Week 1

My first week of student teaching has been completed!

Mrs. Wiora's 5th grade classroom

Monday was my second full day at school. The schedule is as follows: Morning work and breakfast, Reading RTI, Social Studies and Science, Special, Lunch, Math, Computer work. Each day we have a different special, and today was library. We do this for the most part every day unless there is a special event.

Wednesday was the school Spelling Bee. All of the third through fifth graders met in the gym to watch their fellow classmates spell. The top ten went on to the district Spelling Bee. The district is made up of two schools, Hoover and Schrum (the middle school). It was cool to see some of the third graders spelling the same words as the fifth graders and even some advancing to the finals.

Three times a week we have math RTI. This week we did not have it at all because one of the teachers was sick. This is where the students are split up into different groups and switch classrooms. My cooperating teacher says it is a lot of work, and she is not sure yet as to the effectiveness of the program. It is relatively new and they are still trying it out.

On Thursday, we had a math specialist come in and talk to all the fifth graders for an hour and half. She talked about teaching the concepts rather than just teaching the skill. I thought it was interesting that they hired substitutes to come in and teach during the day while we were in the meeting.

On Friday, the morning was pretty relaxed so instead of helping out the students while Mrs. Wiora taught, I organized the class library. It was in need of some help and it is amazing to me how many books she has. She has been teaching for five years and has a lot of good and grade appropriate books. I hope that someday I can have a library in my classroom that encourages reading as much as hers does.

Newly organized Library 

I also learned this week that it is critically important to be flexible. I have always thought this throughout my observing and novice teaching hours, but this week has proved it to be true. Mrs. Wiora had to take in groups of students into her room and instruct them on their work packets when other teachers went home sick. She had to go pick up some other classes during her lunch break. And she had to fix the copy machine twice for some of the other teachers. On Thursday after school, she was told that she would be getting a new student. Friday morning, we entered him into the system and got him all set up in the class.

Another thing I did this week was testing. We are doing AimsWeb testing. It is not difficult, but incredibly hard to fit into the schedule. I am glad that I was there to help her with everything that had to be done this week. There are some tests that can be given to the whole class, but some that need to be administered individually and take a bit of time.

Mrs. Wiora has a incentive program called Homeworkopoply. She says that it is the best incentive she can think of and since she has started it the students have started handing in their work. The idea of the game is that if they turn in their homework at the end of each week, they get a turn. The board has a velcro spot for their names and they store it there all week. They land on a space and Mrs. Wiora asks them a question and gives an appropriate prize or snack.

Homeworkopoly Board

I really appreciate her good attitude towards it all. I hope that when I am a teacher, I will be able to be as patient with students and coworkers as Mrs. Wiora is. I am also appreciative of this placement. I believe that God has lead me to this school and helped me understand what my real calling is. Mrs. Wiora said that this is a very hard school to teach in, but if I can do it then I can teach pretty much anywhere. I love the challenge and I hope that I will be able to be a good teacher to these kids.

I am thankful that I get to go to this class for two weeks before I go to Kenya. This way I get to know the students and they understand who I am and what I am going to be doing. They really are good kids and I am excited to get to work with them. It was a good week!