PHEW. I am...exhausted.
So, last week I was essentially head teaching but under the supervision of my cooperating teacher. Things were easy as pie. Every lesson went smoothly. No major issues.
Today and Monday (we had a snow day on Tuesday) were not the case. Among the things I had to deal with were: 3 crying students before 1 pm, stopping lessons 4 separate times in 2 days to have major talks about behavior/listening/following directions, trying to resolve arguments between students while transitioning the whole group...All things I know I will have to deal with when I'm teaching in my own classroom. I fell asleep for about an hour and a half after school today because it was that draining.
HOWEVER. It has been a blast, and I really mean that. That's the weird thing about teaching - it's an odd juxtaposition of both extreme happiness/fulfillment and extreme agony/frustration/wanting to rip your hair out at the same time. It's those little moments that count, I've found.
Like today, when I sent an email home to parents explaining it would be my last day head teaching on Monday and that the class had earned another reward. I received a really touching email back from the parent of one of the quietest students in the class about how thankful she is for all of my help and how much her daughter enjoys class when I'm teaching. As a teacher, I always think there is more I could be doing. How can I help this student more? How can I help the group succeed together? And I always think I'm failing. But those short emails, or the kids running up and giving me a hug during the middle of a transition between activities, or getting a note that simply says "I like you Miss Rock" - that's what motivates me through each day. :) (All of those things happened today, by the way.)
I also tried bringing my ukulele in today to help teach a few lessons. I started off by singing a "piggyback" song to welcome the class to the carpet, which went over really well. For the most part, the students were very respectful of the instrument and wanted to learn more about it. There was an instance when a child was crawling around the room during rest time and knocked it over, but that was an issue that was quickly "squashed," as my cooperating teacher would put it. If I brought my ukulele in again, I'd probably be more explicit about the types of things I expect from the students about how to be respectful of the instrument/how to take care of things.
Honestly, my brain is so scattered right now it's hard to think of specific things today to reflect on. But the main thing I think I've learned is to be as proactive as possible. This is something I try to do every day, but I think with students at this young age I also need to be as explicit as possible. I've tried to provide positive feedback, telling the students I know the amazing things they are capable of...and it has worked, to an extent. I think tomorrow, to make things run more smoothly, we'll have a quick "group meeting" in the morning about our behavior for the day so I don't have a repeat of the last two days.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Week 6.
A shortened week...but EVENTFUL!
Wednesday - 2/27
This was my first day of truly, truly doing it all (with the help of my cooperating teacher as my "assistant," of course). The biggest event of today was me teaching - and RECORDING - my first ever math lesson. Surprisingly, it went okay. Not great, but not bad either. I think since I've started taking over most things that I have realized how painfully bored the class gets when they have to sit still for more than 15 minutes or so at a time, so I tried to incorporate some alternation between group work and whole group instruction into that lesson. It actually flowed pretty smoothly aside from some altercations between disagreeing group members, but I noticed that the students were engaged and excited to be able to handle manipulatives (it was a lesson introducing the penny; the kids got to handle and count their own pennies).
I think something I need to work on -and I learned this today - is making sure I check over my plans more thoroughly before beginning a lesson. I made a big point in planning over the weekend and discussing my plans with my CT that I wanted to have an organized writer's workshop where the students could conference with me one-on-one about the stories they are writing. Instead (and I can't believe I did this) I forgot about my plan to conference while giving my writing lesson and ended up floating around the tables, helping everyone who was raising their hand. This worked out fine - for the people that were raising their hands! I know that I have a couple of "quiet strugglers" in my room, students who aren't disruptive when they are off-task or need help, but simply sit quietly and stare off into space or work on coloring a picture. These are the kids that need help the most and I likely wasn't giving that help to them. I felt like that was a glaring problem with my execution of my plan, so I'm definitely going to have to work to fix it!
Friday - 3/1
There was a lot going on today in kindergarten! It's Dr. Seuss's birthday tomorrow (March 2nd) so I gave a semi-impromptu lesson on both Dr. Seuss and also looking up information using the Internet. I used the SMART Board to demonstrate using search engines to find out information, then I pulled up the biography of Dr. Seuss and had the students ask me questions about the author. (And such mature questions, too: Did Dr. Seuss ever write adult books? How did he die? And my favorite: Is he going to come visit us?) I thought this went really well. Then, we got to sit in a circle on the carpet as I read The Lorax and, on the spot, connected it to our social studies unit about being a helper. This part of the day went well, even though it was a lot of thinking on my feet. But that's what teaching is all about!
We also had our "publishing party" for our original stories during literacy time this morning. I was happy that I was able to take the basic concept outlined in the basal text and run with it, letting the students create stories, edit them, practice reading them in their small table groups, and then having a day where they could all sit in the Author's Chair and share their pieces. While the kids had a lot of fun doing this activity, I (as always) wish I had allotted more time for it. I knew it was important to the students, but we went about 15 minutes over what we were supposed to and there were still some people who hadn't shared....so I had to cut into a little bit of math time to fit in the rest of the authors.
This was also huge for me in understanding how important it is to differentiate. I let everyone know that if they were not comfortable with reading their stories, they could still sit in the Author's Chair and I could sit beside them and read what they had written. So when our sole ELL student sat down at the chair, I asked him if he needed help. He of course said no, he would read the story himself. And he did an amazing job - but he still couldn't get through a few of the words (I partially blame this on me not reinforcing good handwriting). So I simply asked him again if he needed help, and he nodded. I read the story to the class, and afterwards when the class was asked to share things they liked about the story, everyone's hands shot up. It was so overwhelming to see such a supportive class of students who understand that all of them have different needs, but appreciate the work that was being put forth by each person. While he started looking nervous and a little terrified, he ended up going back to his seat with a huge grin on his face. I don't think that would have happened if I hadn't noticed the aid he needed and given it to him.
Also, it was "game day" in math (we do this every Friday). After teaching math the past two days in mostly whole-group settings, it was AMAZING to see how much more engaged and interested the kids are in a subject when it's presented in the form of a game. I just wanted to quickly write about this as a kind of "note to self" about teaching math next week...when I'll be doing it all by myself! Incorporate games! Learning needs to be fun!
Wednesday - 2/27
This was my first day of truly, truly doing it all (with the help of my cooperating teacher as my "assistant," of course). The biggest event of today was me teaching - and RECORDING - my first ever math lesson. Surprisingly, it went okay. Not great, but not bad either. I think since I've started taking over most things that I have realized how painfully bored the class gets when they have to sit still for more than 15 minutes or so at a time, so I tried to incorporate some alternation between group work and whole group instruction into that lesson. It actually flowed pretty smoothly aside from some altercations between disagreeing group members, but I noticed that the students were engaged and excited to be able to handle manipulatives (it was a lesson introducing the penny; the kids got to handle and count their own pennies).
I think something I need to work on -and I learned this today - is making sure I check over my plans more thoroughly before beginning a lesson. I made a big point in planning over the weekend and discussing my plans with my CT that I wanted to have an organized writer's workshop where the students could conference with me one-on-one about the stories they are writing. Instead (and I can't believe I did this) I forgot about my plan to conference while giving my writing lesson and ended up floating around the tables, helping everyone who was raising their hand. This worked out fine - for the people that were raising their hands! I know that I have a couple of "quiet strugglers" in my room, students who aren't disruptive when they are off-task or need help, but simply sit quietly and stare off into space or work on coloring a picture. These are the kids that need help the most and I likely wasn't giving that help to them. I felt like that was a glaring problem with my execution of my plan, so I'm definitely going to have to work to fix it!
Friday - 3/1
There was a lot going on today in kindergarten! It's Dr. Seuss's birthday tomorrow (March 2nd) so I gave a semi-impromptu lesson on both Dr. Seuss and also looking up information using the Internet. I used the SMART Board to demonstrate using search engines to find out information, then I pulled up the biography of Dr. Seuss and had the students ask me questions about the author. (And such mature questions, too: Did Dr. Seuss ever write adult books? How did he die? And my favorite: Is he going to come visit us?) I thought this went really well. Then, we got to sit in a circle on the carpet as I read The Lorax and, on the spot, connected it to our social studies unit about being a helper. This part of the day went well, even though it was a lot of thinking on my feet. But that's what teaching is all about!
We also had our "publishing party" for our original stories during literacy time this morning. I was happy that I was able to take the basic concept outlined in the basal text and run with it, letting the students create stories, edit them, practice reading them in their small table groups, and then having a day where they could all sit in the Author's Chair and share their pieces. While the kids had a lot of fun doing this activity, I (as always) wish I had allotted more time for it. I knew it was important to the students, but we went about 15 minutes over what we were supposed to and there were still some people who hadn't shared....so I had to cut into a little bit of math time to fit in the rest of the authors.
This was also huge for me in understanding how important it is to differentiate. I let everyone know that if they were not comfortable with reading their stories, they could still sit in the Author's Chair and I could sit beside them and read what they had written. So when our sole ELL student sat down at the chair, I asked him if he needed help. He of course said no, he would read the story himself. And he did an amazing job - but he still couldn't get through a few of the words (I partially blame this on me not reinforcing good handwriting). So I simply asked him again if he needed help, and he nodded. I read the story to the class, and afterwards when the class was asked to share things they liked about the story, everyone's hands shot up. It was so overwhelming to see such a supportive class of students who understand that all of them have different needs, but appreciate the work that was being put forth by each person. While he started looking nervous and a little terrified, he ended up going back to his seat with a huge grin on his face. I don't think that would have happened if I hadn't noticed the aid he needed and given it to him.
Also, it was "game day" in math (we do this every Friday). After teaching math the past two days in mostly whole-group settings, it was AMAZING to see how much more engaged and interested the kids are in a subject when it's presented in the form of a game. I just wanted to quickly write about this as a kind of "note to self" about teaching math next week...when I'll be doing it all by myself! Incorporate games! Learning needs to be fun!
Monday, February 25, 2013
2 weeks until HEAD TEACHING!
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.
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.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Reflections from this week...
Wednesday - 2/13
My cooperating teacher and I came up with the idea to focus our literacy instruction this week on the concept of retelling/fairy tales - a bit of a stray from the basal reader, but still making use of the book we're supposed to read aloud. So, during our language arts time I introduced The Three Billy Goats Gruff and talked about how we would be hearing lots of different versions of the story that week to prepare us to create our own puppet retelling in our reading groups. Managing the whole group still has its struggles, especially since I've taken over so much of the instruction and don't have much opportunity to really observe anymore. But it is definitely getting easier as time goes by, and I think if there is one thing I've learned it's that being strict isn't the end of the world.
For example, when I was giving my lesson on the billy goats story, two students were talking (pretty loudly) to each other during my reading. I don't like to stop the flow of the lesson to deal with behavior - I think that's why it's called "managing" and not "disciplining." You don't want them to really know you're thinking about 500 different things about the situation - you want them to think your focus is 100% on the lesson being taught.
So I made my expectations clear and firm at the beginning by reinforcing the expectations for carpet time. When I first noticed the students talking, I kindly reminded the students of what behavior I was looking for - I didn't call them out. After a while, though, I simply stopped reading, said "That's your first warning," and went on. While it worked for one of the students, it didn't work for the other. I gave two more warnings before I said, "You may spend the rest of this lesson at your seat. I've warned you three times." And it worked. The student went quietly to his seat and didn't say a word for the rest of the lesson (in fact, he actually participated and raised his hand to respond to my questions from his seat). It's always moments like those where I feel like I'm being too "mean" but am astounded how well it worked in the long run. I think keeping composure (what little amount of it I feel like I have!) is huge. If I had flown off the handle, I doubt the situation would have been dealt with so swiftly. But that firmness and that consistency really helped me today.
Thursday - 2/14
This was the first day we worked on our puppet plays in reading groups. This was my chance to work with all of the reading groups in one day and it was quite a whirlwind! Trying to hammer out rough scripts for groups of 5 kindergartners - 4 groups in 40 minutes - was just crazy. Management was really big today, but in a different way than it was yesterday because of the group size that I was working with. Which brings me to...my first student meltdown.
This class has been so wonderful and problem-free that I didn't think it would happen. But these are kindergartners - it's inevitable. Today, I tried my best to make the expectations clearer than clear as we were dividing up parts between the students. Obviously some parts are more desired than others. I simply explained we will choose fairly; if two people want the same part we can solve it by a game of rock paper scissors or by guessing a number I'm holding behind my back. I explained that if we show how responsible we can be during this process, there will be many other opportunities to perform plays and thus, more opportunities to get the parts we want. Every single group did really well with this. And thankfully, no group meetings were really interrupted with problems. But at the end of the first group's meeting, after everyone had left the table, a girl broke down and started crying a lot. And this is one of the best-behaved, problem-free students in the class - possibly the last student I would think to do this.
So, this shook up my plans a bit. But this was a day that I think I learned the most about flexibility than I have on any other days - and it also helped me learn about how crucial it is to have a good rapport with the students. I struggled today deciding whether to be firm or "soft." The problem with kindergartners is the simple fact that you can't help but feel bad for them - they're five years old, after all! I know that I was giving them a big responsibility for their age group and that more time should have been spent setting up those expectations, but I was so eager to do this creative, fun little project that I didn't spend that adequate time. So while I wanted to be angry with this girl, I felt angry at myself a little bit, too.
But I think I found a nice balance when I talked to the student. She had originally chosen one part, then changed her mind, and another girl was nice enough to switch with her. She was ecstatic to have this new part - until the group disbanded, when the tears came. That move is what made me realize it was okay for me to be a little firm. I told her that her group mate did a very nice thing by switching with her, and that that won't always happen. I said it would be very responsible (one of our big PBIS expectations) to say thank you to her friend and make the best of the part she was given. Basically, I tried to encourage her while also letting her know that she should have made a better choice.
Friday - 2/15
We had our puppet plays today! Overall, I think they went well. My cooperating teacher filmed the students as they performed, and I think it went surprisingly smooth considering (a) the level of responsibility that was required of them and (b) the amount of distractors that could easily dismantle the flow of the whole experience. I worked on setting up expectations both in the small groups and then reviewed them in the whole group before the plays, and I wrote them using simple words in a place every student could see.
My cooperating teacher and I came up with the idea to focus our literacy instruction this week on the concept of retelling/fairy tales - a bit of a stray from the basal reader, but still making use of the book we're supposed to read aloud. So, during our language arts time I introduced The Three Billy Goats Gruff and talked about how we would be hearing lots of different versions of the story that week to prepare us to create our own puppet retelling in our reading groups. Managing the whole group still has its struggles, especially since I've taken over so much of the instruction and don't have much opportunity to really observe anymore. But it is definitely getting easier as time goes by, and I think if there is one thing I've learned it's that being strict isn't the end of the world.
For example, when I was giving my lesson on the billy goats story, two students were talking (pretty loudly) to each other during my reading. I don't like to stop the flow of the lesson to deal with behavior - I think that's why it's called "managing" and not "disciplining." You don't want them to really know you're thinking about 500 different things about the situation - you want them to think your focus is 100% on the lesson being taught.
So I made my expectations clear and firm at the beginning by reinforcing the expectations for carpet time. When I first noticed the students talking, I kindly reminded the students of what behavior I was looking for - I didn't call them out. After a while, though, I simply stopped reading, said "That's your first warning," and went on. While it worked for one of the students, it didn't work for the other. I gave two more warnings before I said, "You may spend the rest of this lesson at your seat. I've warned you three times." And it worked. The student went quietly to his seat and didn't say a word for the rest of the lesson (in fact, he actually participated and raised his hand to respond to my questions from his seat). It's always moments like those where I feel like I'm being too "mean" but am astounded how well it worked in the long run. I think keeping composure (what little amount of it I feel like I have!) is huge. If I had flown off the handle, I doubt the situation would have been dealt with so swiftly. But that firmness and that consistency really helped me today.
Thursday - 2/14
This was the first day we worked on our puppet plays in reading groups. This was my chance to work with all of the reading groups in one day and it was quite a whirlwind! Trying to hammer out rough scripts for groups of 5 kindergartners - 4 groups in 40 minutes - was just crazy. Management was really big today, but in a different way than it was yesterday because of the group size that I was working with. Which brings me to...my first student meltdown.
This class has been so wonderful and problem-free that I didn't think it would happen. But these are kindergartners - it's inevitable. Today, I tried my best to make the expectations clearer than clear as we were dividing up parts between the students. Obviously some parts are more desired than others. I simply explained we will choose fairly; if two people want the same part we can solve it by a game of rock paper scissors or by guessing a number I'm holding behind my back. I explained that if we show how responsible we can be during this process, there will be many other opportunities to perform plays and thus, more opportunities to get the parts we want. Every single group did really well with this. And thankfully, no group meetings were really interrupted with problems. But at the end of the first group's meeting, after everyone had left the table, a girl broke down and started crying a lot. And this is one of the best-behaved, problem-free students in the class - possibly the last student I would think to do this.
So, this shook up my plans a bit. But this was a day that I think I learned the most about flexibility than I have on any other days - and it also helped me learn about how crucial it is to have a good rapport with the students. I struggled today deciding whether to be firm or "soft." The problem with kindergartners is the simple fact that you can't help but feel bad for them - they're five years old, after all! I know that I was giving them a big responsibility for their age group and that more time should have been spent setting up those expectations, but I was so eager to do this creative, fun little project that I didn't spend that adequate time. So while I wanted to be angry with this girl, I felt angry at myself a little bit, too.
But I think I found a nice balance when I talked to the student. She had originally chosen one part, then changed her mind, and another girl was nice enough to switch with her. She was ecstatic to have this new part - until the group disbanded, when the tears came. That move is what made me realize it was okay for me to be a little firm. I told her that her group mate did a very nice thing by switching with her, and that that won't always happen. I said it would be very responsible (one of our big PBIS expectations) to say thank you to her friend and make the best of the part she was given. Basically, I tried to encourage her while also letting her know that she should have made a better choice.
Friday - 2/15
We had our puppet plays today! Overall, I think they went well. My cooperating teacher filmed the students as they performed, and I think it went surprisingly smooth considering (a) the level of responsibility that was required of them and (b) the amount of distractors that could easily dismantle the flow of the whole experience. I worked on setting up expectations both in the small groups and then reviewed them in the whole group before the plays, and I wrote them using simple words in a place every student could see.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Week 4..!
Well, another week has come and gone!
Today, I took over some more of the morning literacy routine - vocabulary! Since I'm basically teaching straight from the basal all morning, I don't have much to reflect on as far as "lesson planning" goes...but I think I am gradually becoming better at picking through the things I think are worthwhile to teach and the things I think I can throw out the window. Thankfully, my CT is completely on board with that plan - so it's nice to be in agreement on that in addition to a ton of other things.
Classroom management has been a slow but steady process upwards...I honestly feel like at this point it's too easy, with how well-behaved my class is. It's like they know I'm just practicing so they try to go easy on me or something. Of course I come across my share of management issues, like dealing with name-calling at recess and arguments between table mates. But by and large, managing the class and keeping my strategies consistent (and clear, hopefully) has been somewhat of a breeze. I know I'm speaking too soon, of course. I know.
One interesting tidbit that happened today was a boy who shared with me that his mother had a baby on Saturday. He was so excited to tell me, but as all kindergartners go, he told me about two seconds before I was starting up our literacy routine after the kids got back in from recess. So I did the first thing that popped into my head, what felt natural to me: I told him he could have a few minutes to share with the class before the lesson - not during. I told him the types of things he might want to share (the baby's name, where it was born, etc.). And something amazing happened. Not only did he share the most intricate details of his brother's birth, he spoke with confidence and his classmates listened. He told us about how his mother had a water birth at home, how he was involved in the process and got to read books about that kind of birth, how his brother didn't have a name yet...
And everyone was engaged. After the boy sharing told us he got to help cut the umbilical cord (wow!), another boy raised his hand and said "Another thing comes out - it's called the placenta. And some people eat it." Nobody judged anyone for their information or lack thereof. And such mature topics for five- and six-year olds to be talking about! I was blown away. I commended each person for sharing what they knew and explained that we needed to focus on our story now. I went back to my lesson and that was that. Nobody felt the need to raise their hand or talk out of turn about what we had just spent a few minutes talking about. It was...weird. But in a good way.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Responsibility and finding balance.
Well, it certainly was a fun and crazy week in kindergarten!
Most of the week was like being on a cruise...I gradually assumed more and more responsibility (taking over social studies, most of the reading groups, managing transitions between activities, experiencing a fire drill) and somehow, some way, by some miracle, it felt easy.
I spent a good deal of time observing my CT, as well. While she describes herself as a "fly by the seat of her pants" type of teacher (her plans are about one sentence long for each 30 minute activity), it is astounding how easy she makes it look. Not only that, she knows when to be swift with punishments and knows when to praise kids for their successes. Even when I was praised for the good things I did - management wise - this week, and even though I was told I made it look easy as well, I cannot describe the storm of thoughts whirling around in my head as I tried to juggle sticking to my plan, managing the class, keeping track of time...It's amazing to me that teachers can (mostly) keep it together for as long as they do!
I implemented a new classroom management technique this week, which was using a "mystery person" as a rewards system for the students. My CT has tried this before and likes it, but she hadn't used it this year. I cannot believe how well the kids responded to it - all day they asked me if I would tell who the mystery person was, and on the day I chose not to have a mystery person, it was practically chaos. I used it 3 of the 5 days last week, and the first two days were a huge success. The third day, however...
This brings me to the "finding balance" part of my title. I taught my social studies unit this week and was met with great feedback from my teacher. She even commented that "It seems like you've done this before..." which I thought was the BEST compliment I could have gotten from such an awesome, seasoned teacher. The first three days were, like I said, like being on a cruise. Management was easy. It came naturally. The kids loved the activities I chose and they behaved so well I barely had to manage at all.
So, the fourth day. The culminating day of the unit. I planned a SMART Board activity (which I spent a little too long creating), and I used the puppets I introduced on day one to help me with managing. The SMART activity and the puppets worked like magic. The kids were involved, engaged, demonstrating all of the things they learned that week...And then, we moved on to the main activity I'd planned: original "plays," performed by each table group, of how they would solve an imaginary scenario I provided each table.
While they were working, it was great. I made my expectations clear with a signal ("When you and your group have decided on what you would do to solve the problem, turn your voices off to zero and look at me.") They were like perfect angels waiting for the rest of the groups to finish. And then, we went to the carpet to perform our brief plays. All hell broke loose! I thought I was doing an okay job managing as things went haywire - I stopped several times and explained that if we were in a real theater with real adult actors, we would be asked to leave for being so disrespectful. I pointed to the behavior sign and used the school's PBIS language just like I had observed my CT doing time and time again. I ended up keeping the kids in for 5 minutes past recess just so every group could finish - the lesson went way over time because I had to spend so much time stopping and starting so each group could perform their skit.
At the end of the lesson, I felt defeated. I felt that while each group got to perform - albeit briefly - my talking over the other students talking over them was just a huge distraction. No group got their "time to shine." I felt guilty about that - and I didn't know what I would have done differently. I conferenced with my CT after the lesson, and she said she thought about stepping in but didn't, because she knows that I wouldn't have learned as much if I hadn't had that experience. I was really grateful for that, at the end of the day. She knows exactly what kind of experiences I need to immerse myself in to learn the most. And while all week was smooth sailing, I learned the most during that 30 minute lesson than I did the entire week before it.
Her suggestion was basically this: it's okay to be mean sometimes. She said she would have sent every student who was being disruptive back to their seat and put their head down until they were ready to participate. She pointed out that I'm always so positive with the kids, if I showed some of my "claws," they would have known I meant business. And I've observed her doing things like this so often I'm surprised I didn't think about doing it. I think the young, hopeful, overly-optimistic and unrealistic teacher in me just wanted my positivity to work during that lesson.
So, that leads me to my mystery person. I had a talk with the kids at the end of the day about how the mystery person wasn't doing their job during that lesson and that we wouldn't get the reward because nobody was showing me the right way to act during class. I explained that it hurt my feelings because I worked so hard on the lesson and that it hurt every group's feelings when they couldn't perform their plays the way they'd planned. Everyone seemed to understand and I think that the "punishment" of not getting a reward was my small way of correcting my lack of hardness during the lesson.
Wow, I wrote a lot about that! Which is good, though, because it's important for me to be able to look back on the things that went wrong and be able to keep them in my mind as I teach. This week, I'll be attempting another "play" with the class - we're going to read multiple versions of a fairy tale and work on our retelling skills by creating a puppet play in our leveled reading groups. Time will tell how well this goes!
Most of the week was like being on a cruise...I gradually assumed more and more responsibility (taking over social studies, most of the reading groups, managing transitions between activities, experiencing a fire drill) and somehow, some way, by some miracle, it felt easy.
I spent a good deal of time observing my CT, as well. While she describes herself as a "fly by the seat of her pants" type of teacher (her plans are about one sentence long for each 30 minute activity), it is astounding how easy she makes it look. Not only that, she knows when to be swift with punishments and knows when to praise kids for their successes. Even when I was praised for the good things I did - management wise - this week, and even though I was told I made it look easy as well, I cannot describe the storm of thoughts whirling around in my head as I tried to juggle sticking to my plan, managing the class, keeping track of time...It's amazing to me that teachers can (mostly) keep it together for as long as they do!
I implemented a new classroom management technique this week, which was using a "mystery person" as a rewards system for the students. My CT has tried this before and likes it, but she hadn't used it this year. I cannot believe how well the kids responded to it - all day they asked me if I would tell who the mystery person was, and on the day I chose not to have a mystery person, it was practically chaos. I used it 3 of the 5 days last week, and the first two days were a huge success. The third day, however...
This brings me to the "finding balance" part of my title. I taught my social studies unit this week and was met with great feedback from my teacher. She even commented that "It seems like you've done this before..." which I thought was the BEST compliment I could have gotten from such an awesome, seasoned teacher. The first three days were, like I said, like being on a cruise. Management was easy. It came naturally. The kids loved the activities I chose and they behaved so well I barely had to manage at all.
So, the fourth day. The culminating day of the unit. I planned a SMART Board activity (which I spent a little too long creating), and I used the puppets I introduced on day one to help me with managing. The SMART activity and the puppets worked like magic. The kids were involved, engaged, demonstrating all of the things they learned that week...And then, we moved on to the main activity I'd planned: original "plays," performed by each table group, of how they would solve an imaginary scenario I provided each table.
While they were working, it was great. I made my expectations clear with a signal ("When you and your group have decided on what you would do to solve the problem, turn your voices off to zero and look at me.") They were like perfect angels waiting for the rest of the groups to finish. And then, we went to the carpet to perform our brief plays. All hell broke loose! I thought I was doing an okay job managing as things went haywire - I stopped several times and explained that if we were in a real theater with real adult actors, we would be asked to leave for being so disrespectful. I pointed to the behavior sign and used the school's PBIS language just like I had observed my CT doing time and time again. I ended up keeping the kids in for 5 minutes past recess just so every group could finish - the lesson went way over time because I had to spend so much time stopping and starting so each group could perform their skit.
At the end of the lesson, I felt defeated. I felt that while each group got to perform - albeit briefly - my talking over the other students talking over them was just a huge distraction. No group got their "time to shine." I felt guilty about that - and I didn't know what I would have done differently. I conferenced with my CT after the lesson, and she said she thought about stepping in but didn't, because she knows that I wouldn't have learned as much if I hadn't had that experience. I was really grateful for that, at the end of the day. She knows exactly what kind of experiences I need to immerse myself in to learn the most. And while all week was smooth sailing, I learned the most during that 30 minute lesson than I did the entire week before it.
Her suggestion was basically this: it's okay to be mean sometimes. She said she would have sent every student who was being disruptive back to their seat and put their head down until they were ready to participate. She pointed out that I'm always so positive with the kids, if I showed some of my "claws," they would have known I meant business. And I've observed her doing things like this so often I'm surprised I didn't think about doing it. I think the young, hopeful, overly-optimistic and unrealistic teacher in me just wanted my positivity to work during that lesson.
So, that leads me to my mystery person. I had a talk with the kids at the end of the day about how the mystery person wasn't doing their job during that lesson and that we wouldn't get the reward because nobody was showing me the right way to act during class. I explained that it hurt my feelings because I worked so hard on the lesson and that it hurt every group's feelings when they couldn't perform their plays the way they'd planned. Everyone seemed to understand and I think that the "punishment" of not getting a reward was my small way of correcting my lack of hardness during the lesson.
Wow, I wrote a lot about that! Which is good, though, because it's important for me to be able to look back on the things that went wrong and be able to keep them in my mind as I teach. This week, I'll be attempting another "play" with the class - we're going to read multiple versions of a fairy tale and work on our retelling skills by creating a puppet play in our leveled reading groups. Time will tell how well this goes!
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Day Eleven
WHAT A DAY!
First of all, I had my first supervisor visit/evaluation today. I must say, as much of a pain all of the regimented parts of practicum were and as nervous I used to get for my supervisor visits, I am astounded how well that whole experience prepared me for student teaching. I felt surprisingly confident as I delivered two small-group reading lessons (one two an on-level group and one to a group of struggling readers), which I attempted to differentiate by giving two slightly different assessments. The comments and feedback I got back were so helpful and let me know the types of things I was doing well that I didn't even notice I was doing as well as gave me insight to tweaks I could make to other things I could change. Even with groups with varying levels of competency, I think all of the students really learned from my lesson and that's always the most gratifying part for me.
It is exciting taking over more and more responsibility every day. I gave my first "original" lesson today - a 35-minute social studies lesson as part of my original unit. My cooperating teacher gave me awesome feedback about the lesson and wrote three notebook pages of notes for me so I can review them later. Her main point of praise was my classroom management - she even said she didn't think she could have dealt with certain parts as well as I did, which I have a hard time believing because she is so on top of management it blows my mind.
I do wish I had taken more notes these first few weeks of the things she did, but because I have had to assume responsibility so quickly, I think I've done a decent job of observing what she models and then quickly (attempting) to turn it around and use those kinds of techniques the next time I'm in front of the class. She uses really positive, corrective feedback and her management comes so naturally that it's almost hard to take note of the really specific things she does, but like I said in previous entries, I think that confidence is a huge part of it. She really cares about the kids doing well and she makes it very obvious to them that she does, even when she is correcting negative behavior. This is something I have always wanted to see modeled like this, so I'm glad I'm in a classroom where I get to do such meaningful observations and quick implementation!
Tomorrow I'm doing a puppet show...Hopefully I'll survive.
First of all, I had my first supervisor visit/evaluation today. I must say, as much of a pain all of the regimented parts of practicum were and as nervous I used to get for my supervisor visits, I am astounded how well that whole experience prepared me for student teaching. I felt surprisingly confident as I delivered two small-group reading lessons (one two an on-level group and one to a group of struggling readers), which I attempted to differentiate by giving two slightly different assessments. The comments and feedback I got back were so helpful and let me know the types of things I was doing well that I didn't even notice I was doing as well as gave me insight to tweaks I could make to other things I could change. Even with groups with varying levels of competency, I think all of the students really learned from my lesson and that's always the most gratifying part for me.
It is exciting taking over more and more responsibility every day. I gave my first "original" lesson today - a 35-minute social studies lesson as part of my original unit. My cooperating teacher gave me awesome feedback about the lesson and wrote three notebook pages of notes for me so I can review them later. Her main point of praise was my classroom management - she even said she didn't think she could have dealt with certain parts as well as I did, which I have a hard time believing because she is so on top of management it blows my mind.
I do wish I had taken more notes these first few weeks of the things she did, but because I have had to assume responsibility so quickly, I think I've done a decent job of observing what she models and then quickly (attempting) to turn it around and use those kinds of techniques the next time I'm in front of the class. She uses really positive, corrective feedback and her management comes so naturally that it's almost hard to take note of the really specific things she does, but like I said in previous entries, I think that confidence is a huge part of it. She really cares about the kids doing well and she makes it very obvious to them that she does, even when she is correcting negative behavior. This is something I have always wanted to see modeled like this, so I'm glad I'm in a classroom where I get to do such meaningful observations and quick implementation!
Tomorrow I'm doing a puppet show...Hopefully I'll survive.
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