FE3 Artifacts
Artifact 2: Grouping
Throughout my stage, I made sure to give many opportunities for students to show what they know in their own unique way. During lessons, I made sure to include all the learning styles (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic). In each lesson, I always included an opportunity for whole-class discussions. I would then either include working in partners and or work in small groups in the same lesson to give students the opportunity to speak in different settings. When grouping students, I would group students with varied strengths and weaknesses such as a strong reader with a weaker reader or a grade 3 with a grade 4 when possible.
Artifact 1: Diversity
During FE3, I choose many stories that represented the diverse classroom I was in. I truly value cultural diversity in a classroom as it helps students understand the different cultures, languages, new ways of thinking that surround our daily lives and build our multicultural society. As a future educator, it is important for me that the students are able to see theirselves in all media. I read the books: The Proudest Blue, Last Stop on Market Street, Eyes that Kiss in the Corners. I also showed the Oscar Winning short film, Hair Love.
Artifact 3: Art
In my teaching philosophy, I value art-based learning. As my CT only taught ELA and math, I was unable to actually teach art as a subject but I still tried to incoorportate art into my lessons. I think art is important because it allows the students to use their imagination and express themselves. I incoorpotated art in more informal and informative ways such as drawing exercises to accompany writing pieces and encouraging students to be creative and continue to draw during free time. I also created bulletin boards to display their work and to have visuals posted around the classroom of concepts learned. I think displaying students work in a visually pleasing way is important to instill pride in the students and show off their hard work.
Artifact 4: Technology
I embedded technology into my lessons as much as possible. Whether it was using Kahoot, Pear Deck, or simply a Google Slides presentation to provide visual aids. I found that the students in my class were particularly more motivated when technology was involved. I used Kahoot as informal checks-ins on story elements and I used Pear Deck for reviewing math concepts. I think that technology enhances lessons but it should also be balanced with pen and paper as the two skills are both important to learn and practice.
Artifact 5: Love of learning
Some ways that I fostered the students' love of learning is through games and relevant topics/interests. Using educational games helped me spark their motivation to learn as well as create positive relationships with them. On Halloween, I created a math scavenger hunt to review all the math concepts since Septemeber. Another game I did with them was math bingo. I created bingo boards to review polygons, lines and angles. The students had a blast playing these games. These games also included collaborative work to help maintain a harmonious class dynamic. During lessons, I would also use examples that they would know and relate to in order to help me explain various concepts. Such movies and books that they are familiar with.
