Let the Journey Begin

My legs trembled, my palms started sweating, my stomach had flittering butterflies that just would not settle down, yet I was smiling ear to ear and ready to take on my first day at the Learning Academy.

I have been placed in a second grade classroom with Mrs. Paul and will continue to be there each week for the rest of the semester- how exciting! My class is small- nine children total. Strangely enough, I have entered my study at the Learning Academy when pre-instruction testing is taking place. My collaborating teacher, unfourtunetly, was out of the classroom for most of the time I was there. On the other hand, this gave me a chance to see how another instructor manages and teaches a classroom. The instructor today was Mrs. Goodall, and many of my observations are based on her styles.

The bell rings bright and early, and shortly after the infamous "ding" every student dreads to hear the Learning Academy starts the day just like every school known to man- the annoucements pour over the speakers, and the students intently listen to the weather forecast, the lunch menu and then something strange occurs. The students stand, yes for the pledge, but also for a moment of silence. Wait, what? "Students, please rise, close your eyes, think about the good things we are going to do today," says Mrs. Goodall. The students must consider all of the good behaviors they need to do throughout the day. I have never seen this before and I LOVE it! I think this it is an excellent way, not only to calm the students and get them in the correct frame of minset, but to allow them to feel as though they are making their own choices. They are allowed to feel grown up.

Shortly after, the students begin to work like bees. Two students take on a morning chore throughout the classroom. Tiffany changes the date, and Zach does the lunch count; another way that makes the students feel important, worthy and grown up. As soon as the chorse are complete, Mrs. Goodall counts down as a sign of transitioning from morning routine to instruction time. Mrs. Goodall begins by having the students practice what the Learning Acadmey calls "hand signals." The students in this school are dsylexic and must refresh their memories on phonemes. They focus on "h," "n," "t," and the short "i" sounds. They intensily watch the way Mrs. Goodall forms her sounds. Jacob begins to slouch in frustration and in a hyper voice Mrs. Goodall exclaims, "Is everyone sitting up nice and comfy with their feet on the floor?" Every student perks up and is able to finish the task without a problem.

They quickly move into more practicing, and Mrs. Goodall brings out flashcards with simple words (i.e. hat, mop). Mrs. Goodall says the beginning, middle and end sound of each word, and the students write each letter, but not in the way one might imagine. The students use two fingers (the pointer and the middle), and on their desk trace the way the letters are supposed to look. This technique is used throughout the Learning Academy as a way of reminding the students of phonemes and the way letters look. It is a typical trait of dylexic kids to easily forget their phonemic awareness.

As they are practicing, I am observing the classroom walls. It is set up just like any normal elementary school classroom: there are posters with encouraging commands, birthdays to be had throughout the year, and then something strikes me. I see their daily routine written and hanging up. During this day the students are to go to arts and crafts. The students will be making and building items. Mrs. Goodall quickly informed me that they have all of the main "special" items (i.e. music, art, P.E.), but the school also includes arts and crafts. What a great way to develop a students fine motor skills. I feel as though once a student leaves preschool and kindergarten, fine motor skills slip under the rug, rarely to be touched upon.

As soon as practice time is over, Mrs. Goodall once again beings the count down and the students shuffle to organize their desks, and I pass out the worksheets. When every student has one, Mrs. Goodall immediately has the students write their name at the top of the page and then begins to give directions; however, the directions are only given one at a time as to not overwhelm the students. I have never thought about this before, but students do tend to get frustrated if given an ample amount of directions at one time. I love this technique and am planning on incoroporating it in my classroom- no matter the grade or skill level.

Mrs. Goodall reads the directions at the top of the page and then has the students repeat after her. They do the whole language arts worksheet together (the worksheet has pictures and words and the student must read the word correctly). Mrs. Goodall draws popsicle sticks with names on them. During the worksheet, I notice Bentley fidgeting. He takes off his shoes, moves them around his desk area and organizes his pencil box. Mrs. Goodall says not a word, but walks over to the teachers desk and pulls out a green stick- an object I would later to come to learn as a manners stick- and gives it to him. A manners stick is what students recieve if they are misbehaving. I find this to be an excellent classroom management approach that I have also not seen before. I have yet to learn what happens with these manners stick (i.e. if the student looses free time), but will hopefully have this tid bit of information next week.

After the whole classroom practice, the students are each given their own worksheet to do. Mrs. Goodall passes out "good tickets" when the students have one hand on their desk and one hand in their lap. These tickets are traded in for a special prize (i.e. extra free time, a toy, etc.) at the end of the week. Mrs. Goodall reads the directions, and the students dive right into the practicing of the short "i" sound. They are instructed not to move on until I, or Mrs. Goodall, has checked their first page with them (having them say each short "i" word). I see Michael start to turn the page before either of us have had the opportunity to go over and check his work, and Mrs. Goodall sees the same thing. She says, "Did I tell you to turn your paper yet?" Quickly, Michael flips his paper back over and grins.

When language arts time has ceased, Mrs. Goodall calls each student individually to the carpet. They are instructed as to which star to sit on- they are evenly spaced out and not next to a peer with whom they may communicate with. The class has now entered reading time. Each student is given a copy of the same book in order to read along with Mrs. Goodall. Mrs. Goodall reads the book and has the children read their copy along with her. After, I sit with three children at individual times and the children must read the book to me. I truly begin to notice a lot about dyslexia. I was never the child to struggle with reading, in fact I loved it and would often times finish my work early so I could read. However, these children do not resemble my younger self in any way. They struggle to say the simplest word, and by the time they get to the same word on the next page they have already forgetten how it is supposed to sound. Same goes with sounding out words. These students are very good at segmenting word sounds when they get to one they do not know; however, sometimes when sounding out words, they will get all the way through it and then forget the first phoneme. As one may imagine, they tend to get frustrated if they do this a lot on one page. Anthony is a prime example. One page inparticular was a real mess for him. He started slouching and sighing a lot. By the time he got to the end of the book, he would make up words to subsitute for a word he did not know. My professor later told me that this is often times the case with many dyslexic students. They do not want to feel embarassed when reading aloud, so they do this method in order to cope.

This concluded my few hours at the Learning Academy, and I must say that I learned a lot. From manners sticks to good tickets to everything in-between. I cannot wait to pick up on even more management and teaching techniques throughout this semester.

Many people may say that every grade is a crucial period for growth, both socially and academically. I will not say I disagree; however, second grade is a pivotal transitioning time for students. Many students range from the ages of seven and eight and must figure out how to truly act like big boys and girls rather than the "babies" they once were in kindergarten and first grade. These students want to feel grown up and, thus, need to be treated as one. Every aspect of second graders are developing- their attention span is expanding, their fine and large motor skills are growing, and their subject area (i.e. knowing and being able to recognize more sight words) skills are increasing. Second graders are transitioning from the "asking every question that pops into mind" stage to sharing their knowledge with others, and thus utilizing their creative strategies to be able to solve their own problems.

Many of the latter examples used above I have just experienced first hand. I have always been in the classroom with younger students; students ranging from preschool to first grade. Some may call this a "glorified babysitter," and because of this, tend to treat students as babies. After today, I have learned that students do best when treated as big kids. Big kids who are given manner sticks and good tickets in order to be held accountable for their actions. I look forward to the rest of my journey when I can become an inspiring educator just like Mrs. Goodall.