Brigham Reflection 10/30

This week my group had to opportunity to work in the preschool room. It was our first time teaching in there. It was much different than I had expected. The class size is much smaller than what we are used to. There were 9 students in the room. I'm much more used to a class size of 20 or more so it was definitely new to have such a small class. 

The lesson that the lead teachers taught went fairly well. I was surprised by how much the students interacted and participated because previous teachers have said that the preschool students do not talk or participate much at all. It was nice to have majority of the students answering questions and participating in the activities. I enjoyed being able to work with just three students at a time so I could focus a lot of attention on them. I did the egg shakers station which the students seemed to really enjoy. I think that they way the activity was set up was great for the students who were ELL. The pictures were clear and all they had to do was shake the egg and place it on the picture of the item they thought was inside the egg. 

This lesson helped me work towards my goal. It helped me better understand some of the accommodations that are needed to be made for ELL students. Brigham is the only place I have truly had to opportunity to work with ELL students. So far it has been a great experience, I have learned a lot and gained a lot of knowledge on the students and how they learn. My goal was to gain more experience with ELL students which is exactly what I am doing at Brigham. Each time I am in the classroom I feel like I have learned more about ELL students. Something new that I learned this time in the classroom was that some students will talk for their friends if they feel their friend doesn't understand or if I don't understand. One little boy told me his friends name and clarified it when I was unable to understand him. The little boy seemed very used to talking for his friend but that could also just be his personality.

In my clinical classroom, there is also a little boy who feels the need to speak for other people. This is just how he is, not because the other students can't speak English. He likes to express how he thinks their feeling or tell myself or my CT something that his friend needs. He does not give the other student an opportunity to speak up before he blurts out what he thinks his friend needs or wants. The little boy at Brigham definitely reminded me of the boy in my clinical classroom.

Teaching at Brigham has definitely showed me a different side of teaching that I have no gotten to experience until now. What I mean by this is that the school is very cultured and diverse. I have had one placement that was diverse but it was mostly African American and Caucasian students with not a lot of other races. Brigham is such a diverse setting, even the teachers show diversity. I think this is important to know about because most teachers are Caucasian females whereas at Brigham I have seen many teachers of different races.

Here is an article that talks about diversity and how parents can teach their children more about it: http://www.sesamestreet.org/parents/topics/getalong/getalong06

exceeds: over the word count and included an article.