Engaging Students (TPE1)

A priority for me since entering the classroom was to build relationships with students—to know students well and apply my knowledge of them to engage them. I received a brief narrative of each student from my CT at the beginning of the semester, each of which gave me one or two key pieces of information about the student. I reviewed these narratives multiple times as I was getting to know the student, connecting students’ faces and personalities in the classroom to what I knew of their families. I learned that several students were especially passionate about sports or had large families and many responsibilities at home. 

Over time, I started learning more things from my CT and as students built trust with me and shared with me stories about home.

Gradually, as I got to know the students better, I could start incorporating their interests more. The first formal lesson I taught students was a basketball lesson for PE, since I knew many of them enjoyed basketball (1.1). From there I continued to seek to connect subjects with real life. When I taught measurements in math, I made a point of bringing in objects like a scale, a kitchen measuring cup, and measuring tape (1.3). Students loved these objects and asked many questions about them. Students who had struggled with measurements in their abstraction began excelling at reading, calculating, and converting measurements because they had the chance to practice on real measuring tools.

Using Physical Objects:

I incorporated physical objects into math as much as possible. Whenever I introduced students to a new concept or topic, I wanted to start with a concrete object for them to use to solve problems. From there we could move to more abstract drawings and finally to mental math. The first step, however, was so important. For my math lessons I used measuring cups, rulers, clocks, fraction strips, pattern blocks, a scale, a measuring tape, base-ten blocks, and watches.

During my ELA unit, too, when we read Sarah, Plain and Tall by Sarah MacLachlan, I brought in a decorative, lamp to simulate the lamp in the book that the characters light during the squall. Every time we read, I would call a student up to turn the lamp on. This object, as well as a little booklet I made with images of all the flowers mentioned in the book, helped students better picture the story and become drawn into it.