Reflections

1-10

Reflection 1
How did you feel on the first day?
What did you do to show that you are a professional?

I felt nervous in my first day which was 17th of October 2017 , it was a kind of
hard to me as a first day and the idea of doing my first step as a future teacher
made me nervous , feeling responsible and excited at the same time and afraid a
little bit because this is my first experience to teach or help teaching in kg1 class
and with those little children that made me feel concerned about how to deal with
them but this is why Im here anyway to learn and to have an effective experience
, when the class started it become easier to me after I knew the students names and
got involved with the class activities also my TP teacher was really helpful and
cooperative , I think it will be more easier with days and after I get used to the
class routine , and after I get more involved ,to show that Im a professional I came
7:17 to school witch is 13 minuets earlier , also I came prepared I brought things i
need like my TP booklet , notebook pencils , pens , I asked questions about
everything I needed a clarification about , also I didnt got late after the break time
I came on time the same time my TP teacher got in , I didnt use my phone during
the class time not even to look at the clock I used it only to take pictures of the
displays and the learning environment like I asked to do for task 1 on my TP
booklet .

Reflection 2
Write a summary of what you believe the main roles and responsibilities of a
teacher are.
What surprised you?
What shocked you?
What delighted you?

In my second day the 18th of October 2017 , I got more involved in the class
activities and started to get more close to the children and let them notice me so I
 started a conversations with small group and tried to encourage them to talk to me
and showed them that Im interested on what they talking about , I felt delighted
that they interact positively with this step and they were excited to show me their
work to get my attention , I felt glad that I got involved and that I started to
memorize their names and they knew mine as well, I was surprised by their
performance at classroom and how fast they learn even though theyre kg 1
students and this whole system was new to them , I was shocked that theres no
cafeteria in their school at first but then I understood that they want to make sure
that the child eats what he likes , and what his mom know that he likes so she can
cook or make his favorite meal to make sure that hell eat his lunch which is a
good point , I noticed also that they all bring healthy food which is a smart way to
teach a child a good habit.
I think the main role of a teacher is to make sure that the learners understand the
lesson and to help them to develop their capabilities, to know what are their
weakness and strengths so she can focus in her teaching techniques the way that
helps to improve the learners weakness and develop his strengths, also one of the
most important teachers responsibilities to me is to make sure that the classroom
environment is save especially for children students and to manage the classroom
well.

Reflection 3
Based on your observations and discussions, summarize what you have observed.
Think about:
The idea of learners being active learners. Discuss how the classroom organization
facilitates activities for the learners. Give examples of activities you observed and the way
in which the classroom organization makes these activities accessible. Consider ease of
movement within the learning environment.
How and where are materials stored in the classroom? Do the children/learners need to be
able to get and put materials away?
Where does the teacher have her table/papers/materials?
Are there areas that encourage independent learning? Give some examples. Why are these
areas important?

Thursday the 19th October 2017 was parents meeting day, parents were allowed to
attend the class and share activities with their kids, I was happy to see how moms
are proud of their children and how the children were feeling comfort and excited
to see their parents around them, this day was a chance to strengthens the
relationship between the parents and their children and a chance to discuss the
child behavior and performance in the class with his teacher .
the classroom environment is one of the most important things that encourage the
children to learn, I noticed that this classroom is divided to more than 5 centers and
they named based on what activity this center includes like , writing , drawing ,
puzzles , play dough center and others , this makes it easier for the children to
move from activity to another , and it helps the learners to do more than one
activity before the time ends , Also theres areas for independent learning, like
reading , puzzle ,and magnetic letters area which helps the child to develop the
problem solving skill , and teach him how to reliance on himself and how to be
confident .
from the safety side the classroom tables are round and without edges and the
materials stored in a small store inside the classroom, and nobody can reach it but
the teacher when she needs to, and theres materials outside the store that learners
use every day, some of them they cant use without teachers observation to make
sure theyre save for example when using small parts on an activity, the teacher
keeps her materials on her desk locker so nobody can use it just her.

Reflection 4
Why is planning and preparation for learning important?
What do you have to think about before you begin to plan for learning?
What stages did the teacher go through in order to be prepared for teaching?

In 22th October 2017 girls wore pink and boys blue, because this month is breast
cancer awareness month, it was nice idea to let the children participate in such
important event like this.
Planning and preparations are one of the things that decides if this school day will
went well or not , because if the teacher didnt prepare for each part of the day she
will be stressed and she will waist her time and the students as well, and shell
have do a random plan for the day which is not the best choice especially when
you teach a children there will be a mess and the activities will take more time or
less than usual , thats why the teacher should think about every minute of her class
time so children can know what the order is.
Before planning I should consider the units theme and the class time, and any
changes in the schedule in case I need to add, remove or delay something in my
lesson, also I should think about what materials available that I will do the activity
based on. Before every lesson the teacher make the lesson plan then choose the
proper activity materials and make sure that the video or whatever she prepared is
ready, she checks the centers that the activities will be in, and she divide the
students into groups.

Reflection 5
What have you noticed about learners from this observation?
What did you notice that relates to the theories we have been discussing?
What interested or surprised you?

Tuesday 24th of October 2017 I took time to prepare to my lesson that will be on
25th October and to try once before Wednesday, I was worried about how the
learners will interact with me and how I will manage the classroom , as a first time
it went well but still need to work on , I started task 5 and it was about observing
low-level learners and learners in general, according to my 5 days in observation, I
noticed that theres different capabilities, and theres hyper active students , low
learners and high learners ,
theres one student A who have problem with writing he cant hold the pen
correctly or write his name he have problem with his fine motor skills and hes
hyper active so he moves a lot and get bored with the regular activities and he
dont like to set with others or share with them , so the teacher gives him activities
that helps to develop his fine motor skill like playing with dough and more
activities than others to keep him interested on learning , what surprised me about
this student is that hes smart he knows Arabic and English letters he knows the
names of animals in both languages he even know what their voice like , he can
spell few simple words using letters cubes , theres another student H whos
hyper active too and low level learner he doesnt set like others he feels bored also
, he wants to explore things and play all the time and I noticed about him that when
the teacher punish him for his bad behavior he feels guilt and his initiative become
less the next time which support Erikson theory that says the child at this stage
will feel guilt when there is a negative reaction to the initiative taken .
Also one of the girls in the class came to me once and she started talking to me, she
used her moms words to describe to me the conversation that she had with her
mom and that reminded me of Vygotsky theory, he believed that The social
interaction of play develops childs cognition by observing parental behavior,
listening to parents' speech, and then trying to imitate them

Reflection 6
What was the same or different about the two learners?
What did you notice that relates to the theories we have been discussing?
What interested or surprised you?

24th Oct 2017

The differences between the two learners are they both have energy but the use it
differently, F and shes a high-level student likes to learn and to get teachers
attention and she actually enjoy the activities in the classroom, however H a low-
level student likes to use this energy he has to explore things and play and he dont
like to set in one place for a long time, I was surprised by one of the low-level
student he dont like to speak or to interact with the teacher hes quite most of the
time but when I saw him play with other children he was so involved and he was
pretending to be a doctor wearing the white coat and I think that I think that relates
to Piaget theory that during the preoperational stage, children become
increasingly adept at using symbols, as evidenced by the increase in playing
and pretending.
 Reflection 7
1. What worked well and why?
2. What useful tips and strategies did you observe?
3. What techniques do you think the teacher uses to manage the children and why?
4. Are there any children in the class with difficult or unusual behavior? How does the
teacher deal with these children?
5. Overall, is the teacher more negative or positive when dealing with management issues?
Why?

25th Oct 2017

The math and English lessons worked well because the teacher planned for each
part of her class and she manage the classroom effectively, she use their pictures to
show them how they behaved if the student were good today or did a good thing
she put his picture up if not she put them down so they can think about what they
did , she also use think about what you did chair and she put in front of him the
hourglass until it finished then he have the chance to say sorry , she also reward
students who listen and behave well she tell the whole class what he did so others
can do the same and to make him feel confidence and keep doing that , for those
who have learning difficulties she give them special activities that well improve
their skills and she contact their mothers to figure out a plan to deal with the
student and to let them know the progress , I think the teacher is more positive
while dealing with management issues because she focus on good behavior and she
tries to encourage the students to do that .

Reflection 8
1. How long do the children spend on one task?
2. What kind of tasks do they do individually? In pairs? In groups? As a class?
3. How does the teacher introduce the task? How are the instructions checked?
4. Work with a child. Ask him/her about what they enjoy doing at school. The
activities/subjects and why.
5. Ask a child about the things they are good at and also about what they want to learn
more about.
26th Oct 2017
The children spend 15 mints on one task , and in the beginning of each task teacher
do activity for the whole class, and usually she starts the lesson with a song about
the lesson to warm them up , and in the end of all tasks she let them do the
activities in groups in centers that designed to develop their skills like writing ,
reading, developing fine motor skills and social emotional skills , and she let them
after they finish one of the activities to move to the other center that way she
makes sure that all learners did at least two activities , when I asked a child what
she likes more about this she said that her favorite activity was doing crafts for
example making ice cream for the letter i or penguin for letter p , children in this
age usually dont know what they are good at , but I think the teacher can tell , and
I while observing them so I think that this child is good at remembering English
words and lesson .

Reflection 9
1. How often do the children attend this class?
2. What kind of learning tasks place and why is it considered important?
3. What special skills /training does the teacher need?
4. What special equipment/facilities/resources are needed?
5. Ask a child what they enjoy about this class. Ask them what they learn?
6. Do you notice any special techniques that the teacher uses?
7. Does the teacher use strategies which are different from their main teacher?
8. What did you enjoy about the lesson?

29th Oct 2017

The children attend the PE class once a week , the teacher make sure that the
students do different activities , individual , groups or the whole class most times
she make the group activity to teach them what dose team means , I think it will be
great if theres more equipment like a small basketball to let the children
understand being a member on a team and it will be a lot of fun to do a basketball
competitions for these kids , I think that the children prefer to play with a group
rather than individuals , I really enjoyed the lesson because they were really
excited especially when they raced each other ,I noticed that while observing them
, and when I asked one of them he told me that he liked the sharing ball game , and
I noticed that teacher uses cooperative learning strategy that develop their social
skills and teaching them team work , teacher needs to be more specialized in PE .
Reflection10
What maths or science concept the learners are studying e.g. numbers, addition,
measurement?
Did the students seem to enjoy the lesson? Why or why not?
Were students using the new math or science language in English? In Arabic?

30th Oct 2017

the concept of learners studying numbers in math is to teach the child how to count
and how to use simple math in his life, they enjoy the lesson because they got
outside and they tried to drew the numbers using brushes and water, the best part
of this is that the sun drays the written numbers , so they can do it again and again
until they learn how to do it , and because theyre studying math and since in
English that means they dont learn only numbers but vocabulary too in new
language to them and because theyre kg 1 students they need more time and by
doing fun activities like this theyll learn fast and it will be easy to them with time
so they are not only learning new things but having fun doing that .