Course Strands

Communication

Communication has played a major role throughout this semester. It was imperative that I communicated with my students at Apache. It was crucial to build a trusting relationship with my students so that they would feel comfortable communicating with me so that we could work together to meet our goals. Communication was also very important between classmates and instructor. Because our class changed location every week, communication became a major component.

Research/Content

Class presentations, discussions, and reflection was the bulk of content and research for this semester. I thought it was very useful and informative to have each student focus on one chapter of the book and share what was most important. Not only did this allow each student to have a moment of teaching practice, it was also a great way to discuss the highlights and allowed for more focused learning.

Technology

Obviously, as you read this webpage you can see how extensively technology was implemented in this class! Beyond the web-pages, technology became a very important component for communication. Email was used extensively between the instructor and classmates to direct the classes fieldtrips. Also, thanks to digital photography, we have a visual timeline of all of our experiences.

Collaboration

We collaborated with Apache school and Ms. Bradshaw’s students, and we collaborated with the community as a whole! We were each able to plan and execute a field trip that took collaboration between us and the people at the location we went to. We also collaborated with other classmates with our anthologies.

Five Dimensions of Learning

Confidence and Independence

I have greatly built upon my confidence in teaching older children this semester. I am always a little skeptical when I hear that I will be working with students above grade 2 because I have had the most experience working with children ages 4-6. While working with my students at Apache, I was able to realize that I can relate to them and reach them. It was very gratifying to see them progress towards our goal and reaffirmed my teaching abilities. Also, because each teacher worked alone with their students, this experience provided a great opportunity to practice independence.

Skills and Strategies

Many skills and strategies have also been strengthened by this class. I have been able to practice and expand on my communication skills by planning and executing a fieldtrip. I have had great practice improving my listening skills as we collaborated as a group and with the community members we met. Perhaps most importantly, I have learned a great deal of strategies for working with students that are second language learners. Before this class, I knew how important it was to reach the children that faced a language barrier, but I just didn’t know how. Throughout this course, I have learned a great deal of strategies of how to teach and reach second language learners and was exposed to ways in which to do so throughout many different aspects of curriculum including technology, science, social studies, math and more. I was also able to practice many of those strategies with my students at Apache and learned that many of them are universal- ESL or English speakers- the strategies work for all J .

Knowledge Content

After having enriched class discussions, being exposed to great resources, and listening to members of the community who have shared their knowledge and personal experiences, I have a much better understanding of how to nurture diverse learners. I have a broader perspective and have learned effective skills and strategies. I have learned that there are many, many resources at my fingertips and to reach out into the community to utilize them.

Use of Prior and Emerging Experiences

I used my prior experiences with my students at Apache to help guide my instruction for the following week. I was able to connect to my students by remembering and referring to things they had told me. I was also able to relate to them by referring to my experiences performing at the beginning of the semester. I think this is a great example of how teachers can connect to their students by sharing experiences. I have heard from many of my UNM instructors that they do the same work as we do and that they don’t ask us to do anything that they don’t do. By performing first before asking the student to do so, I can see the power that this teaching strategy lends. Also, I was able to apply my experiences and knowledge gained in this class to pass my TESOL test. Yeah!

Critical Reflection

WOW! This has been an unpredictable, fast paced, inspiring, incredible semester! As I reflect on all of the many things that I have experienced throughout this course, I have come to realize a great deal about myself as a student and teacher. I have truly taken responsibility for my own learning- I learn for me! I have discovered that one will only take away what they want. Anyone can show up to class and do the work needed to get a grade, but actual learning is personal. I have learned the importance of reflection and realized that sometimes the important “stuff” comes only once you have digested the information- once you have internalized it and related it to your own experiences. I can only hope that when I am an educator, I will help my students to come to this realization as well.