Matoaca Middle School
Matoaca Middle School is made up of over 900 students from 6th grade through 8th grade. It is located in a rural part of Chesterfield County, near Petersburg, VA. About 36% of the school is considered low-income and is on free or reduced lunch. I was had the opportunity to teach a 7th grade social studies class focused on the second half of United States History. Half of my classes were considered ‘Honors”, while the other half was considered “General Education”. In my time there the class was learning about WWI, then the Roaring 20s. I was able to help lead some review activities for WWI, then led the entire Roaring 20s Unit.
Below is a lesson I taught, and pictures from a school based project I assisted my Cooperating Teacher implement:
Lesson Plan:
Enon Elementary School
Enon Elementary School is located in Chester in Chesterfield County, Virginia. This school has students from grades PK-5th. There are about 515 students that attend this school, many of whom are considered English Language Learners. 26% of the school is considered low-income. I worked with a Kindergarten class, however due to Covid-19 I was unable to meet them in person. However, I did assist my Cooperating Teacher in distance learning, by doing read aloud videos, movement challenges, joining Zoom calls, and participating in other activities through Class Dojo. This experience provided insight on all of the online education tools I will be able to use in my own classroom.
Below is one of the read aloud videos I posted for my Kindergartners:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zQhWOv86vuv-qp0lq8BLNN-5IP5LTFu7/view?usp=sharing
Nottoway Intermediate School
Nottoway Intermediate is a rural school, located in Nottoway County, VA. There are 307 5th and 6th grade students. 44% of students are African American, 42% are White, and 7% are Hispanic. About 63% of the school is on Free or Reduced Lunch. I worked with a 6th grade class, and taught all core subject areas. I tutored a student one-on-one in literacy, and conducted research with our tutoring sessions. I have linked my research on my home page, and below. I also worked with a student on their behavior through a Positive Intervention Plan. The student and I created a behavior plan together, and would discuss daily on how that student was doing. I also worked with a small group for math remediation. Below I have attached my literacy research, as well as my Positive Intervention Plan.
http://blogs.longwood.edu/giarrussoteacherresearcher/
Grange Hall Elementary
Grange Hal Elementary School is located in Chesterfield County, VA. It is one of the oldest schools in the county, over 100 years old. Grange Hall educates 795 students grades K-5. 13% of the school is on free or reduced lunch, 81% is White, 8% African American, and 6% is Hispanic. This was my first practicum experience, and I was working in a 5th grade class. Majority of my class was classified as “Gifted” and took advanced math classes. I assisted my Cooperating Teacher by providing extra support during lessons, and building relationships with students. I conducted literacy and math assessments with students of different abilities. I led a small group math lesson to help assist students in a topic they struggled on. I also taught a TextTalk with the entire class. I have attached the lesson plan for my Text Talk below.