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Effective urban educators are Innovative Practitioners who are able to problem solve, develop ideas, and use creative methods. 

Teaching 21st-century learners requires a change in the traditional pedagogical paradigm. As an innovative practitioner, letting my students explore the repertoire of Responsive Classroom strategies and using technology in the classroom prepares them to become successful in the future. By opening the doors of the classroom and bringing in real life experiences, I help them learn abstract concepts.

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”

                               Albert Einstein

Fostering group work encourages the students to interact with one another and engage in the learning environment.

Reading The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss to my second-graders. The dramatic play added fun to the lesson on rhyming words.

Incorporating role-play in the science lesson. Experiential learning encouraged my second-graders to express themselves and develop an understanding of difficult science concept.

Giving academic choice and using interactive modeling to practice Responsive Classroom strategies during the science lesson.

Incorporating the Think-Pair-Strategy during a whole class instruction. It would increase the student involvement in the discussion.

I believe group work is an effective method to motivate students, encourage active learning, and develop key critical-thinking, communication, and decision-making skills. This requires some careful planning and facilitation, which is why I make sure to implement some key steps when planning a group activity:

  • Identify the instructional objectives.

  • Make the task challenging.

  • Decide on group size and abilities. 

  • Select and utilize co-teaching models.

  • Allow sufficient time for group work. 

  • Prepare written instructions for the students.

  • Model the expectations for the group session.

  • Explain the task clearly.

  • Let students ask questions. 

Adapting familiar stories is one of my favorite activities in my second-grade classroom. My students and I love telling and listening to stories that we’ve heard. In my classroom, I use dramatic play by acting out the character which creates a whole new dimension to a familiar Dr. Suess book. Our adaptation of a familiar story with characters provides the backdrop for some wonderful literacy learning and adds fun to the lesson of rhyming words.
Role-playing when learning science enables students to think outside the box and answer such questions as who, what, why, when, and how which encourages them to use cognitive thinking skills. Information alone rarely makes students change their minds, but personal experience often does. I believe implementing role-playing in the classroom, like any good inquiry approach, transforms the content of the lesson from information into experience.
Giving a choice to students is a powerful and motivating teaching tool. But young children need help learning how to make good choices. Therefore, I help and guide students in selecting the appropriate course of action independently. Students explore the different purposes of the task they are given and determine what the purpose for doing this task is. Students also learn decision-making processes by evaluating whether the choice matches their abilities to perform the task they choose.

Making an effective use of PowerPoint to help the students understand the math concept of equivalency.

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