Week 1

  After being in my classroom as an observer the first week, I was able to grasp the classroom management and other information that would help me work in this environment. I was able to catch on the class structure and even had the chance to get to know the children. Immediately, our mentor teacher told us about S, who is a student who doesn't talk aloud. My wondering from that instance was,  What are the reasons that this child doesn't speak?
   One of our class assignments for the first two weeks was a Learning Community Assignment. This assignment had us create a group of questions that we had to ask each child in hopes of getting to know them better. The Dana Reflective Educators Guide says, "Through engaging in action research, teachers can generate valuable knowledge about their learners' readiness, interest, learning styles, and more! With this knowledge, teachers make adaptations to instruction, increasing the probability that the needs of all learners will be met within one single class period or lesson."By getting to know my students through these means of research, I am able to get to know each student in the class in ways that can help me with instruction. I have found out that if you have S in an environment where she is alone with just you she will whisper her answers. I tried to ask her more questions about her home life at home and the language spoken in her house. She told me that at home she speaks Chinese with her family. During class, S is completely silent however, does all her schoolwork nearly perfect and has great listening skills. I want to make her experience in school as great as possible. The article says, "Action research is a wonderful tool teachers can utilize to differentiate instruction, ultimately making schools a better place for all students, regardless of their interests, abilities, background, and learning styles." This leads me to the next wondering. "What is the reasons behind S not speaking?"