Piggybacking on Thursday's observation in elementary school, I observed in a sixth-grade class on Friday. I observed in a language arts class and the lesson for the day was a choral poem and then individual work of drawing a picture that represented the poem and answering questions. I had a very enjoyable day and the students at that age are hilarious. It was also nice to see them respect me as much as they did their teacher.
It's definitely a different feel to change classes every 50 minutes, as opposed to the same 18 students all day in elementary school. I can see where the switch throughout the day would be a very nice perk - problem students disappear in less than an hour :) - and lunch is also longer so there's a bit more time to sit down and relax.
It was neat to see how the kids interact with each other and see the middle school drama between boys and girls and friends.
My prize of the day - a middle school dance! Sixth and seventh periods were reserved for the Valentine's Day Dance. We went to it for about 15 minutes and reminisced about our middle school dances - days you couldn't pay me to go back to!
Other than the dance, my highlight of the day came when I was helping one student understand the questions she needed to answer and the boy sitting next to her said to me, "you're going to be a really good teacher." That made my heart melt!
All in all, it was a fun day with lots of experiences and made me realize middle school is something I may keep in the back of my mind after spending time teaching elementary school.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
...and I'm sold!
There's no need to talk me into it, elementary school - first grade - is where I want to be! On Thursday I had my first observation for school; I spent an entire day in a first grade classroom and was involved with the students about 95% of the day.
I wanted to get the feel of an ENTIRE day in the classroom and see how things run from before the students get there until after they leave. When I first arrived, students started coming in about 40 minutes before school started - Mrs. D, the teacher I was observing, had to be sure that although school hadn't started yet, each student had an assignment or task in the classroom to stay busy.
Class started with morning procedures and went right into reading Dinorella - the dinosaur version of Cinderella, which they had read the day before. After the book, the class compared the similarities and differences of the two stories. It was fun to see how much these little people actually retain.
Afterwards, another first grade class joined ours and the two classes prepared to read The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear. Before they read, they did an activity where they foreshadowed what the book would be about based on it's cover; they also predicted what vocabulary words might be in the story. Finally, they all read the story together.
After story time, the other class went back to their own room. Mrs. D started a lesson about writing a letter. She used different books that the class had read for examples of letter writing (there are more children's books than I thought there'd be about this!). Their assignment was to write a Valentine's Day letter to their parent, sibling or grandparent. Of course every student wanted to write a letter to Mrs. D because the kiddies just love her. One student asked me how to spell my last name, I guess she was writing a Valentine to give to me :) (which I didn't get because I was only there for one day, sad).
The next task for the day was Centers. This is about 50 minutes of students going to different stations in the classroom by themselves or with partners to practice lessons - most of them in reading and fluency. I was again impressed with the independence of these little people to know where they are supposed to go and start their work as soon as they get to their stations! I walked around and observed while Mrs. D was at one center testing student reading.
Next up, lunch time!!! We had to walk the students - in a straight line, which was SUCH a SERIOUS matter; I forgot about those days - to the lunchroom and then Mrs. D and I finally had a mini break to go sit in the teacher's lounge and relax. When we went to pick the kiddos up from the lunch room, I was in charge because Mrs. D had to run back to her room for a few minutes. I had to line them up, and 'move the giraffe head up on the wall because they were good at lunch' (none of the students could figure out why I couldn't figure out what the heck they meant). We then took the little line of munchkins to their Specials for the day - today was Computers (I think Specials includes, Computer, Art, PE and maybe Music?)
While the students were at Specials, I accompanied Mrs. D to an IEP meeting (Individual Education Plan) for a problem student of hers. This was extremely insightful and such a great experience for my own future IEP kids.
When we picked up the kids at Specials, they got in a lot of trouble for being so bad in line. I thought it was silly but I guess you have to crack down on them to get them to follow all of the other rules and procedures. They immediately went into a math lesson and this was about the first time my brain had stopped racing all day. I sat down and realized I was EXHAUSTED! This only lasted a few minutes though because the students around me needed some assistance with subtraction (simple math, my specialty). After math, the students formed groups to switch different classrooms (apparently this happens on Thursdays). Mrs. D's lesson for the group was recycling. So, we got to sing the Recycling Song!
Jealous?
Then the students made art out of glue and soft drink can tabs. Some of the art was actually pretty cool with one kid making a snake (it really looked like a snake) and one making a cross ("It's for Jesus," he said) and others making hearts and basketballs.
Finally it came time for me to pack up and be on my way. When I was leaving the school I was completely exhausted and couldn't wait to lay down on the couch for a nice little slumber.
I really loved being in the classroom with the little kids; they impressed me so much with how much they knew and how independent they were. They were also very quick to respect me as another teacher in the classroom and often looked to me for help during their assignments. It made me realize this is exactly what I want to do and I can't wait to get started with my teaching career!
I wanted to get the feel of an ENTIRE day in the classroom and see how things run from before the students get there until after they leave. When I first arrived, students started coming in about 40 minutes before school started - Mrs. D, the teacher I was observing, had to be sure that although school hadn't started yet, each student had an assignment or task in the classroom to stay busy.
Class started with morning procedures and went right into reading Dinorella - the dinosaur version of Cinderella, which they had read the day before. After the book, the class compared the similarities and differences of the two stories. It was fun to see how much these little people actually retain.
Afterwards, another first grade class joined ours and the two classes prepared to read The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear. Before they read, they did an activity where they foreshadowed what the book would be about based on it's cover; they also predicted what vocabulary words might be in the story. Finally, they all read the story together.
This was not without conflict- each group of desks (5 desks at each group) received a book to share. One group just could not handle sharing the one book. I decided to let the little girl on the end hold the book and show the pictures to the group and told them it would be passed around every few pages so each group member could hold the book. One little boy was not a fan of this and pouted throughout the story. About halfway through reading, I passed out candy to the students who were on good behavior. This particular student couldn't understand why I wasn't giving him any candy. I finally gave him a piece after everyone else received theirs. After we finished the entire activity I pulled him aside to ask him if he knew why he was the last student to get candy. Of course he said no, and I talked to him about sharing and compromising. My first conflict resolution as a teacher! And this entire scene went on without any other student or the other two teachers knowing - success! Afterwards, I told Mrs. D what happend and she said I did a great job and she was very happy with how I handled it.
After story time, the other class went back to their own room. Mrs. D started a lesson about writing a letter. She used different books that the class had read for examples of letter writing (there are more children's books than I thought there'd be about this!). Their assignment was to write a Valentine's Day letter to their parent, sibling or grandparent. Of course every student wanted to write a letter to Mrs. D because the kiddies just love her. One student asked me how to spell my last name, I guess she was writing a Valentine to give to me :) (which I didn't get because I was only there for one day, sad).
The next task for the day was Centers. This is about 50 minutes of students going to different stations in the classroom by themselves or with partners to practice lessons - most of them in reading and fluency. I was again impressed with the independence of these little people to know where they are supposed to go and start their work as soon as they get to their stations! I walked around and observed while Mrs. D was at one center testing student reading.
Next up, lunch time!!! We had to walk the students - in a straight line, which was SUCH a SERIOUS matter; I forgot about those days - to the lunchroom and then Mrs. D and I finally had a mini break to go sit in the teacher's lounge and relax. When we went to pick the kiddos up from the lunch room, I was in charge because Mrs. D had to run back to her room for a few minutes. I had to line them up, and 'move the giraffe head up on the wall because they were good at lunch' (none of the students could figure out why I couldn't figure out what the heck they meant). We then took the little line of munchkins to their Specials for the day - today was Computers (I think Specials includes, Computer, Art, PE and maybe Music?)
While the students were at Specials, I accompanied Mrs. D to an IEP meeting (Individual Education Plan) for a problem student of hers. This was extremely insightful and such a great experience for my own future IEP kids.
When we picked up the kids at Specials, they got in a lot of trouble for being so bad in line. I thought it was silly but I guess you have to crack down on them to get them to follow all of the other rules and procedures. They immediately went into a math lesson and this was about the first time my brain had stopped racing all day. I sat down and realized I was EXHAUSTED! This only lasted a few minutes though because the students around me needed some assistance with subtraction (simple math, my specialty). After math, the students formed groups to switch different classrooms (apparently this happens on Thursdays). Mrs. D's lesson for the group was recycling. So, we got to sing the Recycling Song!
A can in the bin
And another went in.
Recycle! Recycle!
We all recycled and added a can.
There were two in the bin and another went in.
Recycle! Recycle!
Jealous?
Then the students made art out of glue and soft drink can tabs. Some of the art was actually pretty cool with one kid making a snake (it really looked like a snake) and one making a cross ("It's for Jesus," he said) and others making hearts and basketballs.
Finally it came time for me to pack up and be on my way. When I was leaving the school I was completely exhausted and couldn't wait to lay down on the couch for a nice little slumber.
I really loved being in the classroom with the little kids; they impressed me so much with how much they knew and how independent they were. They were also very quick to respect me as another teacher in the classroom and often looked to me for help during their assignments. It made me realize this is exactly what I want to do and I can't wait to get started with my teaching career!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
My Very First Lesson Plan
This is a milestone- my very first lesson plan of my teaching career! It's for my Instructional Strategies class; we have to present a lesson plan and teach it to the class. I've decided I'll teach the Food Guide Pyramid. This is a first grade lesson (from all that I've researched on it) for health education and I think that it can be really interactive. I'm really excited about it, but am still in the planning stages. I'll post about the actual lesson once it's been completely and will hopefully have been succesful at it!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The $1 Spot Will Be My Downfall
It's one of my favorite places in the world - the $1 Spot at Target. I am absolutely obsessed with it. It's conveniently located so as soon as I walk through the doors and grab my basket, I'm sucked in. It excites me much more than it probably should because every time I go, there are tons of new things to look at and wonder if I need (and justify the need to myself, which I am usually able to do). Almost every time I go to Target - which is far too often - I pick up at least one item from this little section of heaven. And usually it's an item for my non-existent students or my non-existent classroom.
Stickers? Sure! I could use these to grade papers with!
Pencils? How cute are these! I will put these in the treasure box I plan to have in my room!
Books? My students can learn to read with these short, easy-to-read picture books!
...the list goes on and on.
While the $1 Spot continues to suck me in, hopefully I'll continue to find fun little goodies for my future classroom.
Stickers? Sure! I could use these to grade papers with!
Pencils? How cute are these! I will put these in the treasure box I plan to have in my room!
Books? My students can learn to read with these short, easy-to-read picture books!
...the list goes on and on.
While the $1 Spot continues to suck me in, hopefully I'll continue to find fun little goodies for my future classroom.
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