Tuesday - 2/19
Today was rough getting to school because over the long weekend I got sick. :( My voice was basically gone when I got to school and I just felt physically exhausted, but I wanted to make it through the day because of all that I had planned. So to manage my sickness and the class at the same time, I decided just being open with the students first thing in the morning. I mentioned that it would be hard for me to talk loudly and that I needed everyone to use 0 or 1 voices (our PBIS way of saying no talking or whispering) to be able to hear me. I also mentioned that I wouldn't repeat myself so it would be important for everyone to listen carefully today. The response was like magic! I had to stop myself in the middle of my morning literacy lesson and just say, "Wow, I love the 0 voices I hear. You are all being so kind and respectful."
I've said it before and I'll say it again - this class has made management too easy for me.
I took over more reading groups today as well, and it is really difficult squeezing in every group every day. I have made sure to meet with the lower level groups every single day because it provides them that extra support they need - I feel like that is my very small way of differentiating. I also have made sure to provide extra support to our class's ELL student (who is not formally in an ELL program), who is less than comfortable taking on responsibility without teacher support. I think it is important to give him the support he needs, but give him enough responsibility so that genuine learning is still happening. I've done this by helping him sound out words, for example. He will say, "I don't know how to write dog." And I'll respond, "Let's sound it out. /D/ /O/ /G/." He will then know exactly how to spell the word - so I know he has the tools to do what he needs to do, but my support is really essential right now.
Wednesday - 2/20
It has been really fun teaching social studies this week with my cooperating teacher by my side. We decided to team teach this unit - and I think we're doing a really good job of cooperating and sharing responsibilities. The topic for this unit is "How Can I Be a Handy Helper?" So naturally, we decided to put the class's knowledge of being a good helper at school to the test after about four days of learning and discussing ways to do so. The kids went out to recess and while they were gone, my CT and I completely trashed the classroom.
It was great.
This was such a learning experience for both me and the students. The looks on their faces when they entered the room...were priceless. The best part was, most of them just started cleaning (albeit with a bit of sadness) as soon as they saw what had been done. One boy started crying, asking "Who would do something like this to us?" (Naturally, we had to break the news that we destroyed the room so we could all practice cleaning up as a group.) I thought this lesson went really well. The students got to apply their learning in a real way, and I think that especially at this young age it is so important for them to do so. It gave the unit a meaning for them, which I feel so fortunate I got to see.
Thursday - 2/21
I have been working this week on the writing component of literacy instruction and decided to take on the challenge of publishing books/stories by each student in the class. We started off the week by talking about ways to think of what to write about (coming to the conclusion that authors write about something they know), the tenses to use (past), and then writing practice sentences that we would use to write our stories. Today, I took it a step further and introduced the concept of expanding and editing. I thought the best way to do so would be by making a model (one simple sentence) and then expanding on that model/editing it. I did this on the SMART Board and the students were able to see each example side by side.
I think if I've learned anything from this writing mini-unit is the importance of time management and pacing - and also the importance of conferencing with individual students. Every lesson goes by so quickly and when I look at the clock I realize I'm starting to cut into centers time, which is small group time...There is just too much to get done every day! So tomorrow I think I'm going to condense my lesson a bit and focus on letting the students work on their stories independently for at least 20 minutes. That way, I'll have time to conference with every student briefly as opposed to floating around the room and only helping the students who are brave enough to raise their hands. I hope that the conferencing can help narrow in on the big ideas the students want to focus on, which is important for me to know that they understand.
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