Draft of Context
My student teaching experience this year is in a Kindergarten classroom at Penn Alexander Elementary School in West Philadelphia. Some may debate the school’s status as a school resourced with a subsidized university partnership, the catchment zone where lines determine the student population and the increased property values families face just so their children can attend the school. West Philadelphia holds various resources and assets such as Clark Park which is home to community flea markets, musical and theatrical performances, the Rotunda, a venue for the arts and other resources such as the West Philly Tool Library which helps homeowners maintain their homes and property value in low-income neighborhoods. I had the privilege to interview the president of the West Philly Tool Library as well as the president of the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools which is an organization that aims to bring the community and its resources into the schools. As I walk around Penn Alexander's neighborhood, the stores, eateries and people come from cultures across the globe. Akin to the neighborhood’s eclectic mix this cultural diversity transfers into the students in my classroom. They all have different personalities, interests, learning styles and abilities in which I must keep in mind when I lesson plan.
My Kindergarten classroom is never silent. Not to say that it is an out of control, talkative environment but my classroom teacher believes in student talk where they are free to read aloud in the morning, talk to their assigned reading partners during a literacy lesson, talk to their table about their stories during Writing Workshop or engage in classroom discourse during Math Congress on the carpet. Monitoring the discussion is usually not an issue with this class but when it is, my classroom teacher puts them back on track immediately. Transitioning from subject to subject is usually done through a short song so the students know that they have to sit on the carpet. Though I cannot sing a song to transition myself into my two-week takeover, I have been adding on more responsibilities in the classroom so when the time comes, it will be a comfortable transition.
The curriculum that I have chosen is going to be about change over time through the lens of a butterfly and a frog’s life cycle. I found this topic to be appropriate because of a variety of reasons beginning with that the science portion of the curriculum is developmentally appropriate for their grade level. We will also be observing a butterfly’s life cycle as it will be a classroom pet. It is part of the Kindergarten curriculum that my teacher would like for me to take over which segues well into the changing seasons. Reading informational text is new to my students because we have just started comparing real bears to story bears from Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Most of my students have been showing interest in informational text so I would like to take full advantage of it while I can.
Lastly, Piaget stated that most three to five year old children are egocentric so talking about how my students have changed over time will be engaging during the integrated Social Studies unit. I would like for them to realize their personal changes over a period of time regarding their physical growth and their progressions in learning, particularly in literacy. We will get a chance to talk about the changes in the seasons and changes in the world around them outside of the classrom. We have already discussed about how much they have progressed in terms of their reading and writing skills by comparing old and new stories from their Writing Journals in a gallery walk. As I introduce my unit with the frog and butterfly’s life cycle, I would like for them to get the bigger picture to see the different dimensions in how they have changed over time whether it is through their reading and writing skills, their physical body or in how they think.
My Kindergarten classroom is never silent. Not to say that it is an out of control, talkative environment but my classroom teacher believes in student talk where they are free to read aloud in the morning, talk to their assigned reading partners during a literacy lesson, talk to their table about their stories during Writing Workshop or engage in classroom discourse during Math Congress on the carpet. Monitoring the discussion is usually not an issue with this class but when it is, my classroom teacher puts them back on track immediately. Transitioning from subject to subject is usually done through a short song so the students know that they have to sit on the carpet. Though I cannot sing a song to transition myself into my two-week takeover, I have been adding on more responsibilities in the classroom so when the time comes, it will be a comfortable transition.
The curriculum that I have chosen is going to be about change over time through the lens of a butterfly and a frog’s life cycle. I found this topic to be appropriate because of a variety of reasons beginning with that the science portion of the curriculum is developmentally appropriate for their grade level. We will also be observing a butterfly’s life cycle as it will be a classroom pet. It is part of the Kindergarten curriculum that my teacher would like for me to take over which segues well into the changing seasons. Reading informational text is new to my students because we have just started comparing real bears to story bears from Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Most of my students have been showing interest in informational text so I would like to take full advantage of it while I can.
Lastly, Piaget stated that most three to five year old children are egocentric so talking about how my students have changed over time will be engaging during the integrated Social Studies unit. I would like for them to realize their personal changes over a period of time regarding their physical growth and their progressions in learning, particularly in literacy. We will get a chance to talk about the changes in the seasons and changes in the world around them outside of the classrom. We have already discussed about how much they have progressed in terms of their reading and writing skills by comparing old and new stories from their Writing Journals in a gallery walk. As I introduce my unit with the frog and butterfly’s life cycle, I would like for them to get the bigger picture to see the different dimensions in how they have changed over time whether it is through their reading and writing skills, their physical body or in how they think.