Another week goes by

I am beginning to see how fast this student teaching experience will fly. It is now beginning to be about finishing and interviewing(hopefully!) and maybe...landing a job. I am working on my classroom management. Some hours are great and then just as quickly, it all goes to hell in a hand basket! I am learning. I am learning to look while I am teaching, to make lots of circles as I talk, to tell them what I need them to do. To write it, say it, spell it and help three special needs students while listening to another student tell me a long story about how she hurt her ankle when she was five. :) I am learning that this is the hardest profession that I will ever have and the most rewarding. That each day, some will walk out not liking me, some will love me and some will be just happy to walk out. One will come up and hug me and tell me that he or she will miss me this weekend! I am learning to have snack, band-aids, Advil(for me), a sweater, rain parka and spare pair of socks. Two or three standby lunches, extra tea and water. I am learning that sometimes the best lesson is one that is less planned, except when they bomb! I am learning that this is not as about teaching as it is about learning. I am laughing with my students,alot, at myself and with each other. I was thrilled for Earth Day and so happy it is over. I am happy that it is Friday and I can sleep and write lessons and learn some more, before I start on Monday all over again. For today, I can't wait for Monday!

In the midst of teaching on my own

All last week, my mt was in the building, but with the exception of the math pilot that we are co-teaching, I am teaching full time. Planning and executing the lessons for my 2/3 graders. I am learning so much each day. I am exhausted, but left happy at the end of last week. I have classroom rules posted that we agreed upon. I have changed the seating and have instituted a new classroom management system. The students are divided into teams( they chose the team names: Mariners, Seahawks, Wildcats, and Red Sox). They get points awarded and taken away for a variety of classroom behaviors that we all brainstormed and agreed upon. The team at the end of the week with the most points gets a treat. They all get coins in their banks for a Buy Day in June(my MT system). This was a good compromise. I kept my MT's system but added on a team component. I am also thinking of an individual award for some students who blurt, get off task, and generally disrupt their classmates.

I have developed lessons around Reading Groups and they are working to read a novel in their groups. It gives me some time to conference with each groups and micro teach a comprehension lesson. They have reading comprehension packets that they are working on during and after they read their novel. We are reading the Peggy Parish series Key to the Treasure. It is a bit dated for them. I will have to remember to pick something a bit more current for the next set of books.

I am starting the Balance and Motion Fose Kit this week on Balance and Motion. I am doing a lesson on Our community map. They have divided into groups and are working on creating a map of where they live.

I am learning more and more about my students and the importance of good responses and variety of questioning techniques. It is not enough to say Good Job when they have done things well. I am commenting on their technique, their effort, their perseverance. These are attributes that they can work on and they know that I notice them for their effort. I am learning to call them by their names as many times as I can a day. I am learning to have them talk to their neighbors and then answer. I am learning that I make mistakes each day and not to be so hard on myself. I am generally loving being their teacher.

It will be over before I know it and I will transition them back to my MT and she will graciously take them back and end their year on a high note. I can now see more than the surface of this job. I can appreciate what an act of selflessness it is to be a MT, how hard it must be to have a student teacher think they know better and change your room and your students and your management style. How full of grace my MT is to guide me on and let me make decisions and not lead me too much, but encourage me all along the way. She really is Obi Wan Kenobi.

1st week down-5 more to go!

Last week I taught four and 1/2 days on my own. It was fun and hard. We got alot done, but I learned by baptism of fire and that is not always a good thing. Differentiation takes on a new meaning, when you are teaching your lesson and you fast finishers have already completed the enrichment you had at the ready and your lower students are still trying to finish the first part. I have a student unidentified on the spectrum who is reacting to the transition of a new teacher. He had the flu at the first of the week, and was unsettled by my style. I have a whole lot to learn about how to meet needs of my students.

All the said, we met as a classroom and created some rules, now posted. We read Flat Stanley and created our FS, wrote letters to community leaders and museums and sent them out. Created a FS to go home with students with a journal for break. We learned about Haikus and created Dragonfly and Butterfly Haikus and drew and painted beautiful insect creations and posted our Haikus. They will read them on Monday when we get back.

I am on my own again on Monday and Tuesday, my mt comes back W-F. I am observed on Thursday. I think I will teach my social studies community lesson. I am loving the kids and the staff community. So glad to have a collaborative environment to work in. It makes all the difference. Can't wait to one day have my own classroom. The more time that I get to teach, the more fleshed out my ideas become. It is truly a reflective practice.

More to come!