Dustin+McLouth

=** This wikispace logs 's experiences in the classroom during the spring 2010  296 **** Paraprofessional Experience **=

This is the first field experience of the teacher education program. Its purpose is to provide insight into the real world of teaching in the K-8 and 7-12 setting. It provides a “hands-on” experience in which students may ask questions and share concerns they may have regarding the teaching profession. The experience will provide an opportunity to observe, record, and assess student behavior, effective teaching practices, and characteristics of different learning environments appropriate for children. This course will provide structure and guidance for the students as they observe, gather information, and reflect on teaching as a career. John Dewey, one of the most famous American educators, wrote extensively about reflective teaching. He defined reflective teaching as avoiding the “routine” and “impulsive” behaviors in favor of taking the time to “give serious consideration” to our actions. According to Dewey, the intelligent person thinks before he or she acts, and action becomes deliberate and intentional. In order for students to secure knowledge and insight from the field experience, their observations and participation have to be made with careful, analytical, and deliberate planning. Paraprofessional students develop their leadership skills while contributing to, learning from and influencing the learning of others.  2010SyllabusPara.pdf ParaChecklist.doc

Placement Course List Goals Contextual Factors FBS Interview Observation of Effective Teaching Lesson Plan, Analysis of Lesson Plan, FBS Feedback form for independent lesson Resume Working Journal Recorded Activities Time Sheet

**'s Fall 2009 Paraprofessional Placement** Back to Syllabus and Contents List
 * School: || Beresford Elementary ||
 * Field-based supervisor: || Ann Kropuenske ||
 * Content area or grade level: || Elementary Education ||
 * FBS e-mail address: || Ann.Kropuenske@k12.sd.us ||
 * FBS phone: ||  ||
 * USD instructor || Mary Collins, Phone: 605-677-5155, e-mail: mary.collins@usd.edu ||

**Course List** The course list is a list of all of the courses you have taken, including the ones in which you are currently enrolled. Use a table format and categorize courses in sections. In each section, list the prefixes alphabetically, i.e. ENGL before ESCI. If you have multiple courses with the same prefix, list them in numerical order, i.e. PE 100, PE 271, PE 354, PE 468. Please refer to Rita Book's example. Be sure your name is at the top of the page. Link the course list to the title of this section. It will also go in your electronic portfolio.



= Goals =

Write 3 SMART goals that you would like to accomplish during your field based experience this semester. These achievable goals should be based on School of Education Standards (available in Content and Materials).

 **S**pecific  **M**easurable  **A**ttainable  **R**ealistic/**R**elevant  **T**imely/**T**imebound

 **__Goal 1__**  **Standard:**

 **__Goal 2__**  **Standard:**

 **__Goal 3__**  **Standard:**

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**Contextual Factors ** ** TASK ** Write a description of your paraprofessional placement. In your description, include the following: The rubric is on the Contents and Materials page. Link your paper to the title of this section.
 * **Community, district, and school factors:** Address geographic location, community and school population, socio-economic profile and race/ethnicity. You might also address such things as stability of community, political climate, community support for education, and other environmental factors.
 * **Classroom factors:** Address physical features, availability of technology equipment and resources and the extent of parental involvement. You might also discuss other relevant factors such as classroom rules and routines, grouping patterns, scheduling and classroom arrangements.
 * **Student characteristics:** Address student characteristics you must consider as you design instruction and assess learning. Include factors such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, special needs, achievement/developmental levels, culture, language, interests, learning styles/modalities or students/skill levels.
 * **Instructional implications.** Address how contextual characteristics of the community, classroom and students have implications for instruction.

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= Professional Interview of FBS =

a. Format: word processed b. Recommended length: 1-2 pages c. Include:
 * 1) 5 professional questions
 * 2) Field-based supervisor’s responses to the 5 professional questions
 * 3) Description of how the responses relate to the corresponding SOE standards.

Link your paper to the title of this section.

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**Observation of Effective Teaching**

Criteria for Observation of Effective Teaching <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Record your observation of the following ten categories. Use this wiki throughout your placement; remember that these situations will not occur in one day. Record the date(s) of the observation and a paragraph description of the methods/strategies observed. <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">Time Effectiveness There are many different tasks that Mrs. Kropuenske's class uses when trying to get a focus in the beginning of class and during times of break. The teacher likes to turn daily routines into elements to help students understand. While taking food count the teacher turns the outcomes into a math problem, while students walk in they put their name up on the board and keep track of thier own attendance, and they sing a song while the teacher gets ready for the day. Some of the favorites of the students is a student gets picked for the weather of the day, the calander is set, and they count how many days they have been in school. All of these activities gets the students ready for the day and allows the teacher to firgure out what she wants to do. Mrs. Kropuenske started off our reading for the lesson today by explaining why learning about farm animals was important and some of the animals that they should know. She has gone over how to spell some of the animals and she also asked the students how each animal sounds. This is very benificial to some students because they are not sure what some of the animals are and what they do, so this broadens their view and allows them to learn about animals they might not have without this class. During this time I could see that it was really benificial because not all the students knew what all the animals were or what sounds they made. Today in Mrs. Kropuenske's class they started to learn how to count small amounts of money. The coins they began to count were quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. These are all important in everyday life and will be used by everyone. Many of the students were struggling at first because it was one of the first times they had to do this type of thing. After asking them some questions and having them show their results we took a little different approach and walked around to show students why they were right and wrong. Many of the students after a while became really good at adding certain amounts of change and finding different ways to count the change. By the trepitition used in class today it allowed the students to really get a better grasp of what they should learn. Today the class was also learning to better their writing of the letters S, H, and F. Many of the students knew how to write these correctly without assistance and were having fun in doing so. Others were not a tallented and needed some more time to figure out how to write these letters. Mrs. Kropuenske went over the top section of the writing page and showed the students how each one was done. After she was done showing the students how to do the specific writing exercizes then the students were able to work on their own to get some practice. When all the students were done with their writing they handed it in and it was graded later in the day. All of the students showed major improvement with the practice. <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">Student Motivation The students were working on writing sentances today so the teacher told them that they should draw a picture and write a couple sentances over it. The students worked on their own to show how well they could work without being loud and also making sentances that made sense to them and to the teacher. When the students were done working on their own they had me or the teacher correct their papers for spelling and word choice. The students were very full of energy so the teacher wanted to work in their stations to burn off some energy and to have some fun. Stations for these kids are different set up events that they can do around the room to learn and be productive after instruction. After the teacher began to explain to the students what some of these were the students went to work and worked hard without messing around or becoming dissinterested. The projects were fun and allowed the students to use some of their special abilities to succeed in what they were doing at the time. Great way to allow children to work on their own after following some instruction. The all time favorite took place of all young children in school today. Show and tell was today and it allows students to interact with one another and tell a little about themselves or what they like. In Mrs. Kropuenske's class each student is supposed to bring in an object on their designated day and show the class what it is. While showing the class the student has to say three things about their show and tell and then the class can ask questions. The students really seem to embrace this method of show and tell because it allows them to ask questions that are most entertaining to them. It is really important to get classroom interaction not only with the teachers but with the students and this is a great way to allow students to interact. The atmosphere of Mrs. Kropuenske's class is amazing. It reminds me of my kindergarten room where there are posters everywhere and attractive toys and games everywhere. There are many different kinds of posters anything from colors, to numbers, to rules, and ethics. Each poster creates a fun atmosphere for the children. The childrens desks are grouped together in groups of five allowing the students to interact with one another and see what is going on at all angles. Another attractive element about this room is how there is a big middle space in the center of the room for story time. The students can all gather around this spot and listen to the fun little stories that are told. Book cabinets are also aranged nicely next to the computers which gives a feeling of work when the students are sitting there. Everything about this room is appealing and would be welcoming to almost any child. Since I am attending a kindergarten class there are many many times that the teacher has to use construtive criticism. Many of the students seem to just blabble answers and not think about what they are saying. Another reason why this is used alot is because many of the students do not know the answers they are just guessing. Today an example was when we were working with money. Many of the students gave their answers and the teacher had to keep saying good try, or close, to try to get the students to keep trying. It seemed to work because the students retained their attention span and seemed to keep wanting to try. This is very important because without this many of the students may get discouraged or not want to try anymore, so this allows them to see that even though they didnt get the right answer their answer was still appreciated. Today had many good examples of prompts that the teacher used to help students come up with an answer without giving them the answer. It was in spelling today that the teacher would spell out a word and if the student did not know what it was or how to spell it, then she would help them sound it out. By sounding out the word the students were able to figure out for themselves how to do a specific assignment and why they came to an answer. This was very benificial to the students because instead of just seeing the answer they actually learned the answer. Back to Syllabus and Contents List
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">1. Focus **
 * March 9th 2010**
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">2. Objective/Purpose **
 * March 9th 2010**
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">3. Monitoring/Adjusting **
 * March 9th 2010**
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">4. Guided Practice **
 * March 9th 2010**
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">5. Independent Practice **
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">February 23rd 2010 **
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">6. Student Interest/Motivation **
 * March 9th 2010**
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">7. Student Involvement **
 * February 25th 2010**
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">8. Classroom Climate **
 * Feb 19th 2010**
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">9. Constructive Criticism: **
 * March 9th 2010**
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">10. Prompts **
 * February 25th 2010**

= Lesson Plan and Analysis = =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Link your lesson plan and analysis to the title of this section. (You do not need to hand in anything from the lesson that you co-teach.) You will hand in a hard copy of the FBS feedback form from the lesson. = =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> =

= Resume = <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;">Link your resume to the title of this section. Back to Syllabus and Contents List

= Working Journal: Four Journal Entries =

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: left;">Framework for Writing - Use this format of **Description**, **Analysis**, and **Reflection** for __each__ of the four entries. One entry should describe your work with an individual or group of students; one entry should describe your creation of a bulletin board or PowerPoint, or your use of the internet for researching material for a lesson; one entry should describe the lesson you cooperatively teach with the Field Based Supervisor; and one entry can be an observation/interaction of your choice.

Worked with a young boy to help him catch up for missed time!
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Work with an individual or group of students **
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Description: **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> When i showed up on monday there was a young boy that missed a whole week of school because he was sick. There were some writing practices and memorization of the alphabet and numbers that had to be done. Mrs. Kropuenske asked me to take the young boy out to the library and help him with the missed work. When we entered the library there were many other children getting caught up on homework as well. We sat down at a table that had the most space and we started going over the homework. The child had a ver hard time paying attention becasue there was so much activity going on around him. But we managed to get through the reading, writing, memorizing, and everything else that we needed to get through. It probably should not have taked us as long but his attention span as a young child is not very good.


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Analysis: **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> The elements that the child was supposed to work on because of him missed time were writing the number 1 through 25, writing out the alphabet, reciting the alphabet, and a couple of worksheets. We started off with flash cards to refresh the child on how to do some of the writing skills. The child did very well on the flash cards but then he started to lose focus because there were so many other children in the library. To keep the childs attention I kept telling him that I would go out with recess with him like he kept asking me if he would just keep working hard. It worked out to have the student to have a motive because it kept him more focused and gave him a goal to work towards. Everything else took quite some time, but the process went really smoothly. The child ended up doing a fairly good job at what he was supposed to do.


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Reflection: **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> When i got done helping that young boy to catch up on some homework I started to think about how the help went. I thought overall the process of me taking the boy to the library was a good idea because without the help the student would have been lost. The one on one time was also very important for the student because it gave him time to ask questions or get discriptions for anything that me may not have known. The only negative aspect of this specific way of helping as student is that it should have taken place in a quiet room where he really could have concentrated. The library had many people in there, and not only was my student getting distracted, but there were others that I noticed were having a hard time getting their homework done. To make this teaching scenario better there could be different places where students should be able to go to get some alone time. Overall though I though that this was a good way to get the student caught up and more than likely I would use this process agian. From this experience I learned that it is very helpful for a student to get one on one time and to get caught up with the class. Without this help this student would not have a clue what some of the interactions in class were. When we were done I also asked the student if this was helpful and he said it was very helpful.

Created two bulletin boards for students to interact with counting by twos and fives!
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Your creation of a bulletin board or PowerPoint or your use of the internet for researching material for a lesson **
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Description: **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> The teacher was telling me how some of the students were really good at counting by twos and fives and others were having trouble retaining some of the information. So, i asked the teacher if there was any way that I could help. The teacher said that she was going to make some posters or a bulletin board so the students could go up to the poster or board and be able to have a visual to look at. So I created two posters that will allow the students to be able to learn by visual and hands on methods, and hopefully this will help them retain the information.


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Analysis: **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Some of the students were having trouble remembering how to count my twos and fives. I knew that some of the learners were visual learners and I also know that some of the students are more hands on oriented. In order to capture all the students learning capabilities I made two interacitve posters where the students can follow along as they recite the numbers. On one of the posters there are the numbers 2 through 20, going up by increments of 2. When reciting this poster they can follow allong with the stick out numbers to get a visual image on what they are learning. On the other poster there are the numbers 5 though 60, which go up at increments of 5. This poster is the exact same as the first one, where there are stick out numbers and the students can follow along as the recite to get a visual to enhance their learning. The teacher said that this would be very helpful for the students and she would be able to use these posters with all the children, especially the ones that were having a hard time remembering the information.


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Reflection: **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> When finished with this project I realized that it would in fact be very benificial to the students and would enable them to retain all the informaiton that they needed to. There are different kinds of learners in this world and some people need to be taught in a certain way or they will just not understand the informaiton. There are two main ways that these younger children obtain information, and that is through hands on orientaion or visual processing. This poster that I created will do both for the students. The capture the hands on learners this poster enables them to go up to the poster and if the teacher asked them to recite it they can point or touch the number of their choice. Next, this poster will help the visual learners by being able to read the numbers or see how something is written by looking at the board. I am very pleased with how these two projects turned out and I am very happy that they will be able to help the children achieve something that they are struggling with. If I had a choice to do this project differently, the only thing I would do differently would be to turn the board into a sticky tack board so the students can place the numbers up themselves. Other than that I would do the project the exact same way because it allows the students a different way to learn a subject.

The lesson was about farm animals!
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The lesson you cooperatively teach with the Field Based Supervisor **
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Description: **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> The teacher asked me if I wanted to read a story to the children and then go over the story by using different methods of recap. The story that I read to the class was Mouse's Birthday. In the story it talked about mouse and his house, all the friends that came over to the party, and what happens at the party. All the students enjoyed the story alot, and they all were very good listeners because they all could tell me what happened in the story when we were done. When finished with the story then the class, teacher, and I went over some of the story with a few projects.


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Analysis: **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> The reason why we decided to teach this lesson was because living in South Dakota it is really important to learn about animals, especially ones that can be found on the farm. In the story it talked about mice, cats, dogs, horses, and cows. All of them had their own part to do with the story and all were equally important. In the story each animal brought something to mouses birthday party. When they were all inside mouses house the house exploded because it was too small. When finished with the story I began to ask the students what their favorite part of the story was. Next, I asked the students if they thought that this story was realistic, or if they though it was fantasy. An the last question I asked the students was what were each some of the elements that the animals brought to the party. All the students knew this really well so I decided to try something a little different on the smart board to test their knowledge. The teacher set up a events order chart and the students were to come up and put the event in order. The students really loved this project and it kept them really entertained. Each student did a very good job, and especially liked hearing the animal sounds.


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Reflection: **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> This was an absolutely great way to allow the students to learn about farm yard animals. The students were able to listen to a story, they were able to answer the questions, and they were able to interact with technology to show what they knew also. Everything about this assignment seemed to go flawless. There were many great aspects about this assignment that they students had and I think it was very appropriate. There is only one thing I would change about this assignment though. Instead of only a few students getting to use the smart board at a time I would try to set up the project so that all of them were able to use the smart board. Many of the children seemed upset or discouraged when they were not able to use the smartboard. Other than that minor problem this assignment was amazing and it would definately be an assignment that I would use when I begin teaching. Mrs. Kropuenske did a great job setting up this assignment and allowing the kids to achieve to their maximum potential.

Stations around the classroom!
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">An observation/interaction of your choice **
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Description: **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Every day there is a learning process the Mrs. Kropuenske calls stations. What stations is, is a setup around the room of different learning subjects such as math, science, reading, and much more. In these stations students are paired up together and have to interact with one another and help eachother out through the learning process. The teacher is just there to give advise, it is the students who are supposed to be teaching themselves how to do specific things. The other day there were 8 stations set up around the room, a math, science, music, art, reading, writing, farm animals, and brain teasers. Each section is something different that the students have to work on. I was in charge of the art, science, and farm animals section. My job was to just make sure that nothing went wrong and that students were staying focused.


 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Analysis: **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> There are many reasons why the students are broken up into sections and then given a station. In each station there is a learning devise that they will be working with. In these stations the two most important details that the students need to work on is to work well with a partner, and how to self teach one another. Working well with another is sometimes a hard concept for these younger children because they are more focused on themselves and not other people. Working in groups allows them to focus on that other person and do that is best for the group not just themselves. The second concept of teaching themselves is equally important because it enables them to develop skills that they will need throughout life. Not everything in life will be hand fed to them and they have to realize that problems can be difficult. Each student did a wonderful job in these groups and seemed to show that they could work hard on their own. This is a great learning tool and many children seemed to enjoy it.

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 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Reflection: **<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> When watching these children work in these groups I realized that this was a great interaction for the students to learn and work with a partner. At first I was not to sure, and I did not think that the students would be able to handle working on their own with little supervision. The children all proved me wrong and they did a wonderful job. This was a great learning tool not only for the students but for me. I realized school is not only a teacher taught class but it can also be taught by the students themselves. If i were in teaching right now this would definately be something that I would tyr to impliment with a classroom. I would not change anything about the process because Mrs. Kropuenske did a great job in setting it up and making sure the students behaved correctly. A great deal was learned with this assignment and it was well appreciated.

= 30 hours of field-based classroom participation =
 * **Date** || ** Hours ** || ** Description of my activities/participation in the classroom.... ** ||
 * Feb 19th || 1.5 Hours || Met the students and the teacher and set up dates!!!! ||
 * Feb 23rd || 2.0 Hours || First Class with students, attendance, writing, reading, and show and tell! ||
 * Feb 25th || 2.0 Hours || Read a story to the class and helped the teacher throughout class! ||
 * Mar 9th || 8.0 Hours || Spent a whole day invovled in math, reading, stations, p.e., health, and much more!!! ||
 * Mar 10th || 8.0 Hours || Spent another whole day involved with math, reading, stations, lunch, social studies, tought lesson with teacher, and much more. ||
 * Mar 16th || 2.0 Hours || Helped with writing, reading, sections, and getting ready for the day. Found out the lesson I would be teaching! ||
 * Mar 23rd || 2.5 Hours || Taught by myself (writing, reading, grammar)! Helped with recess and just discussed with the teacher about my teaching performance!! ||
 * Mar 26th

Mar 30th || 2.5 Hours

2.0 Hours || I helped out with afternoon activities and got the children ready for jump rope for heart!!!

It was my last day with the class because I have fufilled the hours needed and the teacher thought that I did more than enough for my Para experience. I helped out with class for a while then said my good byes to the classroom. I had a great overall experience with a great teacher. I learned alot about how children react and learn in different situations and I am more possitive about going into the educational field. ||

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