Monday, September 14, 2009

It was amazing to me reading through the student profile survey because as I was going through the list I was mentally categorizing the traits for myself. By the time I was done I could really pinpoint the type of learner I was and it was true to the way I really do learn best. I think it is a great way to get to know your students and where their comfort level may be. I would use this survey to help me create groups within the classroom where I would believe the students would flourish. It would be amazing to know that one student is very logical in their thinking, and another is very creative, just think of the ideas and activities they could accomplish together!!


I liked the student interest survey because I think it helps the students to feel like their teacher really does care about them. If I chose to use the survey in my classroom, it would be important for me to really read the information that the students provided and use their personal experiences in my daily interaction with the students. I also think that a great way to differentiate a classroom in keep a "communicating" journal with every student, where they make journal entries and you respond to them. With the information provided on the survey you could really take the opportunity to make those communication journals a rich experience. I also liked that it asked the students what are some things they would like to learn about, and also what are some things they would like to get better at. I think we all are more passionate and eager to learn about things that actually mean something to us, and even if the things the students are interested in aren't in the curriculum, I could maybe find a way to use those topics as a platform or starting point for the curriculum that we have to cover.

I will be doing my student teaching in a first grade classroom and I enjoyed reading through the pre-assessment ideas. It really helped me understand how you can draw information from students as young as first grade about their preferences in learning. What valuable information that is for me as the teacher! I think especially in first grade, where so much of what they are learning is brand new and hard, students really need the motivation in order to want to learn and excel. By differentiating my instruction according to the information taken from the pre-assessment forms hopefully I will be able to provide the material that students will be interested in and motivated to learn. I loved that students don't even have to be able to write in order for me to give them that pre-assessment. They can simply just circle the pictures of things that they like.

I also really liked the writing sample idea. It is a great idea especially for younger grades because students are not limited by their abilities. Since the nature of the writing sample is so open-ended every student will be able to produce something that they are proud of and is within their learning level. Yet as a teacher I will be able to gather valuable information from every students writing sample and use that information to help me in differentiating instruction.

I didn't understand the index of inventory ideas and what they were supposed to be used for.

1 comment:

Teacherheart said...

Did you see the table headings, at the top of the page of the index? They help you understand, page by page, what the samples in the "idea" file can do or be modified to do. Please check again and see if this makes sense.

You do receive 4 points, as you thoroughly reviewed and reflected the iedeas you understood.