Reflect on the Week
As you reflect on your four day week, provide a short summary and tell us about a highlight and something that made you stretch. Each of you should post then go back and read what others have written, do another post (within this post) that responds to at least one other person's entry.
If you haven't done this, please go to last week's post and read your peers comments.
posted by Chris @ 8:58 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
This week was full of ups and downs, just as the first one was. Monica and I were crunched for time as these four day weeks are piling up. We started BAS testing (similar to Dibbles) with our students on Thursday and therefore had to be out for the morning which increased the pressure even more so. Report cards are due next week and conferences are approaching. I can see Monica’s stress levels growing a little bit every day as these events approach so I am doing my best to jump in more and more throughout the day.
On Wednesday afternoon I taught the math lesson for the day, which covered recognizing patterns based on “rules.” For example, if the rule is “add 10,” then the students must start at the first number and fill in the next numbers in the sequence. However, since they had already worked with sequence quite a bit my job was to move them towards a pattern with two rules! I started but having them create their own rules, then had a couple volunteers show them to the class on the ELMO, having the class guess what the rules were by looking at the sequence of numbers. The students really enjoyed this and we were off to a good start. However, about ten minutes into the lesson a student came up to the desk and told me I had messed up on one of the sequences (adding when I was supposed to subtract.) I took a little time to look over it, managed to confuse myself trying to figure out what was going on and by the time I had it all sorted out I had lost the attention of just about everyone in the class. I was able to regain their attention for a short bit afterwards but the damage was done. I had lost it for long enough that they now understood my weakness. Oh how clever kids can be.
Friday morning was a better experience. I wrote a letter to the students talking about my family, some of my interests, and my life as a student. I read the letter to them and showed them pictures of my family, my sports career, and my dogs. They loved seeing the pictures and wanted to tell me all about their pets! I then told them their assignment was to write, in their best 2nd grade writing, at least 5 sentences to me. They could write about their family, tell me about their interests, or just write something about themselves that they think I should know. They also had to draw me a colored picture. The kids were great during the time I was presenting and they really put a lot of time and care into their letters. It was a highlight for the week!
It has been a little strange having only 4 days weeks so far. This coming week will be no different. I can't complain too much though, I was pretty tired at the end of the day Friday. I have officially taken over Science and will teach my first lesson this week. I'm also in the process of lesson planning for this coming unit on force and motion. Luckily, I've always had a good relationship with Mr. Newton, so it should be fun.
Deirdre has also put me in charge of teaching mini math lessons based on math chants. I decide which chant we want to learn each day and lead the class in introducing and teaching it. Example: "A-R-E-A, you count the squares inside, hey!" I have never been a big advocate of cheerleading, so it has been a bit of a stretch. It is all about selling it to the kids so I try to put on a show, but I know my enthusiasm probably isn't overflowing.
A stretch this week was probably our day long Math Training day on Wed. It was with a neighboring school and there were around 15 teachers involved. It turned out to be a pretty good time and allowed me a chance to bond with other teachers, but there were times when it felt like I was ready to be back in the classroom. 6 hours of math fun can do that I guess.
A highlight this week was out school's Math Night. It was nice to participate in a school event and get a feel for the community. With over 400 hundred families attending, it was a full house. Although, I do believe we should have concentrated on proper rounding during Math Night, because the attendance numbers seemed a little high.
It is early to bed and hopefully early to rise tonight for me. I feel a sore throat coming on and I am trying to fight it.
Finally, bonus points to the boys for getting their blogs done first. Feels so good.
Just as Michael said, the first grade teachers are also working diligently on finishing the BAS testing as well. Carol took two half days off this past week which instantly became a stretch for me. We had a sub but Carol didn't give her sub plans because I was in the room. So for the first two minutes of the day I realized that I would be teaching for the day. I jumped in all at once and got started. That was also the day I was to begin taking over math! Needless to say my first math lesson did go so hot! I had many of the same struggles that Michael mentioned. These kids are too sneaky!! I regained confidence in teaching math the following day and it went much better! I told Carol after the first day that I was ready to quit (I was just kidding...kind of) But she was quick to remind me that they are still trying to test the waters on what they can get away with so that was reassuring.
A highlight from this week comes each morning when the students walk down the hall. They are so happy to see you and eager to tell you a story or just say hello. Their hopefully smiles remind me why we are there.
And thanks for getting your posts done first boys...you were actually just helping us and giving us direction for our posts :)
Paul, you should take some of my vitamin C. It has kept me from getting sick so far!
Michael, its reassuring to know that I'm not the only one who had a not so great lesson the first go around!
I've also volunteered myself and the boys to co-plan the upcoming Science night! Much like the math night we just had at our school. They weren't thrilled at the original sound of it but I know we will make a great team :)
Paul - I spend roughly 10 hours a day with you. 16 if you include the time we're sleeping - How did you not tell me you were getting sick. That seems like information that would be relevant to me. Despite your unwarranted lack of communication I want to tell you that I am proud of you for getting out of your comfort zone and leading the kids in Math chants. I have had to start singing songs with the kids which also forces me out of my element a bit so just know that I am there with you my friend.
Kimmi - Although I am still questioning this Science night deal a bit, I am pleased to know that you have enough confidence in Paul and I to openly volunteer our services for such an important event. If the administration at PHES is truly crazy enough to allow three hooligans such as ourselves to head one of the most anticipated nights of the year then by God I will not let them down. Thank you, Kimberlee, for inspiring in me the self confidence I'd forgotten was inside.
Reflecting back on the week I would say the highlight was starting to work on my first project solo with the kids. My teacher, Delome, gave me a bulletin board to build on my own in any way I like. When I first came to the classroom I brought the kids little gifts and talked a lot about all the apples that are grown in Yakima. So the bulletin board is an "apple board". Each student did a graphic organizer with words associated with apples and then wrote a story about apples. They then wrote a Haiku about apples. We put this all together in a colorful booklet and hung them on the bulletin board that had a "apple tree" in the middle. The kids loved the project and I loved working on it with them. They wanted to perfect it which was adorable. I have been working with the children on adding and subtracting money as of lately and that was my weeks stretch. We do the same types of problems every single day and go over it and use manipulatives but the students still don't seem to get it. It is hard because I'm trying to find different ways to teach it so they can comprehend the concept. It is a challenge to find new and fun ways to teach the same concept. I am realizing though that sometimes repetition is the best way to make sure they are comprehending. Other than that this week was amazing and I am loving my kids more and more everyday. They are all so unique and they truly enjoy being at school. It makes teaching so much easier.
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The four-day week went very well but I was definitely exhausted by the end of it. I have started to take over a lot more of the day and I am feeling a lot more confident with the responsibilities I have. Having report cards due hasn't really seemed to stress out my teacher as she is so organized, she really is such a great role model :)
We had an assembly in honor of MLK on Friday. My teacher had me take the kids to it on my own, which I was a little nervous about but they behaved so well and all went smoothly! It was a fun assembly. My cooperating teacher does very little whole class lessons so I have been working with groups of students on different reading centers. We have been reading a book about MLK and the main focus is on ‘summarizing’. This is a hard concept for the students to understand but I have already seen improvements as we have practiced it a lot. I modify the lessons for each group as the groups are based on their academic ability. I feel her teaching method is very different but very beneficial as the students get a lot more guidance from the teacher due to the small groups, and they are working at their own level, thus avoiding having some students getting bored and others getting left behind.
On Friday my teacher had me lead the cooking activity. Lucky for me we had a parent come in and she volunteered to help with one group. We made four cakes and then afterwards I did a lesson on fractions with them. It was so much fun and the kids really loved the hands-on activity.
This weekend Haley, our other two roommates and I went to Prague. I have a friend that lives there and so it was great to see her after 6 years! It was an amazing trip. Prague is a gorgeous city! Hope you all have a great week! ☺
Paul- I don't understand what you have against cheerleading but I am glad that you found it in you to put on a good act for the kids. My kids sing this song about rocks all the time and although it is adorable, it gets stuck in my head on the daily. I am jealous you already had a night with all the parents. I wish I could get to know mine better so I could have a better understanding of what home life is like for my kiddos. It does sound a little overwhelming though. Get lots of rest and drink orange juice! You can't afford to be sick we only have like 3 months left!
My dearest Sophia, it sounds like you are really getting the hang of all the small group work and working together with your teacher. I know you were a little nervous about the cooking activity but I'm glad it went smoothly and you were able to eat cake :)! I'm also jealous your kids behaved at the assembly because 3 of mine got in trouble for being disrespectful. Talk about embarrassing. Keep on keeping on!
Kimmi - I agree that the best part of the day is by far the morning when the kids walk in ready and excited for a new day. I feel that I am getting to know my students so well and all their interests. It is so fun to see them interact with each other and to see all their personalities come out. They are all so cute and eager to learn :)
Sophia, I'm glad they behaved well for you! We had to go back to the basics just last week we couldn't walk in the hall to save our lives!! It was great (just for the experience) to see how much kids "lose" over breaks! They definitely need to be retaught in many areas when they return!
My teacher doesn't do too much whole group instruction either. I really like it! Students are getting tons of interaction with their peers and are learning as well.
The cooking part sounds cool! I was hoping to do that some in our room!!
Haley, it came to my attention too how difficult it is to find new ways every day to teach them something that they aren't getting the hang of. However, when they finally get it, its very rewarding!
Your dialog is exactly what I hoped would happen. You each are doing an amazing job. Keep up the good work and stay healthy!
Your dialog is exactly what I hoped would happen. You each are doing an amazing job. Keep up the good work and stay healthy!
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