After interviewing my friend’s sister Shannon O’Donnell, who is a 7th and 8th grade Living Environment to inclusive classes in an inner-city Westchester school which is in the third year of state receivership. The most important advice I acquired from the interview was that as a teacher, I should be patient and flexible to adapt to every one of the students to meet their individual needs. I learned from my interview that students she works with are Hispanic and either immigrants or first-generation in Americans to go to school and get education they need. She said, “If education is not a priority, which unfortunately for many of the culture she teaches it is not, she have to show the students that only way they can improve their situation is
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This seems to be a push in most Westchester districts. In this technique, an open-ended question (usually a higher level thinking/Webb’s Depth of Knowledge level 3 or 4) is posed and the students discuss possible answers. The students discussing with each other ensures accountability. They are not relying on the teacher for all the answers, but are coming to the answers with their peers. Later this year, she is going to take this a step further by having students write their own higher level questions and have their peers discuss in small groups. Again, this is to have students be accountable. It is also asking my students to think critically, which has been a deficit on their ELA and Math exams. Although this next method may seem antiquated, direct instruction is necessary for some topics. She also directly instruct for a part of class (mini-lesson) before having students work in small groups to answer questions or work creatively. The 7th and 8th graders struggle in homework so she has implemented a self- tracking system where the students hand in their homework and check it off themselves on a posted chart. This has increased the amount and quality of the work she is receiving. My students do not want to be the only one who is not doing their homework. I feel like this would be a great technique for students like Shannon
This seems to be a push in most Westchester districts. In this technique, an open-ended question (usually a higher level thinking/Webb’s Depth of Knowledge level 3 or 4) is posed and the students discuss possible answers. The students discussing with each other ensures accountability. They are not relying on the teacher for all the answers, but are coming to the answers with their peers. Later this year, she is going to take this a step further by having students write their own higher level questions and have their peers discuss in small groups. Again, this is to have students be accountable. It is also asking my students to think critically, which has been a deficit on their ELA and Math exams. Although this next method may seem antiquated, direct instruction is necessary for some topics. She also directly instruct for a part of class (mini-lesson) before having students work in small groups to answer questions or work creatively. The 7th and 8th graders struggle in homework so she has implemented a self- tracking system where the students hand in their homework and check it off themselves on a posted chart. This has increased the amount and quality of the work she is receiving. My students do not want to be the only one who is not doing their homework. I feel like this would be a great technique for students like Shannon