Westridge Elementary 01/27/14

Today was so fun!! I volunteered from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm in a 2nd grade classroom with a teacher named Ms. Gardiner. I really enjoyed being with the kids for this long, I felt like I really learned a lot about classroom management. In this particular class, there are many kids whose first language isn't English.

To help these kids, Ms. Gardiner taught in a very visual manner. I especially commend her for having visual representations during math time. Math can be very difficult for 2nd graders, especially if they don't speak or understand english very well. I feel like showing the students instead of telling them is always a better teaching method, no matter what the subject is.

Another approach taken was that after a concept was explained, the teacher would go around and help students individually with their work. I feel like one-on-one time is so beneficial for students, especially if they are learning english. Ms. Gardiner was so great at working with each student, I could tell that she really cared for each one and wanted them to succeed. I learned a lot from being in this class, and I can't wait to go again next Monday!! 

January 23, 2014 (Second Fieldwork experience)

Today I spent 12:30 to 2:30 at Wasatch Elementary, and I loved every minute of it! I spent the first hour  reading with a students named Beckett, and he was so sweet and funny. After we passed off his reading (which took full hour) we moved on to math. Beckett has dyslexia, and it's extremely hard for him to organize letters and numbers in his mind. Words problems were extremely difficult for him, but we got through several before he had to leave to his regular class. During math time, besides working with Beckett, I worked with two other students named Esther and Eli. It was really exciting working with this small group, and they all had such personalities.

When Beckett left, I went and sat in a class with a down syndrome student named Andrew. He was so sweet, but it was really hard for him to focus, so I ended up taking him back to room 200 to do some homework.

This school is different than schools in earlier periods of history because it offers not only a program for disabled students, but it also offers a chinese program for chinese speaking students.

Overall it was a very fun day!

First Fieldwork Experience

Hello there! My name is Kimberly Young, I am a student at UVU, and I have recently had the opportunity to volunteer with some children at Wasatch Elementary! They were exceptional students, and I absolutely LOVED working with them. We did reading, spelling and learned rhyming words. After that the students had "computer time" where they did reading exercises. Overall it was a really great experience, those kids were so cute!! I cannot wait to go back next week and learn with them again.

It was so cool to see the different learning behaviors in the classroom. I saw a lot of different intelligences in this particular classroom. The teacher used visual and musical ways to teach the students, and the students really understood the material.

It seems to me that teachers are so busy all day! They are constantly running around, reading to students, spelling words and making sure everyone is paying attention. Being a teacher is a very demanding and stressful job, but teachers always seem so happy and fulfilled. I am very excited to become one someday.