Choices and Routines in the Classroom

One of the most important things that you can do in a classroom is to set up a routine. When routines and procedures are carefully established in the classroom, students know what’s expected of them and how to do certain things on their own. Having these predictable patterns in place allows teachers to spend more time creating connections with the students and having productive instructional time. The teacher that I do my service learning with knows this and does her best to give her students a routine that they can follow by having the class schedule posted in the classroom, setting timmers so students know when to move on to the next task, and clearly stating what she wants to be done during the time allotted. Because she does this the students know they have a certain period to get their work done which helps keep them on task. She also doesn't change what order in the day each subject is taught which gives the students reliability. 

I have been able to help in the classroom during the reading and writing portion of the class. During this time students are given the choice to start with reading or writing and then switch halfway through the allotted time. As an adult choosing what subject to start with first doesn't seem like that big of a deal but as a student whose entire day is planned for them, this gives them a sense of power. To much power can go to their heads however and occasionally they may act out. Instead of bringing attention to bad behavior this teacher points out the good behavior she sees in the class which from what I've seen compels the misbehaving students to be good.

Connectivism in the classroom

There are many ways to learn and even more ways to teach the trick is finding a way to teach that accommodated all of your student's learning styles. The teacher that I am doing my service learning under has found a way to do just that. Recently I have been able to help during the students reading and writing portion of the day where the teacher is using the learning theory connectivism as a teaching strategy.
Connectivism is based upon the idea that people process information by forming connections. Connectivism suggests that people no longer stop learning after formal education, they continue to gain knowledge from other avenues especially access to information with new tools in technology.

Although the students do use technology during this class time (they use a program called Lexia) that's not what I found so interesting. This teacher used street signs to help with sight words and identifying sight words. For example, seeing the word Hospital and connecting that with the picture on the street sign helped the students to remember the word and aided them in spelling it.

Week One

Service-learning is a way of learning which occurs through action and reflection. As students serve, they can achieve real objectives for their community and a deeper understanding and skills for themselves. In the case of this class serving in an elementary school like the one, we are hoping to teach in gives us a unique perspective on educating and help us determine if this truly is the career we want to pursue.

I’ve chosen to do my service learning at Orchard Elementary here in Orem. Orchard is stock full of student programs like ballroom dancing, science programs, and both Spanish and mandarin dual immersion classroom. The students I will be working with are part of the Spanish immersion program, but I will be working with them only in their English classroom. The needs of the students are the school’s main priority and although Utah does not require teachers to be fully certified Orchard element’s teachers are all certified ensuring the best education possible. The school is what I would call averaged sized for an elementary school. The student to teacher ratio is 24 to 1 which is consistent with the 23 to 1 state average. The neighborhood surrounding Orchard has a lot of different dynamics the homes very between what I would call average and large, and just down the block from the school is a large business complex. The students and their families come from all social classes but more along the lines of middle to upper-middle-class families.