This was my last week of student teaching! I cannot believe it!
I have been so blessed with my placements this year. God put me in places where I was needed and places where I could learn more than I have ever imagined. From teaching in Kenya, to teaching in Cal City, this experience was not what I had expected, but has changed and shaped me as a teacher and person.
This week in school we were doing Science Fair. Most of the days we gave them a chance to work on their project in class. One thing that I am really grateful for is how well my teacher and I work together. If I need to do something like enter grades or finish up testing, she can do whatever else with the rest of the class. If she needs to handle another situation or work on the assembly for next week, I can do any part of the teaching while she works on that. We work so well together and it has started to be to the point where I know what she is thinking. Its weird, but great! I love coteaching and I think that I would love to be in a classroom with two teachers if it went like this placement! :)
So the Science Fair projects were supposed to be done at home, but that didn't quite happen. My teacher bought poster boards for everyone. Less than half of the students did their project at home. We gave them plenty of time, and the final product really paid off. On Friday, my last day, the Science Fair was great. All of the fifth graders got to set up their boards in the lunch rooms and other students came by to see the work they had done.
One thing that really meant a lot to me was one particular student. He has been a bit of a problem in the classroom, only when I am teaching, throughout my time there. I was not in school on Wednesday because I had class and commencement at Trinity. This student was on negative two points for a long time. When I came in on Thursday, he ran up to me before school and said, "Miss Schaap! Guess what? I got 20 points!" He had done his entire science project and it was so good! I was so happy and excited I gave him a high five and he was the best student in class for the next two days. He wrote me a letter and gave it to me on Friday. It said something along the lines of I am sorry for putting you through that, I didn't mean to, and I am sorry. It just made me smile and the whole 9.5 weeks were worth it for those two days!
As I graduate, I feel like I am ready to be a teacher! I can't wait to start and learn even more. I love that we have the summers off to learn more, travel, and become interesting people so we can share this with our students. I look forward to being a teacher. I can't believe its here! :)
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
Week 17
Second to last week of teaching! I cannot believe it has gone by so fast!
This week was definitely a good week. We are looking forward to the end of the year and getting the students ready for junior high. In our weekly meeting with the principal, she said it is time to sit back and enjoy the time with the students. The relationships are what matter at this point, but still continue to teach. We have given the students a couple projects to work on and we can help them individually so the class is less structured, but they are still being assessed on "on task work" and on their projects.
This week we started something new with behavior management. We use classroom Dojo, which is excellent. This is an online tool where you can type in all the students names and then they come up as little boxes with a monster in it. Each student can gain points for on task behavior, participating, helping others, etc. They can also lose points for being off task, disrespect or other negative actions in the classroom. This system is awesome. The students love to watch their points go up, and you can put it on the smartboard so when they answer a question in class, they can go up to the board and click their name for a point. It is a great visual reminder to be doing what they should be doing.
Also this week, the students earned the Fun Friday. Mrs. Wiora brought in her Wii and they had a dance party. This was one of the funnest things I have done since being at school. I checked in their homework packets, and if they were completed they got their usual bag of chips. The last forty five minutes of Friday were spent eating chips and dancing. They loved it! The order of who got to go was determined by the amount of dojo points. The highest people got to chose a friend to dance against and we went through until the time was up.
Even though they still had a little bit of the way before earning a total fun friday, Mrs. Wiora says that sometimes it is good to give them a taste of what is to come. This way, they can know how fun it really is and work harder next week to get the rewards from doing good and responsible work.
Overall it was a fun week and now only 5 more days till graduation!
This week was definitely a good week. We are looking forward to the end of the year and getting the students ready for junior high. In our weekly meeting with the principal, she said it is time to sit back and enjoy the time with the students. The relationships are what matter at this point, but still continue to teach. We have given the students a couple projects to work on and we can help them individually so the class is less structured, but they are still being assessed on "on task work" and on their projects.
This week we started something new with behavior management. We use classroom Dojo, which is excellent. This is an online tool where you can type in all the students names and then they come up as little boxes with a monster in it. Each student can gain points for on task behavior, participating, helping others, etc. They can also lose points for being off task, disrespect or other negative actions in the classroom. This system is awesome. The students love to watch their points go up, and you can put it on the smartboard so when they answer a question in class, they can go up to the board and click their name for a point. It is a great visual reminder to be doing what they should be doing.
Also this week, the students earned the Fun Friday. Mrs. Wiora brought in her Wii and they had a dance party. This was one of the funnest things I have done since being at school. I checked in their homework packets, and if they were completed they got their usual bag of chips. The last forty five minutes of Friday were spent eating chips and dancing. They loved it! The order of who got to go was determined by the amount of dojo points. The highest people got to chose a friend to dance against and we went through until the time was up.
Even though they still had a little bit of the way before earning a total fun friday, Mrs. Wiora says that sometimes it is good to give them a taste of what is to come. This way, they can know how fun it really is and work harder next week to get the rewards from doing good and responsible work.
Overall it was a fun week and now only 5 more days till graduation!
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Week 16
This week was a good week!
Monday started out very well. I have been noticing that Monday's are usually pretty good because they have had time to cool off and take a break from each other. By the end of the week the students are ready for another break and to do their own thing.
The biggest thing I learned this week was that when you're working in a school, you have to be flexible. I thought we had RTI this week, and we did on Tuesday, but none of the other days. No one was really sure what was going on and since RTI is right in the beginning of the day, we had to skip half of it before we figured out whether or not we actually had it. The reason why they are not having it is because of MAP testing, which our 5th graders will be doing next week. It is difficult when we do not know because that is a half hour of our day for which I did not have anything planned, only plans for our RTI group. On Monday, we read Zach's Lie, the novel we are reading together as a class. The rest of the days, we started by doing vocabulary for a novel we are going to be starting next week, and each student will have a copy.
My cooperating teacher taught me so much this week. She says you just have to go with whatever they tell you and have enough ideas and backup ideas to make it work. I think that is the hardest part of teaching for me. I am not really sure what I can do, or what I should do when we need to vary from the normal. She is really good at coming up with activities or time fillers that aren't meaningless. They always have a point and further student learning. I hope that I can be a teacher like that someday!
Something that I need to work on is classroom management. The students are good whenever the cooperating teacher is in the room, but as soon as she leaves, they seem to go a little bit crazy. I think this is because when I started out, they were ok so I was a little bit relaxed with it. When my teacher needs to leave to help with another class or situation, then they think it's not so serious anymore and that they can do whatever. We talked in our class on Monday about this and it is so true! My teacher can be more relaxed with her students because they know they cannot mess around when she is in there. This lets her be more personable with them, but also to get them right back on track when the time comes.
Monday started out very well. I have been noticing that Monday's are usually pretty good because they have had time to cool off and take a break from each other. By the end of the week the students are ready for another break and to do their own thing.
The biggest thing I learned this week was that when you're working in a school, you have to be flexible. I thought we had RTI this week, and we did on Tuesday, but none of the other days. No one was really sure what was going on and since RTI is right in the beginning of the day, we had to skip half of it before we figured out whether or not we actually had it. The reason why they are not having it is because of MAP testing, which our 5th graders will be doing next week. It is difficult when we do not know because that is a half hour of our day for which I did not have anything planned, only plans for our RTI group. On Monday, we read Zach's Lie, the novel we are reading together as a class. The rest of the days, we started by doing vocabulary for a novel we are going to be starting next week, and each student will have a copy.
My cooperating teacher taught me so much this week. She says you just have to go with whatever they tell you and have enough ideas and backup ideas to make it work. I think that is the hardest part of teaching for me. I am not really sure what I can do, or what I should do when we need to vary from the normal. She is really good at coming up with activities or time fillers that aren't meaningless. They always have a point and further student learning. I hope that I can be a teacher like that someday!
Something that I need to work on is classroom management. The students are good whenever the cooperating teacher is in the room, but as soon as she leaves, they seem to go a little bit crazy. I think this is because when I started out, they were ok so I was a little bit relaxed with it. When my teacher needs to leave to help with another class or situation, then they think it's not so serious anymore and that they can do whatever. We talked in our class on Monday about this and it is so true! My teacher can be more relaxed with her students because they know they cannot mess around when she is in there. This lets her be more personable with them, but also to get them right back on track when the time comes.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Week 14
This week has been full of ups and downs.
We started out the week well! Monday was a good day and it made me feel like I am in the right place and that my students like me and even like I was a good teacher sometimes. It's incredible how quickly that can all change! I also learned this week that it isn't about getting students to like you, it is about loving them regardless of what they call you, say to you, or how much they try to get you upset and mad.
A couple weeks ago, my cooperating teacher was named Teacher of the Year for all of Calumet City. She honestly is the best teacher and I am so glad that I can get to learn from her. I was talking to her about why I sometimes cannot control the kids and she said that she was in that same boat all of last year. You just have to keep loving them, keep being strict, and keep them engaged. If there is down time, that is where the students lose it. She taught about half of the class last year in fourth grade, so they know what to expect from her and how she runs things. It is tough coming in sometimes because the kids are so used to her style of teaching. A lot of the time it is ok, but whenever she leaves the room they all get a lot of attitude and try to make me mad. (That is the thing to do apparently: "You mad Miss Schaap??") This is quite the challenge, and it does not happen all the time, but there is a sub for 4 weeks across the hall and my teacher needs to go help her sometimes too. It's those times when it is the worst and most difficult.
Wednesday was one of the worst days I have ever had in a school. After lunch we came back and my teacher was dealing with a different situation in another classroom. She asked me to take the kids to the bathroom like we do every day. I did, and it was pretty normal until one student fell by the water fountain. I watched him, and he did not really fall, just kind of slid down the wall. He was very dramatic about it and everyone burst out laughing. This then turned into him yelling at everyone and trying to say somebody pushed him and I did not know what to do. I tried for about two minutes to help him and get everybody else under control but it just continued to escalate. I quickly found my cooperating teacher and said, "Please help me!" She came out and as soon as the kids saw her they snapped back into shape. Sometimes you just need the extra back up. It was a little scary and I was not sure if there was going to be a fight or what. Thankfully there was not. Later that afternoon there was a fight in another class in the bathrooms and 5 of the boys got suspended for two weeks. It is getting a little tense in 5th grade lately!
I think that the next couple weeks will be really tough and sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to get through the day and through the lessons you plan. It was a little disappointing because I had spent a long time preparing lessons for Wednesday afternoon, and they spent an hour and a half with their heads down and writing apology letters to me and my teacher. This seemed to shape them up, but it is still unfortunate that we cannot use that time for instruction.
This week brought on so many more challenges, but it is such good teaching experience. Sometimes you need backup, sometimes taking time to think about actions is more important than finding antonyms and dividing by two digit divisors. I guess it really takes me back to the reason that I want to be a teacher: to help kids. I want to help them and show them Jesus in any way I can. I hope that my kids can see that and I will just keep praying for them every morning during morning work. Anything is possible, and I'm praying for a good week this upcoming week :)
We started out the week well! Monday was a good day and it made me feel like I am in the right place and that my students like me and even like I was a good teacher sometimes. It's incredible how quickly that can all change! I also learned this week that it isn't about getting students to like you, it is about loving them regardless of what they call you, say to you, or how much they try to get you upset and mad.
A couple weeks ago, my cooperating teacher was named Teacher of the Year for all of Calumet City. She honestly is the best teacher and I am so glad that I can get to learn from her. I was talking to her about why I sometimes cannot control the kids and she said that she was in that same boat all of last year. You just have to keep loving them, keep being strict, and keep them engaged. If there is down time, that is where the students lose it. She taught about half of the class last year in fourth grade, so they know what to expect from her and how she runs things. It is tough coming in sometimes because the kids are so used to her style of teaching. A lot of the time it is ok, but whenever she leaves the room they all get a lot of attitude and try to make me mad. (That is the thing to do apparently: "You mad Miss Schaap??") This is quite the challenge, and it does not happen all the time, but there is a sub for 4 weeks across the hall and my teacher needs to go help her sometimes too. It's those times when it is the worst and most difficult.
Wednesday was one of the worst days I have ever had in a school. After lunch we came back and my teacher was dealing with a different situation in another classroom. She asked me to take the kids to the bathroom like we do every day. I did, and it was pretty normal until one student fell by the water fountain. I watched him, and he did not really fall, just kind of slid down the wall. He was very dramatic about it and everyone burst out laughing. This then turned into him yelling at everyone and trying to say somebody pushed him and I did not know what to do. I tried for about two minutes to help him and get everybody else under control but it just continued to escalate. I quickly found my cooperating teacher and said, "Please help me!" She came out and as soon as the kids saw her they snapped back into shape. Sometimes you just need the extra back up. It was a little scary and I was not sure if there was going to be a fight or what. Thankfully there was not. Later that afternoon there was a fight in another class in the bathrooms and 5 of the boys got suspended for two weeks. It is getting a little tense in 5th grade lately!
I think that the next couple weeks will be really tough and sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to get through the day and through the lessons you plan. It was a little disappointing because I had spent a long time preparing lessons for Wednesday afternoon, and they spent an hour and a half with their heads down and writing apology letters to me and my teacher. This seemed to shape them up, but it is still unfortunate that we cannot use that time for instruction.
This week brought on so many more challenges, but it is such good teaching experience. Sometimes you need backup, sometimes taking time to think about actions is more important than finding antonyms and dividing by two digit divisors. I guess it really takes me back to the reason that I want to be a teacher: to help kids. I want to help them and show them Jesus in any way I can. I hope that my kids can see that and I will just keep praying for them every morning during morning work. Anything is possible, and I'm praying for a good week this upcoming week :)
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Week 13
Another week down! This week was full of the unexpected and unplanned.
We started off the week pretty good on Monday, which was encouraging after last week. There are some days when teaching really pays off, when your students are calm and seem to be learning! That is really encouraging! I took over teaching Social Studies which went really well, we are learning about the American Revolution. The student's are interested in the subject and they like hearing about all the battles and fighting strategies.
Tuesday was a rough day after the bombings happened. I decided not to talk about it unless somebody brought it up. One student asked me when we were in transition and it was good to talk with a small group of students about the stuff that is going on in our world. I asked my cooperating teacher if she was going to address the situation, and she thought that they would already know about it and it's probably best not to address it unless they have questions. It is such a tough situation, especially when a lot of the students don't have anyone at home who can answer their questions and help them process this. It is so good to have a place where they can feel safe and comfortable and where they can try to sort through their thoughts and feelings.
On Thursday this week my cooperating teacher's house flooded. It took a while to get to school and a lot of the teachers couldn't even get out of their homes. My teacher took a half day and I was in charge all afternoon. I am not in charge of the entire afternoons, but it was definitely a good learning experience. There is nothing like having to be a good teacher to make you a good teacher. We had a "sub" but he was going between 3 rooms and since I had been in the classroom, he did not really see my class as a priority. Overall I think it went pretty well. We got through everything we needed to get through and even had time to read some of our story that we are reading in any spare time. It is called Zach's Lie and the kids love it. It is one of the few times where every single ear is listening and it is quiet. I love that part of the day, when there are a couple extra minutes to just read to them so they can imagine what is going on without stopping to ask questions or address reading strategies. I know this is all important but it is also so good that they can just read, or listen, for enjoyment during school hours as well.
Thursday was tough, and I was definitely nervous because my students can be a handful. They know what to do to get under my skin, and I usually do a really good job of not letting the little things bug me. What I do have a hard time with is which battles to pick. I asked my cooperating teacher about it and she said pretty much the ones that you cannot ignore are the ones that you need to address. I have heard some kids cursing, and I wasn't sure if that was a big enough deal. When she heard one kid call another a bad name, she gave him a major referral and called his parents. I have learned so much from her and how to teach in this school. It is crazy how much she knows and how she knows her students.
Friday was another rough day, my teacher was there but completely exhausted from pumping water out of her basement every six minutes throughout the night. I really admire how she still came to school with her plans and just didn't sit down so she could keep her students learning. That is something that I think I am going to struggle with. If there is something big going on outside of school I have to remember that I cannot come to school and just have a "whatever" day. Each day those kids are in school is a day where they should be learning and in a place where the teacher cares enough to put their needs ahead of her own. I hope to be a teacher like this in the future!
Student teaching is tough. It is hard to go into a school and classroom where they already have routines established and things working smoothly. It is hard to come home, go to track, eat, do school work and still have time to get stuff done for Trinity. I don't know how people do it! I have just been praying and hoping that I can make it through. Also another big challenge is doing all this work and not getting paid for it - and having no left over time to work for pay. I am excited to have my own classroom and also be able to support myself. It is tough, but I feel like I will be ready to be a good teacher next August!
We started off the week pretty good on Monday, which was encouraging after last week. There are some days when teaching really pays off, when your students are calm and seem to be learning! That is really encouraging! I took over teaching Social Studies which went really well, we are learning about the American Revolution. The student's are interested in the subject and they like hearing about all the battles and fighting strategies.
Tuesday was a rough day after the bombings happened. I decided not to talk about it unless somebody brought it up. One student asked me when we were in transition and it was good to talk with a small group of students about the stuff that is going on in our world. I asked my cooperating teacher if she was going to address the situation, and she thought that they would already know about it and it's probably best not to address it unless they have questions. It is such a tough situation, especially when a lot of the students don't have anyone at home who can answer their questions and help them process this. It is so good to have a place where they can feel safe and comfortable and where they can try to sort through their thoughts and feelings.
On Thursday this week my cooperating teacher's house flooded. It took a while to get to school and a lot of the teachers couldn't even get out of their homes. My teacher took a half day and I was in charge all afternoon. I am not in charge of the entire afternoons, but it was definitely a good learning experience. There is nothing like having to be a good teacher to make you a good teacher. We had a "sub" but he was going between 3 rooms and since I had been in the classroom, he did not really see my class as a priority. Overall I think it went pretty well. We got through everything we needed to get through and even had time to read some of our story that we are reading in any spare time. It is called Zach's Lie and the kids love it. It is one of the few times where every single ear is listening and it is quiet. I love that part of the day, when there are a couple extra minutes to just read to them so they can imagine what is going on without stopping to ask questions or address reading strategies. I know this is all important but it is also so good that they can just read, or listen, for enjoyment during school hours as well.
Thursday was tough, and I was definitely nervous because my students can be a handful. They know what to do to get under my skin, and I usually do a really good job of not letting the little things bug me. What I do have a hard time with is which battles to pick. I asked my cooperating teacher about it and she said pretty much the ones that you cannot ignore are the ones that you need to address. I have heard some kids cursing, and I wasn't sure if that was a big enough deal. When she heard one kid call another a bad name, she gave him a major referral and called his parents. I have learned so much from her and how to teach in this school. It is crazy how much she knows and how she knows her students.
Friday was another rough day, my teacher was there but completely exhausted from pumping water out of her basement every six minutes throughout the night. I really admire how she still came to school with her plans and just didn't sit down so she could keep her students learning. That is something that I think I am going to struggle with. If there is something big going on outside of school I have to remember that I cannot come to school and just have a "whatever" day. Each day those kids are in school is a day where they should be learning and in a place where the teacher cares enough to put their needs ahead of her own. I hope to be a teacher like this in the future!
Student teaching is tough. It is hard to go into a school and classroom where they already have routines established and things working smoothly. It is hard to come home, go to track, eat, do school work and still have time to get stuff done for Trinity. I don't know how people do it! I have just been praying and hoping that I can make it through. Also another big challenge is doing all this work and not getting paid for it - and having no left over time to work for pay. I am excited to have my own classroom and also be able to support myself. It is tough, but I feel like I will be ready to be a good teacher next August!
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Week 12
The week after Spring Break sure was a doozy!
After a wonderful, relaxing, and productive spring break, it was good to get back into the swing of things. Monday was a pretty good day, with the kids getting back into doing school also. During RTI which is from 8:45 till 9:15, the kids were sleepy and not engaged in what we were doing. We started doing the worksheets again, which are phonics and grammar then using the rest of the time to read our book. The pages probably should have taken 10 maybe 15 minutes, and they ended up taking the whole time because the kids just didn't want to do them. This is the first week we are trying them and it is what the school wants us to use, so I am going to try to think of a little extra motivation for them so we can get to the part they like better, the reading the story part. The rest of the week in RTI went a little better and by Friday they seemed to be awake and at least listening to the story and somewhat following along. I got observed in RTI on Thursday, and I thought it was pretty good for this group of kids. They all did the whole worksheet, but when we were reading some were not following along. I got some good ideas from Prof. Mattson about how to keep them engaged, like doing spot checks or helping them figure out a word without just telling them right off the bat. Overall RTI was ok this week, and I have some good ideas about how to make it better.
Social Studies and Science time are right after RTI. I coteach this section for now, but will be taking over next week completely. We learned about the phases of the moon and the Revolutionary War. I think that the kids like this part of the day because it is more about discussion and they can ask questions easily. We read through the book and then talk a little bit about what we have learned and go over the homework questions.
After this time is special time. We had an assembly with the fourth and fifth graders this week about how to act in specials. Apparently the students in fifth grade have been acting especially disrespectful and rude in art, pe, library and computers. It is hard to look at this from the point of view of a teacher because the students need to go to these specials and the teachers need that planning period. The kids don't like the special teachers and don't really like the specials. Our hour lecture was about how to be respectful even if we don't like something or someone. We have had quite the problems with being mean to fellow students lately, and just not treating people how they deserve. It is really hard and it affects everything. When I am teaching, Mrs. Wiora is constantly outside dealing with some issue of who said what to who during P.E. It is a constant problem, and I don't know how she gets through all of it on her own. The rest of Thursday after the talk the kids behavior did not improve at all! We took away 10 minutes of Fun Friday, and they didn't even blink. (We have 30 minutes of netbook time on Fridays). I might have to find some other kind of reward system. I read in a book that instant gratification might be more effective in some schools. This means like a starburst to those who are doing the right thing. I don't want to bribe them to be good, but the intrinsic motivation is not quite there for them. Mrs. Wiora and I have talked about a couple different things. She says that they are all just crazy at this time of year, and not to worry if one day goes particularly badly.
After specials and lunch, we have language and reading time followed by math. The afternoons are really long because we go from 11:45 till 2:30 with no break. Math went ok this week, I am teaching 2 digit divisors. I think the hardest thing for me is trying to figure out how to pace it. There are about 4 students who get it, and if they don't they ask questions. There are also about 4 who just sit there and do nothing. The rest of them seem like they catch on but then when we go to individual practice they don't know how to do it. Next week I have it planned out better so that during individual practice time the four who get it will do the more challenging problems. The ones who struggle will do the easier ones and the rest will be doing the "on level" problems. This should give me more time to help those who really need it and then we can go over all the problems together and everyone can contribute - at least that is the plan!
Friday was spring picture day. It was just horrible. It took about an hour to have the 15 kindergarteners pictures taken and we spent the time making sure our kids were in somewhat of a line and not hitting each other. That was a long afternoon.
Overall the week was alright. Definitely could have been better, but also could have been worse so thats an ok place to be for my first official week of teaching. I can already tell I am getting better at this stuff and I learn so much every day from all the people at the school. I am so thankful for this placement even though it is really tough sometimes.
After a wonderful, relaxing, and productive spring break, it was good to get back into the swing of things. Monday was a pretty good day, with the kids getting back into doing school also. During RTI which is from 8:45 till 9:15, the kids were sleepy and not engaged in what we were doing. We started doing the worksheets again, which are phonics and grammar then using the rest of the time to read our book. The pages probably should have taken 10 maybe 15 minutes, and they ended up taking the whole time because the kids just didn't want to do them. This is the first week we are trying them and it is what the school wants us to use, so I am going to try to think of a little extra motivation for them so we can get to the part they like better, the reading the story part. The rest of the week in RTI went a little better and by Friday they seemed to be awake and at least listening to the story and somewhat following along. I got observed in RTI on Thursday, and I thought it was pretty good for this group of kids. They all did the whole worksheet, but when we were reading some were not following along. I got some good ideas from Prof. Mattson about how to keep them engaged, like doing spot checks or helping them figure out a word without just telling them right off the bat. Overall RTI was ok this week, and I have some good ideas about how to make it better.
Social Studies and Science time are right after RTI. I coteach this section for now, but will be taking over next week completely. We learned about the phases of the moon and the Revolutionary War. I think that the kids like this part of the day because it is more about discussion and they can ask questions easily. We read through the book and then talk a little bit about what we have learned and go over the homework questions.
After this time is special time. We had an assembly with the fourth and fifth graders this week about how to act in specials. Apparently the students in fifth grade have been acting especially disrespectful and rude in art, pe, library and computers. It is hard to look at this from the point of view of a teacher because the students need to go to these specials and the teachers need that planning period. The kids don't like the special teachers and don't really like the specials. Our hour lecture was about how to be respectful even if we don't like something or someone. We have had quite the problems with being mean to fellow students lately, and just not treating people how they deserve. It is really hard and it affects everything. When I am teaching, Mrs. Wiora is constantly outside dealing with some issue of who said what to who during P.E. It is a constant problem, and I don't know how she gets through all of it on her own. The rest of Thursday after the talk the kids behavior did not improve at all! We took away 10 minutes of Fun Friday, and they didn't even blink. (We have 30 minutes of netbook time on Fridays). I might have to find some other kind of reward system. I read in a book that instant gratification might be more effective in some schools. This means like a starburst to those who are doing the right thing. I don't want to bribe them to be good, but the intrinsic motivation is not quite there for them. Mrs. Wiora and I have talked about a couple different things. She says that they are all just crazy at this time of year, and not to worry if one day goes particularly badly.
After specials and lunch, we have language and reading time followed by math. The afternoons are really long because we go from 11:45 till 2:30 with no break. Math went ok this week, I am teaching 2 digit divisors. I think the hardest thing for me is trying to figure out how to pace it. There are about 4 students who get it, and if they don't they ask questions. There are also about 4 who just sit there and do nothing. The rest of them seem like they catch on but then when we go to individual practice they don't know how to do it. Next week I have it planned out better so that during individual practice time the four who get it will do the more challenging problems. The ones who struggle will do the easier ones and the rest will be doing the "on level" problems. This should give me more time to help those who really need it and then we can go over all the problems together and everyone can contribute - at least that is the plan!
Friday was spring picture day. It was just horrible. It took about an hour to have the 15 kindergarteners pictures taken and we spent the time making sure our kids were in somewhat of a line and not hitting each other. That was a long afternoon.
Overall the week was alright. Definitely could have been better, but also could have been worse so thats an ok place to be for my first official week of teaching. I can already tell I am getting better at this stuff and I learn so much every day from all the people at the school. I am so thankful for this placement even though it is really tough sometimes.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Week 11
This week is the last week before spring break!! I am happy about this but mostly for the students.
In our weekly meeting with the other 5th grade teachers and the principal we were talking about how the whole school is just tired of being inside and doing the same thing. I think it is really important for kids to be outside and able to get their energy out, but they have had indoor recess and arrival since about October. We had outdoor recess on Thursday this week and that was good to get them some fresh air.
This week was pretty normal, but we had Friday off. All of the teachers and students are super ready for a break from school. When I taught this week they seemed to pay attention but I think that was because it was something new and different from what they expected.
I taught a little unit on Kenya and my experiences there. On Monday, I did a little introduction to Kenya and to Africa in general. Then we did a project called "Me on the Map." This is where students draw a circle map of themselves. They start with a circle and it says "This is Me." Then the next circle is a little bigger and its about their school. Then it goes to neighborhood, city, state, country and world. I did this because it really helped them connect to other people in the world. They can kind of see how they are just a small part of a very big world and there are other kids just like them in other countries.
On Tuesday afternoon we had career day, so all my activities got pushed back a day. This assembly was interesting. There were four speakers and their jobs were a teacher, a nurse, a financial specialist for McDonalds, and a Union member. After the first two, the kids had kind of tuned out, but then the McDonalds lady gave out gift cards to McDonalds for answering questions correctly. It was chaos. there were probably 300 3rd-5th graders screaming out the answers and jumping everywhere. In contrast, the Union speaker was not interesting at all and actually quite boring. After the assembly, the boys stayed downstairs and the girls went upstairs. I had no idea what either group was going to do. I took our girls up and all fifth grade girls were having a meeting. They were getting "the talk." This talk was about everything from periods to boys to taking shower every day. It was interesting the way it was handled and I think it went pretty well actually. They didn't seem too grossed out and they all listened to the teacher who was talking. She kept asking me if I wanted to add anything, and I just kept saying no. I was taken a little bit by surprise, but then when we went back to our individual classrooms I talked a little bit with my seven girls and answered some of their questions.
Wednesday came around and for the afternoon I did the Kenya lessons again. I passed out cards on which the students could write any questions they have during my talk. I hoped that this would eliminate some of the talking, and I think it might have a little, but not very much. If anything this made them think about the questions they really wanted to ask and which ones were questions that had already been asked so that was good. I talked about the different animals I saw, the school I taught in, where I lived, the seasons, and the food I ate. These were all things that they had asked about yesterday so I changed around my lesson to what they seemed to be interested in. After that I had them go on google earth and look up 5 different places. They had to write the place (for example: Willis Tower) the city (Chicago) the state (Illinois) and the continent (North America). This was really good for them to see the whole world and at least the United States. I think these kids have a really hard time seeing anything outside of their city or outisde of Chicago area. I hope that they realized that the whole world is full of people and diversity and cool places to explore.
Thursday was the last day of school this week. We have a double special in the mornings, so the afternoon was full of projects and fun. We did a project where I cut out the letters K, E, N, Y, and A out of posterboard. I split the class into 5 groups and each group had a topic. The topics were transportation, housing, food, schools, and animals. Each group had to decorate the letter with drawings of their topic. I did not give them too many directions on purpose because I wanted them to think of things on their own. They worked on their netbooks researching the different topics related to Kenya. Three groups did an excellent job, and two of them were ok. They all understood what they were supposed to do, but it was just a matter of doing it that was the problem. I need to find a way to get them to understand that doing something (anything) is better than sitting there and staring.
When we finished that project, we watched The Lion King because it was the last day before break and it related to our Kenya studies. Two of out students wrote out of the dictionary instead of watching the movie because they had gotten in trouble in specials earlier this week. I think they ended up watching most of it, but I guess it was worth a try. It is also one of the students birthday's on Saturday so he brought in cupcakes and ice cream. We also gave out chips for turning in all the homework packets. It was a feast!
This was a long week even though it was a short one. I also had two interviews and got offered a job!! It is a first grade position at Lakeside Christian in Clearwater Florida. That also made my week wonderful! I was super busy trying to make plans to go visit the school next week on spring break. Even though I have only been here for two weeks, it was a tiring two weeks! I am ready to sleep for a while, then continue getting ready to teach for the rest of the school year! It has been a great semester thus far :)
In our weekly meeting with the other 5th grade teachers and the principal we were talking about how the whole school is just tired of being inside and doing the same thing. I think it is really important for kids to be outside and able to get their energy out, but they have had indoor recess and arrival since about October. We had outdoor recess on Thursday this week and that was good to get them some fresh air.
This week was pretty normal, but we had Friday off. All of the teachers and students are super ready for a break from school. When I taught this week they seemed to pay attention but I think that was because it was something new and different from what they expected.
I taught a little unit on Kenya and my experiences there. On Monday, I did a little introduction to Kenya and to Africa in general. Then we did a project called "Me on the Map." This is where students draw a circle map of themselves. They start with a circle and it says "This is Me." Then the next circle is a little bigger and its about their school. Then it goes to neighborhood, city, state, country and world. I did this because it really helped them connect to other people in the world. They can kind of see how they are just a small part of a very big world and there are other kids just like them in other countries.
On Tuesday afternoon we had career day, so all my activities got pushed back a day. This assembly was interesting. There were four speakers and their jobs were a teacher, a nurse, a financial specialist for McDonalds, and a Union member. After the first two, the kids had kind of tuned out, but then the McDonalds lady gave out gift cards to McDonalds for answering questions correctly. It was chaos. there were probably 300 3rd-5th graders screaming out the answers and jumping everywhere. In contrast, the Union speaker was not interesting at all and actually quite boring. After the assembly, the boys stayed downstairs and the girls went upstairs. I had no idea what either group was going to do. I took our girls up and all fifth grade girls were having a meeting. They were getting "the talk." This talk was about everything from periods to boys to taking shower every day. It was interesting the way it was handled and I think it went pretty well actually. They didn't seem too grossed out and they all listened to the teacher who was talking. She kept asking me if I wanted to add anything, and I just kept saying no. I was taken a little bit by surprise, but then when we went back to our individual classrooms I talked a little bit with my seven girls and answered some of their questions.
Wednesday came around and for the afternoon I did the Kenya lessons again. I passed out cards on which the students could write any questions they have during my talk. I hoped that this would eliminate some of the talking, and I think it might have a little, but not very much. If anything this made them think about the questions they really wanted to ask and which ones were questions that had already been asked so that was good. I talked about the different animals I saw, the school I taught in, where I lived, the seasons, and the food I ate. These were all things that they had asked about yesterday so I changed around my lesson to what they seemed to be interested in. After that I had them go on google earth and look up 5 different places. They had to write the place (for example: Willis Tower) the city (Chicago) the state (Illinois) and the continent (North America). This was really good for them to see the whole world and at least the United States. I think these kids have a really hard time seeing anything outside of their city or outisde of Chicago area. I hope that they realized that the whole world is full of people and diversity and cool places to explore.
Thursday was the last day of school this week. We have a double special in the mornings, so the afternoon was full of projects and fun. We did a project where I cut out the letters K, E, N, Y, and A out of posterboard. I split the class into 5 groups and each group had a topic. The topics were transportation, housing, food, schools, and animals. Each group had to decorate the letter with drawings of their topic. I did not give them too many directions on purpose because I wanted them to think of things on their own. They worked on their netbooks researching the different topics related to Kenya. Three groups did an excellent job, and two of them were ok. They all understood what they were supposed to do, but it was just a matter of doing it that was the problem. I need to find a way to get them to understand that doing something (anything) is better than sitting there and staring.
When we finished that project, we watched The Lion King because it was the last day before break and it related to our Kenya studies. Two of out students wrote out of the dictionary instead of watching the movie because they had gotten in trouble in specials earlier this week. I think they ended up watching most of it, but I guess it was worth a try. It is also one of the students birthday's on Saturday so he brought in cupcakes and ice cream. We also gave out chips for turning in all the homework packets. It was a feast!
This was a long week even though it was a short one. I also had two interviews and got offered a job!! It is a first grade position at Lakeside Christian in Clearwater Florida. That also made my week wonderful! I was super busy trying to make plans to go visit the school next week on spring break. Even though I have only been here for two weeks, it was a tiring two weeks! I am ready to sleep for a while, then continue getting ready to teach for the rest of the school year! It has been a great semester thus far :)
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