Aldine ISD field trip really opened my eyes on to just how much I can actually impact children lives. The children were some of the most well behaved children I have ever seen and the passion of the teacher’s was unquestionable.
It differed in so many ways from the two school districts I have seen, which are Mckinney and Bryan ISD. Since it was an urban school district, their fears were centered around dropout rates in minorities expanding, more of bilingual education, to give anyone and everyone the education they deserve and gangs. Never before have I really seen how schools deal with gangs and how they can affect the student body so much. These teacher’s try to give them the opposite of gangs which is education and the outlook of vast opportunities in life. They mention how important it is for them to start getting their students to look for colleges right now. They did this by alumni days, college posters in the library, and each teacher had a sign on her or his door. This was refreshing to know it really is never too early to encourage the students to take hold of their future even if it is not right around the corner. The school also had an “art on a cart.” This showed me, they might not have the perfect environments\ to do the normal art class but that will not hinder the students ability to learn innovation and power of encouragement of art.
This school also seemed to put so much emphasis on reading levels. No matter what the grade or subject in every classroom you saw word walls. These had mixture of english and spanish depending on the grade. I know this is a strategy we hear about a lot, but the way the principal explained it to me, created excitement. She talked about just how you will be surprised how much it helps student remember what they have learned and how you can vastly expand some kid’s vocabulary. She talked about how some of the best word walls also had some of the best reading levels.
They emphasized the usage of anchor charts as well. I have heard of them before but have never seen just how normal teachers use them. They were even in kindergarden classes. These anchor charts really seemed to be helping by keeping the students in line. It tells them clear definition of what they have learned and even what the expectations are to be followed in the classroom. You can tell it helped with discipline and making sure that the objectives are mastered.
The usage of “Pick Five”or “Daily Five” interested me as well. This allowed multiple intelligence to be used as well. Allowing you as a teacher be able to play in the weakness of a student and also the strength of the children as well. These are focused around reading and writing. One teacher told me she uses it as stations while another says she goes strictly around the needs of certain group of students. Many also had anchor charts at each station to make sure the students were aware of what they were suppose to be doing.
As a future educator this trip taught me to never underestimate the abilities of you and your student’s learning capacity. That learning never seizes to stop and improvements can always be made. Also, what I really need to be looking for when it comes to student teaching and making sure to ask how the school can help me become a better teacher. I have never really thought about looking for that before. Also, that to make sure I know many can teach but few can teach with passion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoNQCm89ZZg
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