As I said in my last post, my cooperating teacher has been out the past two weeks. The latest report is that she should be back on Wednesday as long as her doctor's appointment goes well tomorrow. She is definitely feeling better to some extent. She has been emailing me constantly the past few days. I now have a pretty good idea of what this week is going to look like, in terms of what the next few topics are in most of the subjects.
In all of the craziness the past few weeks, I have been very thankful for Mrs. Tikten (the other 3/4 MAC teacher), Mrs. Shupak (the TA for the two 3/4 MAC classes), and Ms. Masi (the substitute). They have all been extremely helpful in many different ways. Mrs. Tikten has been checking in on Ms. Masi and I to make sure that we have everything that we need. Mrs. Shupak has been extra vigilant in making copies and ensuring that the students are where they are supposed to be on time. Ms. Masi has given me excellent pointers on how to better my lessons. I am definitely glad to have these three wonderful women as a part of my student teaching experience.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
One Crazy Week
So this week was very crazy and chaotic. It started Monday. I arrived at school to be greeted by a substitute, who after I stated that I did not know that we were having a substitute responded "Oh, they didn't call you!" Over the weekend my cooperating teacher had not been feeling well, so her husband took her to the hospital. There they determined that the reason for not feeling well was having had a heart attack. She was in the hospital for the week and is now at home on bed rest. The substitute stayed for the week and will be with us this coming week as well. We are not sure what is happening after Thanksgiving. We are all hoping that Mrs. Gabriele will be able to return to school.
On top of Mrs. Gabriele not being at school, the week was crazy in many other ways. On Monday, we had a fire drill while the students were moving between the two classrooms and we got outside to realize that we were missing two students. We did end up finding them. We also had one of our students come in with poison ivy, so he was itchy and disruptive all day. Then one of the girls went home because she had cold sores in her mouth and was extremely uncomfortable. Later her dad called the school and told us that she had lice. We then had to take all of the students down to be checked for lice by the nurse. While we were standing outside the nurse's office the girls were freaking out. I tried to calm them down by telling them that it was not the end of the world. They responded by asking me "Wouldn't you be freaking out if you had lice?" I responded that "We did not know if any of us have lice and that we probably don't. Also, if I did have lice I would not be screaming in the hallway. I would get the special shampoo and do whatever else I needed to do to get rid of the lice." Then the principal came out in the hall and reprimanded me that we were not discussing it with the students and that a letter would go home. The students all knew why we were down at the nurse's office because the substitute had already told them. I was just trying to settle them down, so that they would not continue to disrupt the entire school.
The rest of the week went relatively well compared to Monday. Dr Jarrett came in on Thursday to observe a lesson. I did not really have a lesson to teach at the time that she was coming in, so I did the best that I could to make a lesson out of reviewing what an action verb is and what the past, present, and future tense are.
On Thursday, we had a bus drill. The students seemed to be doing fine and then one of the boys screamed. We then found out that a few of the other boys were verbally bullying him and telling him that he should just go home. The substitute reprimanded them and dealt with the problem. We then continued the bus drill and finished too early to take them to lunch. So we walked them down the hall and back to use up the time.
Friday was a half day for parent teacher conferences. Mrs. Gabriele's conferences have been postponed until she is back, but not all of the parents knew this. Some of the parents of the ESL students showed up because the letter telling them that conferences were going to be rescheduled had not been translated.
All in all this was the craziest week that I have experienced. These were just some of the highlights of the week. I truly hope that the coming weeks come and go with less excitement and that Mrs. Gabriele is able to return soon.
On top of Mrs. Gabriele not being at school, the week was crazy in many other ways. On Monday, we had a fire drill while the students were moving between the two classrooms and we got outside to realize that we were missing two students. We did end up finding them. We also had one of our students come in with poison ivy, so he was itchy and disruptive all day. Then one of the girls went home because she had cold sores in her mouth and was extremely uncomfortable. Later her dad called the school and told us that she had lice. We then had to take all of the students down to be checked for lice by the nurse. While we were standing outside the nurse's office the girls were freaking out. I tried to calm them down by telling them that it was not the end of the world. They responded by asking me "Wouldn't you be freaking out if you had lice?" I responded that "We did not know if any of us have lice and that we probably don't. Also, if I did have lice I would not be screaming in the hallway. I would get the special shampoo and do whatever else I needed to do to get rid of the lice." Then the principal came out in the hall and reprimanded me that we were not discussing it with the students and that a letter would go home. The students all knew why we were down at the nurse's office because the substitute had already told them. I was just trying to settle them down, so that they would not continue to disrupt the entire school.
The rest of the week went relatively well compared to Monday. Dr Jarrett came in on Thursday to observe a lesson. I did not really have a lesson to teach at the time that she was coming in, so I did the best that I could to make a lesson out of reviewing what an action verb is and what the past, present, and future tense are.
On Thursday, we had a bus drill. The students seemed to be doing fine and then one of the boys screamed. We then found out that a few of the other boys were verbally bullying him and telling him that he should just go home. The substitute reprimanded them and dealt with the problem. We then continued the bus drill and finished too early to take them to lunch. So we walked them down the hall and back to use up the time.
Friday was a half day for parent teacher conferences. Mrs. Gabriele's conferences have been postponed until she is back, but not all of the parents knew this. Some of the parents of the ESL students showed up because the letter telling them that conferences were going to be rescheduled had not been translated.
All in all this was the craziest week that I have experienced. These were just some of the highlights of the week. I truly hope that the coming weeks come and go with less excitement and that Mrs. Gabriele is able to return soon.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
The Importance of Pacing
I understand that there is a lot to teach in very little time, but moving on in a unit before students are ready is not going to get you to the end goal. This week my cooperating teacher had me teaching the students long division because "we need to keep moving along." If it had been my classroom, I would have spent a day or two on multiplication facts because most of the class does not know their multiplication facts. Division, especially long division, is extremely hard if you do not know basic multiplication facts. I personally love math and it is very hard for me to see so many of my students hating math, when I know that a good part of their hatred comes from being frustrated due to pacing of the unit.
I am also struggling with the pacing that has been dictated for the writing unit that I am teaching. The unit is on letter writing. The students need more time to write a letter, than what I am able to give them because I was told that I had to teach certain letters on certain days. The majority of students are very slow writers and need more than half a period to write a letter, but that is all that I can give them with the pacing that my cooperating teacher set. At least, she is seeing that the students need more time and has allowed me cut out having the students write a business letter and give them a day to catch up on the letters that they should have written by now. They will also have a large chunk of time at the end of the unit to "publish" 3 letters, which means that those letters need to be well edited and written neatly. The hope is that they will be able to give those letters as gifts.
There are many other instances in which I have noticed pacing issues. I think that one of the biggest reasons that the students are having trouble with the pacing of the different subjects, other than in math with not knowing their multiplication facts, is that they are required to correct every little mistake. My cooperating teacher has me checking their work and calling them over to fix every little mistake, rather than just marking things wrong and writing the correct answer. I agree with calling students over to go over work with them if they clearly do not understand a concept. I do not think that it is necessary to have them fix every mistake. I feel that it is a waste of my time and a waste of the students time. Some of the students are falling farther and farther behind because they are spending their time correcting old assignments, rather than working on the new assignments. If you want students to correct work, there has to be time built into the schedule for that. It is not fair to students to take away from their time for other subjects. It is also not fair to the other teacher, to keep students during her time to finish our work. I have been getting really frustrated with how much time is being spent on corrections rather than on actual learning. Yes, students learn from correcting their work, but there has to be a balance between correcting old work and learning new concepts. If a student clearly understands a concept and just made a "silly" mistake or two, it is not a good use of time to have them correct those mistakes. It makes more sense to let them work on their new assignments, rather than cause them to fall behind in their work by going back to fix their old work.
I am also struggling with the pacing that has been dictated for the writing unit that I am teaching. The unit is on letter writing. The students need more time to write a letter, than what I am able to give them because I was told that I had to teach certain letters on certain days. The majority of students are very slow writers and need more than half a period to write a letter, but that is all that I can give them with the pacing that my cooperating teacher set. At least, she is seeing that the students need more time and has allowed me cut out having the students write a business letter and give them a day to catch up on the letters that they should have written by now. They will also have a large chunk of time at the end of the unit to "publish" 3 letters, which means that those letters need to be well edited and written neatly. The hope is that they will be able to give those letters as gifts.
There are many other instances in which I have noticed pacing issues. I think that one of the biggest reasons that the students are having trouble with the pacing of the different subjects, other than in math with not knowing their multiplication facts, is that they are required to correct every little mistake. My cooperating teacher has me checking their work and calling them over to fix every little mistake, rather than just marking things wrong and writing the correct answer. I agree with calling students over to go over work with them if they clearly do not understand a concept. I do not think that it is necessary to have them fix every mistake. I feel that it is a waste of my time and a waste of the students time. Some of the students are falling farther and farther behind because they are spending their time correcting old assignments, rather than working on the new assignments. If you want students to correct work, there has to be time built into the schedule for that. It is not fair to students to take away from their time for other subjects. It is also not fair to the other teacher, to keep students during her time to finish our work. I have been getting really frustrated with how much time is being spent on corrections rather than on actual learning. Yes, students learn from correcting their work, but there has to be a balance between correcting old work and learning new concepts. If a student clearly understands a concept and just made a "silly" mistake or two, it is not a good use of time to have them correct those mistakes. It makes more sense to let them work on their new assignments, rather than cause them to fall behind in their work by going back to fix their old work.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
First Week of Second Placement
This week was the first week of my second placement. I am now in a 3rd/4th grades MAC (mixed age class). It is very different than a 2nd grade classroom. There is definitely a big jump from what is expected in 2nd grade to what is expected in 3rd and 4th grades.
It was an interesting first week. We did not have school on Monday due to the power outages. There was school on Tuesday, which was very chaotic due to not having had school Monday and most of the teachers (including myself and my cooperating teacher) and students still having no power at home. Due to the power outages, there was a district ruling of no homework for Tuesday night.
I am definitely getting into things much more quickly in this placement. On Tuesday, I was working with small groups and in charge of the read aloud (reading to the students when the come in from recess). On Wednesday, I continued those responsibilities and some other daily routine type tasks. On Thursday, we started to get into their normal routine. The students took their science test, which had originally been scheduled for Tuesday. So on Friday, I started teaching the next unit of science. I will be adding in teaching Writer's Workshop on Monday and Math on Tuesday. This is definitely going to be a different experience than my last placement.
It was an interesting first week. We did not have school on Monday due to the power outages. There was school on Tuesday, which was very chaotic due to not having had school Monday and most of the teachers (including myself and my cooperating teacher) and students still having no power at home. Due to the power outages, there was a district ruling of no homework for Tuesday night.
I am definitely getting into things much more quickly in this placement. On Tuesday, I was working with small groups and in charge of the read aloud (reading to the students when the come in from recess). On Wednesday, I continued those responsibilities and some other daily routine type tasks. On Thursday, we started to get into their normal routine. The students took their science test, which had originally been scheduled for Tuesday. So on Friday, I started teaching the next unit of science. I will be adding in teaching Writer's Workshop on Monday and Math on Tuesday. This is definitely going to be a different experience than my last placement.
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