It was a much much much better day for our class. We still had a few disruptions but far fewer than yesterday. It's amazing how much learning get's done when students are doing what they are supposed to. This morning I got to teacher their second letter in cursive the "t". It was a good learning experience. There are so many little things that you wouldn't think of while teaching. Like remembering to tell them exactly where each line begins and ends. My teacher was able to take notes for me during the lesson. Here are some of the things she said
" Great hob on going around helping individual students. Be sure to give directions as to what to do when they are done."(I forgot at the end to tell them to come back to the learning area and wait for the next thing)." Good work using manners-modeling manners to students. Remember to think about where you are standing and the kids can see from all directions. It's more difficult now with the new Promethean board. Remember when things start getting 'noisy' try to give more praise to the students who are doing the right thing." ( We are trying to praise the kids in the vicinity of those doing wrong as a model for the right behavior).
Later we also talked about using white boards for students to practice on rather than having to go back to their desks after each time they work on one of the strokes. The language is also hard to remember. They use a specific language for each stroke of the letters it's hard to remember to use their specific words. My ct and I talked about how this is something that's learned by practice, and I understand why!
I was able to take a student out to the hallway today and work on his reading. This student is normally one of our busy bodies and likes to talk to any student sitting next to him. Instead of sitting at the desk outside the room I thought that an area next to a big window would be better for us to read. The student seems to enjoy reading especially the Harry Potter books. As he was reading I noticed him rubbing his eyes a lot and having a difficult time focusing. I asked him if he was supposed to wear glasses and he said no. Then I had him use the back of my book which was just a solid color and put it under the line he was reading. This seemed really to help him and he read more fluidly. I'm not sure yet if it's because he needs his vision check or if it's difficult for him to focus on where he is. The CT said that she thought it might just be because it's hard for him to focus on one thing at at time and suggested he might have adhd. I want to help continue showing him ways or strategies for reading, maybe finding a good book mark he can use as a guide for reading.
For our new student we've been having trouble with, they have finally implemented a program for her behavior. She has a special chart that she gets a 1,2, or 3 depending on her behavior. For each subject she will get one of these numbers (hopefully a 3 every time!). Then her specialist will check the chart and will talk with her and work with her on behavior. Mrs. S is going to later have the class fill out a questionnaire asking the students if a. there is anyone in the class that they feel threatened by, or are afraid of, b. Same question but for anyone in the school, and c. any one at home. We are looking to see if anyone does feel afraid of the student as well as check in with them and make sure they know that Taylor is a safe place and we do care about them. I thought it was a good idea to ask more generally in order to see if anyone thinks of the student rather than just asking about that student and putting in their minds that she could be a threat. I also liked that they will ask about home life. I think this shows that we care about them not only when they are in the building but also once they leave. This ties back to a previous blog I wrote about how school is a safe zone for kids and often is a place for security.
The day ended with Title one night at the school. This is a great program for parents to come in with their students and get help with different subjects and extra assistance. My teacher and I were at a station for math. Each grade had a game they were to pick up and then we demonstrated how it worked. This game can then be used at home to practice their math skills. For third graders it was multiplication using a game card and dice. Students were not allowed to attend unless they were accompanied by an adult. This was to help promote learning at home and interaction with the parents. I think this is an awesome idea because it really helps parents who feel they don't know how to help their student a way to help them.
No comments:
Post a Comment