Goals Down the Stretch
Please give a short update of how things are going in your classes (highlight, challenge) and two goals for your final weeks when you return after the holiday. You won't need to post over Thanksgiving weekend. Have a great holiday.
posted by Chris @ 9:11 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
Today and yesterday were conferences. They went well. I think that is a highlight because I was kind of dreading them in a way because I have never seen a conference before!
A challenge is def. keeping the students engaged. They are wild and crazy these days due to the holidays. Next week will be worse, but we planned a lot of fun things to do with them so that should help! One day we are doing that round robin type thing with the other first grade classrooms where we switch and do a different activity in each class! I am excited! That went so well last time for the Harvest Fest.
I think keeping the students engaged will continue being the challenge even after Thanksgiving.
My goal is to continue to keep them engaged until they leave for Christmas break. Seeing how they are now.. I can only imagine how nutty they are going to get!
Another thing is that during conferences we set goals with the parents for their students. One of my goals is to really take those goals seriously and start working on them as soon as possible. I know it will be difficult because of the holidays, but I think that actually paying attention to those goals and starting the students working on them as soon as they can will up their chances of reaching the goals by next quarter!
Some of us are going to Rome for Thanksgiving!
We had conferences this past week. Thursday’s conferences went really well and I am hoping our last few today go just as well. Those were my highlight this week. Our parents are all really involved in our class and students’ lives and we have set up a really good report with them, through weekly newsletters/email contact and inviting them to come participate in the classroom (such as a Zumba lesson one of our parents did and a bagpipe concert we have planned in early December). All of our parents were very receptive to what we had to say and are eager to work with us, which is a rare occurrence. We also had many parents tell us that their students love coming to our class and talk about us all the time. A few thanked us for giving their students such a good introduction to school. They had talked about how in the past year, they had had troubles getting their students to go to school and that they hated it, but this year it's not an issue and they appreciate us turning their children’s' opinion of school around. That made me realize that even though some days I may get impatient, I’m doing a good job at not showing that to the kids and still making the classroom a safe and fun environment.
My stretch this week is the students’ behavior. Not only were there two short weeks ahead, but we also have a new student in our class. For the first week and a half he’d been on ADHD meds, but the parents decided to take him off of the meds on Monday (which we did not find out until Tuesday afternoon). On the meds it was still hard to have him get anything done. Someone constantly has to be sitting with him and directing him. Off the meds this is still an issue, we same the same inattentive behavior as on the meds, and he also now is making noises and exhibiting somewhat stronger defiance as well. He’s really throwing off our autistic child’s behavior because now they both have someone to play off. We got bad reports form specialists on Tuesday and from the lunch room on Wednesday. Both days we sat down and had a class meeting about it and are assigning the kids assigned seats during lunch. It has been a stretch to figure out how to deal with the classes’ behavior and how to ensure that our new student is still participating and doing anything in class, but keeping the rest of the class going and engaged. The students have been good about trying to help, but it’s not sufficient at all. He’s in the process of being tested from his old school still and will hopefully get an aid in January…
My two goals come from this as well: 1) trying to work around our new students’ new behavior issues to get the class back on track behaviorally, and 2) trying to figure out ways to teach the math lessons so that the entire class, including our new student, is participating.
For Thanksgiving, we are first making a roommate Thanksgiving dinner with my teacher on Tuesday, November 22nd to ring in the holiday. Thursday, Sam, Devon, Sierra, and I are meeting up in Rome for the long weekend; Sam and I are also taking a day trip to Pompeii!
Cheryl,
I agree with you about parent involvement. I am not used to this at all! During advanced pract. there was no parent involvement at all. It is nice to see what its like to have the parents eager to be involved!
It is funny that you mention parents saying that their children dreaded school last year. A couple of my parents said the same thing. One of my children used to wake up to nightmares about school! Makes you wonder what happened in Kindergarten!!???
Well the biggest challenge for me was parent conferences. My teacher had me lead them so I was nervous for that. It went pretty well actually and I didn't get very many parents. I was actually some what disappointed. I didn't get a single parent that I would have liked to come to my class. I realize that not all parents think of PE as an important subject but its still a class that educates your students about leading a healthy life.
Two goals for myself is to really focus on student motivation and to try something that is out of my comfort level. I plan on teaching a two week "bootcamp" type thing on a new type of working out. I am still doing research but it covers full body fitness and it can all be done outside of the weight room which I feel is very important for the students. I am looking forward to seeing how the students will react.
A highlight throughout this week and last week is running the classroom all on my own. I have had full control over the classroom for many weeks now, however, our school has required each teacher to do reading testing for the students. Each teacher is given 4 half days to complete the testing. This means that each teacher is given a sub. Sandy has given me total control of the classroom while she is out testing and the sub is really just there because I cannot be left alone. Each day that she has been out for testing has gone really smooth. It gave me a lot of confidence to realize that I can succeed on my own even if it is still a bit challenging. It also showed me that Sandy has confidence in my teaching and that she knew I would be ok in the classroom without her there.
A challenge in my class has been that we just got a new student last week who has anxiety and ADHD. We do not have any students in our class with any learning disabilities, so he is our only student. This student is on medicine for his ADHD and it was very evident that he was on the medication the first week. However, last week I noticed right away that he was not taking his medicine. I have worked with kids who have ADHD, but I have never worked with a student with such a severe case. He is constantly wiggling, twirling and distracting other students. He has really changed the dynamic in the classroom, especially since all of the students have bonded over the first 50 days of school. This new student will give me the experience I need working with students who have ADHD.
A goal for when I return from the holiday is to make sure that I have the opportunity to observe as many different classes as possible. Many teachers have asked me to observe their class, so I want to make sure that I see as many grade levels as I can. Another goal is to successfully gradually release my responsibilities to Sandy. Sandy has been doing this for years so I know it will go smoothly, I just worry it may be a bit hard knowing that my time is coming to an end. I also hope that the transition is smooth for the students.
Cheryl, it sounds like you and I have had the same experience with our new students! I think it is very challenging having a new student join the class at this point in the school year and to top it off they have ADHD and have gone off their meds. It is a challenge that I am glad I do not have to face alone. I'm sure we can catch up on how our week with our new student while in Rome.
Alyssa-
I'm sorry conferences didn't go as you would have liked. Do you still feel like you got good experience even with the few parents that showed up and not having seen your teacher do them first?
Your goals sound great! I think all of us are really trying to keep our students engaged before the holidays! It's crazy to see that even in the high school the kids are nutty with all the crazy weeks and holidays we've had and that are coming up! (I guess even in college we get like that too, but I think we still focus better...lol.) Your boot camp sounds cool; I'm interested in hearing what you do and how it turns out! It sounds like that might solve some of you issues with the lack of room in the weight room though, since it doesn't use the weight room at all. Good luck!
I am so pleased to report that my teacher and I are finally co-teaching more and I have had much more support from her concerning providing me with a structured curriculum. With Thanksgiving around the corner, my teacher and I have been working on a themed curriculum based on the history of Native Americans. We got in touch with an old student teacher that teaches on an Indian Reservation in Wisconsin. We had the kids write letters to their new pen pals and they were so excited about it! I have never seen the class as a whole so motivated to complete a task and so incredibly excited to write! It was an intense process and took the class a whole week to finish, but they were so proud of them and so were my teacher and I. We have also been using the new Social Studies curriculum to teach the students about the history of Native Americans and a few documentary films. I have never used movies in the class before this, and I have found there is so much you can do! Today I had the kids re-watch one of the documentaries, and then had them split up into pairs to answer specific questions from the movie and they loved it! They started to draw pictures on their posters and write down previous information they connected from the movie about Native Americans. I was so proud of all of them.
A challenge this past week has definitely been management. These past few weeks with conferences, dads and moms coming back from war, and Thanksgiving break it has been a bit of a whirlwind. There have been a few more outbursts and unpredictable behavior from students that are normally very on task, and most of these students had dads/moms come home the past week after being deployed for a year. My teacher and I have very different management styles, but she has helped me with being more assertive in the classroom. We have come together to create an individualized management program for one student and it was a struggle at first, and today was especially hard- but when I think of where this student was at the beginning of the year, I know he has made progress.
My two goals for the next couple weeks are to continue with a themed curriculum and connecting this to the structured curriculum the school provides, and to solidify a consistent schedule. My teacher and I have been able to accomplish these goals, but now with the TPA completed and my needs being meant, I feel like we can come together and really accomplish these goals on a more consistent basis.
Sam,
I am totally on the same page with you concerning the kids and the holidays coming up! There has been something in the air recently that has made them extra hyper and wired during the day. I made goals for each student as well last week during our conferences. So far, I have been able to give out more individualized math worksheets, for students that need more of a challenge or practice in math (the parents brought this up). I have also changed out homework sign sheet to include a record sheet for how many minutes a student reads a day, because many parents were concerned about their kid not being held accountable for reading the books they check out of the library. All I can suggest is take one little step at a time for each student’s goal so you don’t overwhelm yourself! PS- so excited for Thanksgiving in Rome! ☺
I have planned and executed all of the lessons for all of my classes for the past few weeks. It has been fun to plan Discrete math because it can be really hands on. Last week we had Cake Day where students practiced using fair division methods to divide a cake between their group.
A challenge has been to keep myself motivated. I finished the TPA and I just feel a bit like everything else should be finished also. I know that we are on the homestretch and I can see the finish line, so this is the time where I kick it into high gear (trying to use some sweet sports analogy) and finish strong.
Two goals that I have for my last weeks:
1. To follow through on the steps we put in place during parent conferences.
2. To have a morning where I am not running around and doing last minute things to get ready for 1st period.
Sierra,
I have a student whose Dad just returned from an extented absence and I now so much more of his recent behavior makes sense. I did not put two and two together until parent-teacher conferences.
Your Native American unit sounds so intriguing. What a great way to make the material meaninful by having your students write to their pen pals. It must be strange learning about American history when some of our students have not even lived in the States before.
I am glad that you are getting the structure that you wanted from your teacher and congratulations on finishing your TPA.
My big highlight is that I finished the TPA!!!! I thought that thing would never get done! And things are going well in my classes right now. I am winding down on the short “The Scarlet Ibis” with the ninth graders. I have another short story planned after this, but I’m not sure that I am going to be able to do it because I won’t be done with everything for “The Scarlet Ibis” until next week, and then my teacher plans to take the responsibilities back over, as there will only be two weeks left after that. So I guess then a highlight for me is that I am done with all of my lesson planning, aside from mini lessons that my teacher will probably still have me do. That’s exciting! There’s nothing really challenging right now, aside from mountains of grading. Hopefully I’ll get that all done by the time I leave for the Thanksgiving weekend tomorrow.
My two goals are to finish my short story unit strong and to have lots of fun over the next few weeks! Almost done!
Sam: I was nervous for conferences too, as I had never done them before either. But they went well for me too. I really enjoyed being able to meet the parents. I think the most interesting part was to see a parent and how they acted, and then recognize how I see that in their son or daughter. It was just really fascinating to me.
Katrina: I really loved the cake activity that you did with the students. From everything that I’ve observed and heard, discrete mathematics sounds like a really fun, interesting class. I wish my school would have offered something like that while I was in high school!
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your comments. Each of you has put effort into what you have shared and reflected upon. I agree that keeping your students focused over the next two weeks will be a challenge but one you can achieve.
It's interesting how a new student can change the dynamics of a classroom. I hope the new ones are fitting in.
Keep up the good work! The end is in sight. :)
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