Blog Entry #2

     Clear routines are very important for students to have in school. It helps give expectations and to know what to expect for the day. Children work best when they have some kind of structure. Mrs. Hill does a great job of this. She has the schedule posted on her whiteboard and follows it everyday. She starts with Math, and with that there is always a morning fraction. Next there is English where they have phonics worksheets. After that it is Science where they have daily reading section. For their last subject they have Social Studies where they do reading from a book. There is more done with each subject but it just depends on what lesson they are on. By doing this it allows the students to prepare for what is next. 

    With structure, it is still beneficial to offer choices to the students. You still have plans and exercises that must be completed everyday, but you can give the students an option on how to do them. Mrs. Hill did this in a couple different ways. She would let the students pick to just have to do three out of the five problems. They are still completely the required topic but they get to pick which exercises they want. She also let them choose who they wanted to work with. She let them pick their partners for an english assignment. She also let them choose to share with the person next to them or someone else from their area. It lets the children feel like they are in control of their learning which makes them more motivated to do so.

    One of the most important thing for students though is a positive classroom environment. Mrs. Hill has a very positive environment because of the connection she makes with her students. They feel comfortable to have more personal conversations with her and be open. She also has the no stupid answers/questions possibles. Even if she just addressed a topic and a child asks a question about it that was read, she will still answer. On top of that she, if a child answers wrong and another child makes fun of it, she will discipline the rude child and help the wrong child to get to the right answer. .