CONNECTING THE DOTS

Before taking this class I was only familiar with direct instruction. That is how I was taught most of my life. I remember my teachers in front of the classroom delivering information with almost no interaction between the teacher and the student. Even at home my mom was always giving direct instruction about which duties should be done. The only times when she checked for my understanding was to make sure I knew my curfew!

When I took science in high school I did have to work on labs, follow a procedure for the experiment, and develop my conclusions. At the time I did not know that my teacher was utilizing the Information Processsing Strategy. I also recall having to prepare presentations in groups, where the responsabilities were unfair and not equal and where only the final product was graded and not the collaborative effort of the members. Now I know that the collaborative learning model allows both for group grades and individual grades making this feeling less of a problem for students in classrooms today.

After my Methods of Teaching class I can now put a name to the type of instruction that a teacher is using. I can figure out how the lesson plan has been built upon that type of instruction and I can better reflect on lessons that are being taught around me. I now feel that I have the ability to implement many different strategies in my own lessons in my future classrooms.

Part of my job in Methods class was to complete fieldwork and teach one of the lessons I developed. The whole purpose of fieldwork is to learn and observe new and different teaching strategies and styles. My fieldwork has been an extremely beneficial experience this semester, much more beneficial than in past years, because now I possessed the knowledge about different teaching approaches and I could easily distinguish one from the other when the teacher I observed was using them. I was lucky to be able to observe an excellent first grade teacher. The first grade curriculum in that particular district is only composed of the reading, writing, and math subject areas so, therefore, I could not implement any of my lesson plans that were all built around a science curriculum. Still, the fieldwork experience has really enhanced my knowledge about how to teach and what it is going to be like as a future educator.


One of the most important assigments during this semester, was the creation of my WebQuest, "Animals from the Galapagos Islands." This was extremely challenging becuase I was never very computer saavy and after I put in my time, heart, and dedication into building it I feel very proud of the result. One of the most rewarding experiences was when, during my fieldwork hours, the students got to see my WebQuest. Several factors prevented the students from participating in the WebQuest in the appropriate way. The grade level and the course content did not allow me to teach the Cooperative Learning lesson which was written to utilize the WebQuest. I was able to project the WebQuest for the whole class and used it as material for a more direct instructional type of lesson. I was able to see that the pictures and videos presented in the WebQuest were great and the kids loved them. It was an awesome feeling because the kids were having fun and learning from something that I created.

I was able to read information from the WebQuest about the animals from the Galapagos to the class and was also able to ask them how they would solve the animals problem. The entire class participated and gave many great ideas. They also wanted to share experiences that they had with other types of animals. They answered my questions and they wanted to keep looking at the animal pictures. Even though the students were not asked to create something after the lesson and did not work in small groups, I could still see that WebQuest is designed to promote high-level thinking in the students. I feel that the use of the WebQuest made teaching fun for me and learning fun for the students. This was the first time I taught in front of a class in the Unites States and I have to say, I felt very confident and comfortable teaching those wonderful students!

I now possess a very complete understanding of how to create a WebQuest and I will do it again because they are an extremely beneficial tool to use in any classroom. Since technology plays such a huge role in all childrens' lives, I feel it is the perfect tool for modern educators.

CELEBRATION OF DIVERSITY

When I lived in Ecuador I worked for a school that is called a School of Integration. There are regular schools and schools for special education and this new type of school that I worked at wanted to integrate the children with special needs into regular classrooms. The students who had more severe disabilities, like the children with Down's Syndrome, were pulled out of the classrooms to work in a resource room on a one to one instructional basis. The point that I want to address is that the teachers were constantly differentiating the instrucion for these students without even knowing that there is a whole theory behind Diferentiated Instruction.

One day, when I was sitting in Methods class learning about this topic, I began ot think about all of the widely varying activities that the teachers had to organize in order to maintain the students' interest while at the same time promoting individual success. I remember Patricia, a fifth grade teacher, who put together a bilateral learning contract with a student named Diego, one part for him as a student and one part for her as his teacher. Because in the past he did not receive any kind of feedback or prompts from his teacher when he completed assigments he lost his interest in class and instead decided to misbehave. With a mutually structured contract the teacher was negotiating with the student based on his assessed needs, strengths and interests. It was a way to tell the student about his role and empower him to make decisions about his own learning.

Camila, a second grade student who came after the school year started, had a history of domestic abuse and was a huge discipline issue that began to interfere with her school work. Before she got to our school she had already been in 3 other schools that asked her to leave (remember to keep in mind that I talking about a different school system than the United States where all this is possible!). Liz, our wonderful second grade teacher, knew that she needed to help Camila raise her self-esteem along with designing her specific curriculum based upon her learning profile. Some of the strategies the teacher used were peer teaching, where the teacher worked with Camila one-to-one and flexible grouping which allowed Camila to move between groups based on her needs at the time. When the teacher discovered Camila's interests and her best learning style (science classes and kinesthetic preferences), Camila's increased motivation to learn permitted her eventual adaptation to the class and she started to grow and overcome her difficult past experiences. This teacher was not aware of the term "Differentiated Instruction" but she did know that Camila needed a spark that would help her to start burning!

I am sure that in the process of implementing those strategies for Camila many difficulties needed to be addressed and problably not everything worked as easily and immediately as it sounds in this paper, but the effort, dedication, time, and love that the teacher put into Camila, and many other students at the same time are the things that make a difference in the lives of her students.

Methos of teaching has given me an understanding of each Model of Instruction including the definition, principles, characteristcs, and applications. As a teacher that will be imparting information to students, it is important to know the various instructional approaches in order to cover all the different topics in more than just the traditional way. With all the solid information that I received throughout the course I now feel that I have the power to use the different approaches effectively and modifying them to suit the needs of my students. Just like Patricia and Liz, I want to celebrate diversity by getting to know my students, their strengths, their interests, and their needs.

IT IS MATTER OF ATTITUDE

I am happy and relieved that this semester is ending, but believe it or not, I also feel sad. Like one of my classmates mentioned, "I feel like the family is breaking up." This has been the first time in my student life in the United States that I was actually looking forward to going to classes. Why? Well after completing a weeks worth of work I really wanted to present my assigments to my peers, and my professor. It was always rewarding to have the feedback from them because it made me feel that I was actually doing the assigments for a real reason and not necessarily just for a grade like most of the times in other courses. I was doing assigments as part of the process of learning and sharing them with people who were also learning as I was and this allowed me to openly discuss and reflect on those topics. I was also looking forward to oberving the mini lessons that were presented on a weekly basis. Every group really worked hard and made every class fun through their creativity, social activities and participation. It was sometimes like we were only having fun and not learning at all! I did not get bored or feel that time was ever going slowly. Sometimes it was overwheling and felt like I needed more time to process everything that was going on in class. We were constantly moving, moving, moving, one thing after another, like a storm of knowledge falling down into our brains.
I also liked to go to school this semester beucase I actually had friends who I were looking forward to meeting every week. I did not feel isolated like in the past and I finally broke through the wall that had surrounded me and I felt socially involved and part of the group. I did not feel intimidated by English any more and felt that my friends were familiar with my Spanish accent so, therefore, I could speak more spontaneously. Being part of the Methods family gave me the confidence that I can be socially involved and that I do not have to be afraid of my language limitations. I have learned that if I open up to people I can develop new frienships more easily than I thought I could. My atittude has undoubtedly changed this semester. My attitude towards people in this country has improved. I used to feel isolated and that people here were unfriendly and cold but in Methods I found that every single person in the class was not just nice, they were supportive, they were helpful, and they were truly team partners!