Kiley+Slagle

=**This wikispace logs Kiley Slagle's experiences in the classroom during the Fall 2009 SEED 296 ****Paraprofessional Experience **=

 This is the first field experience of the teacher education program. Its purpose is to provide insight into the real world of teaching in the K-8 and 7-12 setting. It provides a “hands-on” experience in which students may ask questions and share concerns they may have regarding the teaching profession. The experience will provide an opportunity to observe, record, and assess student behavior, effective teaching practices, and characteristics of different learning environments appropriate for children. This course will provide structure and guidance for the students as they observe, gather information, and reflect on teaching as a career. John Dewey, one of the most famous American educators, wrote extensively about reflective teaching. He defined reflective teaching as avoiding the “routine” and “impulsive” behaviors in favor of taking the time to “give serious consideration” to our actions. According to Dewey, the intelligent person thinks before he or she acts, and action becomes deliberate and intentional. In order for students to secure knowledge and insight from the field experience, their observations and participation have to be made with careful, analytical, and deliberate planning. Paraprofessional students develop their leadership skills while contributing to, learning from and influencing the learning of others.




 * Kiley Slagle's Fall 2009 Paraprofessional Placement**
 * School: || Austin Elementary ||
 * Field-based supervisor: || Gretchen Burbach ||
 * Content area or grade level: || Kindergarten ||
 * FBS e-mail address: || Gretchen.Burbach@k12.sd.us ||
 * FBS phone: ||  ||
 * USD instructor || Mary Collins, Phone: 605-677-5155, e-mail: mary.collins@usd.edu ||


 * 30 hours of field-based classroom participation **
 * **Date ** ||< **Hours **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> || **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Description of my activities/participation in the classroom.... **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> ||
 * 10/7/09 ||< 2:00-4:00

2 || I arrived at about 2:20 and talked briefly with Ms. Burbach about the lesson plan for today. She told me we were learning about instruments in the marching band for the next few weeks and that I needed to place the various instruments she had underneath each student chair. I placed a series of wood blocks, miniature cymbals, and triangles underneath each chair. The class started with each Kindergartner marching to their chair. The point of this was to try and maintain a beat with their feet. Then we played a game using the instruments underneath each student. The rules were as follows: One student sat on a chair in the middle of the circle and was blindfolded. All the other students sang a song that goes "Listen, Children, what instrument do you hear?" (The tune jumping from pitches SOL to MI) And Ms. Burbach would hold up one of the three instruments listed above and every student who had that instrument would play it. Then the blindfolded student would guess what instrument was playing and respond with, "I hear a (cymbal, wood block, or triangle) playing. It was very fun. Then we continued to learn about internal beat as we tapped out a beat on our hearts symbolizing that the beat of a song is like a steady heartbeat. After class, I helped Ms. Burbach put each instrument away and then left. It was a good day. || 2 || This was a different set of Kindergartners than the ones I had on Wednesday. So Ms. Burbach started by introducing me to the new classroom and we talked a little bit about marching band and what instrument I played and that I twirl the flags and rifles in the marching band. All of the children were really excited to see me in the parade on saturday. Then the class talked about the snare drum and its origination and how to manipulate the instrument to make different sounds. They filled out a worksheet that had five different instruments on it: a piano, a snare drum, a violin, a flute, and a trombone. On this worksheet they were supposed to circle the instruements that belong in a marching band. After, they were supposed to draw what instrument they wanted to play, eventually, on the back. I just sat at the back of the classroom and watched all of this happen and participated in various singing activities she also had. This was the end of the class period. ||
 * 10/9 ||< 2:00-4:00
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> 10/14 ||< 2:00-4:00

2 || Everyone started by singing the "Hello Song" and marching to their seats. We are still working with marching band instruments and learning about what each looks and sounds like. Today the snare drum was introduced and also the brass family. Mrs. Burbach explained the Trombone and also played it a little for the children. At the end of the day we watched a video on the Smart Board of an indoor marching competition and children pointed out each instrument they have learned about. ||
 * 10/16 ||< 2:00-4:00

2 || Today the children learned the second half the the "Hello Song" and the lesson was on the rhyming words in the lyrics. Students were asked to point out which words rhymed at the end of the phrases of the song. Today was also the introduction to the woodwind family and Mrs. Burbach brought in a flute. I got up in front of the class a played a few notes on the flute. Also, Mrs. Burbach continued the lesson on beat and students practiced finding the beat of a song on the snare drum. ||
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> 10/23 ||< 2:00-4:00

2 || Continued to learn about the woodwind family. I brought in my clarinet and introduced it to class, explained how it worked, and played a little for them. Mrs. Burbach and I did a duet on clarinet and trombone. Then we played a game for the rest of the time that urged the students to completely understand beat. It involved keeping the beat with the snare drum so students could understand the concept. ||
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> 10/28 ||< 2:00-4:00

2 ||< Today was the introduction of the string family. In order to better learn about orchestra (stringed) instruments, Mrs. Burbach is using the composition by Prokiev entitled "Peter and the Wolf." Today we introduced two of the main characters: Peter, and the Wolf. In this selection, each character is represented by an instrument. Peter corresponds with a string quartet, and the wolf corresponds with a bassoon. We showed the students this and played little games so that they could remember the names easier. ||  ||   ||   ||
 * 10/30 ||< 2:00-4:00

2 || Because today was the last day before Halloween, Mrs. Burbach handed all the students a few pumpkin seeds to eat that she had baked. Then we continued to learn about "Peter and the Wolf." She had all students come in and listen to the soundtrack and she asked the students how it made them feel. One girl said it made her feel sad. But the point was so that students would think it made them happy since it was a string quartet playing. I observed as the children talked about how the music made them feel and then we clapped on our knees the rhythm to "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater." ||
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> 11/04 ||< 2:00-4:00

2 || Today we kept up with learning and focusing on the rhythm of "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater." The students got into groups of three and each group had a xylophone that they worked with. The objective was that the students got to compose their own piece of music only using the syllables of solfedge "sol" and "mi." Each student got a chance to pick from those syllables in any pattern but according to the rhythm of the song and then present it to the class. I also got to participate and compose and present to the class. ||
 * 11/06 ||< 2:00-4:00

2 || We moved on today to the next character from "Peter and he Wold" which was the bird. Mrs. Burbach started the class by playing the flute song that goes along with the bird in the story. Every student had to act like they were playing the flute along with the song and then walk around the room pretending they were birds flitting around. Then she taught the children a song about a bird. It was the nursery rhyme "Blue Bird in my window." After learning the song the students started playing a game that Mrs. Burbach invented: all the students stand in a circle with linked hands above their head as one student runs through all the hands being the "blue bird." Then the "blue bird" student picks one student to be a blue bird too and the both run through the hands singing the song etc. ||
 * 11/11 ||< 2:00-4:00

2 || Today was a review day. The students reviewed Peter and the Wolf and sang the "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater" song, the "Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" song, and also the "Blue Bird" song. Then she did a short review of the flute and the bird. I got up in front of the class and tried to play the flute for the students so they could hear how it sounded and then we played the blue bird game for the rest of the class period. ||
 * 11/13 ||< 2:00-4:00

2 || This was the day that I got to do my lesson. We started a new character which was the cat. I chose to do the cat since it is represented by the clarinet which is what I play. I started by talking to the students about the clarinet and how it related to the cat because it plays low notes like a cat sneaking around trying to catch a bird. Then I took out my clarinet and let them touch it and press the keys a little and then I played it so that they could hear and recognize the timbre of the instrument. Then I taught them a song about the clarinet called the "Orchestra Song." After singing the song a few times, I let them color a picture of a clarinet and as we sang it one more time before class was over, they pretended to play their colored clarinets while I played mine. ||
 * 11/18 || 2:00-4:00

2 || Today we reviewed the clarinet song that I had taught and them and then we moved on to the next character of the story. Today we started learning about the duck. Mrs. Burbach, much like every other character, let the children listen to the "duck" song as they walked in and they got to walk around the room waddling like ducks. Then Mrs. Burbach made a Venn Diagram on the board comparing the clarinet and the oboe (which is what plays the duck song) since they are so similar. While completing the Venn Diagram she also showed pictures of the oboe and clarinet for the children to look at. Then she taught them a song about ducks which was also a nursery rhyme. ||
 * 11/20 ||< 2:00-4:00

2 || We continued learning about the duck song. We reviewed all songs that we have learned and then spent the rest of the class time playing a game that goes with the duck song. All the children sat in a circle and passed around a "golden Easter egg" to the rhythm of the duck song and when the song ended the person holding the egg had to say something nice to the person before them. ||
 * 12/02 || 2:00-4:00

2 || Moving on through the story, we have reached the character of the hunter. The hunter is represented by a horn quartet and, as usual, Mrs. Burbach had the children come into the room listening to the hunter song. We talked a little bit about the horn and then she proceeded to teach us the "hunter song." The lyrics were as follows: "Oh a hunting we will go, a hunting we will go. We'll catch a fox and put it in a box and then we'll let him go." Everyone had a lot of stories to share about how their fathers hunt and how they brought home deer to eat so we didn't get any further than just learning the song. Mrs. Burbach started to explain the game that goes along with the song but we didn't get a chance to play it at all. ||
 * 12/04 || 2:00-4:00

2 || Since we didn't get a chance to play the game at all last class period we spent this period playing the game that goes along with the hunter. We reviewed the song and talked briefly again about the horn, and then got into playing the game. The game was that all the students stood in two lines down the middle of the room. On the lines "oh a hunting we will go" the first two students in the line walked down the middle of the two lines (the lines of students were acting as trees) on the second "oh a hunting we will go" they walked back to the front of the lines. On "We'll catch a fox" the students clap hands twice to the beat. "And put him in a box" they clapped hands twice with the person standing across from them. "And then we'll let him go" the first two students go to the back of the line and everyone moves up. Then we sing and play all over again. I participated in playing and the children had fun. ||
 * 12/11 || 2:00-4:00

2 || Today was my last day with my two classes that I have been observing. It was quite sad. In both classes we reviewed everything we have been working on the last few weeks with "Peter and the Wolf." Mrs. Burbach briefly introduced the last character in the story: the grandfather. She showed the class some pictures of her grandfather and explained the importance of family. She taught the students a little rhyme that goes with having grandparents. Then, on the smartboard, Mrs. Burbach showed a slide of every character we have done and the activity that correlated with each character. She also printed out a packet that had all of the information in it for the students to look at and remember over the break and forever. We talked about all the different instruments we have learned and how they differ from each other and which instrumental family they belong to. And then I said goodbye to all of my students and they all wished me a Merry Christmas. ||