Week 1

What modifications for learners who are exceptional do you see?

Today was my first day of volunteering in the classroom.  I decided to do my fieldwork in the elementary school down the street from my house, Park Lane Elementary. My grandma was a second grade teacher there (she retired last year) so she was able to reference me to some of her friends who currently teach there, whom are excellent to observe. Although it wasn't my top choice to observe this age group, I was put into a first grade classroom. I was aiming to observe a third grade class, but the teacher my grandmother wanted me to observe has had a substitute since the first week of school (she has a torn aorta, so she won't be returning for a while). I haven't been around any other grades to really have a set preference, but I'm sure first grade is the next greatest thing to third grade!
The teacher I observed (unfortunately I don't remember her name) is in her second year of teaching. She taught kindergarten last year, so she has a few students in her class that she taught last year. If she wasn't so young, I would have thought she has been teaching for a long time! She's very patient, organized, and works well with the children. After the morning rug time, she had me help out with her workshops; I helped the kids with the math/counting workshop. This workshop was great for the students who excel in visual and kinesthetic learning. Each student was given their own bag with the following items: two decks of cards with the number 1-12; three separate papers that say, "is less than", "is the same as", and "is greater than"; and small, stackable cubes. The students had to leave both decks of cards facing down, then pull a card from each pile. Then, they had to determine whether the first number was greater than, less than, or the same as the second number. If the student wasn't able to figure it out right away, they could use the stackable cubes and stack the amount for each number (this was good for kinesthetic learners). Or,  they could read the papers aloud (which is good for audio learners). I noticed that the teacher set up each station so it usually required the students to use all three learning types. This also allowed her to see how the individual students learn best.