Involvement in the Classroom

At Pulaski Middle School in New Britain, CT, I observed in a seventh grade math

classroom. My first day, I had a small orientation with my teacher before I met the students. As

part of the observation, she encouraged me to be involved with the students as much as possible

to gain experience working on-to-one and in small groups. For the following weeks this is

exactly what I did. Each week, I would walk around during classwork time to aid students when

working on problems, as well as strengthen their knowledge about certain math topics.

While I was in the classroom I encouraged group work and positive communication

between students. I brought a new schema for the children to use when solving problems; small

white boards. I also used the technique of students teaching students. While in groups, I would

ask the students who understood the concept the most to teach the whole group by different

means; like white boards, a diagram, etc. By doing this, the students were able to work on their

communication skills, as well as their math skills. By the end of my time at Pulaski, most

students wanted to take turns acting as the teacher in their groups, and I saw an improvement in

class participation as a correlation.

Additionally, I aided the teacher by teaching various concepts in front of the class. Most

weeks, I was at the whiteboard in-between activities to show example problems and solutions to

the students. I involved the students by asking question that promoted a closer look at the How

and Why of the problems. I also helped the teacher by grading the 7th grade pre assessments.

During my time, I also became a mentor to a new student who recently moved to the

area. I was able to eat lunch with her and help her understand the concept of adding and

subtracting integers.