher. This is great because it makes sure that all students at the table get enriched. After discussing my seating chart with the other interns I noticed that many of them have similar seating arrangements. It is common for elementary classrooms to be arranged in groups instead of rows or columns. As we move up to the secondary grades, more and more classrooms are organized into rows and it is a shame. This means there is more independent work and although it is important for students to work independently, they should also be working together and bouncing knowledge off of each other.

The class is comprised of twenty-one students. There are four ELL students who are Hispanic, one Chinese student, and one African American student. The rest of the students are White American. Seven of the students are in the Advanced Gifted Program. Most of the students already knew each other but three of them are new to Cork. So, on the first day of school my CT and I did "Getting to know you" activities and activities where the students all got to know a little bit about each other. So far, the class seems to be getting along and working well together. The students know that if they are constantly disruptive or off task, they will get a mark in their planner. There is one student that has been showing a lack of respect toward his classmates. My CT and I have had some discussions about this student and what we should do in regards to his behavior.

Jimmy is one of the three students that is new to Cork. He has been having some behavior issues since the first day. I have not only had students come up to me complaining about his behavior towards them but have also witnessed it. Aside from this, he has to be told constantly to do his classwork. After having a discussion about his behavior, my CT and I decided that we would try a behavior chart. It is a table with twenty empty boxes. We cut the table in half so there would be two sections of ten. His goal would be to stop picking on others and to do his work. He was told that if he did this for ten days, two school weeks, he would get a reward. This reward would be an item from the snack cart. We have recently put the chart into trial but have already seen a positive impact.