Fieldwork #2 Reflection

Fieldwork #2 

During my observations, I asked my host teacher several questions in terms of the students and their individual academic abilities. I observed a ICT - Integrated Co-Teaching Classroom during the course of this semester and the semester earlier.

As both teachers pointed out, the class is generally made up of general ed approx (60-70%) and identified students (30-40%).

To really understand how they build their lessons, you first have to look at the culture and environment of the room and students. My teachers emphasized that building a lesson plan is often a long and tedious task as it needs to be specific to the needs of all students. You have to look at the students first before building your lesson plan. Similar to inspecting the ground before laying down the foundation to the building.

Each student will have a different and unique perspective of how they handle the new lesson. This is where it is important for the co-teacher to be cognizant of the students that may find the task difficult. Co-teaching involves an incredible amount of collaboration. Lessons in this classroom are generally built together in the spare time that they have. Included in the lessons is the element of excitement. My teachers emphasized that sometimes certain topics are not that appealing to others ie: math.  Math is a hard topic to 'sell' however, with technology now readily available in the classroom, lessons are built right into the smartboard to enhance the experience visually and with animation.

The teachers will often consider technology when building their lessons. In their opinion, technology has served as another means to help support a lesson. Think of it as 'technology scaffolding.'  They often use visuals, models and videos to help support their lessons.