“According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” Jerry Seinfeld

I wanted to find a quote about public speaking, this is what I found. Not exactly what I wanted but it made me laugh out loud and in teaching humor is a life savor.


It's my last week and I've been observing other teachers in my own grade as well as others. Some of them have been really good and I've learned a lot from. But I have to say the ones I learned the most from where the teachers that I would not want to be like. I was sitting one lesson about big numbers and math and I think I about fell asleep twice! I had to force myself to take notes and stand up in order to entertain myself. Then when I went and talked to my CT about it he basically said how would you feel if you were that student? The classroom seemed to have a lot of chatty students and the teacher said "I'll wait" 5 times in just a couple minutes (I started tallying after the 3 time she said it. This was her way of telling them that she was waiting for them to stop talking and to listen to her. My thoughts where why listen when she didn't seem to enjoy teaching the lesson and it was mostly a lecture. In essence we are public speakers. We stand in front of an audience and we need to figure out how to get them to listen to what we are saying and become interested in it. Yes this is more difficult thanks to modern technology and more entertaining television shows for kids, but it's still our job to keep their attention and teach! While watching the lesson the whole idea of "don't smile til after Christmas" came to my mind. I think the teacher smiled once at the end of the lesson when the lesson discussed baseball teams.

Another mistake that I saw was a teacher got upset at the students for throwing their marker board erasers into the baskets instead of handing them to the person next to them who's job then is to place the towel in the basket. I think I saw 8 or 9 students out of 27 do the right thing. So she stopped the class and had them watch her do it the wrong way then the right way. (And even though she told all students to watch her 5 of them who threw the rag was not watching). Then she went on with her lesson. First off if this was my class I would have found a different place for the towels, even I would be tempted to make a shot in since it was close enough. Then instead of modeling it for them I would have a few students that did it the wrong way do the modeling. The students know as the teacher I could do it, but as the teacher you want to show them they can do it the right way too. Then instead of just going on after showing the wrong and right way I would have every student collect the erasers and do it the right way. If one student did it the wrong way again, we would keep doing it till everyone does it the right way. One thing I learned a lot about in my second placement is showing authority in the right way. As my CT also says you are not the "bad guy" if you make them re-do something they did the wrong way. You are essentially setting them up for success. Showing them how to act the right way and also letting them know you won't just give into bad habits. I think it's also important to always explain to students why you do something a certain way. Your answer shouldn't be "because I said so" it should be "because we should always be doing our personal best and doing things the correct way because it makes us look good .... " or whatever the reason may be for the circumstance. Ok... so there is my rant for the week :)

On a sad note I only have 2 days left of student teaching and a lot left to do. It will be strange leaving the classroom (again) but knowing that I won't be walking into another room right away. While watching other teachers I feel a need to help students and be the one teaching them. I found myself wondering around the rooms that I observed and asking students questions or pointing out something on their assignments they where working on. I wasn't made to be an observer, I was made to be a teacher :)

All good things must come to an end.

So my time at Pierce is almost up. It is really bittersweet because I love the class and I loved teaching them, but I'm ready for the next step. I have learned more than anticipated over the last semester and gained a lot more confidence in many areas. Not just teaching, but in communicated, socializing and even professionalism. My fiance said that he has even noticed a different in my demeanor. Everything we do in life and every choice changes us in some way or another. No one ever said teaching was easy, but I've found confidence in the challenges that it creates for me. There wasn't a day in class that I left the room feeling empty. There was always something that happened or something one of the students did or said that showed me that this job is what I want to peruse.

Next week I will be able to watch some of the other teachers from the building. I feel that this is a strategy I will want to continue as I teach. Every teacher has different and unique ideas, and this job is all about stealing them :P I think a good teacher find what they are comfortable with and what works for them, but a great teacher continually adds to their list of strategies and keeps finding new and fresh ideas. They may or may not work but you never know unless you try. I'm excited to watch the other teachers to see how they teach and to see other aspects such as different ways to set up the classrooms and the different grades. I don't know what level I would prefer to teach yet so watching the different classes will hopefully give me a little bit better idea as to what I might want.

Embracing the chaos

When you see students sitting at their desks completely silent and working on their assignments you would assume they are learning and the teacher must have great classroom management skills. But what if you saw a room where the students are noisy, laughing and all around the room? If you walked into my classroom for Intervention, math and science that's what you would see. During intervention the students are learning about Reader's theater and I have them in 6 different heterogeneous reading groups. I told them what reader's theater is and gave them a demonstration. I also taught them about using expression and phrasing. Then I assigned them scripts and characters and they took it from there. Most of the scripts are based off of ether different books or fairy tales. (One was CLICK ClACK MOO!)While walking around I was intervening in the groups and asking them about their thoughts and throwing in an idea or two. Some of the groups where going beyond just reading the script with a little expression. They were figuring out where they would stand when presenting, figuring out if they could use any props, finding hand/small movements they could do and then rehearsing with their new ideas. The room seemed to be in chaos, but I guess I would call it organized chaos. They were learning and knew what their jobs where.

Then during math as an extension when students are complete they had a choice of two games, one being multiplication wrestling and the other being beat the calculator. When the students are playing the games you can tell they are really interested in them. It's interesting listening to their conversations and essentially hearing them learn. As a teacher I could have just made a few more worksheets with practice problems on them for the students to complete. This would have fit the picture of the typical classroom. But why not make math more engaging? Isn't it more real life to use it in a competition than doing drill and practice?

Our last chaotic moment happened during science. The new unit is over magnetism and the students where introduced to the magnet. As a way to get those new item jitters out they were able to take the magnet around the room and see what they discover with it. I think this is an important part of the lesson. Students will be trying to stick it on all the different hings in the room anyway, why not just let them do it all at once. It was also interesting watching them discover. One student found that when the magnet is dropped into the sink the right way it rolls all the way across and up the other side...I later thought about how I should have added the idea of gravity helping it, I will have to remember that for next time I teach the lesson. The students where all over the classroom "playing" with the magnets. After I had them experiment a little we filled out a KWL charts. Each student got two sticky notes, then they wrote either a question or what they knew about magnets and stuck it on the chart.

I think some teachers would have a problem with this kind of learning. I like the fact that they are discovering on their own and able to find out for themselves the different things about magnets, or add in that extra stuff for their reader's theater. In the real world we are not taught but practicing in worksheets or having someone always tell us what we need to know, we discover new things by doing them.

After being away for a week I was ready to be in the classroom. I think the week was just the right amount of time to get myself rejuvenated and caught up. Plus it was really nice to just spend a few days in my p.j.s rather than dressing up. One would think the students would also come back energetic as well and hyper, but it's really the exact opposite. They came in very sluggish and I got some funny looks this morning when I was energetically greeting them at the door. The morning seemed to start out sort of lethargic. But after gym they were back to their hyper selves. Even though they are more chatty, I enjoyed teaching them more with the higher energy level. It gave the lessons more substance. It made me think of comedians when they are on stage. It seems that once the crowed starts to interact more and respond to their material the more confidence they radiate and the better their skits are. Teachers are entertainers to an extent as well. Or as my C.T. says we are not just teachers, but we are public speakers. No one wants to listen to a boring speech by some monotone speaker. Kids today are constantly being stimulated by television, games, computers etc. The teacher's job then is to keep up with that level of entertainment in order to keep the students attention. This is something I, myself, am really trying to work on. I try to continually ask myself what would make the student care about what I am saying? And it the answer is because that's what the book tells me to teach then that is a sure sign I need to re-think what I'm teaching. Again that all relates back to making the lessons relate to that "real-world" application.

It was interesting attending the New student teaching orientation tonight. I didn't want to go at first because of all the other things I had to get done, and an hour of time taken away is quite a bit (when really it is about 2 hours considering the drive time to and from Coe and talking afterwords). In a way it was refreshing seeing peers that have the same concerns we had when we where in their position. It also brought to my attention how much I have really learned over the course of the semester. It's hard to tell them not to worry so much and that they would be fine (considering I was told the same things) when I can understand how they feel and what they are going through. It seemed better to tell them to embrace their nervousness and to remember how they feel now when it is complete.

' Every wrong answer gets me nearer to the right answer'

My biggest hurdle as far as teaching goes for this week is classroom managment. The more I work at it the better it's going. I've said it before in a blog but this is definietly something that teachers have to learn through expereince and find what works well for them. You can pick up ideas in books or from watching other teacher but ultimatly it must be something you work at as a teacher and find what you feel comfortable with. One procedure that my CT uses and I've found I really like is when you want the classes attention you say "class" in some funny way or use claps. Then they say back "yes" the same way you said class. It took a little time to get used to doing and I'm learning more fun ways to say it as well, but it really works! The students have learned that when you call their attention in this fashion it lets them know you have an announcement or directions of somesort. I like it because it's fun and it works.

During the last few weeks we've been having parent/teacher confrences. I was able to attend quite a few of them from both Taylor and Peirce. It's really intersting seeing the differences since the schools are very different in S.E.S. I also find that I learn a lot more about the child during that time. Talking to the parents is like getting a glimpse of what they are like outside of school. I feel that parents also are able to show the line of communication between them and their child at the confrences. For the begining part at Peirce the child showed their data binders to their parents. During this time some of the parents would make comments about this or that project showing that they remembered their child working on it, or showing that their child communicated that with them. Other parents seemed to be more suprised when differnet points where brought up. One of the confrences that stuck out in my mind was where the paernts seemed to joke a lot with the student and had a very open line of communitiation, they really showed a connection. I think this reflects a lot of how the student is as well.

It is really important for the lines to connect between parents, students, teahcers, and the school. In my mind I see more of a web and how they are all interconnected with each other. I believe that what we do in school and what we are learning doesn't just stop when the 3:40 bell rings. A teacher should also help students see the connections with the real world and school. It's not important to just have all your math facts memorized, but to know how and why 2*2= 4, and then realize that the same math fact is found in the real world. It's also the parents job to help make those connections for the students when they are not at school.

“Give yourself an even greater challenge than the one you are trying to master and you will develop the powers necessary to overcome the original difficulty.” William Bennett

I think my quote fits perfectly with what happened yesterday. My CT and a few others at the school went to a conference, as I told the students to become an even greater teacher, this left me with a substitute. I had two options one to let the sub do most of the stuff I haven't yet done in the class and would be taking over on Monday, or I could take over the whole room a day early and with out my CT in the room. I decided to give myself a greater challenge and take over for the day. This was such a great feeling knowing that I was in control and I didn't have that "security blanket." The sub was there, but I didn't have the CT there to ask 'what would you do? or how should I." I had to make those split second decisions and maintain the classroom control. In some ways I felt like a sub. The students where not yet used to me taking over everything and decided to see how much they could get away with. Two students where told specifically to stay at their desks after they were done with their math tests. (Normally during free reading time students are allowed to sit anywhere in the room they'd like to. Well, one student thought it would be a good idea to lay next to his desk with his feet at the chair, then another student followed suit. I guess thy were still "at their seats" but this shows they were really seeing what they could get away with. The students were a lot more chatty than usual part because it was Friday and a lot of it is because I'm not the 'teacher.' My CT is also a lot taller than me as well as a guy. I think both of these factors are a little more intimidating than a 5'2" female. Women are also looked at as being more "motherly."

I ran into a bit of a complication with Spelling. We normally take our tests in the computer lap at spellingcity.com (awesome site!) Well once we were there I told the students which lists they were on and dismissed them, we found the lists where not showing on the site. I thought maybe it was just the one group that didn't have a list, but the students soon let me know that non of their lists where showing up. I decided to let them play a quick spelling game from last weeks words since we had the computer lab already reserved. After that I had the students head back to the room and we worked on our "thank you" letters to the student ambassadors from U of I for visiting our classes a few weeks ago.

One thing I did that I was proud of was I had them re-do different things during the day. When they go from the carpet to their desks they have certain expectations, and when they go from the desks to the carpet other expectations. These where not showing. Once when they where coming to the carpet it took them a lot longer than it should have, and was a noisier they it should have been. So once everyone came to the carpet, I had them all go back to their seats and we talked about what it should look like and sound like. Then we did it again. I did the same thing later for when they went from the carpet to their seats. Once they got back to their seats the noise level increased and it seemed a little chaotic. So I had them come back and talked about what had happened and re-stated the expectations. I wanted to show them that I didn't think it was o.k. to stop doing their personal best when the c.t. wasn't around and that I still expected them to.

Over all they day had a few frustrations and looking back there are things I would have done differently or said differently for directions. (But isn't this the way every new teacher sees it?) We got through everything (except for the spelling test) that we where supposed to. I feel more confident about myself as a teacher after this experience. I was forced to take on a role that I chose alone. My original challenge was to teach the class and the greater challenge was to teach a class without that "security blanket." Not only did I conquer the original challenge, but I learned a lot about myself and gained more confidence from that.

“Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.”

It's amazing how many decisions a day a teacher has to make. I'm just starting to understand this concept. Today I had a lesson for math that had 2 things unexpected arise. The first being the promethian board acting up and making weird zig-zag things. First it just zaged upward, then I went to make a 0 and somehow it make a shape of a cat head. It was funny and I had some laughs but I decided to just continue. Then another cat head came out of a 0. With the few other problems it had the students distracted and paying more attention to what the pen was going to do next then the actual lesson. So I decided to stop and give the students 5 seconds to laugh about it, and we all laughed together. Then I said that our laughter was out and we knew that it might happen again, but it was time to focus and ignore the complication. I was a little frustrated with the pen because it made it really difficult to write in the chart that I had created for the math lesson.

I made a mistake by not looking closely at the problems we were going over together. I used the teachers manual and the * looked like an + sign. As you know the picture of the student pages in those things are really small. Well we were working with broken calculator problems and the question was something like t*52 = 3380. The key that was broken was the division key. Once I got to this problem I realized they didn’t have the skills to figure that problem out I wasn’t sure what to do. Luckily my cooperating teacher jumped in and saved the day with calculators! I think this was a decision I should have made on my own knowing that the students could more easily guess and check using them, but it shows how many split second decisions teachers must make. I believe this is something that will come better with time as well as experience. My CT is always giving me awesome advice about lessons in the curriculum because he had already taught them and knew what decisions worked and which ones didn’t.
One of the students in class hadn’t finished his math work from the morning and was pulled out of class to work on it. This particular student is new to the area and had been struggling previously with math. I wasn’t the one to work with him on the math boxes, but knowing the student I would have thought that maybe he didn’t do it because he didn’t understand. Once the student was pulled out he finished them in a short time and had them all correct. I think that it shows that students will surprise you sometimes with what they learn as well as your assumptions about different situations. Instead of the student not really knowing what to do, it was really a matter of him not using his time wisely during the allotted time given to him.

“The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” John Powell

Today I made a mistake, well quite a few but don't we all, but I was able to learn from it as well as make it into a teachable moment. We are writing thank - you letters to Ambassadors from U of I because they came in last week and taught us more about the human body. So I made a thank you letter to the students on Microsoft Word. Then instead of copy and pasting I just re-wrote it as a flip chart. I didn’t spend a lot of time on it since the day was about to begin and I had a few other things to do. Once I began showing it to the students I realized I had A LOT of errors. Part because I was typing fast and part because I didn’t proof read. We proof read the letter and found most of the mistakes (2 major one’s where I spelled the teachers name wrong and the school ) . I then asked them why was it important for me to go back and re-read what I wrote? I also asked them what would someone think if they received this letter as a thank you letter with all the errors in it? They told me that it would look bad, and one student mentioned the fact that it makes you, as the writer, look unintelligent. Lesson learned, I will proof read items before showing them more often!

During my math lesson I came across a problem I wasn’t sure how to react to. The students were measuring different lines and wing spans of bugs in their books. I asked the students what did they get as an answer. I knew that there would be some fluctuation of answers because they were measuring in millimeters and it’s often hard for them to see the little lines. The answers some of them were giving me where way off.. I didn’t want make them feel bad by saying they were wrong, but instead I called on a few other people. The numbers where still way off. After I made it through the lesson nervous about what had happened and why it turned out that way. we found out during their partner work time. We found out that some of the rulers where different sizes. We had printed off a few more of the rulers this morning and didn’t think about checking them to see if they were the same. This was then a realization as to “why” the answers would be different. So for the next time we got rid of the old rulers and made new ones that are all the same size.

Practice only makes for improvement. Les Brown

So today I was able to do a little make up of my not so great science and social studies lessons. I'm trying to figure out how to manage group work and the transition from whole group to small group. It seems like this is one of those things you can't really learn from a lecture, but it takes a lot of practice (and patients). There are a lot of things you just don't think about when planning a lesson for the first time. Today I worked on talking to the class about what it looks like when you are in your small group. "What should I see, and what should I hear." I then had a few groups model what they should do first before releasing the whole group to work on their own. They had a guide to their learning and it told step-by-step what to do. I was very naive at first and really over estimated their abilities. So today I re-explained the questions and the format to the guide and asked if students had any more questions after. This seemed to really help. I see it right now as if I'm practicing how to manage the group before taking over. I see what works, what doesn't, and then expanding on what works.

Instead of going on to my next lesson in grammar I thought it would be more beneficial to go back over singular possessive nouns and have the students practice since this is an area that students get mixed up a lot in. (as well as adults). I feel like I repeated myself 100X when explaining that the 's shows that the (noun) owns something in the past few days but it seemed to really work and I only have about 2 students that missed a problem (mostly because they rushed through it). It shows the power of re-teaching and how students can benefit from hearing about a concept for more than one day. It seems like the curriculum doesn't allow a lot of time to really teach one particular area because we have to keep moving forward. But what then do you do if you have a few students or even a whole class that hasn't mastered the concept? Should you keep trudging along hoping that they will pick it up, for we are supposed to "believe in the spiral"? Or should we stop and try to mater the concept and move on to the next even though we may not have the time for it?

Life isn't about how to survive the storm, But how to dance in the rain.

It's interesting how dramatically different one school or one class can be to another. I am constantly comparing my first placement to where I am now, but it's really no comparison because they are different places, with different students/teachers/atmospheres/grades/rules etc. I'm finding that a lot of the things I learned at my first placement are not applicable at my second.

Today I taught a social studies lesson and the students were supposed to follow along with a work sheet that gave step by step directions. They were going to work in their table groups (groups that have been the same way for awhile now). At my last placement I didn't have students work in groups because working in pairs was difficult enough for them. Their maturity level wasn't high enough and even in just pairs they argued or fussed about their other partner. (Now looking back this could have been a great thing to teach about if I would have had more time.) I assumed way to much for the group and after reading a short bit of the reading I directed showed them the sheet that they would be using to guide their time and told them about another sheet they were to complete. Once they got to their groups the noise level rose, it seemed that there was some confusion about what to do, and a few groups had a hard time working together. I underestimated the power of modeling.

To save-face, tomorrow we are going to re-group again but I will explain more about the worksheet and I'm going to model what working a group should look like. We will also talk about what we see and hear when we are in a group and how to help each other.

I came into the placement thinking I knew way more than what I did because I had just done a lot in my first place. My first placement was an awesome learning experience and made me grow a lot as a teacher, and so far my second placement is teaching me even more. From here out I need to, not forget about what I learned at my first placement, but put some of it on the back burner. That way I can focus more on what is happening here and now at a new place and keep reminding myself that each day is a new day and a new slate.

In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back. (Charlie Brown)

Halloween was a blast with the kids. What was even better was the parent support that put the party and parade together. They created games and activities in each room and provided snacks. (It was nice as a teacher to just sit back and enjoy too. It shows that there is help in/outside of the classroom and as a teacher you really are not alone.

Today I taught spelling, grammar, and science. Science was completely new for me since in my last placement my teachers swapped classes for science and social studies, and we taught social studies. I realized that even though a lot of it is already planned out, there is still a lot of work to go into it. I made some errors with the lesson. It's funny how when you are watching teachers things seem flawless, but then once your get up front it seems to become a snowball of disaster, or at least to you they do. I find myself forgetting things or not thinking of one thing or another, but ultimately this happens with all teachers. One of my college professors once said you need to be a good liar to be a teacher. She didn't mean that you had to actually tell lies, but be able to cover up your mistakes. I think it's also good to also let students sometimes know when you make a mistake. It shows that everyone makes mistakes, but you don't just let it go, you fix it. I planned the lesson all out and had a power point to show the information to the students. It went pretty smooth until I realized I had skipped a step in the experiment. There were also things that came up that I didn't realize would come up. It's hard to plan for everything and to predict what is going to happen. I think this is one reason why teachers with experience are the 'experts.' They've taught the lesson before (sometimes many times before) and have had those unexpected questions come up.

Yesterday I was driving home and I realized how much driving and teaching are alike,
1. You have a destination to reach, you can take the long way or the short way.
2. It takes practice, but eventually becomes second nature.
3. You always have more than one thing to focus on at a time, if not you can miss something big.
4. You constantly have to maintain control.
5. It requires regular check ups.
6. Needs a continuous amount of fuel to keep it moving.

By learning you will teach, by teaching you will learn. Latin Prove

As a teacher you learn a lot about your students such as how they learn, what their interests are, what their talents are, what their levels of reading/math/science etc. You also know when a student has put in their best efforts or when they can do better. Its the teachers job to know their potential and push past it. After school today I was grading projects for students based on a rubric. For me it was a bit more difficult because I haven't yet learned all the students potential yet. I have seen some of their work, but not enough to know when they are really trying their hardest and when they are just doing the basics. During this time I also thought a lot about equality, or really how we can't grade all students at an equal level. For example one student in the class normally has really sloppy hand writing and it's hard to read(Mostly because they zip through everything because it's often easy for them). I noticed this student was the only one to have two pages of writing and his picture had a lot of detail, but to a passer by it looked like scribbling in some parts. The scale was 1 - 3+. 3+ being that the student couldn't have done any better. For the content part of the work it was no doubt a 3+ because the student had all that was asked and then some. The hard part for me was to determine how to score the picture. I asked the CT and he told me a little more about the student and then we came to the conclusion it was at least a 3. Now remember I said to a passer-by it didn't look like a master piece and with out knowing the student I would have given it a 2. Now if another one of the students who I know is an out standing artist did this work I would have definitely gave it a 2. That doesn't really seem fair, or does it? I think that as teachers, who know their students well, we should grade work based on the student and his/her potential is. I think this allows for both challenge to the students because we know what they can do, but it doesn't make an assignment seem impossible for others who might not be so great at writing or art. It's the teachers job to scaffold students at just the right level. (I also really like rubrics for grading but that will be in different blog)

Technology can be a teachers best friend or it can be a great enemy. For spelling we are starting to use 'words their way' and my CT found an awesome website - spellingcity.com - for the students to use and practice their words. The site offers teachers the ability to add multiple lists for ability grouping. The students were going to use the laptops, log on, find spellingcity and start playing. That's how it was supposed to go. Well after we started up it seemed that we should have done some more pre-teaching first. I had at least 10 students ask where to find the site (we told them yesterday how to find it), some students were unsure of how to log on or what to do if it didn't work right away etc. Well 3 of the students were not able to log on to the computers at all and it took most of the time trying to figure out why (which we never did). A few of the computers were dead and we had to switch out batteries. And some of the computers wouldn't access the internet. All of this caused our 20 min time on the computer to last about double that and run into our reading time. Like I said before it can be your best friend, and it was for the students that it worked for it was. But it was our enemy because it wasted our time, and caused the rest of the schedule to be off especially since we already had a half day.

One thing that I really like for classroom management is that each student has a number. The number was assigned by using alphabetic order. The numbers are then used to keep order with materials. Their reading, social studies and math text books all have a number. This allows for the students to quickly grab their book when asked and begin working. The numbers are also used for homework. Next to their name they write their number. Then we are able to put the pages in order when they turn it in and can easily tell who has done it and who still needs to turn it in. I think that having order in a classroom is important for management as well as for the students. It helps teach them about how to be organized in order to better succeed later in life.

The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows. Sydney J. Harris

I'll apologize now for the long post, but it was a awesome day for learning!

I taught my first lesson today over irregular plurals. I used the Promethean board, had a power point, and had a game to play! It seemed to really capture the students attention with all the action. I was also really nervous. It seems that since I had already taught for a few weeks before, this should be a peace of cake. There were a lot of factors that go into it; it was a new group with different abilities, it's a different environment and that brings on a different atmosphere, I now have to direct my instruction for 28 students instead of 19 (and my supervisor was there watching me). I think teaching is really taken for granted. When I was making my lesson plan at home my little cousin in fifth grade was watching me type it up. She was really inquisitive about what I was doing. I told her about how teachers have to plan out what they need to teach. They don't just walk into the room and start talking. She seemed to be impressed by this and then watched me for a bit longer. She asked why I was adding different things into the lesson. This is a perfect example of how much teachers do behind the scenes.

During our team meeting we worked on figuring out how to score the report cards. It was really fascinating listening to the 3 teachers talk about each section and decided on a 1-2-3 proficiency. I guess I didn't realize how much collaboration was put into the report cards. It was helpful for me to ask questions to my CT afterwords to; Who makes up the report card, are they district/school wide, how do you inform the parents about how the report cards work. I had more questions about them, but because there are only short bouts of time between when the students are gone, I didn't get to ask them. It's interesting how many more categories are on the card compared to when I was in school. I remember having it just tell about the main subject, now it has subcategories for the subjects.

Both the CT and I learned a lesson after teaching math lesson about decimals. Since Cedar Rapids uses a spiral method for math they should have already touched on decimals in previous years and should have a bit of an understanding for them. Well, since it was assumed that they should have know this material less whole group was taught and more independent work was done. While I was going around I noticed that quite a few students where mixing up where to put some of the numbers after the decimal and how to incorporate the whole number. Lesson learned was to not assume they know something. It seems to be a double edge sword when teaching. You can't assume they don't know anything when most of them do understand the concept. This will completely bore them and you will lose their attention. But if you assume they know to much then you will also lose them because they don't have the necessary background information to understand. It seems that this happy medium is something you learn over time with experience, as with a lot of concepts for teaching.

After school an awesome thing happened... Students asked for homework even though they were told they had none! This shows me, as a teacher, that they really do want to learn and want to gain that confidences that comes with understanding a concept. About 12 of the students took the worksheet home. Even though they may not complete it (even though I believe that with this group most of them will!), it shows intuition for taking the sheet and thinking about doing it.

Today I sat with the students at lunch. I think this is an awesome opportunity because I get to hear what they are talking about and what interests them. I can also build a stronger relationship with them because I am using my own time and energy to actively find out about them. The relationship/trust component is so important when teaching. Unfortunately I wasn't able to begin at the beginning of the school year with the class so I have some making up to do. While looking around I saw a sign.... It read (school Mascot) kid's kafe. First off I thought that's cute. Then as I looked and thought about the sign more it kind of upset me. The "kafe" should be spelled 'cafe.' Think about how many times students look at that word and don't realize that is a misspelling. Then once they have a spelling test or have to write it they may have it spelled. Then as my CT and I were talking about it he pointed out another obvious flaw that I didn't catch right awat. The Kid's has 's which means one kid owns it. So it's the one kid's kafe, where it should be the kids' kafe meaning all the kids have ownership over it. It was probably just a mistake overlooked before hanging it, and of course we all make mistakes :)

One of the coolest things happened today... ok well for a teacher it's really cool! My cooperating teacher has students read different chapter books for small group reading and for one of the groups we are reading "Witches" by Ralph Dahl. I'm also trying to catch up with the reading groups and join in on their discussions. I can tell they are really interested in readying and are excited when they get to talk in the group about the book (they also get upset if time runs out for their group as well). During some of our down time at the end of the day I was reading a little more in the book. One of the girls in the class came up to me and wanted to know where I was in the book and talk about it. I was a little bit further than her and she asked me "what happens to him!" Well I understood what she meant since I'm reading the book but I told her I wouldn't ruin the story for her by saying it. It was awesome to see how excited she was and really interested in what happens next in the story. I talked to my CT about this incident and he made the comment "I would like the see the baisls do that" implying they don't really create that excitement for reading. The books are great to help students LEARN how to read the words but they don't seem to help student gain the want or need for reading. When reading the short basil books they aren't left with that 'wow, I really want to go home and read more about this' feeling. It seems that we are short changing the students when it comes to reading. They have to read the boring short stories that are required and have hardly any time to just free read. No wonder students are not doing as well as they used to when we are taking to fun out of reading. One thing I like that my CT does is he makes time to read the students a few poems each day and gives them time to free read (Which really is time used to read their group time books and complete their book reports that are do at the end of each month). In order for students to become better readers then need to read!

"When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is." - Oscar Wilde

It's really interesting how money plays a big factor in schools (well in most everything but that's another topic.) When I began telling people about where I was going to be placed they always commented on how different the experience will be. One school is the "low income" one is the 'rich school.' It seems that it's not something that is supposed to be really talked about though. I can't say these are the poor kids who might not do as well because there is a chain reaction linked to money. It's interesting how demographics play out to where you have the 'poor' and 'wealthy' parts of town. It's not hard to figure out what side you are on when you are taking your sunday drive. The kids on the 'good' side of town are presented with a better opportunity because of money. Parents are able to take trips to places further than Cedar Rapids, they are able to support hobbies and interests of the students, they are able to spend more time with their students, and are also able to help them more with school work all because of their financial situation. Today in my class I talked to a few girls who had some form of dance every night of the week, another student has to go to hockey practice (a very expensive sport to be in), on student was missing my first day because they had taken a family vacation the week before and she needed time to rest. Not once did I hear my students talk about these kinds of opportunities while at my first placement. The only after school program that the students went to if they were eligible was Tiger Club and that was a funded after school program for students who needed extra support. Money permits opportunity. The students who are able to go to dance or hockey already have an upper hand then those who aren't so lucky. They have been placed with a group that allows for a certain type of sophistication that money helps them belong to.

I attended parent conferences for my first placement. As the parents were coming in (if they could get out of work) I took not of their dress. Some had on clothes that looked like they just got out of a factory, others had on sweats, others seemed rushed and came in with 2 or three other children because they couldn't find or afford a babysitter, and a few had recognizable uniforms from fast food chains. My heart goes out to them because this was the social class I came from. I know what it feels like to be the child who didn't get to see my parents because work had to come first in order to provide food and pay the bills. It just seems unfair.

The school I'm at now has a lot of parent support and financial support as well. The building seems more modern and the library is outstanding compared to my first placement. You can tell this is the 'wealthier' school by the way the students are dressed and (it seems controversial) are better behaved. There are often volunteers in the rooms and around the building. The students seem to excel compared to the students at my first school and I believe it has a lot to do with money. I know this is a different blog than I normally write and mostly because I feel it's unfair that money is such a big factor. It's no one's fault, it's just not fair that money is a key player in our educational system. I think it's important as a teacher to not be naive and understand the difference and the culture of your school. I find that the culture, atmosphere and personality are important factors to recognize in a school. It shows that you are aware not every school is the same and what challenge you may face. Sorry if I've ruffled any feathers with this blog, its just something on my mind that I wanted to get out.

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." -- Benjamin Franklin

Today was the second day in 4th grade. I have most of the students names down (all but about 3 girls I keep getting mixed up and 3 boys). For having 29 students and not to mention faculty to remember, I think I'm doing an ok job. One student asked me at the end of the day how long I'll be in the classroom and when I said 7 weeks his eyes lit up. This made me feel really awesome since I had only worked with him a little bit that day.

One thing about the room that I find interesting is the lack of a classroom disciplinary procedure. Many teachers use the 3 strikes or name on board procedures and some teachers use the color method (green, yellow, red) to indicate what kind of day it was. Our classroom doesn't really have anything like this. Most of the time if the class as a whole is doing something wrong they either talk about it or if it's something like lining up wrong they have a re-do. If individual students have an issue then the teacher normally confronts them and talks to them about it. Fortunately there doesn't seem to be to many problems. I like not having the warnings and having that kind of management but I feel that having to talk the students each time might also be time consuming. It will be interesting to watch and see how the class contiunes to do. The class seems to do a surprisingly great job and each class often has different needs.

I pointed out yesterday that when the teacher said 'sit audience style' a few students didn't do as he had asked and he just continued to teach. Some teachers are not picky about where students sit but the issue I saw with this was that if he had asked for something specific and he didn't hold them accountable this time would they feel they could get away with other things in the future? He agreed with what I said then today we practiced the two types of sitting...audience style, and circle style. The class had to do each right 3 times before continuing. This seemed to be a lot of work and the students eventually got it down. I think he should have set more expectations in the beginning i.e. "when you sit this way I should see..." but he did that more after they moved and then they re-adjusted themselves.

My c.t. has created his own way for teaching small reading groups. A large portion of the students are reading at a high lexile level and the books that are used in the reading series are to easy. He has created mini units from other popular chapter books and uses the same concepts that would be taught in the reading series. The first group I will take over we will be reading "Bridge to Tarabithia." I chose this book because it's one that I haven't read and I think sounds really interesting. Since I've been in the classroom I've also picked up reading more books for fun. It seems contagious with a group that really does enjoy reading for fun. (I just read "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" last night. My CT also does a bunch with Ralph Daul books, and you can tell his enthusiasm for the author has rubbed off on to the students. A lot of the students have one of his books on their desks or in their book holder (so they don't have to many books at once on their desk) and I saw a few students check books out by the author at library today that wasn't in the classroom. I think this really shows how much teachers persuade students.

Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. ~Arnold H. Glasow

I saw this quote today and loved it! I think it can be applied in a lot of areas. I see it as I know I'm not just going to be the most wonderful teacher the first day I step in front of the class, but I need to work hard at it and learn all that I can in order to 'set myself on fire' or reach my goal.

Today was my first official day in 4th grade. I'm so glad I went it over my break because I was over that first day jitters and I was able to take everything in with out the nerves. I also didn't have to focus as much on how to get around what's the classroom atmosphere, whats the c.t. like and all that other first day stuff. I was also able to jump right into the daily routine.

My day started out with an IEP meeting which I felt was really beneficial. The meeting consisted of the parents, the principal, the teacher and the specialists. I was able to hear what was on the students IEP and that will help me because I will be able to help him with is needs better in the classroom. It was also good to hear the parents input and hear what help they wanted their child to have. Parents often know their child's needs best since they spend the most time with them.

My CT is very enthusiastic about teaching and really wants to make sure every student 'gets it.' He also helps drive them to want to learn for the sake of learning and not for the tests or the grade. I think this is awesome! His enthusiasm is very contagious and I think it really rubs off on the students as well from what I can tell. The class has 29 students which also means 29 different personalities, likes interest, abilities and needs. One of the biggest challenges for me is being able to help every student and to scaffold them. One of the hardest things I found from my 3rd graders was making sure that each student was getting what he/she needed who was in the middle. The students that needed a lot of guidance was always asking for help and I tried to find extension activities for my higher ability levels but I feel that those in the middle where often left out. Part of this was because they were the students not always asking for help and they were always working. (I had to make sure I had enough work for my higher ability students otherwise they would be sitting their bored).

Today I was asked to help a few students with 2 math problems. (They were trying to solve for X in 4th grade!) This was a challenge because I didn't know the students yet and what they knew. I also didn't know what 'works' for them and how they learn. I think it's very important to know the students in order to teacher them in a specialized way and to relate instruction to their needs. I found it also difficult because of the position I was sitting in. I was at a 1/2 circle table with the instructor on the inside myself and the students on the outside. I was working with 3 students and the room was a little loud because the other students were working in partners on the worksheet and on games if they were done. I could tell the student to my right had a difficult time hearing me and seemed really distracted by the group that was working on the other side of the table. Later I learned the student prefers to have a quiet room to work in. The student on my right seemed to really want my individual attention and then there was a student a little ways away from us because of the shape of the table. He was also hard to instruct because of the distance. My other challenge was to teach them something I wasn't for sure what they knew and what strategies they had been taught so I had to wing it using the manipulatives. I tired asking the students what they thought they should do for the problem since we just had a short whole group discussion and they weren't for sure. This was a learning moment for me that I had to use my flexibility. I think if I was presented with this challenge again I would have the group move into the hallway or a more quiet area of the room and use the teachers manuel to look over quickly. I want to look over the book and see where the students are coming from for the next lesson so I am better prepared as well and see what they've done in the past so that I can apply the stratagies they know.

It is possible to interpret without observing, but not to observe without interpreting.

This was my observing week. It was nice to not have lesson plans but I still had my work cut out for me! I saw a guidance lesson over smoking, a 4/5th combination reading class, I watched a few of my students in lessons in the level one room, I observed in the severe and profound room, and I spent a morning with the pre-school students. It was a lot to take in for a short time.

I learned something from each place. It was interesting watching the guidance councilor teach about smoking to the fifth graders because he was very blunt about the subject and so was the text. It basically laid out the fact that smoking kills people and tells about how. He also tells them about the different chemicals that are used in cigarettes. I remember learning about them but it was more telling us just that they were ‘bad for you’ and a few of the side effects. After the teacher told about cigarettes they read about an uncle that died from lung cancer. It seems that they are trying to scare the kids more than anything. I guess if it works then why not? If my generation was taught this way there would also be less smokers. And maybe this is why there are less and less smokers every year.
It was really fun watching the pre-schoolers as well. A lot of people think it’s just babysitting, but its way more than that. They started out by reading a book about scarecrows. The teacher is trying to get the students used to sitting in one place, looking forwards and listening. It seems that even at 3 years old we are trying to mold our students for the typical school setting. Then she had a few riddles the students were supposed to figure out. They seemed to really enjoy this! Then as a way to help them learn their names each has it written on a plate and they are supposed to pick theirs up and hand it to the teacher before going off for breakfast. Some of them have become really clever because they’ve learned the process of elimination. If they wait for the other students to pick theirs then they have fewer names to choose from. Then at breakfast they are trying to teach the students about family style meals and how to pour their own glass of milk. It was really interesting watching and listening to the students conversations.
The 4/5th grade class was kind of uneventful. I watched the reading lesson then they broke off into small reading groups. I was surprised that they were working on some really difficult stuff like possessive plural nouns and idioms. I don’t remember learning about some of this stuff till later. I can tell it’s also really challenging for some of the students as well. One girl I sat by wasn’t able to read words very well because she had a hard time breaking the sounds apart, how is she expected to read the sentence then to identify the idiom? It was also interesting to watch this class because the teacher was a male. I find it fun to see how students react to the different teachers. I think it’s also important to understand so that you know what to expect going into the classroom as either a male or female. In some ways I’m jealous of the guys because it seems that they can often use their masculinity to get more attention,.
Unfortunately there was a sub in the sever and profound room and she didn’t have any notes, but it was still interesting to watch the associates. I sat in the back and acted as if I was just the fly on the wall. It was awesome how they worked with the kids and was able to help them. They were watching a television show, Dora, and then they talked about how each student liked certain shows and which shows some of the students hated. I only spent a short time in the room because I was originally going to watch a whole group lesson but since the teacher wasn’t their they were just having them watch some shows. I think this is a room I would love to go back and see more of. As a teacher I also want to learn about the equipment that the room uses. It seems that since I’m not taking any special education classes I really don’t have any exposure to that stuff.
Well tomorrow is another field trip and we’ve been harder on the students today and talked a lot about how they are supposed to behave. I hope this goes a lot better than our last time!

contiune from last blog...

I said before I would talk about our field trip...and I forgot to so here it is. This was a big learning experience for me. I should have better prepared the students for what to expect and how to behave while on the trip. Unfortunately I wasn't quite sure what to expect myself because I hadn't been there before. I was also on toss up that day on how to go about discussing it. I knew that if we did the students would be very chaotic afterwords being that they were excited to go and I haven't ever seen what a teacher does in order to prepare students. For our first trip to Brucemore my CT incorporated into her teaching about the mansion but since it was a last minute trip we didn't have a unit planned to teach them about plays. The production sent us a DVD and my CT and myself learned a valuable lesson... which was to preview before watching. We both assumed it would work, but there was no sound. It had a slide show and the slideshow was supposed to have had a narration.

Well we lined the students up and my CT took over for this. I told her previously I would like for her to since I didn't really know what the place wanted from us and she was the one that coordinated it. She had them partner up which took about 15 minutes for them to choose who they wanted and line up. Plus we had a minute of silence in order to calm them down before leaving the room.

Once we got there the students were all very loud and very excited (there were two classes from our school and two more groups from somewhere else). They started out by introducing the h.s. students and telling a bit about the play. I think only about half of them where listening because I saw heads turned around, looking up and talking to the person next to them. They had us grouped by class (about 20 students per group) and there were 4 stations - each station had 15 minutes. The rule they gave us was not to touch anything unless they said we could (keep in mind these are 3rd graders) The first room we went to was for lights. They had the whole group at once cram inside. If you've ever been in one of these areas in a h.s. you could only imagine our group w/ 4 other adults. The h.s. students had things layed out on the tables to show us and of course students were going to pick them up and all that...I guess I feel that this was a bad way to present the information. Our group got done early so they sent us to the hallway. School was in session so we were supposed to be very quiet. Well the kids were loud and pointing out all the cool stuff in the hallways and also dancing around. Again I don't really blame them, it was just hard to stop them and keep them under control. Our next stations was really fun but the students were disrespectful to the speaker. We had to stop her from talking and have the whole group give five. She had fun activity, but should have had a few more expectations for the students. They were to 'warm up' by 1 person jumping into the middle and making a funny sound and an action. Well the students though it would be fun to dive into the circle... then the next step was to have the whole group do the same thing, not very safe. Luckily we came out with no injuries.

Our 3rd stop was props. Here is where things got a little crazy. Remember our rule of no touching. Well the h.s. student pointed out all the fun things all the walls and talked about what they were for. One prop had to have been from "the one that can't be named that was a Shakespearean play because it would be bad luck.' Well for the rest of the time the students would give it up and continued to ask "whats the name of the play." Then we were crammed inside another small room. I think this was bad planning but the room was their tool room and everything was laid out on the bench. It was only a matter of seconds before we had to pull a student out for picking up (luckily just) a pair of pliers. I'm sure other students where also touching things but since I couldn't move or see anything below their heads they didn't get caught. Again students had to be reminded 3 times to listen to the presenter because they were very loud and talkative. Then we went around the corner where the actors would keep their stuff on a table... each person had their own spot. Again we had to remind them to NOT TOUCH ANYTHING. Then one kid just had to notice a forbidden word written on the wall...poop. Oh yes they can read and they read it with enthusiasm. (If only they would be that excited for their reading books at school). Hopefully this also taught the actors that what you write on the walls is read. Luckily it wasn't anything worse.


Our next and last stop - costumes. They had a few places for students to sit.. not quite 20 though and we had to stop a few kids from arguing and tell others where to sit. The presenter was very animated and they were able to sit kind of still and listen. Once it was time for questions the first one asked was... What is the play that can't be named? Oh why oh why did they have to bring that up. Questions where over then they were able to go into the costume racks. Imagine 20 students, small area, and enough space under and between the costumes to crawl. Again, bad planning on their part I think. After everyone was out we had to do a head count to make sure no one was hiding.

Back to the auditorium and students were loud and chaotic. I felt embarrassed because as the presenter was talking the students where also talking. The teacher from the other third grade class stood up and got their attention by asking for five. During the trip I had a checklist of names. After I had to remind a student to do what they were supposed to two times I would put a check by their name. Only 5 students didn't have checks and my CT had 5 students who are now on "probation" and if they still have problems by the time our next trip comes up we are asking their parents to attend the trip. (Which is this upcoming week).

Well I learned a lot. 1. PREPARE students for the experience. 2. REVIEW any material before showing it in class. 3. ASK the people in charge what to expect and if possible preview the trip before going. 4. PRACTICE manners on how to behave in public. And of course I learned a lot more but those where my major things.

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm. ~Willa Cather

My last full day of teaching was yesterday. It was a very bittersweet day. I'm sad because I just don't want to stop teaching but I'm excited to try out a new class. The students were all very wild because Thursday was our field trip (which I will talk about a little later) and yesterday was Scarecrow day. We also had 2 tests to get through, one being our spelling and the other our reading. It's hard to teach students when they don't really care to learn... obviously. I tried to point out multiple times why it was important to learn about plurals and also brought out the 'this will be on your test.' Now that I think about it, it worked and got their attention more than the 'you should know this because you will encounter plurals the rest of your life' speech. I don't like teaching 'to the test' or giving students any inkling that the only reason this is important is because of a test. That was my mindset though high school and I don't remember a thing I crammed on those late nights before the test.

I became really frustrated during my math lesson. The students didn't want to look forward at the board or even listen because they were too busy talking to their neighbor. I think I tried every trick in the book for this one...I first tried to tell them those that were doing their 'parrt' would be able to come up and use my teacher pen on the new Promethean board. (I told them before that I have to be able to trust them to use it.) This didn't phase anyone. I was already using my 'this is really exciting' tone to see it that would get their attention. I felt bad for the 3 individuals who were raising their hand every time and were listening. After that I tried the 'I use this math everyday in my life and so does Mrs. S.' then I tired telling them (and something I didn't want to do) this was on their test they would be taking in a week. That got their attention long enough to get through the first problem. Here is where my quote comes in. I became very frustrated with the group and decided it was time to just stop and take a moment to talk to them. I reminded them this was my last day full time teaching. I told them that I had stayed at school until 7pm the night before (and I had!) planning my lessons so that I could do a good job being their teacher for the last day. So I had them go back to their chairs and I turned the light off for a minute while they were to think about something they would do differently when the learning began again. I think this time helped me more than them. It gave me a time out to re-coop my thoughts and to think about what had happened and what I would do differently next time. Our class is still very immature and even after this time out I still had students that just didn't get it. At least it helped me and a few of the other students. During our share time (what they would do differently) I have a few students stuck on the fact that I would be leaving soon and once one person said 'I will miss you' the rest thought they should share that too. It was bittersweet to hear since I like what they said, but still wanted an answer.

One student who I've really been working hard with had a great day. He has a notebook in which we write what is going on and send home every day. Since he can't read cursive yet I walk down to his after school program and take a few minutes read what was written and talk about how we can make it better. Thursday was a not so great day (I'm refraining from saying bad) and we talked about how he lets things distract him from learning. As I was telling him this the blue dot on the table seemed to be more important and I decided to use this as a teachable moment. I asked him what he learned on our trip that day. As he was telling me I found my own purple dot and began picking at it. He was unable to tell me what he learned because he was frustrated that I wasn't looking and listening to him. I them told him this is how I feel when I'm teaching and you are playing with things around you. I told him that learning is not happening when we are distracted. Then yesterday he did a great job looking at me and listening. He even got a compliment from the practicum teacher that was now in the room. After I reviewed some things about fact and opinion and plurals we had to take the test. The student found that he was able to do a great job on the test and then I brought up how I noticed he was always doing a great job at listening and paying attention. We both agreed that this helped. After school when I went to meet him we had a really good talk. It was bittersweet because I told him how great of a job he did that day and then we talked about how he needs to keep it up even after I'm gone. I told him that the teacher has my number and can call me and tell me whether you are doing a good or bad job. My ct and I also talked and she asked if she could mention that she will be calling me after I leave if he isn't on his best behavior. I think it's important to hold students accountable for their actions. Even as adults we are restricted by social norms and laws for our behavior.

I'm glad I still have a week left with my class. It will be sad on my last day because I have created a good bond with the class and I will miss them a great deal. I'm hoping I can visit a few more times this year and my CT said she would even call me to sub! Saying good by will not be easy come next Friday :(

“One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us.” Michael Cibenko

Today we talked in seminar how a class can be great one day, then all of a sudden they are well not so great. I'm still pondering on what exactly happened that caused the change, but we also talked about how some days are just like that. A lot of my students have a difficult time paying attention when things start to get "new." It takes a lot of tricks of the sleeve and manipulating the lesson plan to help redirect the students. Because I am not trying to use the new Promethean board for instructions I told the students I was looking for individuals who were being responsible and doing their part to come up and use (the almighty) teacher pen. I told students they had to be responsible because I had to be able to trust them when they were in front of the classroom. This worked for a while. I also jumped on my soap box and told the students "why" it was important to learn about the addition and subtraction that we were doing. I also told them that I still use this math and then gave them scenarios for when I used the strategies.

Not only was math a little difficult for our group, but so was grammar and small group. I wasn't able to get to my first reading group because our time was spent trying to get through the grammar page. The students are learning irregular plurals and since it was a new concept it took a little more time. Then once I asked the students to come back to the table while I was finishing up a few directions on the board the students started having difficulties. As they approached the table they were pushing other students out of the way, talking loudly, playing with the teacher materials and laughing loudly. Instead of reading I decided this would be a good time to go over the procedure of small group, focusing on the how to get there.

I think that being in school isn't always just about learning the facts... the 1+1=2. Because eventually one of those numbers are taken away and replaced with an x. This is where we have to know more than just how to add, but also subtract. In life the answers aren't always concrete for us. Sometimes something is missing and we have to figure out how to fill that missing spot. This was like the idea that they knew they belonged at the table but the missing addend was how to get there. In school we also need to learn about those life lessons and what to do. To us what seems to be obvious was ingrained in our minds by school. We weren't born knowing that we shouldn't budge people in line and we need to be quiet when someone else is talking. We learned all of that 'obvious stuff' for the most part, in school.

I think my quote is relevant for this blog because as a teacher I need to keep going. Even if I have a not so great day, I shouldn't dwell on it because that takes up the time I should be using to look at what needs to be done so that history doesn't repeat itself. I also need to keep moving forward because if my head is always stuck on the 'I should have' or 'why did I do that" I lose that time needed to think about 'tomorrow will be better because I am going to..."

Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do. John Wooden

Great days are amazing! When things go (for the most part) the way you want great things get accomplished. I started off our day with the lights dimmed, a inspiring quote on the board and morning work for the students. I think the quote was more for me, but it was good for all as well. Then I greeted each student at the door with a smile and a good morning. I read the directions a few times to remind them what they should be doing. Then we had Tiger time and a class meeting. Our class meeting was to congratulate them for getting a compliment in the hallway on our way to specials and one during art. I also went over the fact that yesterday was our first day back and it was a rough day because a lot of students might not have remembered all of the expectations and the routine. I then told them that we now knew what not to do and and gave them more positive feed back. I went through what was going to happen that day and told them that if we get through the 'not so fun stuff' I have fun activity planned for each subject. This seemed to get them a bit more excited, and I did have a fun activity for each things so I was pumped as well.

We had a few rough spots throughout the day, and the issue of budging in line was addressed enough times it should be ingratiated in them that "when you walk up to the line you go behind the LAST person." We also talked about why budging is not respectful.

For my math lesson I had a fun game planned and a new procedure for passing out materials. The students were in three lines on the floor and each student was to take an item for using the boards and pass it to the next person opposed to having one person pass out all the materials. For the first run-through it didn't go so bad. Our next obstacle to over come is to not write with the markers until they are told to.

For the second day back, and after a day of almost total chaos, it went great!

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end". Seneca

Today was the first day back after a two week break. This was an interesting time to teach my second full week as well. I was told to assume that they forgot everything, and of course this was a good thing to assume. We had to go back over how to start morning work, how to sit at our desks, how to sit in the learning area, how to walk in the hallway... and just about everything else. It was one of my most frustrating days and I'm about out of a voice. I can't blame the students because they had two weeks at home to do what they wanted and didn't have to listen to teachers or abide by the school rules. They were out of the routine. So of course they were going to talk more and wanted to share every detail of their break with everyone else around them and of course they didn't want to be quiet in the hallway because they had a whole two weeks where they didn't have to 'use their red voices and form a one line.' But it is still frustrating as a teacher because we are stuck to a schedule that leads into a test that they have to know the material for. Time doesn't allow for expectation and procedure reviews when you are already behind in Math because of behavior issues before break.

The most frustrating part of my day was telling the student multiple times they needed to pay attention because of reasons that fall under either it's going to be on a test or you just need to know it... but better stated and them still not listening to a word you have to say. Then it's also frustrating to have a class that won't listen to you even after you are following through with the classroom discipline procedures, using the 'heads down lights off' method and having a class meeting/ community circle and as soon as the 'teacher' of the classroom begins to speak everyone gives her the full attention. They even listen better to me as long as she is just in the room. My teacher told me again today that they are treating me like a sub, but what do I do about it?!? Hopefully our talk at the end of the day helped because the 'teacher' told them that I will be in charge which means that I also have the authority to write names down for people who don't deserve to go on our field trip. She also told me that if I needed to (and a few kids tempted me) send students to the office. (I did have 2 students call home which is part of our classroom procedure if they are at warning #3). I don't want to have to send students to the office because that then shows them that shows the students I don't have the power to handle what they are throwing at me. Well enough ranting, like I started to say I hope that our discussion about respecting me as their teacher, and to be respecting each other as well helped. Tomorrow is a new day.

On a positive note I was able to use the Promethean board for instruction today!! It was so fun and seemed to go a lot smoother than writing on the white board. My handwriting actually looks better on the Promethean board :). After using it I have already created my flip charts for tomorrow which I already know will save me a great deal of time in the classroom. I think it also helps because it helps eliminate some of the down time that it would normally take me to write on the board. Plus it is a great incentive for students to pay attention because those that are showing me they are responsible are able to write the answers down on it as well.

During my break I was able to visit my second placement. Just within two days I can already see how big of a difference they are going to be. The new class will also have 29 students.. yikes! I'm also interested in how the class responds to me when I begin teaching full time. Their current teacher is a guy (the only male teacher in the school) as well as very tall which may seem more dominant. I on the other hand am quite short which a few of the students where not so shy to point out the first day there. Kids are so honest.

Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. Albert Einstein

Well, my first try at being a teacher for the week is over. Now I get to try again after my break in two weeks. I say try because if it was perfect then I wouldn't be student teaching... or even teaching for that matter. I would probably be out there lecturing and writing books making a lot more money than I am now.

Anyway, my first week overall went pretty well. I had my good moments and bad. And I learned a lot more during that one week than during the whole time already there. My biggest lesson was to always, always, always be prepared for something to not go the way you expect. During my spelling test on Friday I had the three lists made out for the three different groups. I had post-it's on the paper of the names of the students and I was going to tell them their groups color i.e. approaching was red, on level was blue etc. Well, I lost the paper. As soon as I took a second to look around while giving instructions to the class "please turn your desks so that you can't see others papers, write your name and 1-20.." the class started to unfold. This group seems to need a lot of structure and constant supervision. I honestly feel that I couldn't trust them if I had to leave for a minute. As soon as something changes they begin to talk or get up and move around, start going to find a book to read. Other classes I've been in seem to do fine when being told to just wait patiently for a second. Well I couldn't find the paper so I just had to wing it. I kind of remembered what the groupings were since they were the same for the reading groups. This was a new way for the students to take the tests. While one group was receiving a word the others were just supposed to wait. They were instructed to look over their words or sit quietly. This seemed to be an impossible task for them. I stopped giving the test and had them look at me. Then I told them that sometimes people make mistakes, and that I had made one. Then went on to telling them that everyone makes a mistake but we need to help each other out by doing the responsible thing when this occurs. This seemed to help the behavior and I think they understood what I meant. My week of teaching was filled with these teachable moments. Students behaviors, or lack of behaviors, need to be addressed before learning can happen. I think a lot of the times we need to stop to address an issue is often not only needed for in the classroom, but they are expectations for the real world.. i.e. don't talk when someone else is talking, pay attention, time management etc.

I took two ideas from the last seminar. One was to have a mystery student. The class seemed to really enjoy this idea. Since I only had Thursday and Friday to try it out I chose a student each day who I knew would do a great job. Then as the reward they were able to go home before the rest of the class. The students loved this idea because we have often had to sit back down after lining up because they can't form a '1' line. The student that got the reward was able to by pass this and just go home. When I start back up after break I will have a whole class reward for the first 3 or 4 days for the mystery student then we will have 1 or two days of an individual reward. The other idea I took was to have an answer notebook. I have two students who are above average and always want to answer the questions I ask. Then either they are bouncing in their seats to get my attention (and disrupt those around them) or they get really upset if they are not called on. I gave each of them a notebook and assigned them to sit towards the back of the class. (this is so when they are writing it's not distracting to the students around them) Then when I ask a question they can write the answer down, and then once it's written I may call on them if no one else has the answer. I told both girls that I want to hear from them for each question, but this would be unfair for the other students. Then I told them that they can write in the notebook and I will check it after class and read their answers. Both of them seemed to really enjoy this idea an I did see them writing in it. I think it's a great extension for them as well because they would be able to write more down while other students are answering my questions and I am able to give them more support as well when I respond in the journals. One teacher commented that it is a lot more work for the teacher. Yea, but isn't it part of our job to meet each students needs?

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~Dalai Lama

Today was a much much much better day than yesterday. I'm not sure if it was just because it was a new day or because we went over our community circle and talked about what we could do to change our behaviors. I also decided to wear the microphone during instruction time. I think this also helped to get more attention from the students that sit a further away when we are in the learning area. I also worked on giving a lot of compliments and saying positive things. Then at the end of the day I put a note in each mailbox. The note said something I liked about the student and something they were really good at. I heard a lot of commotion and students talking amongst each other then on the way out of the room a lot of them gave me very sincere thank-yous and had the biggest smiles on their faces. I am excited to see how tomorrow goes!

“The only difference between a good day and a bad day is your attitude.” -- Dennis S. Brown

Today was my second day full time in the classroom. It was really hard to stay positive and keep a smile on my face. The class, as my teacher said, was treating me like I was a sub. And I could tell. They were seeing how far they could go before I became upset. It was interesting because some of the students that are normally very well behaved were talking a lot to their neighbor, not wanting to work, or blurting out answers, when they knew from lessons I have previously taught, when they should be raising their hands. My CT was out of the room a lot of the time working on other things she needed to get done in the hall way while I taught. I'm not sure if students were being disruptive more so than usual because she was out of the room and I was teaching or because normally when she was teaching I would be watching students from the back who were talking and being disruptive and then stopping them or standing behind them to let them know I was there. They have a lot of stuff also coming up. Tonight was our second half of teacher conferences, tomorrow we have an early out, they don't have school next week, and the week they come back we have a field trip.

I started out trying to teach how to write a paragraph. I was going to incorporate the promethian board and we were going to identify the parts of a paragraph then I found a cool format that looked like a cheese burger (Top bun was main topping, the middles were the 3 details and the bottom bun was the wrap up sentence). As soon as I began to tell them that we would be learning about how to write a paragraph at least three people began to complain and proceeded to blurt out that they already knew what to do. I told them that it was a good thing they knew and that they could help by answering questions and refreshing the minds of those that didn't know. One of them like the idea the others started to talk to people near them and became a distraction to the class. I tried being positive by calling out those who where doing a great job and giving out stickers (part of our rooms positive behavior system) to those who where answering questions. We got through the question part. I try asking them first what they know and they normally seem to want to share their knowledge. This helps me learn what they know as well as help refresh the students who have forgot. I then told them that they needed to sit quietly so that they could see the board and I needed a light person (one of the jobs) to turn the lights off. The then lead students to begin pushing students to get to a different spot and even though I reminded them to be quiet they continued to talk. After this I realized that they were not going to get a lot of learning done and needed to be separated as well as needed a moment to be told what they were doing wrong. So I sent them back to their seats. At the beginning of the day the CT and I decided to give them an extra recess at the end of the day. For every letter in RECESS they would get 2 minutes of outside time. If as a whole class they were being bad a letter would be erased, if an individual was being disruptive their name would go up and they would miss time. When I went to erase a letter and was telling them why I was erasing a letter I had a few students say something like "so", "I don't care" "I didn't want the recess anyway." I was baffled by this behavior because as a student I would want to have that extra time. My CT heard what was happening and then came into the room and proceeded to tell them that I was the teacher for the week and they were being disrespectful. Then even at Music the teacher asked me to erase one of the letters for our recess because they were unable to listen then.

Luckily after this was lunch (and 3 students had to stay in because they couldn't like up properly after a warning). This gave me time to reflect and gather myself. I wanted to come back in a better mood and more positive. My goal was to give out more compliments and rewards. Maybe if they saw that I was giving out rewards for good behavior they would want the same rewards.

My first lesson after lunch and recess was to introduce vocabulary cards for the week and then read a short story. Normally the students are well behaved for the CT during this time. Students know that they would be asked to come up with a sentence for each word (7 of them) and I would call on multiple people. A lot of the students were ready to listen and paying attention. Unfortunately a few of them were not and this caused the others to be distracted as well. After the cards we transitioned into reviewing about fantasy and reality which we learned the day before. I reminded students multiple times that I needed their full attention, (red voices and eyes on the board). The next activity was a story. The group is normally attentive for a story or a movie. It was not the case during this time. While reading if I caught students talking their names would go on the board or they would get a check. This was done without saying anything so that my story would not be disrupted. Students already knew what it meant. Even this did not work so well. Students were still talking and not paying attention. Ok, I thought, let's get them moving. I played a quick game of simon says in order to get them moving and hopefully listening. It also allowed me to ask the questions I wanted because I said 'simon says whisper... to your neighbor. The students then began to get even more hyper and there was some pushing and students being disrespectful to each other. Once settled down we started word of the day. This went a lot better, but still a little rough. They get to play hang man in order to find the word of the day. I had a lot of students (who normally didn't) blurt out answers when they knew them.

To skip ahead we ended up having a community circle instead of doing math. I knew that learning wouldn't happen anyway with all the problems. We went around with the quiet mouse and said what we were doing wrong and how we were disrupting the group, then they were to go back around the circle and had to say something we were doing individually to help the group. There were a lot of people passing for this one and I mentioned to them when I got the mouse back that their inability to think of something they did good reflected their own individual behavior. Even though this only really effected them for the next lesson, it was a start. They were back to being chaotic right after the social studies lesson and had a hard time lining up to go home.

The good thing is, tomorrow is a new day (as well as a half day). Tonight I've done a lot of reflecting. I feel like a lot of the day was negative. I was trying to address those who where being disruptive to others and the group as a whole. Tomorrow I am going to start out the day positively. As each student comes into the room I'm going to give them a compliment in order to let them know I do notice the things they are doing well. It seems that we often only notice the 'bad' things that the really good things get over looked. Tonight I am writing a note to each student to put in their mail. The note will say something that they do really well. For example on student "I like how you bring a lot of good energy to the class. There are a lot of students who look up to you because of your kind acts" I think doing this will also help me as a teacher see the good things about each student and it will cause me to start off tomorrow with a positive attitude!

"The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts." -- C. S. Lewis

Today was my first day taking over for everything except the social studies lesson. Since the teacher had taught the whole lesson about Brucemore I thought it would make more sense that she ended it. It's amazing how exhausting teaching really is. I think I used to take my teachers for granted. It used to seem like all they did was sit at the front of the room, present us with information, then have us do work at our desks. As student you don't see how teachers have to keep track of each student and what they are doing all while teaching. You don't see how teachers need to read students and how they react to the information in order to check for understanding, also during teaching. As a student you might have a question for the teacher but you don't realize that teacher also has to answer 20 other students questions while at their seats doing work. A student also doesn't see the before and after school prep time teachers have to endure. I for one, stay until about 6pm every night with the teacher getting the classroom ready for the next day, figuring out the lesson plans, pulling out the needed materials for activities and grading papers. It might seem like I am complaining, but I'm not at all. I think it's more of a realization and a thanks to all my teachers that did that for me just so I could learn and grow up to be the teacher I am today.

Ok so back to what I was saying. Today was my first day full time teaching. It felt great! It was also interesting that before when my CT would leave the room for a minute or two the students were asking right away where she was or what she was doing. Today while I was teaching she was out side of the room a lot working with individuals or doing her own work right outside of the classroom. The students didn't even notice her absence. This was a great feeling for me because it meant a few different things. First off, it meant that my teaching must have got their attention enough for them not to notice. It also meant that they are now getting used to me being in charge of the classroom and they feel comfortable enough with me as their teacher.

The class had a great morning and even earned our 5 of our 12 stars. Our mornings are also broken up a lot more than our afternoons. In the morning students break off into small groups for either reading or math, then we have writing, then they are off to specials, then are back to finish up prior work or have a morning meeting or another lesson. In the afternoon, unless they are pulled out for something such as speech or reading they are in the room from noon till the end of the day. We often try and have a restroom break or give a recess as a reward for good behavior (which we haven't been able to do for 2 weeks now). It seems that the students do a lot better if they can get out of the room and wiggle a little bit. I think I want to find some transitions that help them get up and move a bit, but also are not to silly or googfy, because then as I said in a previous blog, I loose their attention.

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” Dr. Seuss quote

So it's been awhile since I've been able to blog. Part because it was a super busy week and part because the internet was out at my apartment. It's really amazing how we take small things for granted, such as internet access at the tips of our fingers. Literally. I had to use my phone to check my email. Not sure what I would have done without it!

So this week was Filled with a lot of learning, teaching, and all that goes in-between. I took a lot of notes but I forgot what day they were from since it was just scribbled down in my book so this blog will be filled with different ideas and events from the past week. Sorry to those who like things in chronological order.
This week we had parent teacher conferences. It was interesting for many reasons. The first being I figured students would be on better behavior knowing their parents were going to be talking to us. For some it was exactly opposite. We even reminded students at the beginning of the week that we would be talking to them and they should be on their best behavior. It didn’t work. I also found it interesting how some teachers did a lot of prep work for the big day, while others said they just planned stuff the night before. I already know that I will be that teacher that has everything planned at least the week before. I like being prepared and ready for such events. The night of the conference was also very hectic (another reason I would want to be very prepared).  Our first conference was right at the end of the school day. This left no time to set up the room or even give us a moment to collect our thoughts about the day. The conference that was at that time was also one that we knew would take a bit more time because it was for our newer student. I was surprised by how many people also sat in on a parent teacher conference. Depending on the student, we would have their reading specialist or any other teacher they worked individually with, sometimes one or two of the special teachers as well as the parents and both the CT and myself. With each person wanting to but their two cents in our time went by quickly.
There isn’t much time for side talk during the first conference. The teacher has to first present any new programs to the parents (we had a new math online program, and head sprout), make sure we had all the correct contact information, read through a contract that the teacher, the parent and the student had to sign, then talk about behavior or school work. Luckily I was able help with the beginning part of the conference. While one parent was outside the class room waiting and my CT was finishing up the previous conference I explained the new programs and introduced myself to the parent waiting outside. This then gave my CT more time to talk about the student. After the conferences she said how my part helped out so much because she wouldn’t have been able to fit everything in to the 20 min time slot otherwise. It’s especially more difficult when parents have a lot of questions or comments for the teacher.
This week I was able to teach my unit. I created one from scratch. I made mine to teach about bully’s and what to do if you are being bullied or if you see someone who is being bullied. Our class filled out a survey and 70% said they are currently being bullied or have been bullied before. To help show my third graders how much this is I had 4 of them stand and then one sit down. (The math isn’t exact but it did the trick). The students were shocked by this. I think it helped show that if one person was being bullied they weren’t the only one. As well as how important it is to learn about how to handle a bully. The reason I chose to do this instead of just taking over an existing unit and re-creating that was because I didn’t like the lessons the Parrt program had for bullying. It didn’t address the issues our class was dealing with and didn’t really go into all the different kinds of bully’s. It just basically told about the physical and verbal abusive ones. Our class has a lot of the non-verbal bullying. My lesson also taught about what to do if you see someone being bullied. I think this was important for my class because a lot of them are afraid to say anything or wouldn’t know who to actually go to. In the quiz I asked what would you do if you saw someone being bullied and 30% said they would just ignore it.
Overall the lesson went really great! I added a few youtube videos and the kids seemed to really enjoy these. I used newer videos so that it didn’t seem old fashioned. We had a ‘police pal’ come in and used one of the old McGruff crime dog videos and they seemed bored by it. The videos also had a little older students playing in them which I thought worked better because most of them look up to the ‘Hannah Montana’ or Justin Beiber group type group.
One of the biggest differences that my CT and I have is our organizational styles. I like to have things kind of planned out and have a plan B if something else comes up. I also like to have everything written down as a way for myself to remember. My CT on the other hand has a loose schedule and normally just has an idea of what she wants to do but will fit in at different times. This was really evident during our apple day. (If we get 12 stars for either doing a really good job as a whole class or get a compliment by another teacher we get to have a special day)  We had some ideas of what to do, but as the day went on she rearranged a lot of the plans and added or took away some things as well. This was a little confusing for me because I didn’t know what she wanted to do next. It also made it a bit more difficult to transition into the next activity when I had to stop at the end then ask what was next. I think this wouldn’t be so bad if just one person was teaching because they could just change whenever they wanted and the students wouldn’t know any different, but when there is someone else the transition isn’t as smooth because that person doesn’t know what the other one wants.
This week I taught a cursive lesson and it didn't go as well as I would have liked. I like to make things fun and joke a little bit with my teacher. We were learning the letter t and we were going to add i to it. The book tells us to give bad examples which I agree and disagree with. (disagree because I think the teacher really has to emphasize that is the wrong way). What I did was showed the wrong example by making the top of the t go really far above or below the line, made it look like a "mountain" or a capital A. The kids like that it was fun, but then because the group is still somewhat immature it was really hard for them to settle back down after laughing a little. My teacher and I talked a bit about how it's difficult to determine when a group will be able to handle being funny, and when they can't. For our group it's hard to just be a little silly because you loose their attention. We are also really trying to grab their attention and keep them focused. It seems that this year they really want to either talk to the person next to them, play with their jewelery or shoe laces, and even examine all the little bumps on their skin while sitting on the floor. (Which, silly bands so far are the worst distractions!)
Our apple day was really fun. The students made apple puppets to use when saying our new apple poem, I read aloud a few apple books, we added apple ideas into our learning, learned about the life cycle of an apple, then at the end we used an old fashion apple cutter/peeler to have apples with caramel. Unfortunately we didn’t get to our movie or make apple star prints. The class had difficulties with lining up and not talking during work time. At one point when lining up we had to try 3 times before students had a ‘1’ line and were not talking. It’s still amazing how these little things can take away so much of the fun stuff or the learning time. My teacher got on her soap box as we call it and told the students about how much prep goes into these ‘fun days’ and how disrespectful it is to us that they just goofed off and wasted time. It seems that the students will then be really good for awhile after we have one of these class talks, but then go back to the way they were before an hour or two after. It’s also really frustrating for those students who are doing the right thing and are listening because they have to suffer because of the students who are being bad.
Well, sorry for the long blog but it was 3 days worth of stuff J. This week I promise to do better at keeping up with it!