The Rubber Meets the Road

This week I felt as if the rubber met the road. Spring is in full swing. Windy-blustery-every changing weather made all my students a bit loopy and me with them. The challenging students in my class have really stepped up their behaviors. Somedays every trick or management idea I try doesn't work. I am left sad and exhausted, then the next day I have the most awesome day that I am blown away. Something works, something is successful. This week was Staff Appreciation Week at school. The students brought cards, SB gift cards, presents and flowers. It was sweet. We had a field trip, it was mother's day. It was a full and crazy week. We made wind chimes out of clay for a mother's day gift. I fired them in the kiln and the students painted them, wrapped them. We made cards with Cinquain Mother's Day poetry. We finished up our Spring Poems and art work inspired by the Hailstones and Halibut Bones video. We are learning two-digit subtraction with regrouping in math, and how communities change in Social Studies. We are continuing with our Balance and Motion unit in science. I will be observed by my FI and Principal next Wednesday and then I will submit my letters of recommendation and hope and prayer for an interview. I will start transitioning back to my MT after MSP is completed. I will stay and follow my students to the end of the year. I have grown to love them and know them individually. I have come to learn that their problems have become my opportunities to grow and learn and challenge myself to try harder, be stronger, work faster and longer. I am thankful for my experiences.

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.

End of Winter Quarter and on to Spring!

As I limp my way out of Winter Quarter, I have to say a fond farewell. I will miss seeing my cohort each week and I will miss having classes and professors each week too(though right now this sounds pretty good). Here I go, it is time to get in the class and teach....While I have been teaching for some time, it hasn't been all day. The focus, the stamina, how I admire all of those who make it look easy. I am ready to start and eager to be their teacher and terrified all at the same time. Will I do them justice, will they be ready for 3rd and 4th grade? Will they succeed? Will I have what it takes?
I have a plan for seating, classroom management, lessons and units. I am slowing moving into teaching reading, writing, science, math and social studies. The FOSS unit on Insects is almost over and I survived all the mealworms, milkweed bugs, and Bess Beetles. So, for today, I am looking forward anxious to start, ready to begin, and hopeful.

Math Conversations

In reading Ballenger Chapters 4 and 5 and thinking about my students, what comes to mind is our calendar mini-sessions using Calendar Math. My MT brought all the kiddos to the carpet and had them discover the calendar for January on the first day back from break. What patterns could they see? What number groupings? Could they count by 7's? Which way did the pattern emerge. They must of talk with each other and come up with 40-50 different patterns or observations. Some of them didn't always make much sense at the time. My MT is very experienced at asking for clarifications and asking leading questions. I wish I had taped that session. After reading Ballenger, I am sure there was so much more going on. " This conversation and many of the others explored in the book, demonstrate, I believe, that when one shifts the kind of talk encouraged in classroom discussion, a different pattern of talent and achievement emerge."(Ballenger,p.79) By approaching this as a class together and letting the students come up with their own understandings, such a nice moment happens in the classroom. Students are making sense of the math meanings through their own lens. The students get very excited. In reading this and thinking about applying it, I think of our science methods class. Our professor is video taping us and reflecting on it later. I can see that now, that this would be a great way to understand us all better.

Student Teaching with a sub

In reading Tomlinson, I am reminded of the diverse landscape of a split classroom. In any classroom you will have very diverse learners each striving to master the subject in their own ways. The spectrum in a multi-age classroom really exemplifies this. I am currently struggling with this in my classroom. Tomlinson says, " Teachers in a healthy classroom continually invite their students to be a part of the teaching."(p.33) Yesterday, My MT was away and we had a sub. We also had 15 crayfish in tub waiting for a habitat. I am teaching the 2nd grade FOSE unit and my MT is teaching 3rd unit FOSE which includes the crawling crustaceans. I wasn't the expert, I didn't even know what I was doing, so we plunged in together and we observed, touched and figured it out together. By night fall the crayfish were nestled in their habitat eating lettuce and bacon. I didn't know they would eat bacon?!? We had all had a chance together to share our past experiences with crayfish, to pick them up safely and place them in their habitat and to figure out what kind of habitat they might like. It was chaotic, it was loud, it was fun! " While (teachers) know their leadership role, teachers in these classrooms understand that their students come in with vast amounts of tacit knowledge, a clear sense of what works in their world."(p.33) Obviously, this is not a plan for everyday, but it took this lack of planning to let me know it is less about the plan and more about the kiddos and helping them to make connections to their real life.

Mealworms

This week I taught the FOSE kit Insect to my second/third graders. We started out by reading a story What is Science? They drew a scientist and answered the questions: What is Science? Who are Scientists? What would you like to learn about in Science? They did an awesome job and I modeled for them with the doc cam on some ideas. I passed out three different types of gummy worms. They learned about observation and used their powers of observation to draw their gummy worm. We talked about drawing a cartoon and that good scientists make scientific drawings. They make the drawing as realistic as possible and they label their drawing. We then talked about characteristics of their gummy worm using descriptive words. After they wrote three characteristics of the worm. I asked for them to raise their hands and share. They then compared their gummy worm with their neighbors to find ways they were similar and different. We spoke of habitats for meal worms and what they need to survive. I checked for prior knowledge and they came up with a list of water, food, and habitat. We then gave them their meal worm(larvae) and pupa. Each of them got a habitat for their worms which they will keep on their desks. We will observe what happens over the next few weeks together!

Transitions and Jumping into the Deep End of the Pool

When I was just 5 years old, I was at the pool with one of the neighborhood moms. She must have thought it was high time that I learn to swim in the deep end on my own. I was scared and hugging onto the edges of the pool, I'm sure. She decided to push me into the pool and low and behold I did swim to the edge, but considering that I can remember it so clearly today not the most comforting way to teach me. Disequilibrium can lead to great strides forward and is probably when we learn, as a teacher I need to be careful that there is no harm done when I am setting my students on the edge. I am transitioning back into the classroom and will start to teach the 2nd graders the Science unit on Insects next week. I have also been asked to take on the Social Studies unit for the 2nd graders too. I think it will be hard to fit it all in and I am currently trying to figure out how to group students for science and social studies. Group work with second graders is a bit different from 5th in my dyad placement. Second graders work best in pairs or individually in groups. Each one needs to observe their own mealworm and compare their findings with their group. The groupings have to take into consideration, differentiation of instruction. I am having to ask for lots of guidance from my master teacher to make sure that I can do justice to this kiddos. In the end, I just will have to jump in the deep end and feel the disequilibrium while I try to make strides toward becoming their teacher.

Coins, Mealworms and Writing

Today is the second week back at my main placement with my second and third grade students and my master teacher. It is good to be back, though the re-entry after the holiday break was fierce last week. You could see it on the students faces and ours. It is just hard to get back to work, no matter how psyched I was to begin again. I had underestimated the transition back to my main placement and how much I would miss my 5th grade kiddos from my dyad placement. I will see them again soon at their Talent Show in early February on Friday.

This week we are working with coins. As a classroom management tool, banks have been passed out and coins are given for having a clean desk, turning your homework in, etc. Students save and have an auction later in the year. With this, came an opportunity to review counting money and coins. We have worked on it together.

Mealworms come next week and I will teach 2nd grade unit on Insects from FOSE. I have spent this week's free time(what is that?) working with mentor teachers planning. IT is exciting and I am sure it will be fun.

Students have been free writing in their writing journals and finally after five free writes, they are ready to publish. This has been an interesting process. My reading in Routman last quarter helped me to work with them for four days on ideas, details and descriptions. Conventions waited until today right before publish their final piece. I have to say it is more fun for all in the class, including me, to learn to write this way. The students have lots of choice on what to write and which piece to publish. This keeps them invested in their writing and helps the process along.

I am looking forward to seeing them next week!

2/3 grade Halloween

I went back to my main school yesterday to spend Halloween with my class of 2/3 graders. What fun, what joy, what chaos! I came as the Swine Flu Doctor in my scrubs with plenty of hand sanitizer and gloves! They loved it. We had a fun day. My master teacher, Obi Wan Kenobe, in her wisdom knew this is not the day to try to teach. They are so excited, they are so distracted, they are so thrilled to be having a party at the end of the day and a school wide parade at the end of the day. We had parent volunteers come in and each of us took 5-6 students. Students went about making their own treats for the party. I helped the students make and bake their own cupcakes. We also made little ghosties out of lollipops and tissue! They had to make one for each class member. We turned all of this into a math lesson. Counting, grouping and multiples. It was such fun to be with them that day. I can't wait until January to be back there with them. I really miss them.