Week 14 - Parent Involvement

Your final blog post will be about parent involvement in schools. After our discussion in class and your reading of chapter 6 you should have a good understanding of how important this connection is for the success of a child.  Do you have an interesting story from your schooling about your parent or a classmate's parent being involved in school? How important do you think it is? What can you do as a first year teacher to help parents become more involved? Pick one of the questions above as a springboard for your post.

Happy Thanksgiving!  See you guys on Tuesday, December 1st.

Week 13 - Instruction

Research shows that teachers need to vary the methods of instruction. This week reflect upon the following questions to determine the quality of your cooperating teacher’s instruction.
Does the teacher:
• Rely too heavily on “tell” forms of instruction?
• Include “show” methods of instruction to demonstrate the meanings of the material being taught?
• Include “do” activities where students apply, or learn, the skills of the lesson?
• Vary instructional methods to ensure meeting the needs of all students?

I look forward to seeing everyone next Tuesday.

Week 12 - Curriculum Structure and Content

Most of you have probably heard about No Child Left Behind. This federal mandate has put a lot of pressure on schools to be accountable for student achievement. It has encouraged districts to realign their curriculum with the state standards. The curriculum is not a guide that sits on the teacher’s shelf. It consists of the course content. You will learn a lot more about curriculum in your program here at LU. However, you should be able to observe the following from your cooperating teacher regarding curriculum and content.
Does the teacher:

• Have a course plan which identifies the units, topics, tasks and skills which will be covered during a specified period of time?

• Have a daily plan or structure which identifies the skills and supportive facts, concepts and principles needed for the lesson?

• Begin the lesson with a review of what was covered during the last session?

• Provide exercise activities or skills practice where students can practice and apply the material learned?

• End the class with a summary of what was covered and “learned” during the class period?

Week 11 - Teacher-Student Rapport

Just a reminder that we do have class on Tuesday, November 10th. And take a look at the RSS feeds I have included in the margin of the blog this week. These are news articles related to teaching and the profession. Please read any of the articles of interest to you.

I believe that the art of teaching is shown in the teacher's ability to have a positive rapport with students. According to Webster's Dictionary, the word rapport means "relation; connection, esp. harmonious or sympathetic relation: a teacher trying to establish close rapport with." Hopefully, your cooperating teacher has a good rapport with the students. Watch your cooperating teacher this week in order to answer the following questions:

What strategies does the teacher use to build and maintain rapport with students? How are opportunities for success provided for each student? Do the students have a positive connection with the teacher?

Week 10 - Meeting the needs of the individual learner

Observe this week how your cooperating teacher effectively (or ineffectively) teaches the students with special needs in the classroom. Reflect upon the following questions as you post your blog entry.
What modifications or adoptions are made wtihin the course content or curriculum to meet the needs of the individual learner? How does the teacher utilize large group, small group, and/or individualized instruction to meet the learning needs of students? How are student interests and student choice incorporated in to the students' learning opportunities?

Week 9 - Management and Student Behavior

Many first year teachers struggle with student discipline. By answering the following questions, recognize the behavior strategies used by your cooperating teacher that work or do not work in the classroom.
How are expectations for behavior, routines, and learning explained? What are the guidelines for classroom behavior? How is appropriate behavior encouraged? How does the teacher react to inappropriate behavior? What techniques both verbal and nonverbal are used to cue appropriate behavior? What strategies does the teacher use to prevent problems?

Week 8 - Classroom Routines

Students feel safe and secure when there is a set of classroom routines. Please reflect upon what classroom routines your cooperating teacher uses in the classroom.


What are the established procedures in the classroom such as attendance, beginning class, ending class, clean up, etc? What is the physical arrangement of the classroom, tables, desks, positioning, etc? How does the teacher transition the students from one activity to another? Reflect upon the classroom routines - Are the routines providing a positive, safe, and secure plan to ensure student learning? do you agree with the routines that the techer uses? Why or why not?

Don't forget - your deadline is Sunday night by midnight.  And please post two separate posts each week.  For grading purposes it is easier if there are two different posts instead of one post with your comment and reply to someone else in class.
Thanks!