Lady Bugs, Tornadoes and Swirling Galaxies

Chapters 8 -10

SQUARE:

What “squared” with your thinking? That is, what ideas did you encounter in the reading that were consistent with what you already know and/or believe about teaching?

Once again Buhrow and Garcia presents a great read from Ladybugs, Tornadoes, and Swirling Galaxies. These final chapters pull together the stimulating research and observations of curious, enthusiastic, and joyful ELL learners. Now that Buhrow and Garcia have offered ideologies, strategies and connections to incorporate into the classroom to communicate that offer the best possible outcome of engaging students in learning experiences it is time to create and support the learning process by publishing their hard work while maintaining interest and continuously searching for new learning opportunities. “We have been encouraged to continue to reflect on our teaching and to search for new and better ways to make reading, writing, and learning for our ELLs a meaningful experience that they will continue to explore and build on throughout their lives (Buhrow, 2006).” I feel the most important information of this book encourages “reciprocal learning environment” a constant reflection of both lessons and students to continuously revise based on the environment, relationships, ZPD, and interest of the student in order to achieve the highest possible academic engagement that students will be able to not only learn from, yet understand and develop for further knowledge.

TRIANLGE:
What “pointed” you in new directions? What new ideas did you discover in the readings? Discuss the ways in which the readings provided new understandings about teaching and learning.

 Schema, Schema, and more schema! Schema is the framework of learning and making connections to new information for long term knowledge rather than short term memory. ELL students have many opportunities as they learn the English language to make connections with text linguistically, and socially. These connections offer ELL as well as students in general learning opportunities to internalize and remember. Psychologist Jean Piaget describes schema in his stages of cognitive development. Each of his four stages of cognitive development helps to frame learning for the next level. Buhrow states that “fascination grew as he began to learn that there is much more out there.” Schema demonstrates that there is a process in learning which inspires my focus to engage and encourage learners along the way. Through scaffolding and assessments we are able to make important discoveries that will offer exciting, interesting and familiar content to build their schema.

CIRCLE:
What thoughts are still “circling” in your mind? Discuss the ways in which you think you could use the new information to build on what you already know. In addition, you should write about the things that still puzzle you. Write about your concerns. Write questions about things you don’t understand, things that make you think of your own learning, and especially things that you relate to your own teaching.

“In the end, we are all working together and having a lot of fun while also looking critically at what is being introduced in the classroom (Buhrow, 2006).” This quote is an excellent summation of this book as well as this semester. New information was introduced, read, discussed, applied, and reflected upon regularly throughout this semester. As 1^st year graduate students of MAT at GSU, we built relationships that encouraged and supported one another. We learned how repetition of routines, text readings and even assignments help to reflect and refine themes, theories, and ideologies.  I am still anxious of the path ahead and how we will continue to expand our funds of knowledge to further our professional growth as educators.

Bringing it All Together

It seems that although this month was just as full of learning and discovering as any other it has came and went by very quickly! November focused more on cohesiveness for me as I work in an inclusion classroom with two others, a co-teacher and a para. This month demonstrated the importance of Unity and emphasized that teachers are the most important piece of the Unity Unit! As I work to implement new strategies and theories learned I must pause to understand that all teachers in the classroom must and should be on one accord, especially as I focus on the importance of ‘School Family’. I really enjoyed learning about the importance of Conscious Discipline and the strategies it offered to building the ‘school family’ a term we began using with our unit on Families. As a Pre-K teacher making connections to the home is very important to gaining students’ attention and building relationships. Dr. Bailey states that “it is important that children believe they are meaningful contributors to the school family. Meaningful contributions build self-worth and value within the individual. An internal feeling of self-worth extends outward as kindness, sharing and cooperation.” (Bailey, 2000).

After much hesitation on my part I finally implemented a helper’s chart. Why did I wait so long?!?? These last two weeks of November my students have become the most helpful group I have seen in a while. They remind the designated helper of her/his responsibilities, offer to help if a student helper is absent, and are eager to be assigned a helper. I read this and even listened to  fellow classmates discuss how it worked in the classroom yet I felt that it was too time consuming to try and my students would not be interested. BOY WAS I WRONG!

My school family is now ready for takeoff, well not quite.

 As I have been eager about becoming a better educator and implement new techniques in the classroom I seem to have forgot to maintain the connections between my co-teacher and para. The family unit leaders seem to be on my ‘lows’ more than I would have liked this month. I have learned to use my lows for opportunities to improve therefore I am able to have such perspective. Now that I am gaining new theories, ideologies and strategies to use in the classroom of three (3) teachers I need to learn how to share my thoughts of implementing before I do. My co-teacher and para are great supporters yet I want them to feel just as much a part of the school family as the students and myself. I noticed that my teachers began to ‘drift’; not being as connected to the unit as they were while we worked so diligently to build our school family.

 Through all my readings about school routines, school family, connections, classroom culture, etc. I forgot to keep in mind those I work with to make it successful and understandable from another person’s perspective. Did I seem to shut them out? Did I fail to communicate new ideas, strategies? Where was the drop in communication? All of my readings regard the teacher working alone while I work with two others I feel that I need to re-evaluate the communication among us to maintain the progress of the students we teach because students notice a disconnect much earlier than we realize which comes through in their behavior, good and bad. Moving forward I hope to continue the gains of school family through building better student-teacher relationships as well as teacher-teacher relationships because we all need to feel that we belong and are important!