UVUEDELjessica

I am making connections between course topics and my service learning. I have enjoyed finishing a module and reflecting on how I have seen those exact things implemented in my service learning. I have especially liked to see how Mrs. Porritt differentiates her teaching. It is fun to learn about concepts that I have already seen in practice I have been able to articulate my own learning. I have enjoyed the blog post assignments because they have helped me to reflect on the exact examples I have seen in the classroom and to organize my thoughts about them.   The process of blogging has absolutely made me think and notice things in my service learning. It has encouraged me to take notes of things that I found correlated with things that I was learning in class. I wanted to have my thoughts written down while they were fresh in my mind knowing I would be blogging about them.  From my first blog post to this one, I see that I can relate specific concepts that I have learned in...

It has been very eye-opening to learn about the standards used in the Utah education system. I have had two children go through the system and I had no idea about many of the things I learned in this module.  I see evidence of the standards addressed daily in Mrs. Porritt's class. Reading, Math, and Science are all completed in the morning when the students are fresh and ready to learn. Reading Math and Science are covered every day for a longer amount of time than any other subject. Spelling seems to be worked on every other day. Mrs. Porritt makes sure that there is ample time for questions and multiple activities to make sure that the concepts are sinking in and are taught in many ways to help different learning styles. Reading, Math, and Science seem to take priority over other subjects. Art, Social Studies and computers are also taught but not daily. I can’t see anything that is completely not being addressed but it seems that Art and Social Studies are taught much less than t...

The areas of diversity that I see in the classroom where I am doing my service learning are linguistic diversity and special needs diversity.  I see Mrs. Porritt deal with many students that speak Spanish exclusively at home. She has her classroom library grouped into English and Spanish books. This creates the ability for her students to read their books at home with their parents. After the instruction is given to the class she will put the students to work and then meet with her Spanish-speaking students in a small group. She then gives them very simplified instructions in English and answers any questions that they have before they proceed with the assignment or activity.   The students with special needs also receive differentiating instruction. She has created a daily schedule that runs as much the same as possible. She told me that this helps her students with anxiety and emotional issues to feel secure. She has printed signage all over the classroom explaining the...

I have seen support for English learners in Mrs. Porritt’s class. There is a young girl from Mexico in the fourth-grade class that I have been in. She speaks very little English and has a disability. She is supported in many ways. She is pulled out of class to work with an aide daily on her English. She is also pulled from class to have specialized help in speech and reading. I wish this district had funding for dual immersion. She would benefit greatly from a program like that. The landmark decision that stated that students must receive supplemental language materials to meet their needs was Lau v. Nichols in 1974. It led to the creation of guidelines school districts use to provide ELL instruction. These guidelines are called the Lau plan and ensure equal access to education.  I am seeing the results of Brown v. Board of education in my service learning. There are no African American students in the class I am in but there are Hispanic and Asian children. The Brown ruling ensure...

 I have observed Mrs. Porritt engaging her class in many ways. Mrs. Porritt applied for a grant and received funds to hatch fish in a tank at the school. Once per week the students go to the tank and measure different metrics. They see if there is any visual change in the fish. Examples are: Have they grown? Are they more energetic? Are they being social or keeping to themselves?  They also take measure the temperature of the water and take water samples. When they get back to class they add chemicals to the water to measure the levels in the water and make sure it is healthy for the fish. They then broke into groups to discuss the differences they noticed and to predict what changes they may see the next week. The types of learning used in this multi-week activity are project-based, hands-on, and conversation. Another ongoing class project is hydroponic gardening. Mrs. Porritt wrote another grant to purchase a seven-foot-tall hydroponic growing center that is in the back of t...

My cooperative teacher, Mrs.Porritt, offered the students a choice as they began their Math activity. She explained to them that the project would take approximately 45 minutes. She explained that through rounding they would solve puzzles to help them figure out a mystery. She gave them the choice of solving the mystery on their own, with one partner, or with a larger group. She emphasized that the choice was theirs to decide if they wanted to work in a group and if they did how big it would be. I was interested to see that there were two large groups, many groups of three, and a few groups of two, and three students that chose to work alone. As I walked around observing they all had a different experience solving the mystery. I could tell the choices made them feel some control over the outcome of the activity.  Mrs. Porritt establishes a positive relationship with each student by taking a moment each day to connect with them. As the students came into the classroom in the mornin...