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!