On Monday I could tell I had been absent. I feel like the majority of the management progress I had made before taking some time off was lost. My students were challenging me like they had before I implemented new classroom management strategies. They had a difficult time listening and and following directions. They were easily distracted and seemed to repeat behaviors over and over even after I addressed them once. It was frustrating to feel like I had lost so much progress. I think it will take some time to readjust, but hopefully it will go more smoothly. The management strategies I implemented before (ex: rug row points) are still in place and my cooperating teacher has continued to use them. I talked with my cooperating teacher about it and we agree that consistency will be key in regaining their confidence, attention, and respect.
On Tuesday we did two new activities during the mini lessons that students really enjoyed. The first was an adjective activity in which students had to say a complete sentence about a picture of three animals that included an adjective for "how many." Students had to come up with their own ideas, share their full sentence, and identify the adjective in the sentence. They thought it was a fun challenge and it was the first time I had heard them say and use the word "adjective" correctly. In the second mini lesson we played sight word bingo. Students had to fill a bingo sheet with sight words from the word wall. They crossed words off as I said them and raised their hand and said bingo when they got four in a row. I'm constantly trying to come up with new ways to practice sight words, and this game was fun for students, but also helped them practice writing and reading sight words. They were engaged and were able to choose their own words.
On Wednesday I began a new behavior system for one student during the afternoons. He has developed a pattern of refusing to do his independent work or play the math game. He always has a reason, usually a problem with another student or about a situation that happened during lunch or during RtI, but it had been getting out of hand. My cooperating teacher and I have both tried talking to him about the problems preventing him from doing work, but it has gotten to the point where we agree that to some degree he simply doesn't want to participate. On Wednesday I gave him a choice between two behavior charts. When I see him participating and following directions during any part of math, I will let him color a star on his behavior chart. If he isn't doing those things, he does not get to color one. When he fills the chart he'll get a reward that he is really interested in, iPad time to play an educational game. I'm hoping this new plan will help math run more smoothly and give him more motivation to participate. (4L)
On Thursday we talked about asking questions during reading. Students each got a bag full of question cards. At different times in the story, students had to stop, find a question they could ask their partner, and take turns asking and answering relevant questions. Students are used to turning and talking to a partner on the rug, but this activity was an extension of that. We have been talking about fairy tales, and it has been an easy way to incorporate conversations about morals, and other real world issues. Students are working toward making connections between fairy tale stories and real life. While we don't explicitly discuss it everyday, it always comes up. I have enjoyed incorporating these ideas so fluidly so far this week.
On Fridays we always do assessments and integrated activities to focus on a science or social studies topic. This Friday I had to create the math assessment for first grade based on what we had been learning because the topics aren't necessarily covered in Common Core. It was a good experience to use the informal and formal assessments I had taken throughout the week to inform my decision making for our assessment on Friday (7K). I found myself noticing how difficult it is to create one assessment for an entire class of students at different levels. It made me start thinking about how to differentiate assessments or how to create assessments in a way that all students can still achieve something on them, and so that all students are still challenged and able to show what they learned. When I make next week's assessment, I'm going to try to incorporate more open ended activities instead of straight forward problems that have one single answer.
This week was definitely exhausting, but I felt much better than I had previously. I can tell I'm not feeling completely like myself, but at the same time, it was great to be back in the classroom. I'm working to still get enough rest and find times to take mental breaks, even if they are short, during the day. I'm hoping I'll feel even better next week!
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Week 11
I was able to communicate with my cooperating teacher throughout the week and decided to go in at the end of the week. I arrived in the middle of the school day while my students were out of the classroom. When they returned, they were standing in the doorway of our classroom, saw me, and bombarded me with hugs. They all came running into the room exclaiming things like, "Miss V! We MISSED YOU!" and "Miss Vanderzee! We didn't know you were coming! Are you STAYING?!" It was wonderful. One student was left standing in the doorway crying because she was so excited. It was definitely good to be back.
Because I stayed through the end of the day I was also able to communicate well with my cooperating teacher. I updated her on how I was feeling and what I was nervous about starting back up the following week. She was able to update me on things that had happened in the classroom and the new unit they had started. I explained that I wanted to make sure to come in to talk with her in person before the beginning of a new week so that we could plan the upcoming week in the best way for the students and for us (8L). We talked about next steps for planning and did some planning together during our plan period at the end of the day. I left feeling confident about planning and returning to school on Monday.
That being said, I'm also a little nervous about jumping straight back into things. I will definitely keep napping every day after school when possible, but I'm most worried about the mornings. I've been sleeping at least 13 hours every night still, and getting up at 6am is going to be a difficult adjustment. My cooperating teacher and I talked about how I usually feel in the mornings (my head feels cloudy and I often need to sit down and take a some time to gather myself) and talked about what that will look like this coming week. I'm SO excited to have a more normal schedule in the classroom and be back with my students, so hopefully it goes well!
Because I stayed through the end of the day I was also able to communicate well with my cooperating teacher. I updated her on how I was feeling and what I was nervous about starting back up the following week. She was able to update me on things that had happened in the classroom and the new unit they had started. I explained that I wanted to make sure to come in to talk with her in person before the beginning of a new week so that we could plan the upcoming week in the best way for the students and for us (8L). We talked about next steps for planning and did some planning together during our plan period at the end of the day. I left feeling confident about planning and returning to school on Monday.
That being said, I'm also a little nervous about jumping straight back into things. I will definitely keep napping every day after school when possible, but I'm most worried about the mornings. I've been sleeping at least 13 hours every night still, and getting up at 6am is going to be a difficult adjustment. My cooperating teacher and I talked about how I usually feel in the mornings (my head feels cloudy and I often need to sit down and take a some time to gather myself) and talked about what that will look like this coming week. I'm SO excited to have a more normal schedule in the classroom and be back with my students, so hopefully it goes well!
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Week 10
Monday was my first day full time teaching with a plan period. It was glorious. Having my plan period back also helped me communicate with my cooperating teacher better about day to day things. Even though she has all my lesson plans and she knows what is going on throughout the day, it was nice to have time to analyze and reflect verbally on lessons with her today. My kids also liked having me back through the whole day. At least five of them exclaimed something like, "Miss V!!! You're still here!" when they got back from their special today. They had all kinds of questions about why I was still there and if I would stay all day for the rest of the year. I also noticed how much the time change over the weekend effected my students. They were incredibly tired in the morning and a lot of them seemed easily frustrated throughout the day. Hopefully that will continue to get better throughout the week!
If I'm going to be honest, Tuesday was a blur. I have been feeling under the weather for a couple weeks now, and Tuesday was one of those days I probably should've stayed in bed. It was frustrating to me how easily I felt frustrated with my students when I didn't feel good. It was a good learning experience to practice patience when I felt like I had none left, and when I felt like my head was going to explode.
Wednesday I went to school in the morning and my teacher immediately sent me home. She took one look at me, asked me how I felt, and told me to go get tested for mono (because she knew my roommates had it a few weeks ago). I spent the morning on the phone and napping before spending the afternoon in the doctor's office. My doctor told me that I did, in fact, have mono. After describing my symptoms and the timeline of them (as well as getting a blood test), it is clear that I had had mono for two and a half weeks already. He explained that I need to take it easy, meaning that I need to rest when I'm tired, not push myself to make it until a nap time or an early bedtime. He said the only way to get better was not to push myself, do everything I can not to be stressed, and rest a lot.
After talking to my cooperating teacher, she felt strongly about me taking Thursday and Friday to rest, and feeling the way I did, I agreed. I literally slept almost 20 hours both days, and continued to sleep a lot during the weekend. My cooperating teacher and I have come up with a plan for building in some breaks into the days this week so I can rest and hopefully not miss teaching whole class instruction. I moved around my after school schedule to make sure I can go to bed really early as well. Since I have reached the three week mark, and have taken care of myself really well the last five days, I'm hoping the worst is over!
The chapter in Schmidt for this week talked about writing. The first part that caught my eye was how he mentioned that it's important for students to warm up before writing. It seems so obvious to me now, but I have not given my students opportunities to do that before beginning to write. One idea I noted that I could use in my classroom was talking about an image from a story or about a topic (i.e. a storm) and asking students to use their fingers to write a word they think of on the palms of their hands (p. 118). Another thought I noted from the chapter was allowing students to get their ideas down in different ways than at their desk with a pencil and graphic organizer. Schmidt talked about letting students use big paper and colored markers to make their own idea maps. While I envision this being incredibly distracting for some of my students, I know it would really help some of the students who need to move around more or need some motivation to focus on writing. Another thing I read about that I want to keep incorporating into writing is sharing writing. My students just finished "All About" books and are going to read them to the class this week, but this is the first time all semester that they have gotten the chance to share their writing. I want to keep giving them opportunities to do this.
If I'm going to be honest, Tuesday was a blur. I have been feeling under the weather for a couple weeks now, and Tuesday was one of those days I probably should've stayed in bed. It was frustrating to me how easily I felt frustrated with my students when I didn't feel good. It was a good learning experience to practice patience when I felt like I had none left, and when I felt like my head was going to explode.
Wednesday I went to school in the morning and my teacher immediately sent me home. She took one look at me, asked me how I felt, and told me to go get tested for mono (because she knew my roommates had it a few weeks ago). I spent the morning on the phone and napping before spending the afternoon in the doctor's office. My doctor told me that I did, in fact, have mono. After describing my symptoms and the timeline of them (as well as getting a blood test), it is clear that I had had mono for two and a half weeks already. He explained that I need to take it easy, meaning that I need to rest when I'm tired, not push myself to make it until a nap time or an early bedtime. He said the only way to get better was not to push myself, do everything I can not to be stressed, and rest a lot.
After talking to my cooperating teacher, she felt strongly about me taking Thursday and Friday to rest, and feeling the way I did, I agreed. I literally slept almost 20 hours both days, and continued to sleep a lot during the weekend. My cooperating teacher and I have come up with a plan for building in some breaks into the days this week so I can rest and hopefully not miss teaching whole class instruction. I moved around my after school schedule to make sure I can go to bed really early as well. Since I have reached the three week mark, and have taken care of myself really well the last five days, I'm hoping the worst is over!
The chapter in Schmidt for this week talked about writing. The first part that caught my eye was how he mentioned that it's important for students to warm up before writing. It seems so obvious to me now, but I have not given my students opportunities to do that before beginning to write. One idea I noted that I could use in my classroom was talking about an image from a story or about a topic (i.e. a storm) and asking students to use their fingers to write a word they think of on the palms of their hands (p. 118). Another thought I noted from the chapter was allowing students to get their ideas down in different ways than at their desk with a pencil and graphic organizer. Schmidt talked about letting students use big paper and colored markers to make their own idea maps. While I envision this being incredibly distracting for some of my students, I know it would really help some of the students who need to move around more or need some motivation to focus on writing. Another thing I read about that I want to keep incorporating into writing is sharing writing. My students just finished "All About" books and are going to read them to the class this week, but this is the first time all semester that they have gotten the chance to share their writing. I want to keep giving them opportunities to do this.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Week 9
Monday I started my first day full time teaching. I began the morning by implementing a new piece of behavior management (4A). I introduced rug row points (similar to table points). When all the students in one row are following the rug rules, I give them a tally mark. If they are having trouble that is significantly disrupting the activity, I take one away. At the end of the week the row with the most points will get a prize. They are SO excited. It worked like a charm. Hopefully it will keep up, because their behavior was significantly better than it had been all last week. I also implemented a new filing system for organization for myself as I begin full time teaching which worked wonderfully for me. I got the idea from a friend from home who teaches second grade. So far, it was extremely effective in keeping me organized and ready for activities as they came despite a busy day.
Tuesday one of the highlights of my day was the writing block. We got through our reading activities in the morning on time (which is rare) so we had the full writing block to devote to writing a page in our "All About" books. My students are writing a nonfiction book about an animal they know a lot about. Tuesday they wrote the page about where their animals live. I modeled the writing for the page by choosing an animal and offering think alouds as well as questioning. I gave examples and asked questions about what to include in the page. When my students began working they worked hard and all of them finished the page. On other pages my cooperating teacher and I were having trouble getting them to understand that they were only writing about one topic related to the animal. They had been including everything they know about their animals on each page they wrote. Today they got it. I gathered them on the rug before bringing them to lunch and congratulated them on their hard work and how it paid off. They were beaming.
Wednesday I had to stretch myself. I was feeling under the weather, like my head was in a cloud. I knew Wednesday would be a tough day because of the anticipation that had been building for the field trip on Thursday. Students were more excited, more talkative, and more dramatic than usual. Classroom management on the rug continue to be better than the previous week, but as soon as students left the rug problems arose left and right. Students were talking about whose group they would be in for the field trip and how they were or weren't friends with other students anymore. Students were crying because feelings were getting hurt. Finally after math my cooperating teacher and I talked to all the students on the rug about the field trip and tried to clear as much drama as possible. Wednesday I was thankful for the support and experience of my cooperating teacher in putting out fires. She modeled positive communication skills and allowed me to handle situations as well.
Thursday my class went with about 100 other students from the same grade levels to the Field Museum for the day. I experienced the museum with a group of four students from my class. It was fun to spend the day doing something different with students that still involved learning and making connections. The first exhibit we walked through was about animals. Since my students are writing an "All About" book about an animal and we are wrapping up a nonfiction unit, they were SO excited about all the animals in the exhibit. They had so many questions and so many things to tell me. They were SO excited that they could read some of the words on the labels and signs in the exhibits. We spent almost two hours in that one exhibit. It was a positive experience to spend the day in a seemingly unprofessional environment but still work toward achieving a professional balance of teacher-student roles at the museum. I was also able to talk with students more about their interests and personal lives, not only during the time at the museum, but also on the bus.
Friday ended my first full week of student teaching combined with class everyday until 5:30 (which took away my plan period at the end of my school day). Needless to say…when Friday rolled around I was exhausted. Even though this week was exhausting, it was extremely productive. Not only did I feel comfortable and confident in my first week full time teaching, I also was organized enough to go without a plan period AND finished the assessment project we were working on in class (and for me every day after class in the library) all week. On top of that, we had our first rug row point prize ceremony before I left school on Friday. My students responded really positively to that new piece of classroom management. Some were upset that they had lost, but that motivated them to do better next week. Hopefully next week will continue to go smoothly!
Tuesday one of the highlights of my day was the writing block. We got through our reading activities in the morning on time (which is rare) so we had the full writing block to devote to writing a page in our "All About" books. My students are writing a nonfiction book about an animal they know a lot about. Tuesday they wrote the page about where their animals live. I modeled the writing for the page by choosing an animal and offering think alouds as well as questioning. I gave examples and asked questions about what to include in the page. When my students began working they worked hard and all of them finished the page. On other pages my cooperating teacher and I were having trouble getting them to understand that they were only writing about one topic related to the animal. They had been including everything they know about their animals on each page they wrote. Today they got it. I gathered them on the rug before bringing them to lunch and congratulated them on their hard work and how it paid off. They were beaming.
Wednesday I had to stretch myself. I was feeling under the weather, like my head was in a cloud. I knew Wednesday would be a tough day because of the anticipation that had been building for the field trip on Thursday. Students were more excited, more talkative, and more dramatic than usual. Classroom management on the rug continue to be better than the previous week, but as soon as students left the rug problems arose left and right. Students were talking about whose group they would be in for the field trip and how they were or weren't friends with other students anymore. Students were crying because feelings were getting hurt. Finally after math my cooperating teacher and I talked to all the students on the rug about the field trip and tried to clear as much drama as possible. Wednesday I was thankful for the support and experience of my cooperating teacher in putting out fires. She modeled positive communication skills and allowed me to handle situations as well.
Thursday my class went with about 100 other students from the same grade levels to the Field Museum for the day. I experienced the museum with a group of four students from my class. It was fun to spend the day doing something different with students that still involved learning and making connections. The first exhibit we walked through was about animals. Since my students are writing an "All About" book about an animal and we are wrapping up a nonfiction unit, they were SO excited about all the animals in the exhibit. They had so many questions and so many things to tell me. They were SO excited that they could read some of the words on the labels and signs in the exhibits. We spent almost two hours in that one exhibit. It was a positive experience to spend the day in a seemingly unprofessional environment but still work toward achieving a professional balance of teacher-student roles at the museum. I was also able to talk with students more about their interests and personal lives, not only during the time at the museum, but also on the bus.
Friday ended my first full week of student teaching combined with class everyday until 5:30 (which took away my plan period at the end of my school day). Needless to say…when Friday rolled around I was exhausted. Even though this week was exhausting, it was extremely productive. Not only did I feel comfortable and confident in my first week full time teaching, I also was organized enough to go without a plan period AND finished the assessment project we were working on in class (and for me every day after class in the library) all week. On top of that, we had our first rug row point prize ceremony before I left school on Friday. My students responded really positively to that new piece of classroom management. Some were upset that they had lost, but that motivated them to do better next week. Hopefully next week will continue to go smoothly!
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Week 8
Monday was my first day teaching the majority of the day. I'm interested to see this week how my students react to me teaching the majority of the day instead of my cooperating teacher. Even though we have been working up to me teaching a significant portion of the day, they still seem to be testing my management. Multiple students have been acting out, but my cooperating teacher has been good support. Today we took recess away from three students because their behavior ended on "consequences." As we talked about it, my cooperating teacher told me she thinks they need to understand that their actions have consequences. Hopefully tomorrow they will begin to understand that again.
Monday we also tried something new in math. They had never done station work before, but I introduced four new stations to the first graders and had them follow a rotation. It worked better than expected, but if I could do it over, I would make sure that at least one or two of the stations were things they had already done before. It was difficult for them to do four new things in one day. They did, however, work harder and more quietly than I expected, which was great. I think it's because we talked about voice levels while working alone and with a partner, so they were reminded of the expectation before they began.
Tuesday I led all three guided reading groups after talking with my cooperating teacher more about how she plans for reading groups and how she keeps records. She showed me her more detailed record sheet for guided reading and I was able to plan for specific students. I worked on keeping running records for a portion of each student's reading, took notes about attitudes, posture, responses, connections, comments, and fluency. I also noted decoding strategies for the lower reading group. Today was the first time I felt really successful in leading a guided reading group. I was able to meet the needs of all my students at their level as well as allow myself to continue to plan at their level. The records I took in guided reading will inform my planning for the next time I lead guided reading, which is a pattern that will continue (Standard 1H). I'm looking forward to working with guided reading groups daily to monitor progress and watch students grow.
Wednesday I had a more significant conversation with my cooperating teacher about behavior management. During math my students did not respond well to the behavior plan in place. We talked about how I was consistent and followed the behavior plan, but it seemed like my students' behaviors didn't change. Instead, they continued to participate in the behaviors I had previously addressed. We talked about how the clips they have been using don't seem like as much of a reward anymore. We talked about other reward options, such as starting to use table points or rug row points so students can earn something like the reward of being able to use gel pens on an assignment during independent work.
Monday we also tried something new in math. They had never done station work before, but I introduced four new stations to the first graders and had them follow a rotation. It worked better than expected, but if I could do it over, I would make sure that at least one or two of the stations were things they had already done before. It was difficult for them to do four new things in one day. They did, however, work harder and more quietly than I expected, which was great. I think it's because we talked about voice levels while working alone and with a partner, so they were reminded of the expectation before they began.
Tuesday I led all three guided reading groups after talking with my cooperating teacher more about how she plans for reading groups and how she keeps records. She showed me her more detailed record sheet for guided reading and I was able to plan for specific students. I worked on keeping running records for a portion of each student's reading, took notes about attitudes, posture, responses, connections, comments, and fluency. I also noted decoding strategies for the lower reading group. Today was the first time I felt really successful in leading a guided reading group. I was able to meet the needs of all my students at their level as well as allow myself to continue to plan at their level. The records I took in guided reading will inform my planning for the next time I lead guided reading, which is a pattern that will continue (Standard 1H). I'm looking forward to working with guided reading groups daily to monitor progress and watch students grow.
Wednesday I had a more significant conversation with my cooperating teacher about behavior management. During math my students did not respond well to the behavior plan in place. We talked about how I was consistent and followed the behavior plan, but it seemed like my students' behaviors didn't change. Instead, they continued to participate in the behaviors I had previously addressed. We talked about how the clips they have been using don't seem like as much of a reward anymore. We talked about other reward options, such as starting to use table points or rug row points so students can earn something like the reward of being able to use gel pens on an assignment during independent work.
Wednesday we also talked about the idea of rescheduling the math block to cater to the students returning from RtI. They always re-enter the class when whole-class instruction is almost finished and are then expected to complete independent work on a topic they didn't receive instruction for. Usually I spend time with them in an intensive coaching session to explain the topic they missed, but am then unable to assist other students or monitor progress as effectively as I could. We talked about doing a review game or activity during the 15 minutes they are gone and then starting whole group instruction when they return, followed by a short independent activity time. I'll have to try a new schedule like the one we discussed and see it if helps the block run more smoothly!
Thursday I had the chance to practice my whole-class management while my cooperating teacher was in a meeting for the entire afternoon. I had both groups for math together since she was gone, and their full attention since she was out of the room. Having the class on my own made me feel more confident in my interactions with students. It was also a good experience to have both groups for math and have to enforce quiet independent time while providing the other group of students with an engaging activity to do. We talked about time during the math block and students were much more engaged and focused than I expected. It was a positive experience and made me even more confident going into my first week of full time teaching next week.
Friday I led the math portion of the day using a "problem of the month" my teacher gave me. Students had to figure out how many stickers I would need if I was going to give each student in the class 3 stickers. We talked about problem solving strategies as a class, then they worked on it with a partner for about 20 minutes and had to write down how they solved it, and finally we acted it out as a class. Then I asked them how we would figure out the same problem if I was going to give each student 4 stickers. I was surprised at how they worked through the problem. They came up with great strategies and the discussion was deep and beneficial for all the students. I was proud of how hard they worked and how much fun they had trying to figure it out. I know my class likes a good challenge, and they took to this one well.
Friday I led the math portion of the day using a "problem of the month" my teacher gave me. Students had to figure out how many stickers I would need if I was going to give each student in the class 3 stickers. We talked about problem solving strategies as a class, then they worked on it with a partner for about 20 minutes and had to write down how they solved it, and finally we acted it out as a class. Then I asked them how we would figure out the same problem if I was going to give each student 4 stickers. I was surprised at how they worked through the problem. They came up with great strategies and the discussion was deep and beneficial for all the students. I was proud of how hard they worked and how much fun they had trying to figure it out. I know my class likes a good challenge, and they took to this one well.
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