Just a personal question from Dr. Ries

 How has this  Covid-19pandemic affected your life ..........outside of the classroom?   What are you looking forward to doing this summer that you were unable to do last summer?   

Dr. Ries and a social studies question

1. Now that you are in the final weeks of this ED449e course, what have you decided is the importance of social studies in the elementary curriculum?  What, exactly, do you think students learn from being exposed to a social studies curriculum at the elementary level?  Should we think of eliminating social studies at the K-3 level and start in Grade 4?   

2.   What are three things that you learned from having taken this course?    What did you learn that you had not known before?    

 Leslie and classroom management 

Are there any classroom management tricks/techniques that you use with your students that you have found to be efficient?   Did you learn about these approaches while you were observing in your present classroom?   In essence, how do you keep students focused?   How do you start the day efficiently?   How do you keep your room organized?    How do you get the students to move from one activity to another?   How do you maintain the students' attention?  How do you make sure students follow class rules?    

And finally, have you ever tried to use a management technique that worked with one group, tried it again with another group of students only to have it fail?   Why do you think this happened?     

Paul and the Praxis

 I am interested in knowing how you study for the Praxis exam?     

1. What methods do you use to break down various questions?

2. What are some helpful hints that have helped you to achieve a good score on certain  Praxis tests?

3. Do you think that the Praxis is a fair test forum for us to pass before going into the field of education?   Why or why not?  

Kylie is posing classroom management questions

 Since you now have spent some time with your cooperating teacher, what are some things you like that he/she does in the classroom that you would want to do in your own classroom?

Similarly, what are some things you don’t like that you would do differently in your own classroom?

What are some classroom management approaches that you feel are clever and innovative that you have observed that you feel you would like to bring to your own classroom? 

Dr. Ries is asking two separate questions.

1. Now that you have completed the three edTPA lesson plans and written your commentary to go along with those plans, what do you feel that you have learned about lesson planning and commentary writing? How do you think that this assignment has helped as you start thinking about student teaching? 

2. Which of the three computer programs that were introduced in this class (to date) will be helpful to you as you think in terms of your student teaching experience?   Why?    (You may choose all three, but tell us how you see them being applied to your lessons). 

Leslie's various questions for the week

 

1. What strengths do you believe that you can bring to the classroom next semester?    What strengths do you believe that you can bring to the school in which you will finally teach?   

2. What was the most memorable thing you took away from your first observation this semester?   Is the class large in number?   Are the students being taught remotely or are they in class?   Are the students attentive?   What is the ability range in the class, e.g., below grade level, on grade level, above grade level?   Number of boys? Number of girls?    Overall enthusiasm for learning?   

3. What challenges do you think you might encounter as you start your student teaching in this class?