Week in Review 1/25 - 1/29
Hello Beth and Julie!
It's been a bright and sunny day here in Pullman...in contrast to the dense fog we had earlier in the week! How is the weather in Heidelberg?
For your prompt this week, a quick review please of how things are going, any particular highs or lows you would like to share? An "ah-ha" moment with a student, or a funny 2nd grader??? With all the twins and triplets (!?!?!?!?!?!?!) in your classroom Julie, there must be some interesting interactions!
Let's also talk a little bit about "transitioning". Beth, we know you are waiting for finals to be over so you can start in with a vengence - how have you been working towards being the authority figure in your classroom? Julie, how much of the day are you taking on at this point? What is the plan for continued transition to solo teaching for you?
All the best wishes from Pullman!!!!
Heidi & Chris
posted by Heidi @ 4:07 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
This week went really well. I feel like I am really starting to make connections with my students. In addition to my previous duties, I have decided to stand at the door to greet all of the students as they enter the classroom each period. It has really helped me solidify names to faces, not just based upon the seating chart. Additionally, I have been working with individual students and small groups a lot more this week. From these experiences, it seems that the students respect my authority thus far. I don’t get any arguments from students when I remind them to stay on task, or put work from other courses away. Additionally, whenever I ask a simple question, such as “are you on the basketball team?”, the students turn to give me their full attention and answer with a “yes, ma’am” or “no, ma’am”. My guess is that growing up in a military community contributes to this respect.
It is really interesting to join a classroom at this time of the school year. My mentor teacher was struggling with how to curve/manipulate/change grades in favor of her students, but not go beyond being justifiable in her attempts to pass students. We discussed many different options for how she could get the students to pass, but it was hard to make a steadfast rule. She ended up throwing out the final exam (the students did awfully), which helped a lot of students pass. She also bumped students up that had increased their grade by huge margins (around 20% or more) since the previous quarter. My mentor keeps track of “volunteer points” for any time that students volunteer in class. The points don’t count in the grade book, but if a student had a lot of volunteer points, she was more likely to give them the boost they needed. This entire process was very new to me. I feel like we never talked about the need to grade creatively in my classes, and previously, I didn’t think students should get grades that their scores do not reflect. But a student who increases their grade from a 54% to 75% in just one quarter obviously improved in their mathematics skills, which is the whole point of the class.
Next week, I am going to begin leading the homework corrections and warm-ups. I think this will help the students to see leading the class, before I take over the reins. In my advanced practicum, I started out with the homework corrections as well, and it was a very smooth transition into teaching lessons from that point. The next step of the transition will be to take over Gold Days. The schedule consists of Blue Days (periods 1-4) and Gold Days (periods 5-7 plus a seminar period 8). On Blue days there is an algebra 2 class and a discrete math course. On gold days there are 2 discrete math courses. My mentor will do the discrete lesson on the blue days then I will do the same lesson the next day.
Another item of big news is that the algebra 2 class is changing. Due to the other teachers of algebra 2 having over crowded classes during 1st period, they moved my mentor teacher’s class from 3rd to 1st period. Some of the students from 3rd period are changing to 1st, some aren’t. I’m really excited about this because I will get a better idea of what a class is like at the beginning of the school year, since this will be a new class for the students.
These last couple weeks have been so much fun. The more responsibilities I take on the more challenging it gets, but the more fun I have. I started out by taking over morning calendar, math, and reading a story when the students came in from recess. I began planning with Carlen the second week I was here just to learn the ropes and her strategies and methods for planning. For this week, the first week in February, I began taking over most of the planning and teaching. The only things I am not doing this week are guided reading and cursive. It has been so much fun to apply the things I have learned and to actually feel what it is like to be a teacher. Next week I will begin to take on one guided reading group so I can get a feel for classroom management while working with a small group. I have been moving fast into taking over more responsibilities, but I don’t feel stressed or over whelmed. Carlen has been very supportive and has been giving me daily feedback on every lesson I teach.
The things that I have found most challenging while teaching are timing, and transitions. It is hard to gage the timing of lessons and how long it will take for students to complete assignments. It is also challenging to know how long a particular lesson will take to teach. Transitions are challenging because students become loud and off task, but Carlen has been sharing some strategies to improve this. Another challenge I have faced is classroom management while teaching a lesson. Sometimes I am so focused on the lesson, I don’t notice what students are doing, such as rolling around or playing with something. I think this will improve with experience.
I have had a couple ah-ha moments, and both of them Carlen had mentioned would happen. The first one was when all of the students were gathering around to hear a story after coming in from recess. Most of the students were soaking wet from playing in the snow and a couple students had asked if they could bring chairs over to sit in because they were wet. The next thing I knew all 18 students were bringing their chairs to the rug. There was fighting and arguing going on about being able to see and the noise level grew and grew. I had to stop all of them and make them return their chairs to their desk. They had to sit on the rug regardless if they were wet. This whole thing took about five to ten minutes, which put us behind schedule. I learn that if you let one second grader do something, they all will want to do it.
The next interesting moment was when I read the clock wrong and dismissed the class an hour early for lunch. Boy, were they mad when I had to tell them I had read the clock wrong and that it really wasn’t lunchtime! After this embarrassing moment I always make sure I am aware of what time it really is!
With such a diverse class and so many siblings, there are some interesting interactions. The dynamic of the class works well, and for the most part the students all get along well with each other. The two sisters of the triplets seem to get along well and enjoy being around each other. They don’t get along as well with their brother and he often brings them to tears. The Italian twins are very interesting because one is gifted and the other struggles with understanding English. They don’t interact as much, but the brother is very supportive of his sister and seems to help her whenever it is needed. I enjoy observing the difference between students and how they all mesh together to create such an interesting class. Some of the students have been frustrating at times because of lack of motivation, but I try my hardest and with Carlen’s support I am learning new strategies everyday.
Thank you for your posts. I thoroughly enjoyed reading both of them.
Beth, you made a great decision to meet your students at the door. It's amazing how one gesture can make a real difference in your rapport with your students. I appreciated your observations about adjusting grades. I agree that the point is to improve math skills but if it's your class, you also need to be able to defend your decisions. Grading creatively is sometimes hard to explain but I like the policy of "bumping up" if they have earned volunteer points.
The more you interact with your students, the easier the teaching will be!
Julie, It sounds like you are taking on more responsibility and that Carlin is a good support. Timing and transitions are typical challenges.How great is it that Carlin is offering you constructive suggestions and ideas to try? She sounds like a great mentor. How do you feel you are doing with board work (catching mistakes)? The ah ha momnets are usually those times you will never forget!
Ladies...these were great postings. I enjoy the insight into your experiences. Well done.
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