Where children sit makes a huge difference on what they will learn, one of the benefits is to have them sit in a circle on the carpet area. I have seen this applied in the classroom and it does work because they are away from their desks which keeps them away from distractions. When the students are at their desks they start playing with their pencils boxes and opening it and closing it, tapping their pencils, their feet kicking the tables or the other students. They will find anything or whatever it is that’s around them to play around with and not be focused on the class instruction. When they are in a circle setting the teacher can easily see them all and be so close that they have complete eye contact with the students and a teacher knows when they need to reemphasize the instruction or keep on moving based on the close eye contact interaction. My co-teacher has an interesting way of not forgetting certain handouts to pass out to the students and that is she places her handouts on one certain student’s desk because he/she knows that without fail that student will remind them to pass them. Sure enough the student comes in and says “Ms. ___ what is this on my desk?” During my read aloud I learned that I had to make adjustments even as I was reading the book just because I saw students facial expressions and I had to take into consideration the reading level that most of these students where in and slow my pace down. In the math and science class even though it’s not a literacy class the walls still had to display word walls and it took me almost all day but I got it done and I also switched out several of the books and added new bins of books in the library. I went through 4 boxes of books but the end result was great because one student came up to me and said the new bin I added are of her favorite books (Junie B. Jones). Last week I got the chance to line up the students for lunch, it might seem like a simple process but there is so much more to it, like getting them to line up quietly. I was successful in getting all the students lined up and ready to go. I used the co-teachers process because it is her class and the students have a set routine and I certainly did not want to interfere with their routine. I first called out for the line leader and door holders to line up then I looked around for the quite tables (Nay Nay’s, Miami Heats, Bikers, and Watchdogs), to see which group goes next and then we say a little chant of rules (things not to do while in line) and off they go to lunch.
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"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery." Author
Rosa M. Vela Archives
May 2015
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