Subica Hussain
Master of Arts in Teaching
I completed my student teaching internship for the fall and winter semester while serving as a teaching intern in a year-long placement at UPA-Mark Murray Elementary. I was fortunate to work under Mrs. Betrenna Hodges, my mentor teacher, who has thirteen years of experience teaching elementary students. I was responsible for co-teaching the second-grade. As a student teacher, I worked closely with Mrs. Hodges in planning and preparing lessons to teach the students. The regular day in the second-grade started with the Morning Crew meeting, in which the children were expected to greet each other and share their thoughts on the Reading of the Day. During the meeting, I promoted positive interactions and provided safe havens for all learners. After the morning meeting, the students transitioned into the academic centers. The academic centers included phonics, writing, skills, computers, and silent reading. During this time, the students met with Mrs. Hodges for guided reading to read books at their specific reading level. I observed Mrs. Hodges during the guided reading sessions and learned how to make use of reading comprehension strategies to help the young readers to better understand the text. In the fall semester, I was responsible for planning and teaching phonic skills in the Phonics Center. Later, in the winter semester, I took the responsibility of the Skills Center. After closing the academic centers, the students transitioned to English Language Arts (ELA) block. One of the ELA units was on Malala Yousafzai, an education activist. I got actively involved in teaching the unit on Malala Yousafzai, which deeply connected to me as Malala and I both belong to Pakistan. We share the same roots and experiences of living there. My students were excited to learn about Malala from me, as I was able to take young activists on an enlightening educational journey to Pakistan through my experiences. While learning about Malala we used two types of texts, the informational nonfiction, and the narrative nonfiction. I engaged the learners to differentiate between the two texts by comparing and contrasting the text features while we read. Currently, the students are expected to interview a person in their school who has brought a change in the community. Then the students will write their own narrative non-fiction as part of project-based learning and the core state standards.
The math block incorporated rigorous Engage NY Curriculum that lasted for one hour. My students and I started the lesson by annotating the learning target for the day. The learning targets were framed into “I Can…” statements that let the students take the ownership of their learning. The students were expected to solve real-life application problems using the RDW (Read, Draw, and Write) approach. I supported my students by engaging them in building skills for solving math problems using manipulatives. My favorite part of teaching math was challenging the students and then hearing "Oh, I get it now!" was awe-inspiring. Another math skill building program revolved around the Calendar Math. This fifteen to twenty minutes of engaging instructions provided the students with daily practice of broader mathematical concepts.
At Mark Murray Elementary, they alternate observing science or social studies day every other week. My students and I looked forward to becoming scientists and exploring wonders of science through experiments and building models. It was a wonderful experience of engaging and educating the next generation of scientists. We also learned about the Detroit neighborhood and our community as part of social studies lessons.
In second-grade, I was also given the opportunity to identify a child with differentiated learning needs. He was below the grade-level in math. I designed the academic/behavior intervention plan for him. We both benefited from the tutoring relationship. Harry started trusting me and would share and ask anything. The one-on-one tutoring was worth seeing him making progress in math.
As a student intern, I also attended professional development and grade-level planning meetings. In one of the professional development meeting, I learned about Responsive Classroom strategies. It is a research-backed approach to elementary education. The most intriguing strategy of all the Responsive Classroom strategies to me was interactive modeling. I applied interactive modeling in my teaching practices and experienced that it increases academic achievement, decreases problem behaviors, and improves social skills.
In conclusion, the teaching year at Mark Murray Elementary was filled with challenges, knowledge, and growth in my career path. I appreciate the principal and staff members, my instructional coaches, my co-teaching intern, and especially Mrs. Hodges for supporting and guiding me throughout the field experience.
