Field Experience- Week #2

         Before arriving for my second week of placements I was quite excited to finally see my students again. I could see from the students faces a since of recognition and happiness when they saw me enter the classroom.
          
        One thing that I noticed my teacher do when trying to gain the attention of the class, she would ask them to give her five. That means she raises her hand and expects them to follow suite. I like this method because instead of yelling out she uses a quiet yet effective method. Another teaching technique that my teacher uses with her students is she tells them to further explain their answers to questions. Instead of one worded answers she asks them to expand on that thought. I also noticed my teacher taking on another hand on approach with science curriculum. The lesson for the day was on magnets so she passed around a couple of rocks and asked the what had to be in the rocks in order for them to attract the magnets.
      
           I had a very interesting conversation with my teacher about the change in common core standards specifically in the area of math. The 4th grade teachers are having to work backwards and to go back to multiplication and division but student's now have to explain how the operations work by using different explanations. The explained to me her frustration with this new method and the changing that she has to do in her teaching after 20 years. As I watched the students working on their math I  knew that it was very challenging for many of them. I do not remember learning what they were learning at that age. She even went on to mention the ISAP and that everything that they were covering would be on the the test.  The pressure of these tests are too much for students to handle, it annoys me that these test are weighed so heavily in the Education system.
          
        One thing that I learned that can apply to Education 203 is that we never stop learning. Although my teacher has been teaching for 20 years she is still in the process of learning and developing new methods of how to teach her students.