Diversity in Today's Schools

There is a lot of diversity in my service-learning classroom. I see students with autism, ADHD, asperger syndrome, and learning disabilities. The teacher addresses the diversity by making sure these students are not sitting next to each other. She has informed me that if they are sitting next to each other they talk, misbehave, and upset each other. The teacher explained that she finds it easier for the diverse children to sit next to other students that are good examples, that can help them, and make sure they understand.  

The teacher differentiates the instruction by separating the students into groups based on their level of learning. After their morning work the teacher has the students do what is called the daily five. Students have five different items they can work on at this time. While the students are working individually on the daily five assignments, she calls groups of four to five students back to the kidney desk. They read books that are on the students level together as a group. Each student takes turns reading a page and then the teacher passes a microphone made out of material to the student that would like to add a comment or answer a question. The microphone gives each child a chance to respond and the other students know it is not their turn to talk unless they have the microphone. This gives the teacher time to work in small groups and quality attention to the students with diversity.

History of American Education

In my service learning I have seen support for English learners. In my class their is a  student who knows a little English, so this has been helpful to the student and the teacher. The teacher is very good in teaching the student English, by repeating the assignment slowly and making sure the student understands. She also has the other students help. The students are very good to include the student in everything they do. I know this child and other students that need help learning English would not be getting the help they need if it wasn't for Lau v. Nichols. There are also many students that are of a different race in the school. All the students, no matter what race or ethnicity, they are treated and respected equally. I know this would not be the case if it were not for Brown v. Board. I also see alot of emphasis on Math and Science. I believe this has come about because of the launch of the first artificial satellite Sputnik. Since this time the American people realized their students were two years behind the Russians. So they determined there should be more concentration on Math and Science. 

I am not very familiar with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), so I did a little research and according to the U.S. Government Publishing Office it is "An Act to close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice, so that no child is left behind". This means that every child should test in math and reading on grade level. There is a blueprint that reforms the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. According to the U.S. Department of Education, "This blueprint builds on the significant reforms already made in response to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 around four areas: (1) Improving teacher and principal effectiveness to ensure that every classroom has a great teacher and every school has a great leader; (2) Providing information to families to help them evaluate and improve their children's schools, and to educators to help them improve their students' learning; (3) Implementing college- and career-ready standards and developing improved assessments aligned with those standards; and (4) Improving student learning and achievement in America's lowest-performing schools by providing intensive support and effective interventions." Hopefully these reforms will help the NCLB, but I believe more still needs to be improved on the Act. From what I have learned myself from personal experience, from teachers, and parents, the NCLB focuses too much on standardized testing and encourages teachers to teach for the test. 

                                                 Works Cited

"Keeping America Informed". U.S. Government Publishing Office. GPO, 8 Jan. 2002.
     Web. 15 Oct. 2015
"A Blueprint for Reform". U.S. Department of Education. U.S. Government, 27 May 2011. 
     Web. 15 Oct. 2015.

                          

Engaging Learners

I find it interesting how the teacher in my service learning placement engages the students in meaningful ways. I also never realized how important it is to engage the students while teaching, and how much the teacher really uses engagement. For my first example how my cooperating teacher engages students in a meaningful way is when the teacher asks a question and then waits. She gives the students plenty of time to think about the question. This gets their attention because they know she will call on any of them, so they should be ready with an answer. This gets the students focused and ready for participation. My second example is when the teacher engaged the students with a game. It is a version of "Go Fish" using plural nouns. First the teacher reviews the rules of plural nouns, divides the students into groups of three, and then she has them play "Go Fish" matching the plural nouns such as "goose" matches with the plural noun "geese". The students really enjoyed this engaging activity and it helped them learn about plural nouns as they were having fun. They are focused and participating in an engaging activity. For my third example of engaged learning the teacher has a morning meeting. She will call the students to the back of the classroom to sit on a rug. There she has written a story or a letter to the students. There are many mistakes and she asks the students to find them. She will ask one student at a time to come up and correct one of the mistakes they see. This gets the students stimulated while participating in finding the mistakes and correcting them. Plus they are curiously engaged in what the teacher has written for them.

I have observed in another classroom where the teacher had six worksheets he wanted the students to complete. At first the students worked quietly, but as the students moved on to the next few worksheets the students became overwhelmed and restless. I felt the teacher could have made this more engaging by creating centers, where they rotate to different activities on the topic covered. The teacher could incorporate one worksheet each day in one of the centers. This way they wouldn't become restless and overwhelmed trying to complete the six worksheets all at once. They would become engaged in the activities in the centers that would keep them focused and participating. This would help them retain the information they were learning about.

Letter from teacher