This is a reading lesson from the curriculum that Ms. Schnell uses called Foundations for Literacy. It is specifically designed for pre-school aged children who are deaf and hard of hearing. In this lesson, I introduce the /t/ sound and we make a plan as a class using the targeted vocabulary words. For this journal, I am focusing on classroom environment.
How do you feel the classroom environment factored into the outcome of your lesson?
I think the physical classroom environment had a positive effect on my lesson. The carpet has different leaves on it, which is a great behavior management tool because Ms. Schnell and I can just say, "find a leaf to sit on," and the children sit in a spot that is separated from the others. This was an easy tool to use when the children started to get too close to each other. The physical environment of the classroom is open with a lot of natural light. It is a calming and well-organized space and I think the children really enjoy it.
This particular classroom has a few different adults coming in and out to service individual children, including the speech pathologist and a school nurse. I have learned that I need to pay attention to which children are being pulled out so that I can fill them in and include them when they return to the group. I also need to learn to STOP my lesson when the speech pathologist is getting a different student because she has a specific method for this (she has the student find the next student and tap them on the shoulder so they know it's their turn), and it is just too much for the children to pay attention to that and my lesson at the same time.
In this early childhood classroom, I have learned that we never want to discourage language use. This means that Ms. Schnell often stops her lesson to listen to what a particular child has to say, even if they are interrupting her. At first I found this strange since I am used to reminding children not to talk while I am talking, but in deaf and hard of hearing education, we treasure every moment to listen and respond to what our students have to say. When I first started teaching these reading lessons, I would get overwhelmed when the children were talking during the lesson because I didn't know how to handle it. It also made the classroom environment seem loud and chaotic. I am learning the flow of teaching and conversing with my students at the same time, because language use is what it is all about.
What about the classroom environment would you change if you could, and why?
I love this classroom so there isn't much that I would change. The only thing is the way the front area is set up in front of the rug. I often have to rearrange things in order to use the pocket chart, and then move the pocket chart to use the white board, ect. I am not exactly sure how to fix this, because I know there is limited space.
The curriculum that we use has a lot of different cards and materials, and it seems that no matter how much I try to organize them before the lesson, I always get confused about what to use when. I think that a better organization system for these things would help my lessons flow better from one activity to the next, so I am not fumbling through the cards trying to find what I need. I know Ms. Schnell knows this curriculum inside and out, so she doesn't have this problem. But if I use this curriculum in my own classroom someday, I might put a table in the front so I can lay out and label all my materials so I can easily find them.
Lesson plan:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19jci7m45Sw8Fe_p628qem7dZk-DyZTs8/view?usp=sharing
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