Lesson 9

This week my favorite moment and also the one that helped me learn the most was our day of teaching other students. We were to choose one skill as a group and decide what teaching strategies we were going to use to teach that skill to another group in ten minutes. We came up with a pre-assessment as well as a post-assessment. My group taught fishtail braiding. There was one girl who, during the pre-assessment, we found out already knew how to do the braid. We decided to have one teacher go to the side with her and teach her a more difficult braid, the waterfall braid. Those who were still learning to fishtail braid stayed with another teacher while two students assisted as models. It was a great experience learning how to make accommodations and work well with other teachers. The skill we were taught was cake decorating and how to apply fondant. It was so cool! We warmed up the fondant in our hands by kneading it and then rolled it out and placed on the little cake. We smoothed out the fondant and creased it on the edges. This group did a great assessment of our knowledge. There are six steps they taught us for applying fondant. Our pre and post assessments were to write down the six steps. It was amazing that by the end, we knew each step.

We also learned about traumatic brain injuries as well as orthopedic impairments. The two girls did great at explaining what they were and having us participate in activities that helped us understand and apply what they were teaching us. Everything we learned really made me stop and think about how hard it can be for those who have these impairments. Life gets a little more difficult and many modifications and accommodations have to made in classrooms for these students. A teacher has to think of every little thing.

This week overall really opened my eyes to strategies needed when teaching. I learned how valuable sincere and caring teachers are for all students but especially special needs students. We need more teachers who are willing to go above and beyond for their students and truly meet their needs.