Title of Experience/Artifact: 1st Grade Tutoring Date Experienced Completed: Fall Semester of 2009

Description of My Experience: I had the privilege of being a teachers assistant at the local Primary Center, working with a classroom of first graders. Once a week, for two hours, I would go down to the school and tutor the kids. My duties ranged from listening to them read me books, to helping out with the school play, Goldilocks. Wisconsin Teaching Standard Alignment: This opportunity to assistant teach, I catalogue under Standard 4 Instructional Strategies, which states the following: Teachers use a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance standards. This experience aligns with this standard because during my time in the classroom, I approached teaching the given material in a great variety of different ways. One of the first things that became readily apparent to me, was the fact that every child learns differently. Some kids are visual learners, they learn more by doing, and enjoy a more hands-on approach. Others learn better through hearing, and would much rather just listen to instructions, and get to work. These are only two examples of different learning styles, by no means are these the only two. No two children learn exactly the same way. Recognizing this fact, with the help of Mrs. Prehn, I was able to develop some very involved, hands-on type, learningbased games for the students. Some examples of these activities would include, Word fishing, where you use a magnetic fishing pole to reel in a fish with a word on it. Another example would be Math Toss A variation of ring toss, with assigned values to each colored ring and post. Putting these different teaching methods into practice on the small scale of once a week, really instilled in me a great deal of excitement. The thought of incorporating different styles of teaching such as these into my classroom daily is extremely thrilling. Knowledge, Skill, and Disposition Alignment: KSD1.b. DEMONSTRATES KNOWLEDGE OF STUDENTS The candidate displays knowledge of the typical developmental characteristics, learning styles, skills, interests, developmental backgrounds, and cultural heritages of students and is always aware of the broad ranges and variety present for each of these student characteristics and lifestyles. As a future Elementary Education teacher, I need to be deliberately aware of the vast array of learning styles that I will be encountering. Not only need I be aware, but I must have

purposeful ways of addressing the different learning needs of each individual child. Having the privilege of helping out in a 1st grade classroom has given me tremendous amounts of insight into this fact. For example, one of my students, a young boy with a lot of energy, had been sitting down with me for an extended period of time, trying to grasp the concept of multiplication by tens. After about 10-15 minutes of attempting to explain to him, in as many ways as I could, how this concept worked, I could see he was getting frustrated. So we switched over to Math toss and assigned each ring to be worth ten points. Right off the bat he liked this concept, and after a short while he was able to get a bit of a grasp on the pattern that was occurring, and we were able to work from there. Approaching concepts in slightly different ways can really make a big difference in helping children to get a solid understanding of the subject matter. Secondary Alignments: KS3.c. ENGAGES STUDENTS IN LEARNING KSD2.d. MANAGES STUDENT BEHAVIOR Personal Reflection: What I learned about teaching/learning from this experience: Patience. The job of an educator takes a massive amount of patience. I saw this played out, not only in my experience with the kids, but also in observing Mrs. Prehn. Just watching the way she interacted with the students, and kept everything calm and controlled throughout the entire day was remarkable. I learned so much from that, and was soon able to put a lot of her techniques into practice myself. Whenever the kids would start to get a little rowdy, we were quick to use our code phrase, Do we listen with our mouth? This proved to be very effective in controlling the classroom. Also just the calm, yet energetic manner she possessed throughout the day was a real art. And something I hope to replicate in my future as an educator.

What I have learned about myself as a prospective educator as a result of this experience: Having the benefit of assistant teaching during my high school years has been absolutely invaluable. Getting introduced to the other side of the classroom so early really cemented in my mind that this was the career path that I wanted to head down. Also, as I was teaching these kids math, reading, and writing, I realized that I wasnt the only one doing the teaching. These kids were also teaching me. These knee-high 1st graders were teaching me! There was so much to be learned from them, and taking this knowledge and turning it into action is something I plan to do for the rest of my career as an educator. This action can be anything from a modified lesson plan, to one-on-one time with a student. I learned that, as an educator, I need to be flexible and accessible. Being there for my students as much as possible.