There have been many connections made between what I am learning in class and what I am observing in my service learning classroom. One of the biggest connections I have made is related to learning preferences and how different students learn the best. I have observed students who learn kinesthetically, visually, auditory, and by reading/writing. It is interesting to see how my service learning teacher incorporated each of these styles in to many of her lessons throughout the day. This helps all students with different learning preferences to learn the lessons in the best way possible for their learning type.
I think blogging my observations and connections has forced me to really think about what I observe in the classroom and how applicable the lessons at UVU are to the elementary classroom. Blogging helps me articulate the connections I make and remember what I observe by first learning in class about something, then observing it in my service learning classroom, then lastly writing it down and putting all of it into words. These three steps really solidify concepts I learn in class and help me to keep them in mind.
From my first blog post I can remember being a little naïve about what a teacher actually does. Now I still maintain the same excitement about being a teacher but I am definitely more informed about the roles and responsibilities of being an elementary teacher.