My first Week as a Student Teaching

This week has been one of the most exciting weeks since I started the Program. I knew that once I was in a classroom with elementary students, all the material that we have learned until now would make sense. I have the opportunity to be in a 4^th grade classroom with 20 children, a very helpful cooperative teacher, and a great student-teacher partner.

Out of the 20 students, 6 are Spanish speaking and one Cambodian speaking student. It is very interesting to me how important it is to be aware of every student in your classroom. There a couple that they don’t understand very well English and one that really do not know read English or write in Spanish. She is always lost and cried a lot.

One thing that I learn from Dr. Waite is that to approach and educate every student in

your classroom, children with learning disabilities even children ELL students is to use Good Teaching Techniques. These techniques are based on using a lot mnemonics, props, pictures, and involve the students in the learning process. My teacher companion and I notice that these techniques are missing in this classroom. So we decided to do our best to apply lots of pictures, props, mnemonics, and one-one assistance to these students who are struggling in our classroom.

I taught last Friday for the first time. I prepared a Power Point about the Fathers Dominguez and Escalante (European Explorers) with lots and lots pictures in colorful sides. We also put together a foldable journal in bright color paper with questions to assess their knowledge. It was very fun to put this lesson plan together and using technology.

The energy and enthusiasm for a new adventure in the classroom was incredible. The students very very excited about “The movie” (Power Point). You could hear the “Wow, ha, cool.” Then, the reaction for each student towards us was amazing. They made comments like “That was cool, or That was fun.” I asked the ELL students if they like it and what did they learned today? Their smiles and sweet answers made my day. They did learn something new today.

I can see how important it is to use technology in our classroom. Students learning process can and should be exciting, adventurous, enlightening, and fun. Monotonous is just plain boring and children needs interaction with their peers, working together to come up with a solution to a question.

My goal is as teacher is to enlighten the lives of my students, help them to know the world outside the classroom through Good Teaching Techniques and using Technology as much possible in the classroom. This is it the education system of the 24^th century.