Week 13

Monday I introduced the idea of setting in reading and writing for the first time.  Students had never talked about the setting of a story, but we were reading The Princess and the Pea, and it came up in context.  We defined setting during reading and I re-read the page.  During writing, they began writing their own fairy tales by visualizing the setting.  First we sorted cards:  some with examples of setting and some with other story elements.  After hearing multiple examples of setting and deciding whether or not their card described the setting of the story, students closed their eyes while I read more examples.  Next I asked them to finish the sentence that started, "Once upon a time..." with the setting of the fairy tale they were going to write.  After writing, they read their sentences out loud for the class. It was a successful way to introduce their fairy tale writing as well as a new topic, and they got really excited to continue writing.  


On Tuesday the students seemed to have a really difficult following directions.  I thought they needed to move around a little more, because they seemed antsy and like they had a lot of energy.  During math, I decided to play a warm up game with them in which they need to stand up and move to a different side of the rug if the math sentence I said was true.  They had played the game before, so I thought they would be able to follow directions well if reminded of the expectations, but after playing three or four rounds of the game, it was clear they could not handle the game.  I asked them all to sit down and had to change my warm up plan for the last five minutes before the main lesson.  I was able to adjust my strategy based on their actions and feedback (5J), and begin an activity in which they would follow directions enough to continue learning. 

On Wednesday we worked on writing fairy tales.  They had spent time writing the setting and introducing the good character.  Wednesday they had to introduce the evil character and how he or she tricked the good character.  They got to work right away, which has been rare, and spent almost 20 full minutes writing.  When they needed help I asked questions to get them thinking about what else they needed to write.  Each time they would look at me, get excited, and turn back to start writing quickly.  It was great to see them so interested and invested in their writing.  They are really latching on to the fairy tale unit during reading and writing, and it is wonderful to watch. 

On Thursday my cooperating teacher and I had to address how to handle a student who has been having anger issues.  At the end of the day on Wednesday he had been angry with another student, my cooperating teacher kept him to talk to him and thought he was calm at dismissal, but he was not.  On the way out the door he ran up to the other student, started yelling at him, and then they both started hitting each other.  We had to talk to their parents about the situation. Thursday we knew we needed to give the student strategies to control his anger and calm down, so we tried a balloon filled with flour.  Each time he feels angry he has to squeeze the balloon and face the wall until he calms down.  Multiple times throughout the day he needed to try the new method, and it seemed to work really well.  He had no incidents on Thursday, which was a big improvement. 

On Friday I felt like my teacher finally gave me complete control of the classroom.  Even though I've been full time teaching for a while, today was the first day my teacher spent significant time outside the classroom.  It was great to know that I had complete control.  Even when she was in the room and students asked her things, she said things like, "Did you ask Miss V?" We did an integrated science Friday. (3L)  It was a blast.  Over and over throughout the day my students said things like, "Miss V!  This is SO fun!"  and "Miss V!  I LIIIIIKE this activity!" 
Here are some pictures of what we did:  

They also did a partner reading activity in which they highlighted adjectives in a poem about clouds.  We also did a science demonstrations.  It was a really fun day and they loved learning about a new science topic! 

Schmidt talks about social justice in chapter 10 and why it’s a big deal in the classroom.  Even young students are inclined to talk about social justice because it’s a part of their everyday experiences whether they know the term for it or not.  Even if students are too young to explicitly list issues of social justice, they are able to talk about relationships, friendship, responsibility, fairness, support, encouragement, collaboration, and caring (p. 215).  Schmidt says that when teachers introduce students to issues of social justice in the classroom, they encourage them to look at the real world boldly, inquisitively, and from different points of view (p. 216).  Students may discover injustices that are hard to face, but being intentional about providing opportunities to learn about social justice allows students to begin to think about how they can act in response. 

Teaching social justice in the classroom is also important for the Christian teacher.  Incorporating activities centered on social justice gives students the opportunity to begin to figure out ways to be involved in the world around them.  It allows them to explore platforms.  It gives them opportunities to think about serving others and begin to explore issues of worldview.  They begin to consider what they believe and how that affects the people around them.  As a Christian teacher, this is a huge area of influence, not in the sense of pushing ideas or worldviews on students, but in the sense of giving students safe places to grow, explore, serve, and get involved.