McDaniel College Deaf (Bilingual) Education Program

Practicum Reflection Journal

(for all observations and activities)

Date: ___November 18, 2019__________ Time ___9:45-10:40____ Number of hours _55 mins

School: __Kendall Demonstration Elementary School_____

Category (check all that apply): __ Age 0-5 __ K-Gr. 2 __ Gr. 3-5 _v_ Middle __ High

_√_ Reg class __ Res. Life __ Special Needs __ Mainstream

__ Support Services ___Other: ___________________

Conceptual Framework Used for this Reflection: (check all that apply)

__√__K = Knowledge
__√__D = Diversity
__√__AB = Attitudes & Behaviors (Dispositions)
__√__R = Reflection
__√__C = Communication
__√__T = Technology

Description (Technical Level)

The class has 8 students in social studies class. Arriving to the classroom, the students knew to
wait outside of the classroom for the teacher to welcome them in. While the students were
waiting, the teacher, LB had written a question outside of the classroom whiteboard: “How many
kernels are on the ear of the corn?” The students had to write their answer on the whiteboard (K,
AB, R).

Entering the classroom, the students were sitting in their desk waiting for the teacher to set up.
The teacher set up the reading passage about Wapanoag Indian: “In My Wetu” from the
Education Department Plimoth Plantation. The teacher apologized to the students for the delay
and asked them to please attend. She explained the classroom was really cold and someone lend
her the heater, hopefully the room will be warmer (K, C).
She discussed about what they were doing yesterday. Today they were going to share their
opinion about the reading yesterday briefly. The students shared their opinions with each other.
They also shared what kind of terminology should replace the word “Thanksgiving”. There was
one student who constantly had a good discussion with the teacher. The teacher noticed that then
decided to redirect other students by asking a specific student. One student was not sure, LB
asked her to reflect while another student shared their response (K, AB, R, C).

LB went on to the next slide related to the reading, “In My Wetu”. LB started asking where
Marie Phillips school were in (Boston, Massachusetts). She also used the prior knowledge the
students had by going to Boston for their basketball tournament last year. She explained that the
group of people are still alive now and the history was in Boston, MA. Then LB explained the
history of the tribe and their language use (K, AB, C).

She started discussing about clothes and museum. Then she started explaining about the video
they will be watching. The video was about interviewing real live Indian people about their
culture and life experience. The video had captions, LB continued to sign in ASL. The video
showed two sisters in the current live style and their home site of Wapanoag community that
showed teepee, canoe in river, cooking food using wood and fire, and more (K, D, AB, T).

After watching the video, LB asked questions related to the video. She asked one student if she
was okay. The student complained that it was really cold and hard to focus. The teacher
understood and moved the heater in the middle of the room. She handed out the worksheets and
had the students work in pairs. One student asked if they could work alone and LB encouraged
the students to learn how to work together. She gave the students the opportunity to choose their
partner and encouraged them to work with who they have not worked with. The students spread
themselves in the classroom to work wherever they felt comfortable to work with. One group of
three was sitting on the floor next to the heater, the second group of three sat at their desk, and
the last group of two was sitting on the couch in the back of the classroom (K, D, AB, C).

The worksheet focused on vocabulary comprehension, comprehension of the woman/man roles

in the tribe, and the language use of the tribe (K).

One student sat by herself at the desk reading. LB came to her and kneeled on her knee letting
her know that she can ask for support from the school counselor or see anyone she needed to.
The student nodded her head and LB left her alone (K, AB, C).

The teacher flashed the lights and asked the students how they were doing and where they were
at. She explained it was time to clean up and move to the next period. She shared that the
worksheet was to complete for their assignment. Some students complained and she explained
that it was part of the middle school life :-D (haha).
Analysis (Contextual Level)

The lesson was taught according to the event theme this month of “Thanksgiving”. Instead of
Thanksgiving, the class were learning about the history of the Indian and their culture compared
to Americans (later).

The teacher encouraged students to work with each other equally to promote diversity and equity
in the classroom.

(K, D, AB, T).

Critical Reflection (Dialectical Level)

The class was fascinating and something for me to learn. LB was a great teacher that I felt we
needed more teachers like her. She was friendly warm and knew how to work with the middle
school age by being calm. LB was great with meeting the students’ needs, learning style, and
accommodations. She encouraged the students to work with each other as a team and to work
with a partner that they did not work with before. This was a good applicant according to the
future where an individual will work with everyone and not everyone they like.

I honestly would keep what LB has been teaching and doing in the classroom. She was a great
leader, model, and an educator.