Bode Week 5

          This week, actually Friday after our MSU classes, my teacher told me she was going to be observed/recorded by an Everyday Math researcher. My teacher works with Everyday Math people in the Chicago area that consists of a team of teachers, researchers, etc who work to continuously improve and teach Everyday Math more effectively for the students and teachers. Not only does my teacher get recorded doing certain “pilot” lessons but she also is a trainer for new teachers who need to learn more about math before getting into the classroom. While my teacher was being observed it was interesting to see how the students reacted to a new activity and also how my teacher feels about doing these “pilot” lessons for the Everyday Math committee, I’m not quite sure what to call it. The observer is looking for both how the teacher feels about teaching the math content and if it’s an effective activity for the students learning and also how the students react to the activity. Does it engage learning? Do students seem to be participating more or less in this activity? The researchers will take their feedback and bring it back to the Everyday Math group where they will compile and revise all the “pilot” lessons to establish a new edition of the Everyday Math textbooks and teacher books. My teacher talked with me after her lesson and told me she likes doing these “pilot” lessons not only because it helps her get new activities into her classroom but she also gets to contribute with her feedback about how she feels the lesson went and its effectiveness. She likes seeing how the students respond and that also helps her assess where students are in the unit and how they handle new activities. She admitted that there are some “pilot” lessons she doesn’t like as much but still has to do them so she describes those as a learning experience for her and her students.

            I really enjoyed watching this situation happen in the classroom because it makes me appreciate the 13 years of experience my teacher has to offer to her students and me. It shows me that even though she has been teaching for quite some time, she hasn’t lost her desire and passion to teach. My mentor teacher is always willing to try new things and learn new lessons, strategies, to better her students learning and success. This is a case of a long time teacher who still has the passion and drive to help her students succeed and learn in multiple ways. As new teachers in the school, we tend to think that we are the only ones who have the new tricks with these “fresh” new ideas. Little do we all know, and we all need to realize, that some of these teachers we are working with are quite involved in teacher education groups, professional developments, etc to better themselves as teachers for their students and themselves. It’s really kind of inspiring to see how involved my teacher is and the extent to which she goes to in order to keep herself educated and always trying new things.

Week 4- Kallie Jones

Since arriving back at Ray after the strike the students have been more than eager to learn which is wonderful. My Mentor Teacher has high expectations for our students and I do as well. A lot of parents are wanting to see their students doing more which is understanable but if the students cannot master simple behavioral tasks, it will be impossible or us to move foward with anything. If we constantly have to talk over students and continue to tell the same studens the same thing ove and over again, it takes away from valuable learning time. This is where the excuses come in. Everytime I or my Mentor Teacher tell one of the students to be quiet thee are quick to say "that wasn't just me" or "why do you always call my name". The students do not want to be in the hot seat when it comes to my MT and I so they try to pin the blame on someone else. I understand not wanting to be singled out in front of the whole class but at the same time students need to take responsibility for their actions. I am in a 3/4 and we are expecing the 4th gadeers to be role models for the 3rd graders but it seems as if the tables have turned. The third graders are so well behaved for the most part and the fourth graders are so boisterous. After speaking with another one of the other adults in my classroom, it seems tuhat these particular group of 4th graders have had behavioral issues since first grade. Although it is a hassel to deal with, this is a wonderful opportunity to work on classroom management and how not to focus my energy on disobedience from students, but on my students who want to learn.

King Week 4

Today I taught a math lesson on factor rainbows, factor strings, and prime factorization. I taught the lesson out of the Everyday Mathematics textbook and it went pretty well. The students seemed engaged in the lesson and seemed to understand all the concepts and how the concepts were interconnected. Today was the first day that the students were seated in groups of three or four, so I utilized the set up of the classroom and had the students do group work. Doing group work threw many students for a loop, but once they figured out how to work with their group members they were able to be successful with the group task I presented to them with. Struggling to know how to begin in group work is a case of the students being pushed out of their regular routine and some flourished while others struggled.

I think the important thing for me to come away from this lesson with is how the students responded to being put in groups for the first time this year and how they were or were not able to overcome their differences with their group members. Seeing how students worked together gave me an insight into how to regroup students in the future to allow students to be the most successful they possibly can be.

My classroom is working on clockwork-like efficiency in its routines: There is stress on smooth and speedy transitions between activities as well as on proper execution of procedures for events like paper passing, restroom usage and the morning routine.
Students who wish to use the bathroom or to retrieve supplies from their backpacks are reminded to "hurry", and most activities are introduced with a time element: "You will have 15 minutes to do this."
The students' success or failure at following the set timeline is rewarded and punished through token economies and a color-based behaviour management system.
My understanding is that this efficiency approach to the daily running of the class seeks to maximise time spent learning content and to minimise time spent on non content-related activities. Once students have mastered a procedure, they have reduced the extraneous cognitive load involved in any given activity and can turn their mental energies to the work at hand.
While I initially balked at this seemingly militaristic style -- it seemed oppressive and overly regimented --, I could agree with the premise: Students who spend less time on procedures spend more time on content. Automatise the routine and minimise instruction time.
Where I find myself still conflicted, however, is with the undercurrent of speed and frenzy that seems to permeate the lessons and individual work time. Today, the teacher handed out math bellwork in the form of a number sentences worksheet. They had 15 minutes in which to complete it, after which it was collected. Later that day, the teacher handed out the bellwork again with the following observation:
"Bellwork is not a time to play around. I collect it and grade it. If you choose not to take it seriously, your grade will reflect that. We did problems like this yesterday, but only a few of you finished it correctly in the time I gave you. This leads me to believe that you didn't do your best."
Later, as students worked on another math activity (in which they wrote down as many representations of their favorite number as they could), the teacher expressed dismay at how few students had come up with the 5 required examples in the time given:
"I have given you plenty of time. I don't like seeing so much blank space on your papers. I write, you write. I If it looks like this [holds up blank sheet], you get a zero. If it looks like this [showing class her example], you get a 100."
Many students fly through their work in an effort simply to get it done. Many are eager to be rewarded for finishing.
I am curious about where the line is between efficiency in the classroom and the work, and balancing coverage of content with individual needs of students. With standardised testing looming nearer, the pressure on teachers and students simply to cover the topics is enormous.

Katelyn McCormick Noticing Blog Week 4

            As I observed my students this week, I noticed many reactions to the behavior chart.  The chart we have in our class is one in which students change the color of their card based on their behavior.  All students begin the day on green and proceed to change their color to yellow, orange, and then red as their behavior gets off track.  Each day that students stay on green for the entire day, they receive two "Eagle Bucks" that they can use to spend in the school store.  Students receive one "Eagle Buck" for a yellow day and no "Eagle Bucks" for orange and red days.  I noticed that most students do not seem to mind that they have to change their card and that they continue to act out during class.  Students typically change their card for being unsafe in school and/or talking while teachers are teaching. 

            The most important thing is that students aren't responding to the chart in the way that my mentor and I have imagined.  We assumed students would be upset about changing their color, therefore they would change their behavior in a more positive way.  Many students have not been doing this at all.  On numerous occasions, I have overheard students bragging about having a red day.  This is not the behavior that we expect in class, since we don't want students to be proud that they misbehaved all day.  I'm thinking that it's important to re-read the definitions of each color on the behavior chart so that students clearly understand why they are on that particular color.

            I believe that I understand why students are not taking the behavior chart seriously.  The reason that I think students have not minded that they receive a red or orange day is because they have not seen any incentives that go along with their green and yellow behavior days.  Students have not been given any "Eagle Bucks" yet since the school year recently began.  They have not yet visited the school store to be able to spend any "Eagle Bucks" or see what the store has to offer.  I think that students will be more likely to mind their behavior and stay on green or yellow if they are actually getting their money reward.  I don't think that students should have to have a physical incentive to behave in class, but since we do have a system that allows for this, students will probably be better behaved if they are gaining money.  Students will likely visit the store at the end of this week or next week, so I will be looking to see if they are staying on track with their behaviors as a result of the incentive.  I hope that students who have had multiple red days will see other students spending money in the store and will want to better their behavior so that they can do the same next week.

            This is a case of classroom management and behavior issues.  I understand that students are going to want to talk and will sometimes act out in class, however, my mentor and I are unable to teach since there has been so much chattiness.  I hope that students will change their behaviors in school so that they can learn and can have money to spend in the school store.  I will keep track of the behavior progression throughout the year to see which strategies work and which ones do not.

Noticing Blog Week 4-Moskowitz

Tracey Moskowitz
Noticing Blog
Week 4


I have noticed in math that the students are very energetic. It is the last period of the day and they have just returned from recess and lunch. Controlling their energy is difficult for the teacher and instead of providing them with engaging work, she constantly yells at them. Hands on, group group, and interactive lessons would help mediate their high levels of energy.
Another thing that I have observed is that many of the lessons in math do not contain time for the students to share their work with the class or with a partner. In one of the last readings, it noted that students can speak about their math thinking better than writing about it. I think it would be beneficial for the students to talk more about their thinking in math.
The lessons are relevant to the children's lives in some respects. They are about things they are familiar with, for example cities or food or after school activities. They also can be answered different ways. I would say that the problems are high level, but the lesson does not emphasize talking about math, rather the teacher calls on one student to provide the answer and the next problem is worked on. The students who do not know how to do a problem can easily wait for that one person to say the answer. This way of conducting a lesson does not hold the students accountable for learning math
I also think that a majority of the students are motivated. When completing circle graphs, several students wanted me to check if they were correct. They really wanted to get the right. Others always want me to come over to help them. I don't want them to rely on my help, therefore, I ask them what they think and assess if they need help or not. I obviously help the lower learners, but as a class, the majority of students want approval from me.

Andrea Delise - Motivation to LEARN!

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation!

I've noticed lately, that the students who read at a lower level rely heavily on extrinsic motivation. One student knows his alphabet, however, he doesn't understand that the letters of the alphabet have names as well as sounds, and that the sounds differ from their name. He becomes extremely confused and frustrated while reading and just gives up. During literacy centers or silent reading, he just puts his head down. I've noticed that when I go over to him and help him read, he will read...but he will definitely do his best reading when there is some kind of reward at stake- such as a sticker, or praise. He has told me that if he gets al A's, his mother will take him to see a wrestler that he likes. He often brings this up when trying to read. Recently, I explained to this student that to do well in second grade, he has to try his very best every day while practicing reading. I told him that it doesn't come easy at first, and that he is going to have to try hard and even work on it at home, but that he has the potential to become a very good reader. I explained to him that good readers go on to become great students who get good grades. This "second grader" mentality seemed to help ignite his intrinsic motivation. Today during literacy centers, this student put his head down and I came over to tell him what is expected as second graders. I told him that second graders try to read books the best they can, and if they can't figure out a word, they should sound it out. He seemed to have a sense of responsibility in knowing that he is a great big second graders, and that he needs to practice every day to get better.

I think that by simply explaining to students why they need to practice reading every day, and how important reading is, students will become motivated and excited to read. I think this may be a case of parental involvement. I feel as though parents try to instill extrinsic motivation in their children by offering material things for good grades. This may work, but I also feel that if the parents take time to monitor their students progress, take time to read with their student, as well as read TO their student, their child will start to gain confidence in their abilities, and will gain a more intrinsic motivation.

Noticing Blog Week 4-Maria Ricchio

Maria Ricchio
2nd grade
Shoesmith

This week I have gotten to see a lot more math lessons in the classroom. Not only are students given math worksheets to complete every night, we also gave our students a math assessment to see what topics we need to go over. From that point, my mentor and I put students into groups based on their levels. Something I noticed was that we had a wide range of math abilities. This experience showed me that there is not going to be just one type of instruction in math this year. There will definitely need to be a lot of one-on-one time and small group work. My mentor and I will have to sit down and figure how we will arrange our lessons in order to fill in these gaps. We assessed them on graph reading, time, even and odd numbers, word problems, counting coins, and number patterns. After going through each assessment carefully with my mentor, I noticed that many students struggled with counting money the most. They were unaware of how much the different coins were worth therefore couldn't identify a penny as being 1 cent, a dime being 10 cents, and so on. Therefore, my mentor and I know we will REALLY have to work on that with them. Another thing I found very interesting is that many students who struggled in literacy were very strong in math. One of my students with Autism had one of the best scores! It's amazing to see certain student's strengths and weaknesses come out. As I went through the assessments, I frequently came across a right answer but saw the number was written backwards, so that shows how all subjects are literacy based and that they are all connected. Many students in my class enjoy math so I would really like to take advantage of that and make interesting/fun lessons for them this year and push them into higher level tasks.

Marie Lewis Noticing Blog Week 4

I have a student in my class who has a very bubbly, outgoing personality.  Sometimes he is misunderstood for being spacey, distracted, and the class clown.  On his “Getting to know you” survey from the beginning of the year, he wrote that one important thing to know about him was that “he is cool”.  He was all about running for student council, and this student loves to be the center of attention.  

His personality is charming and entertaining, yet his behavior can be distracting to himself, teachers, and his classmates. During lessons he fiddles and draws as we speak.  He does not intentionally distract others, but his constant movement and quiet chatter sometimes causes issues with classmates.  When he is asked to complete work at his desk or produce an assignment, he does not get started.  It takes much motivation and reminding to get him on task and working.

This past week I have learned SO much about him just by continuing to observe him and interact with him as he works.  On Monday we placed the students into partners to complete a comprehension lesson in literacy. During the explicit instruction time this student looked and acted as if he was in another world. He whispered quietly and doodled in his notebook.   When he was grouped with his best friend, to my surprise he was able to successfully complete the task.  Although he did not act as if he knew what he was supposed to be doing, he successfully got on task and stayed on task.  Today as the math lesson was taught, my teacher and I got a closer look at him and realized his chatter is not mindless or disruptive; when he whispers he is restating what my mentor teacher or I am saying. 

Our student is special because he is so unique in his learning style.  Although he comes off as being unmotivated, distracted, and spaced out, he pays attention in a completely different way than most students.  His doodling and light chatter helps him stay on task and process what we are saying.  This has made me realize how important it is for me as a teacher to observe my students and get to know how they behave. Initially I was so quick to assume he was disruptive and unproductive, but that was not the case.  Getting to know my students helps me realize why they do the things they do, which can help me as I build my relationships with them. This also helps me have a better understanding of them.  It is important to cater to individual learning styles and foster a learning environment that is productive for all students.  I am looking forward to interacting with the students and building meaningful relationships which produce productive learning for all. 

ERIN MAXWELL Noticing Blog, Week 4

     I have noticed many of my students are quite uncomfortable reading aloud. Additionally, when reading with my students in a one-on-one setting, many are seemingly unfamiliar with common sight words.  Words such as “because” and “for” are often skipped over.  The first time I read aloud with a student and they struggled over such words, I thought is was perhaps nerves or an individual challenge with reading.  However, I have heard nearly every student read in some capacity, and this issue is quite widespread.  

     The students who attended Jackie Robinson for second grade were in a rather inconsistent learning environment, as several teachers and long-term substitutes came in and out of their class.  I believe that such an environment may have been distracting for some students learning, especially for those who were still struggling with reading after completing first grade.  Additionally, my students have been testing these past few weeks to determine their lexial levels and reading fluency.  Based on the significantly below grade-level scores assigned to the majority of the students, I know this year will be challenging when it comes to creating literacy lessons that challenge without overwhelming those who are struggling.

Bode Week 4: Parent Involvement

     In my first grade class there is something that I have been noticing constantly all throughout the day and cannot seem to stop thinking about. The correlation between parent involvement outside the classroom and student work in the classroom. Since the beginning of school it has been fairly easy for me to establish which students seem to be struggling with the academic and behavioral expectations in the classroom. There are a handful of students I can think of off the top of my head that I know struggle with reading, sounding out words, writing, etc. These same students also display some behavioral issues in terms of listening, speaking out of turn, responding to teachers requests, behaving on the rug or in the halls, etc. As part of my position in the classroom, I have been looking through the Ray School Take Home Folders everyday to make sure I collect all the papers turned in by parents, make sure the parent has emptied the folder full of important papers, and check for parent initials next to EVERYDAY. By doing this I have discovered much information about which parents return papers and sign their child's folder everyday. Although I know that turning in papers and an initial may not mean much, I do analyze it to a degree. Parents are more involved when they are checking their child's folders for important papers, returning the papers that need to be filled, and signing the folder as asked to do so by the teacher. I have seen a somewhat direct correlation between the parent involvement and student work/behavior just by observing the folder system. It was no surprise to me that when I began to notice the children who were struggling in school academic and behavioral wise, their folders were almost always turned in unsigned, full of all the papers, and few had returned completed papers. It makes me upset to see the connection between these two things because it really has a poor effect on the child. I seriously feel for the children who tell me almost every day "well I can't read" and then I wonder "is there a parent, grandparent, sibling, anyone helping you at home?" I want to be concerned, and to be honest frustrated, when a child tells me they can't do something and simply give up. This makes me immediately realize maybe it's not their fault, maybe they aren't getting the support at home they need or other students in their class are getting.

     This would clearly be a case of the importance parent involvement is to the student's achievement and progress. I am not saying it is directly correlating but from my observations I have noticed a VERY close connection. In my opinion, what is happening here is that students who have little support at home may not get the practice or extra work they need to keep continuing to succeed in the classroom. Schools these days, especially Ray School, push for parent involvement and support at home because they understand that a student needs to continue practicing at home with help from their families. This also establishes a view in the student's mind that "school is important to practice not only inside school but also outside with my family and in my life." What I find important about this "issue" is the fact that students who see parents contributing to their classroom and school work are more likely to practice themselves and continue to try/practice in and outside of school. I'm not saying this doesn't happen with students whose parents may not be involved as much but i feel as though you would see a decrease in participation from those students, which is sad to see in students as little as first grade.

Noticing Blog Week 4- Berger

One memorable experience that occurred last Friday was when we were working on double-digit multiplication. The 5th grade students use a spiral math curriculum at this school, which I personally find to be very frustrating. Some of the students don't fully know their higher number, one-digit math facts so it makes it very difficult to move on to two-digit multiplication. We really need to practice a lot so that it just becomes habit. They understand the general concept but forget to put a zero when they go down to the next line, or when a number needs to be carried. One particular incident with this math was when I noticed that one girl was getting very frustrated. I went over to her and she said she just didn't understand why it wasn't working and that she really doesn't like multiplying. I explained to her that multiplication is just a lot of practice and eventually it will become a lot easier. She asked if I could tutor her after school, but with my schedule unfortunately it wouldn't work. I said that if she wanted extra help, I could help her during recess. These kids really enjoy their recess so I was shocked when she eagerly said, "Yes, please!" That afternoon I met her outside and we sat on a bench while the other kids were running around playing. I slowly explained the process of two-digit multiplication and worked out a problem first so that she could see the order in which to perform the task. Then I had her do problems by herself while I watched so I could see where she was making errors. After she made an error I would have her pause and ask why she did that. She then would figure out her mistake pretty quickly and re-do the problem. After a few times of making similar errors and then fixing them, she really began to understand where she needed to correct herself. I told her that she could go play once we got 3 correct in a row. Just as the students were lining up for lunch she had done 3 correctly. I could see how proud she was that she had learned how to multiply in less than 30 minutes. It was so adorable/touching that she was wiling to give up her only recess time of the day in order to learn the math that she was having trouble with. I also felt a sense of accomplishment that I was able to help her understand this concept in such little time.

It is important that this student has a desire to learn and was motivated enough to miss her recess. I think it is also important for students to occasionally have individual instruction for clarification purposes. Sometimes a student just needs to explain their problem and receive some extra instruction with extra practice. It is not only important for students to recognize that they are struggling and need extra help, but for the teacher to realize this while they are still at an appropriate place in the unit, and not too far along. I was able to understand what was going on, mostly because she came to me for help and explained her confusion. Also, as she was doing the problems, I was either able to see what she was confused on while she was doing the problem, or looking at her work after she was done I was able to see where the errors were. The larger principle is that sometimes students just need some extra time with a teacher one-on-one in order to actually understand a concept. Also students will learn better when they are motivated to do so. In this student's case, she was clearly motivated to perform better in math and learn multiplication because of what she chose to miss out on in order to improve.

Robb- NWEA Assessment

Today was a very silly day in Kindergarten, just ask six of my Kindergarteners how funny it was to see Ms. Robb run around the room during a time when they were supposedly taking a “very serious assessment.” I had to laugh after today. This was the day when the fifth assessment administered to my Kindergarteners took place. The NWEA assessment was given via laptop and headphone set to the first six students on my attendance sheet today and it went, well, terribly.

            Now, I am not talking about the scores. These scores are the initial scores that the students’ final scores will be compared wat the end of the year. What went terribly about the test was, everything else. The NWEA reading assessment is supposed to take no longer than thirty minutes to complete, be “fairly self explanatory” and also be a “rolling” test, as in, if a student is getting many or all of their grade level’s questions correct, the test becomes harder and harder until the child starts to miss points.

            Many of my students have computers at home, but the majority of them use them for fun and games. The proctors (my MT and I) were instructed to give them very little assistance or prompting with their questions (which would all end up being different eventually anyways). Never haven taken a real standardized test before, this became very problematic very quickly. This was the first issue. I had one student who would first select the correct answer to a question, pause and then begin selecting the rest of his options and then hitting the “next question”. So, although he got the question right initially, he had no concept of how it needed to be submitted.

            Another student began scoring so well on his assessment that the questions started to increase so rapidly in level that he could not perform the tasks anymore. He began to get prompts to “Read this paragraph” and “select the best choice out of the following genres for a text about blah blah blah…”. Although this boy is incredibly smart, he cannot yet red nor formally write a full sentence, let alone a paragraph. He was frustrated and almost into tears until I came and sat next to him, told him that he was taking such a hard test because we knew he liked a challenge and that someday, he would know every answer, right off the bat. We laughed but it really hurt to see him so upset over something he should not really even have had to face.

            I did my best to help my students, and another round of six students will need help testing tomorrow, and then another and another until, in total, my MT and I will have lost 5 to 6 prep times to test the students on a test that is not even required by the district and will not go home in progress reports. I believe that the main draw for having all K-8 students take the NWEA, is that by the time that the NWEA actually matters (grade 3), they will be very familiar with the program. What I have learned from this experience is that, so far, it has not been worth it. I am upset to lose prep time that my MT and I need to set up Science for the end of the day lesson or to develop more of my Alphabet intervention lesson plans for a handful of my ELL learners.

Week Four: Noticing

     The past four weeks in my third grade classroom at Walsh elementary, I have been getting to know my students academically as well as personally. Not only is it important to understand your students in an academic sense, but I believe it is very important to understand your students personally. Relationships between students and teachers are very important, and can help students blossom if they know they have encouragement and support from their teacher. Over the past few weeks in my classroom, among co-teaching and supporting other students in the room, I have been extensively working with one student in particular. After my mentor teacher and I performed the Fountas and Pinnell assessment, this particular student was assigned a reading level A ( working on basic reading behavior). However, during math lessons, he seems to understand numbers and passes the lessons with ease and excitement. In conversation with him after a math lesson, I said (in Spanish), "Sam (pseudonym), do you like math?" He replied to me in Spanish and said, "I love math, it's so easy!" I said, "I can tell you really like what you're math and can tell you really know how to use the addition math strategies we've been working on."

     While this observation is not surprising for many teachers, where their student is exceptional at one subject and struggles with another, I found it particularly interesting because he was excited that a teacher finally noticed and praised him for what he can do. Today, during our math lesson, I continuously thanked him for his thoughtful answers and mathematic strategies, and had him explain his work to other students in his group. While we were individual reading today, I said, "Sam, let's get books we can read together! We read together just you and me." Giving this student one-on-one attention with books that have repetition and basic site words boosted his confidence, and hopefully it will encourage him to not place anxiety and stress on the subject of literacy; rather it will push him to make himself a stronger reader with teacher support. During our reading time, we talked about the pictures in Spanish. This also helped him to communicate with me about what he was noticing in the text. I'm very excited to see him (as well as my other students) grow as learners throughout the year. It's wonderful to see how praise and encouragement for students can boost self esteem and learning confidence. I'm looking forward to creating a positive learning environment in my classroom this year.

Week 4 noticing Blog

Today during literature study I introduced the lesson, re-visited what we discussed last week and instructed them on what we were going to do today. My class has been working on being a good reader and the skills that are required to be a good reader. We have been making three column charts in our literacy notebooks in which they write where (page number) who (characters) and what happened in the story. When it was first introduced we had them write down something for each page or paragraph (depending on if it was a book or a book typed up on a piece of paper). This way they understood that they should frequently check with themselves what they were reading and constantly be asking what is going on and who is the narrator or author talking about. Since today was a wrap up on the lesson I made sure to ask them why the chart was necessary, why each column was crucial to have and what they should be discussing with there buddy's as they fill in their charts.

After I gave the instructions they dispersed throughout the classroom with their buddy to a place where they could read the book together and fill in their charts. I went to the two students who are both at a lower level in reading and comprehension. It was very interesting to see how well they worked together and helped each other out. The girl is a stronger reader however, she gets distracted very easily and does not comprehend what she is reading as she just reads the words and does not process the information. Her partner who was a boy, helped them stay on task and by her reading it aloud to him he was able to do a better job of comprehending the story and helping her think about what she just read aloud. It shocked me that although they were both on a low level, together they had a high productivity rate and did a great job reading a majority of the text. Although they did not finish they still were able to get pretty far and keep up with the rest of the class, which rarely happens for these two.

After the lesson was over the students went to Mandarin I reflected on my job explaining the lesson and how the lesson went overall with my mentor. I explained to her how impressed I was by these two students and I was curious how she knew to put these two kids together. She told me she partnered the kids based on their levels. She tried to make sure that every student was partnered with someone who was equivalent to themselves. She then explained to me that the lower students will be more willing to make mistakes and try harder if they are with someone on the same level rather than with someone who is higher than them. When the lower student is placed with someone high they are more likely to just let them take charge and it is also hindering the higher level student as they have to slow their pace and may not improve their skills in the given task. This really opened my eyes and the more I reflected on the partners that I observed I realized what she was saying made sense and really proved to be true for this class. With that said, this was probably one of the most successful partner activities I have ever seen as all my classes back in Lansing were never cooperative, helpful to one another or were not paired up well so they could not even complete part of their given work.

Noticing Week 4-Behrman

            Given the hectic atmosphere last week as a result of the strike ending mid-week, along with the weeks of nonstop testing conducted before the strike began, we are still in the process of establishing routines and grouping students. Today was the first day we incorporated Intervention into our morning literacy block. Students are grouped by their ability levels under the assumption that if students are at a certain reading level, they need to develop or advance certain skills (these Intervention groups will also be used during Guided Reading time). My MT was calling students' names and directing them to a desk cluster and called the names of our three strongest readers. I was working with one of our lower students, Sarah*, who after hearing the names of the three strong readers, declared to me, "They're all the smart ones." Her observation was incredibly insightful for a seven year old and it caught me slightly off-guard. I responded by telling Sarah that everyone in our class was smart and that each of us need to learn and work on different things.
            In past MSU courses we've talked about the pros and cons of homogeneous groupings of students. Although kids will be able to identify the "smartest" students in their class, regardless of how one groups students, this snapshot example from my class shows just how perceptive students are when you explicitly group students by ability. How students see their peers grouped affects not only affects how they perceive their peers, but also how they view themselves. By Sarah noting that those three girls were the smartest, she was likely internally rating herself in comparison to them. As a teacher, it is incredibly important to frame the grouping of students, whichever way you choose to do so, with a spiel of sorts explaining the purpose of why students are grouped together, so that more value on a certain group. Multiple factors must be considered when deciding which method to use for grouping students, as there is literature to support both homogeneous and heterogeneous groupings. One teacher could use both types of groups at various points throughout the year, or prefer one type based on classroom dynamics, which are unique each year. I feel that both can be beneficial; however, from this incident, I realized just how perceptive students are and that the teacher must be very intentional about facilitating the incorporation of homogeneous groupings in the classroom.

Noticing Blog Week 4-Montague

Something that has really been puzzling both my mentor and I since the very first day of school is the contact that we have with one student’s parent. At the beginning of the school year, students were sent to school with stuff such as Kleenex, paper towel, glue, folders, index cards, etc. These items came off of a class list that was sent home before school started. Well on the first day of school, we took supplies out of children’s bags and put them in piles with their names on them so that we could compile everything that we had at the end of the day and have records of who brought what.

            Well the end of the first day of school came and one parent noticed that her child’s supplies were not in her bag. She made a big stink out of it and the teacher told her that we had collected the supplies and would be using them in our learning community throughout the year. Nonetheless, the parent was not happy about this and was persistent about getting her child’s stuff back so that very day, we put her child’s stuff aside (thankfully it had been labeled) and sent it back home with her the very next day.  Every single day that has passed this parent has come up to my mentor teacher complaining that her daughter has had things stolen from her. My teacher has calmly tried to explain that we gave back everything we had and that she was welcome to come check the classroom for anything else. Okay well here it is the 8^th day of school and she still has issues about the supplies. Everyday, she adds something new to the list that she says was in her daughters bag and came up missing on different days. Today she was invited into the classroom to look for a pink clipboard she claimed she sent. We keep all of the clipboards in one spot and the pink clipboard was not there. Then, she started pointing at supplies that my teacher had just bought this weekend insisting that they were her daughters. My mentor teacher told her that but the parent did not believe her so my MT ended up just telling her she could keep the supplies that she thought were hers and from now on to send her daughter to school with only the homework folder.

            Even though this is just a little spat between a parent and teacher, I think it is important to learn from it. As a future teacher, I know that I will send a letter home that specifies if supplies will be SHARED throughout the class because we are a learning community and if they cannot provide supplies, they should not feel obligated. Also, in that letter specify that supplies that are only for that individual child should be left home for the use of homework or other needs at home. The reason why I see this is important is because she is not the only parent to complain about having supplies that are shared as a class, she is just the only one to take it so far.

I can see the parent’s point of view because they may have purchased special items that were meant specifically for the use of their child and not knowing that it would be taken and used by the whole class. I also understand the teacher’s point of view but think that this whole incident is a case of not being clear and organized at the start of the school to prevent things like this happening in the first place. However, for the continued problems that this parent is giving my teacher and now claiming that she had supplies-that were not hers but in fact my teachers-is something I am not sure how to stop. I know that my MT worries that she will be doing this all year long and is trying to put a stop to it now by having her daughter bring ONLY her folder to school so she cannot do this again. Hopefully this works! 

ABBY MARKERT Noticing Blog

Ray School prides itself on parent involvement. Parent involvement and community involvement in the students education is extremely important and is even in the mission and vision statement for the school. I have found with my short time in Ray School that this feature holds true. The parents of the students are very much part of the school environment. I have also found that students whose parents are more involved in the class and with the students curriculum has a beneficial effect on the students.

One of the tasks that my MT has me do is go through the student’s homework and notice folder. These “Ray School” folders are a way that the teacher can communicate with the parents and visa versa. These folders act as a liaison from that classroom to the home. Parents are asked to initial the student’s calendar inside the folder when the student does the assigned homework and my MT or myself star the calendar when we get the homework back. I believe that this system is very useful and helpful for all of the parties involved. This method also forces the parent to be more involved in their child’s academics. One of the big things that I have been noticing is the correlation between the parent involvement and the student’s achievement and academic level. When I go through each students homework folder I am able to see what student’s did their homework and those who did not and the parents signatures or what other notices have been taken out. It seems that those student’s whose parents have been highly involved have students who are at grade level or above. Those student’s whose parents have not signed anything or taken any information sheets out of the students folder, have students who are lower than grade level. I realize that this isn’t always the case but what I have been seeing it has been. It is important that the teacher and the school do the best they can to include the parents and make them involved because it does affect the student. But how do you make a parent get more involved? I feel that my school and my MT do an excellent job in incorporating parent involvement and trying to force them to be involved as much as possible. How do you express to parents further the importance of being involved?

I know that in my future classroom I want to try my best to find ways for parents to be involved because it shows in the students work. My MT and I have decided to try and incorporate more parent involvement in more of the classes. In our “Everyday Math” workbooks we decided to pull out each section and staple it together. This way the small section can travel with the student to and from school. This will show the parents what the students are doing in the classroom, what the students are able of doing and what they are not, and much more. I think that this will help encourage the parents to be more involved and hopefully increase the students understanding.  

Noticing Week 4

With the delay of school I felt like going back this Wednesday was like the first day of school all over again.  My mentor and I had a lot of reviewing to do as far as classroom norms and behaviors that were taught during our first week.  Behavior management is especially crucial with a multi-age classroom because these are essentially two curriculums to balance, and to make sure they are covered well.  Typically the classroom works as a whole and we try to find a “just right” level for most and make accommodations.  However, math is completely separate.  While the first graders learn a math lesson on the carpet, the second graders do independent work at their seats and then we switch. 

              With this segregated math curriculum set up I have noticed a lot of things.  First, and most obvious, is that this is extremely difficult for one teacher to manage and really doesn’t provide the BEST possible learning situation for all the students at all times.  With my presence in the classroom each grade can have teacher’s eyes on them to help as needed, but there are still challenges.  I have also noticed that it does teach students a lot of independence, as well as patience within themselves.    The classroom “rule” is that if you are doing independent work and become stuck, you move on to something else until a teacher can help you OR double check your work to see if you can catch any mistakes.  Even when I monitor both independent groups, there is still only one of me to get around to all the questions my students have.  So, I have noticed that students raise their hand at the first sight of something they don’t understand, but often they catch themselves, take a minute, and either solve the task at hand or continue to be confused.  However, believe it or not most of the time, students take a second to problem solve or look critically at the problem while waiting for assistance and ultimately don’t need it anymore.

 I think what is happening here is a great unintentional lesson to help students become a little more self-sufficient.  They have the opportunity to check their work, or read the problem more closely before the teacher swoops in to “save the day”.  This is important because teaching a young person to be responsible for checking their own work is not an easy task.  Most times students just want to hear whether they are right or wrong and if they’re wrong they want to know the correct answer.  This approach instead, gives them a reflective opportunity to productively criticize the work they’re doing. 

I have been able to witness the positive effects independent math work can have on one female in my class specifically.  Let’s call her Anna.  Anna is consistently the first student with a question about new task almost instantly as it is handed out.  The problem is, usually her questions have already been answered with directions or she needs to keep reading/working to find answers.  When observing her during independent math time I have noticed that she raises her hand, and if I am busy takes a second look.  Then, when it’s her turn for help, she doesn’t need it anymore.  A couple of times now I have asked her what her question was anyway and she usually responds with something along the lines of, “I didn’t get this problem but I figured it out already”.  This helps me to understand that she may just have a quick moment of self-doubt when she comes to something difficult, but has the tools and critical thinking skills to internally say “hey, I think I’ll check it over and try this one again”.  I am interested to see if this behavior continues as time passes or if she becomes discouraged.  For now, I have observed that it is giving Anna quite a bit of self-confidence as well as a better learning experience working through difficult situations. 

Maria Ricchio-Noticing Blog

This week has been a very unique experience as I'm sure many of the interns would agree. After only being in school for 3 days the first week, I was very excited to return back to school today! It was a great feeling to see my students and mentor teacher after the 7 day strike and get back into the swing of things. Being apart of this internship has taught me so much in such a short amount of time and I am so grateful for the experiences I am receiving. This strike is something I will definitely remember for the rest of my life. As a future teacher, it is so important to stand up for my rights and my students' rights and I feel the CTU strike was an excellent example of that. As far as the first day back went, I was happy to be greeted with enthusiasm and positivity by everyone I came in contact with. In my opinion, my students acted very mature when we discussed why we were not in school and many actually knew a lot of information about why teachers went on strike and did not show any negative feelings.

The staff appeared very happy to be back and students were able to follow the routines we started the first week of school. My mentor teacher said that picketing for hours on end was not an easy task and how mentally, physically, and emotionally drained she felt after the long days. I feel that is something people don't understand unless they have actually done it themselves. So many people considered teachers to be on "vacation" during the strike, but that was not the case at all. Many of the parents at my school seemed to be in full support of the teachers which I was pleased to see. At the end of the day, my Principal called a staff meeting to get the faculty's thoughts after the strike and do team building exercises. We got into partners and started with an "I feel" statement. This was a powerful activity because many teachers became emotional about being back at school with their students and how they felt about the past week. After we did this exercise, our principal read us the book, "Click Clack Moo" by Doreen Cronin & Betsy Lewin. She explained how this book could be a powerful, kid-friendly way to explain what a strike is and answer any questions students have. It really made me see how united my school is and how fortunate I am to be an intern in this supportive environment.

K. Jones- Noticing Blog Week 3: Welcome Back

Today was a very eventful day with it being the first day back in the classroom after a 7 day strike. I was greeted with hugs and lots of loud "Hi Ms. Jones" this morning. I was ecstatic to see my students again and to get them back on track. We had to go over some of the rules that had been set before the strike just to reiterate that things have not changed. The students were a little rowdy today, but that was to be expected. I was very excited to see my Mentor Teacher as well. He greeted me with a warm smile and it was like we never lost the momentum that we created during the initial first week of school. Today was like the "first day" of school all over again. There was in incident today during a whole group discussion Mr. Bui (my Mentor Teacher) was having with the class. The incident was the one student John (pseudonym for the actual student) made a big deal about another student Jake (pseudonym for the actual student) not having to pay attention and he did. Jake usually has behavioral issues in class. Mr. Bui and I discussed that as long as he is focused and not disturbing the class, it is ok that he not be on the rug with the rest of the class. Although, I did not fully agree with this, I do understand how Mr. Bui could focus his energy on 32 students instead of just one. John screamed that is was not fair that Jake got to work with the blocks that we were using for the math lesson today before everyone else did. When I talked to John about it after the mini lesson at the rug was over, he continued to say "But that wasn't fair!" From this, I understand that students want to be and should be treated equally. John was not just making a statement about fairness for himself, he was in essence making the statement for the entire class. He was saying that if one student gets to do something all students should be able to do it. This could eventually lead to a bigger problem if Jake is not confronted immediately when he is doing something that is not appropriate at a given time and not making good choices. I look forward to noticing more things about my students as learning how to manage my classroom so that all students feel that they are being treated equally.