My students love school and enjoy learning every day. Although they come from low-income families, they are inspirational to me because they are high-spirited and eager to learn. Most of them have positive attitudes and even help each other when others are struggling. Seeing them progress daily makes me enjoy coming to work every day and allows me to strive and be the best teacher I can be. Our school has many challenges, but I have also never seen a school that has so many dedicated teachers. There are so many of us that work hours unpaid and use our own money to buy classroom materials to help support our students because we LOVE our students.
“When students feel socialized and accepted, they perform better academically.” Many of my students have never been to school before or were never taught how to socialize properly.
I have many goals as a kindergarten teacher, but my ultimate goal is to teach my students how to be kind to one another.
My Project
I teach kindergarten at a Title 1 school in Fort Myers, Florida, and my students all come from low-income families. Many of them do not have access to books or computers at home to help reinforce what is taught in class. Most of my students require extra reading interventions and additional support to help bring them up to grade level. My students work hard and show amazing growth each day, but these reading centers/materials will definitely enhance their ability to learn.
There are significant advantages that illustrate why hands-on training is better than other more traditional learning methods.
These methods include increased retention, increased engagement, opportunities for corrections, extra practice, risk mitigation, benefits of differing learning styles, and improved problem solving. I plan to use these materials (Phonics Learning Locks and Alphabet Learning Locks) during reading centers to practice their phonics skills. It is proven that a good kindergarten learning foundation leads to greater success throughout their education in all subjects. I believe my students can have fun and learn at the same time while using these reading centers. These centers will also help them to be more engaged during independent learning.
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