As a requirement of Glenville State College, I am required to show that students in my second grade class were able to learn from learn from the methods that I used in my second grade class. The process to evaluate my students in my second placement was difficult because I have five students with IEP's, that require severe modifications for their assignments. The only assignment that is used on a consistent basis in this class is the first ten words of a weekly spelling list; therefore I chose a spelling test to prove that my teaching was beneficial to the learning of my classroom students. I used different methods to help my students achieve the highest possible score they can on the weekly test.
The first step that I used was to assess the prior knowledge of my students by giving each student a pre-test of the spelling words before they even had the opportunity to see, or study the spelling list for the week. I gave the exam orally while the students spelled each word to the best of their ability by writing their answers on blank paper. After grading the pre-test the classroom average was a 60%, a large amount of the students was unable to spell at least three of the spelling words from the exam. After assessing the students I decided that I would have to use many different methods to assist my students in achieving high scores on their post assessment.
The first method I chose was to benefit the students in my classroom that used visual aids to assist their learning. I generated a typed spelling list and provided each of my students with a copy, I had to modify some of my list by enlarging the font due to two of my students having visual problems. After providing each student with a typed spelling list, I orally read each word three times and used each word correctly in a sentence so that my students that use auditory methods could hear each word, so that the new information could be retained. The last step of the
first process was to have each students write the new spelling words. I feel that by having each students complete all three processes I was able to cover numerous different methods of learning for the classroom students. The students in this classroom are required to keep a daily planner of all homework that is assigned, therefore I put the spelling list on the daily plans so that each student would know that they are required to study their study list nightly.
The second part of my plan was to use the spelling list review in a game so thatstudents enjoy the lesson, and to build intrinsic motivation for my students to study harder. The game that I chose was a classroom spelling bee, during the first round I let each student stay in the game even if they missed the word due to the fact that I felt if they do not at least get the opportunity to participate in at least two rounds then they will become discouraged and will not strive to do their best. The classroom spelling bee last over one hour, which proved to me that my students had been studying their spelling words, which was the exactly what was desired by the classroom teacher. The classroom students strived extremely hard to achieve staying in the spelling bee, I feel this method was very beneficial, and I will definitely use this method if given the opportunity to have my own classroom someday.
The last step that I used to help the students in my classroom was to orally recite each word on a daily basis, this step was used as a retention method so my student can hear each of the words pronounced correctly, and this retention method was beneficial because the students in my classroom had numerous questions about the pronunciation of the spelling words, and how they are properly used. The morning of my post assessment I decided to cover the spelling list two more times orally and gave the students the opportunity to read over their spelling list so that the visual and the auditory students will both benefit from the methods that I used for my classroom teaching.
The post assessment was given exactly like the pre-assessment, I orally read the the spelling word three times, and then used each word correctly in a sentence. The students seemed confidant while taking the exam. The post- assessment scores were extremely higher than the pre-assessment scores with the classroom average raising twenty percent from 60% to 80%. I was hoping that my students classroom scores would be higher, but I was proud on the scores that they achieved.
I attached a few examples of my students test to show the rising of the students scores, I feel the students benefited by the methods that I used, and I would not change any part of the process that I used to teach my students the spelling list from this week.
