Victoria Brown

Culminating Synthesis Assignment

April 3, 2016
For seven weeks, I volunteered at Fishburn Park Elementary School in a third grade math and
science class. Since I was completing my internship and doing experiential learning for Education 330, I
spent about 12 hours per week in the class, which helped me to really get to know the students. During
my experience, I observed how a third grade classroom might be run, organized class materials, graded
assignments, worked one-on-one with students, and even taught a short lesson. For the purpose of this
assignment I will focus the one-on-one or small group interactions I had with students.
During my time at Fishburn Park, I had the privilege of working with students while they tackled
math concepts like fractions, area, perimeter, and multiplication. I observed how one student may
breeze through task after task while another struggles to understand the basic concept. While working
with the students, I had to come up with some interesting ways of keeping their attention on me and on
the task at hand. In the beginning, it was a struggle because I was unsure of where I really fit in the class
hierarchy but I learned that I could work with them and keep them on task while also having the
occasional off topic, fun conversation. When it came to working with struggling students, I found
myself using a technique that I had witnessed my clinical teacher using. I would first ask students what
answer they had come up with for the problem they were working on; I would then ask them if they
were sure about their answer, and why they were sure. By doing this, I got a better understanding of
why the student was confused, so I could help them to better understand the problem. For students
who were breezing through the activity, I would check in every once in a while to make sure they were
still on track, but they didnt usually need much support. I also found that it was helpful to have them in
the group I was working with because they could help struggling students sometimes too.

From this experience, I learned a lot about my teaching style and how I can make a difference to
struggling students. I hope to one day use what I observed and learned in my own classroom to help all
of my students to understand material and work together efficiently. I also hope that I made a lasting
difference in the lives of some of the students I worked with, and that they enjoyed my time at Fishburn
Park as much as I did.