Blog #4

How does this teacher manage assessment?

In the classroom, the teacher manages assessment by having a review at the first of each lesson. She usually tries to tie in whatever she had talked about the lesson before, and asks general questions to the class to see if they understood what she was teaching them. She uses the student's verbal feedback as a reinforcement of whether or not she taught the lesson well enough the first time. If she finds many of the students have not learned the intended outcome, she will do a review lesson and teach it a different way.
Another way that she assesses what the children have learned, is by giving small quizzes at the end of the lessons, or group activities as a part of her lesson, to apply what they are learning about in a hands-on setting.

Blog #3

What strategies does the teacher use to support students who are English learners?

In the classroom I'm assigned to, the teacher has three students who are deaf--two of which have just recently had successful surgeries, giving them hearing they have not had before this year. Because she has such an unusually high amount of students with specific hearing needs, she caters each of them individually, and I am increasing amazed at her deep concern for them.
Since they have not been able to speak very well, they are considered "english learners" in her classroom. At all times, she has a microphone device clipped on to her shirt so the deaf student can hear, and she gives slow, simplified and very specific instructions to the two english learners. I feel so lucky to be in a classroom where I can watch and observe the techniques she uses to cater to the different needs of her students.