Delise Week 13

This week, I have been able to see the progress that the students are making in my RTI group. One student, D, was the most excited when given the baggie of new words. However, the first two days since this new motivation trick, he did not bring the baggie back. He said that he practiced the words but could not find the bag. I tested him on the words, and he was able to read some of them. I had a conversation with D about what he does when he gets home. (I know that his great grandmother raises him and sits him in front of the t.v.) He told me the same story. I told him that during commercials he can play a game with his word cards. If he can say the word, he puts it in one pile, if he doesn't know the word, put it in a separate pile. I told him that he continues the game as the t.v. show goes on. By the end of the show, he should have all of the words in one pile, the one that he knows. I thought that I could meet him halfway and incorporate something that he loves with something that he needs to do. Hopefully, will praise and learning these words as the weeks go on, he will turn the t.v. off and study his words on his own.

As for the other students, it has been one week and two of the students have all 70 sight words down! They are able to say them on sight. I told these students to practice writing these words at home, so that their writing can improve as well. The third student is making progress, slowly but surely. She is an ELL student, so some of the words are harder for her to understand meaning. I read the words to her and used them in a sentence. Then, I had her do the same for me so I can make sure she knows what the word is, and that it's just not sounds put together that she has to decode in order to receive a star.

So far, this project has worked well. I make sure to praise the students and make a huge deal out of each star that they earn. I feel as though praise for these students has really motivated them as well, because they are so used to being told what they need to work on.

Delise Week 12

November 21, 2012 Noticing Blog

After talking to the parents during report card pick up, I noticed that family involvement is a struggle for some students. Some parents shared that they work late and are unable to help their child with homework and reading on a nightly basis. I realized that something needed to be done. I work with four students in my RTI group every day. 3 out of 4 of these parents shared with me that they do not have the time or energy to work with their child more than having them complete the daily homework (sometimes). Everyday, students are given new words that they are to add to their baggies. These baggies go home where they are to practice reading them. The words that they are given are found in the books that they take home and practice reading. When listening to the students re-read the book that they were to go home and practice reading, I noticed that they were not decoding the words that I sent home in their baggies. After talking with their parents and thinking for myself, I decided that something needed to be done. I made a list of all of the words that we have learned up to that point. I made a chart with these words for each student. I made new flash cards with the words. The old words that they had were small pieces of paper, so I thought that by using real note cards, the words would be bigger and the word cards would be more durable. The next day during RTI, I assessed the students on these words. I checked off the words that they were able to say on spot and wrote down a different word that they may have said instead. Once they went through all of the words, I chose the first five words that they missed, and put them in a paper clip. I put the words that they knew on sight in a bag. I also put the words in the paper clip in the bag. I typed out a short note to their parent saying what I was doing, and how their child is doing with sight words. I explained that each day, their child will come home with 5 new sight words in the paper clip. Their child is to practice their old words that are in the baggie, but focus on the new words in the paper clip. If the student is able to read the words back to me the next day, they earn a star. After five stars, the students will earn a prize. I made sure to tell the students how important it is to learn to read these words so when we read them in stories, we can focus on what is happening in the story. Before I gave them their baggies with new words, I asked, "who wants to be a better reader?!" They were all excited and couldn't wait to open their baggies up to start practicing. Hopefully this will instill an internal motivation in my students for wanting to become better readers.

Week 14 Bode

          This week (the week after Thanksgiving) was a bit rough for not only the teachers but also the students to get back into the swing of things. As teachers I think we assume the students are fine and they can just jump right back into school since they don't do the work that the teachers do. But I think we're wrong as teachers to think like that. I know that for me it's difficult going from sleeping in, not doing any work, and relaxing to wake up early, work all day, and come home to doing more homework. All during this week I had several incidences of students acting out way more than they usually would. This one boy told me how he didn't get enough sleep and he was up until 10 at his dads house. He was passed out on the rug just sleeping even shaking him to wake up wasn't getting him awake enough. I mentioned in my previous blog that I had him run the track to wake up and I used stickers to motivate him. This has never happened before in the many months we've been at school where he has actually been that difficult to wake up during a lesson or even fall asleep for that matter. Other students have been acting up as well. The students who I always have to give numerous checks to (misbehavior checks) had gotten even more this week for talking out of turn even more than usual and continuing to constantly talk in the hallways. We even had a problem this week with kids play fighting and hitting each other which has never happened. Some of the students who don't get along well most of the time were getting into bickering fights and whining more about it. I don't think that the problem is kids do not remember the behavior system and forgot that checks are minutes off there choice time; I just think they have to adjust to being at home and hanging around to being back at school where there are rules in place.
          What I'm noticing is that students aren't all going crazy and misbehaving, it's mainly the ones who have been misbehaving all year and it was heightened a bit this week. What I noticed happening to me is that I was getting more grumpy and shot tempered when I had to deal with these children because I, too, was trying to get used to the school week as well. I think what is important here is that we have to remember to take a step back and realize that our students probably feel the same way we do and that they are tired too and still trying to get used to being back in school. So how do we approach a week like this where we have just had a break? What will happen after Winter Break? I think it would be important and maybe helpful to have a talk with the students about how we are coming back from winter break and everyone is feeling a bit tired and slow on those first few days. Giving warnings instead of checks may be fair to do so kids get used to it again. A way to maybe help students is by talking to the parents of those who were misbehaving and checking in with them and asking if they are getting enough sleep or feeling alright after school since we know we're coming off of a break. This will help you as a teacher understand where your student is coming from but also maybe get an improved behavior from them so that you can handle the situations more calmly as well.

Integration

This week I noticed my mentor Meghan's ability to effectively tie lessons together and integrate nearly all lessons we teach.  For example, I was doing a phonics lesson on the letter "f," doing reader's workshop lessons on "realism vs. fantasy," about fish and fishing trips, and she was teaching a science lesson about worms all in the same week.  She instinctively knew to remind our students each time we talked about the worms in the books during science that it was just like the worms in our fishing books from reader's workshop.  She reminded me to ask if anyone "knew what people used for fish food when fishing" when I had the students talk about their prior knowledge about "fish and fishing trips," having the students think about their connection to science again. She mentioned that I ask "what letter do you see on this book about fishing that we've just learned about in phonics?" (F).  Doing this for our student caused them to truly make connections, showing their excitement to see something they already knew and eagerly wanting to explain their observations.  She emphasized that they were becoming "experts" about fish, worms, and the letter f which also increased their confidence.

Behrman

Over the course of this semester, but especially as of late, I have noticed how crucial it is to have an organized classroom. This not only effects the teacher and how he/she operates within the classroom, but also the students. In second grade, students are beginning to take on more personal responsibility and accountability for their actions and their schoolwork. While modeling is key for teaching skills and strategies in the content areas, it is obviously also important regarding behavior. Just as we model for students polite ways of speaking and interacting with one another by saying "please," "thank you," and "excuse me," we must also model for them how to be responsible and organized. 

Many of my students misplace papers or lose assignments from one day to the next, which results in poor homework grades, but more importantly a missed opportunity for them to practice the skills we are learning in class. I implemented a new filing system for turning in and passing back homework to organize our room so that we don't have stacks of graded papers sitting around, cluttering our workspace, but also so that students and their parents can receive our feedback and comments. We had several parents at conferences request to see graded work on a more regular basis so that they can monitor their child's progress, as well. By using this filing system, I am also able to take note of which students are not turning in their homework, since their folder will be empty when I am collecting the assignments turned in that day. Students know that each morning, if there are papers in their folder, those are graded and to be taken home. This also holds myself and my MT accountable for grading papers on a routine basis, which again models for students the life skills we want them to take away from our classroom. 

I look forward to having my own classroom so that I can test various organizational methods and determine which are most effective for myself as a teacher (grading, copies of assignments, absent work, etc) and my students (homework, notes home, work for different content areas). If students know when, how, and where to turn assignments in, the class runs much more smoothly and more of the teacher's time can be spent facilitating learning. 

Noticing Blogs: Weeks 12 & 13

Week 12 Noticing Blog

         Due to Thanksgiving, this week was a short week; however, this was one in which my mentor teacher and I talked about how to inform our students on what Thanksgiving is all about. After being repeatedly asked what Thanksgiving is, my mentor teacher and I wondered how we could go about telling our third grade students about this traditional American holiday (in a classroom full of students from Mexico, Bolivia, Columbia, etc.). After planning literacy and math related tasks for our students, at the end of the week, we feel as though they finally began to understand what the meaning of the holiday is. Not only did we talk about and research the real meaning of Thanksgiving and the story behind it, but my mentor teacher and I incorporated this into literacy, mathematics, writing and science. Reflecting on this experience, I wish we would have been able to incorporate not only American holidays and traditions, but the traditions of my students that they celebrate in their culture. This would make the school culture much more meaningful and not only academically enriching, but the students are gaining different cultural perspectives they are unaware of.

Week 13 Noticing Blog

         Today, I started our new unit in math on area. I was nervous to begin teaching this because our students experienced difficulties when multiplying. I introduced this lesson using centimeter grid paper, where the students were asked to solve an open-ended problem to find the area of a new playground I was making. Not only were my students interested in the problem I introduced this new unit with, they were engaged because it was something that was meaningful and related to their every day life at school. At the end of the lesson, I had my students asking me to give them another word problem, which is something I never thought I would experience. My students actually liked word problems and preferred them over simple numerical problems. I explained to my students that when they take the time to read the problem, it feels rewarding to conquer a challenging word problem they thought looked so hard at first. In my daily lessons, I would like to incorporate many lesson-openers with word problems to get my students engaged and thinking about the underlying mathematical concept and the many different strategies to solve it.

ERIN MAXWELL 11-28

My MT has again implemented new routines in our classroom.  This week, our morning routine was modified to include “calendar math” questions that will be answered on a daily basis.  The journal questions include: state what day of the week yesterday was, today is, and tomorrow will be.  Students are also asked to list what day of the month it is out if the total number of days of the current month.  Additionally, science laboratory experiments have been incorporated into our weekly schedule.  I have noticed that many of my students have difficulty completing the math questions, which would typically be used in a first grade classroom.  My students truly need practice in these practical areas of mathematics, therefore, I find its addition to our morning schedule necessary.  The science laboratory has not been used on a consistent basis prior to this week, so behavioral norms had to be reviewed before the experiment.  Yet, I was pleased with my students’ performance in the lab.  Even my higher energy students worked cooperatively with their group and asked questions that reflected an authentic interest.  This behavior may be a direct correlation to the hands-on activities offered in the lab, as students may feel more engaged with their learning than in the classroom. This change in behavior highlights the importance of incorporating multiple learning environments in one’s classroom to insure a wide range of learning styles are being reached. 

Who You Find in the Hall- Kayleigh Robb

There was not anything uncommon in this particular sight. It was that teacher voice, that responsible one, that pulled me towards the boy, seemingly alone and a little out of place. He looked a little confused, but happy as can be.

A little background: I had seen this student before, he had come charging into my classroom on occasion during prep times and once during my guided lead teaching. He had a look of wonder on his face as he looked at all that my classroom beheld, each and every time he came to say hello. This happened, well, not too frequently, meaning not enough so I can remember names, but enough to say that sometimes we have visitors in 103. You see, the wing of the Elementary school that my kindergarten class is located in also houses two first grade classrooms and Walshs' Elementary resource room. From the resource room is where we get the majority of our visitors, and often, these interactions truly brighten my day. However, today I witnessed something concerning.

I dug through my brain trying to remember the student's name but names of my students, their brothers and sisters, their parents, were all I could summon. So I mustered up a, "Hey, honey! Whatcha' doin' here by yourself?" instead.

He looked at me, smiled and blinked. He muttered something I couldn't quite understand and then ran into the schools' "T-Mobile Lounge", an area designated for students, but where I still make most of my copies and teachers and resource teachers gather for assessments and one-on-one time with their students. Knowing that this student was a resource room student, I assumed he might be going for testing or some kind of learning activity that was set up in the lounge. I let my concern falter and continued taking some of my students to lunch as I had been.

A few minutes later, after opening what felt like countless ketchup packets, I went back to the lounge, curious to see how my friend from earlier was doing, and, what, exactly he was doing. I saw another intern in the lounge and greeted her, smiling. She was turned toward the boy, asking the same sort of question as I had before, "What are you doing in here, sweetie?"

In the corner, pretending to be onstage, singing his heart out was the boy. No one was supervising him, stimulating him, assessing him or trying to get him to come back to class, no one. However, two staff members were sitting casually on the couches, having a meeting and clicking away on their laptops, not paying this boy any piece of mind.

"Honey!", I said loudly toward the boy. One staff member looked up, looked at the corner at the boy, and then quickly back to their laptop. "Oh honey, that machine, its broken, we can't use it." I walked over.

"Oh you're such a great singer!" I said, after my first attempt to get him to come back to the resource room with me was unsuccessful. This kid really doesn't know me, I though, so why would he trust me? I tried a different approach, "Can I sing a little with you?" He shook his head yes. After a quick few, "la-la-las" and "do-re-mis", he lost interest after he really could not get it to work. I continued to walk around the room, full of toys, and tools and stimuli, trying to gain his attention and to get him to come back to him room with me. My fellow intern is trying to assist me too, both of us are trying to persuade the boy to leave the lounge.

Now, mind you, this is my lunch hour but I really could care less at this point. All I am wondering is Where is this student's teacher? Why aren't these staff members helping us? How are we going to get him back? Why didn't those staff members help him while I wasn't present? While my mind was buzzing, my fellow intern suggested that she would stay with the boy while I found his teacher. I knew where the resource room was and would have no trouble sending her down that way.

When I got to the resource room, I asked the teacher politely if she was missing someone. She looked overwhelmed, and I would have been too. All to herself she had about 7 students, all of various levels of cognitive development, age and grade level. No one seemeed to be listening, no one really seemed to be "under control" but, this is not your classroom, Kayleigh, you don't know what it is like to teach here.

I told the teacher, who, come to find out, is a teacher's assistant, that, Ian, the boy I had found and that she was looking for, was in the T-mobile Lounge. "I'll stay here if you want to go get him." I said. She looked at me with one eyebrow cocked and said, "You sure?". I nodded and smiled as she went and then gulped nervously as I turned and cheered, "Hi everyone! I'm Miss Robb. Can I stay here a little while, I want to see what you are all doing here."

And I was met with the biggest grin and hugs I had ever seen. I was only there maybe three minutes but one student was trying to get me to sit with her while another was pleading with me to read with him. All I kept doing was smiling and scanning, hoping Ian and the TA would walk through that door but also wishing I could spend more time in this room. I do get here early enough that I am usually jut making copies during my prep time...maybe I could...

The TA ran into the room. "I don't know which room is yours." she said. I kind of frowned then and said, "Ian's in the lounge." I wasn't going to forget that name. Ian. Ian. Ian. "I'll get him, I will."

Twenty minutes have elapsed by now. I am feeling nervous and sort of upset. Upset for Ian, nervous because my lunch hour is almost over and I've got a lesson to teach in exactly 3 minutes. Out of the corner of my eye I see a staff member, one I have observed is great with Ian, and I ask her in passing to please come to the lounge when she "gets a sec."

This is all resolved when her familiar face finally comes for Ian and we both walk him back to the resource room. I see one of the students I had met earlier and he comes up with a sheet. He shows me that he's been tracing his name. I tell him I am so proud and I get another hug. You have no idea how much I needed that.

So, I am upset. I am upset that this student was alone. I am upset I left him alone for any period of time at all. I am upset that two staff members did not have enough sense or compassion or even the little whisper of that "teacher voice" to tell them to help Ian out. I am upset he was alone in the first place.

But I know why this happened. Or, at least, I think I do.  A new TA, feeling overwhelmed loses track of a student. Surely, because she can't leave the others behind, someone will find him and bring him back, that is what they promised when they left her all alone at lunch time, didn't they? The other teachers in the resource room are stretched thin, some are subbing, some are in the middle school resource room, everyone is trying to make up for the absence of the main elementary resource room teacher as she is still on leave. These teachers did not asked to be moved, they didn't ask to leave, but sometimes budgets don't leave room to hire so many subs, and that is when the administration takes them from the resource room. Which is wrong, in my eyes, terribly wrong. These children are being under-served, in a community which is already under-served in a district and an economy that can't support them financially. But why do they have to pay the price? Aren't these children, my children, the children of the entire school, city, state ect., aren't they what its all about? I know this is super "ranty", but I said before, I am upset. This student could have wandered anywhere and been in danger.

So, I guess what I am trying to express here is, being a school community is a great thing, and we say it all the time, but sometimes we need to ask ourselves: "What do I do to show it?"

King Noticing Blog

The past two weeks there have been very few things that were worth noticing and reflecting on. Part of this fact is due to the short week before the long Thanksgiving weekend and part of this fact is due to that I have really gotten into the swing of things in my classroom and very few things that students do or say cause me to break a metaphorical sweat.

One interesting thing that happened these past two weeks was that I have had two different students on various occasions have melt downs over various things that happened during the school day that I then had to handle in a way that allowed the rest of the class to continue learning. I was able to help both students calm down and return to learning by taking them out to the hallway and talking to them about the incident that caused them to be too upset to focus on learning and then helping them come up with ideas for how to avoid finding themselves in the same situation in the future.

Being faced with these challenging students and situations I have had opportunity to improve my classroom management and my relationship with these individuals, which I hope will help these students to be more responsive to future instruction from me or my MT and to help these students to be more successful students overall. Since these encounters occurred I have yet to see any measurable improvement in the way these two students respond to authority figures. I hope to see improvement as the school year continues.

Katelyn McCormick Week 13

This week I noticed how excited my students were about the new writing project. Last week my students went on a field trip to the Shedd Aquarium and so this week we have been writing a class narrative about our trip. My students were eager to share their responses and almost all students contributed to the project. Students were much more attentive while my mentor was instructing them during writing this week than they have been for other writing projects. I believe students are so into this writing project because it is an authentic writing piece about their own experience. It's important that my mentor is choosing a topic for the class narrative that all students have experienced. I can understand that students are so excited because it's all about them. Since my students are so young, they are still at the stage where everything is all about them. Writing about their own field trip has engaged them in a way that other projects have not yet done. This is a case of my mentor using authentic writing topics to get students excited about writing.

I think that the aspect of using authentic topics for learning rather than prepared curriculum topics, makes students so much more engaged in the activities. This is true for all subject areas. I have learned about authentic teaching and have seen authentic learning take place, but it was not until this writing project that I have witnessed students being so interested in learning. I plan to use more authentic teaching as I continue planning lessons and units this year.

Cosmas Noticing Blog

Lately in my classroom I have been noticing the repetition in scheduling and activities that occurs.  We follow the same schedule of subjects everyday which I can’t deny is beneficial for both my sanity and for the students to have a comfortable and familiar daily experience.  I do believe that having the same schedule day to day greatly impacts the ease of teaching and transitions.  However, I do think that too much repetition in the activities that occur during the day is not always the best thing.  For example, every morning during our morning meeting and calendar we cover the same topics.  There are an overwhelming amount of educational moments during this time, but it has become so routine that I find myself even getting bored at times.  I struggle though to decide whether the repetition in a task such as this is beneficial to help concrete some concepts, or if it is just boring my students into a predictable stupor.  I often add small new activities to spark student interest and that seems to help ease away the mounting predictability.  However, I also think that some topics are very necessary for students to master so why not review them daily.

This struggle gets complicated (as usual) by the fact that I have both 1^st and 2^nd grade.  I do differentiate my instruction during this time by asking some more challenging questions of my 2^nd graders.  I do also have differing expectations for student responses depending on their levels, but it doesn’t seem like this is enough to me.  I have some students who really benefit from hearing, for example, place value examples every morning.  While I have some others who look at me as if this was the easiest task in the world.  I know that this is the case in any classroom within any school, but I still do notice it day to day.  So, once again I am left to question: Is repetition beneficial or boring?

Besides morning calendar, I often feel this repetition in activities during writer’s workshop time.  Typically we use the Lucky Calkin’s texts on writer’s workshop daily.  This includes a mini-lesson together, guided practice, and individual practice.  Though I do NOT doubt the positive outcome of this type of scaffolding “I do, we do, you do” type of learning, I just think it becomes a little dry for students.  I don’t doubt that they say to themselves, “Now I have to listen on the carpet and then go write something” when it’s time for writer’s workshop.  Here’s the catch though, my students perform the best during this time of day.  They are focused during our mini-lesson, active participant in the learning process, and produce great pieces of writing.  Therefore I am left to wonder, is it just me that is bored with the repetition in this type of lesson? Or are my students bored as well?  Then I also think of the saying, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it” and I am tempted to just keep going as usual.  I think this intuition about when to add something more exciting, and when to keep things as is will grow within me with time. 

Ricchio Noticing Blog

          During my field instructor observation today, I began to notice how many students struggle with spelling. I was teaching a lesson on pen pals and I had students write questions to find out more about their penpals.  I found that my students were so focused on spelling words correctly (which I appreciate), but as a result they were not focusing on the purpose of the lesson. They spend unnecessary time raising their hand waiting to ask my mentor or myself how to spell different words and then at the end of their writing block they have not completed very much. I also noticed that many of my students are not spacing out their words very well, so I will begin enforcing the importance of having good penmanship. What's the point of writing, if no one can read it? It's an art that I think has gotten lost throughout the years.
        When I asked Judy how I could support my struggling writers, she gave an excellent suggestion. She said students can have writing folders with a list of common words or sight words that they can refer to at any time. I loved this idea and will definitely consider using this in my future classroom. I could also have students start their own writing journals and list commonly misspelled words. This would help minimize disruptions and allow the teacher to help students more with concepts, rather than spelling. I think it's very beneficial for students to take charge of their own learning and this would be a great approach.

Markert- Noticing Blog 13

Being a part of Ray Elementary School has been a wonderful experience for so many reasons. On this blog I tend to write about my students or my classroom. But one thing that I have been noticing in my school recently is the relationship between the staff. I am very fortunate to work at a school where the staff is close and work together as a group. It creates a cohesive and enjoyable work place and is beneficial for everyone. The principal and the vice principal for example each took over a math and a literacy class to lighten the amount of students in the sixth grade classes. This to me is the definition of team work and working as a whole. There are many examples I could mention about the staff as a whole but I have a greater focus on the first grade team.

Working in the first grade has been a great learning experience for me. I have learned so much about myself as a teacher. The students are at such a fun age and an age of real growth in terms of education and also their personalities. It is great to see the students grow and learn everyday. I think one of the best things about working at Ray though in the first grade is the relationship and teamwork we have with both the first grade classes. My class and Kate’s first grade class along with our mentors work together to lesson plan, advice, and just general questions. This makes learning for the students so much stronger and it also helps me get a better sense of teaching as a whole. There is a lot of “behind the scenes” work that goes on in the classroom and I feel very fortunate that I not only have my mentor to look at but also the other first grade teacher. Since the school as a whole works so well as a unit it benefits the students. Having a strong relationship with the other teacher’s means there is more communication and links between the different grades. If teachers are able to talk to past teachers they can enhance the students learning experience quicker and more effective. I know that before this school year started my MT was able to talk to the kindergarten teachers and get an idea of the types of students in the class and what to be looking for. This was helpful because it allowed us to get a little more background on the student and also the different learning levels.  I have spoke with some of my peers and I know that some schools don’t have a strong staff relationship and I think it makes a difference. I also believe that the students can sense the community that Ray has established. The students throughout the school are part of the cohesive community. Watching the students at Ray, you can tell by looking at some of the rules that the staff has established a unified system.  Overall I am very pleased and impressed by the staff at Ray School. It has made my experience thus far educational, fun, and exciting. I believe I could speak for all the interns at Ray that we all feel like part of the team and that is wonderful. 

Montague

This week I have noticed that our calendar time in the morning seems to be getting longer and longer. However, I do not necessarily think that this is a bad thing because it includes so many important things and covers a lot of different subjects right into daily routines. We started out with only a few things in our calendar but every week we add something new so that our students can learn more from it because they are ready. Something that I have found interesting and that I did not notice when I first started was just how much math is included in that early morning instruction. We start off with a student reading our daily letter to the class and that same person counts the number of something in that letter. For instance, one day it could be the number of words, the next it could be the number of a’s in the letter. Every day it changes, therefore the number that they count to changes. Next, a student comes up to do the calendar. During this time, the student tells the day and talks about how they knew the day by referring to the rows and columns. Another math activity included in calendar time is the growing number line for the number of days we have been in school. This is a very important one because each day, they learn how to write that number, they learn how to build that number (using base ten blocks—this is another student’s job during this time) and how to say the ordinal number. The next student’s job is to write the number, draw the base ten blocks to match it and tell the class how many tens and ones are in the number of the day. I could go on and on with the different math activities that we have just in this first hour of the day but I won’t bore you with that. I just thought it was important to recognize how easily you can fit math into your student’s daily lives and do it in a way that students enjoy doing it (they love having these jobs!). I think that it is important to recognize this to keep your kids interested in math and have them recognize that math is not just memorizing things but that it is actually useful in the real work. I think that this is a case of recognizing the different ways to teach across the curriculum and doing it in such a way that engages your students. Overall, I think that the calendar time is something that all elementary ages should start the day off with because I think that each job can be modified to fit different age levels. 

Week 13 Bode

          Today while my teacher was being observed by our principal, I was trying to sit next to students who I knew normally act out or can’t focus. There is about 3-4 students who I know I need to watch out for when my teacher is teaching but also while I’m teaching. There was this one student who normally doesn’t act out or need much redirection from the teacher but today was different. This student has asthma and doesn’t get enough sleep every night. He comes into school very tired for the most  part he can stay awake. Today he kept falling asleep and I continuously needed to tell the student next to him to wake him up. I decided my attention would be best focused on him so that I could make sure he was paying attention rather than falling asleep and losing concentration from the entire lesson. Nothing was working to keep him awake; sitting on a chair to the side, having him stand up in the back of the classroom, getting a drink of water, and even having him run a couple laps around the track inside. Every time he returned to the class room he would just fall back asleep and it was very difficult to wake him up. He wasn’t able to pay attention to the lesson and when the teacher asked him to repeat the directions or try to do the work at their seats; he wasn’t able to do it. I had to keep taking him out in the hallway and helping him but it made me realize, there isn’t always going to be an aid in the classroom for me when I have my own classroom. What am I supposed to do if/when this happens?
        It made me realize that when you have a student that isn’t paying attention because they are falling asleep, or distracted by others, or cant stop moving, you cant stop the whole lesson and focus on what the bad kids are doing. Even reinforcing the good kids behavior doesn’t work on these students who cannot concentrate. It’s hard when I realized that there isn’t always going to be an aid to help me take the student out of the class or to sit next to the student when they are acting out or having a very difficult time redirecting themselves at such a young age. If I or the teacher would have told the student to go lie down so that he can rest, then the whole class would’ve acted tired as well so that’s not an option when you’re alone in the classroom. It is times like these that I start thinking abut what I will do in the future if this happens. Maybe I would have the whole entire class stand up and do the wiggles to get all of their energy out and to wake up those who cannot seem to stay awake. I think I would also want to ask parents if I am allowed to give their child an apple juice or orange juice to help them wake up and give them some energy when they are feeling tired or out of it. It is very easy to spot who is actually tired or who is faking it to get special treatment. One thing that worked for this student was quietly telling him that I will give him a sticker if he can stay awake for the entire class and show me he is listening. I’m glad I experienced this event because it made me think and reflect on what I would do for the future in my own classroom.

Behrman_Noticing

Although last week was a short week due to the holiday, there is one notable topic that I noticed and reflected on over the break. Prior to Thanksgiving we did an activity that required students to write a paragraph about things for which they were thankful. Several of my lower level ELLs needed some clarification about what “thankful” meant which included me providing several examples and some collaborative brainstorming. On Tuesday we reminded students that there would be no school on Thursday or Friday because of the holiday. A handful of students voiced their confusion as to why there was no school on Friday. This revealed to me that not all of them either celebrate this American tradition or are aware that some people travel long distances to be with their family at Thanksgiving. I wish we would have included more discussions about the holiday, culturally and historically. Although it is not an explicit part of our curriculum, I believe that as a classroom with an overwhelming number of ELL students, this is a vital part of their education and not teaching about holidays is such a disservice to them. 

 In the future, I would talk with my administration about the holiday-related projects/activities that I would like to do with my students and provide them with my rationale. This way if they do come to observe me and see my kids coloring a turkey or cutting out a booklet about Pilgrims, they will not question the purpose of them and view them as means of “easy” teaching, but will already understand the underlying reason for these types of activities. As an educator, this situation helped me notice how important it is to be sensitive to the cultural gaps in education, in addition to the content gaps. It is easy for teachers of ELLs to become so focused on teaching what will be on the test that they lose sight of this other crucial aspect of public education. 

Bode Week 12

          This week my mom was the mystery reader for my classroom! She read “Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving” in honor of Thanksgiving this week. My students were so fascinated with my mom and how she was my (the student teacher’s) mom and she was also a teacher at another school near where I live. The students started to make the connection that I want to be a teacher just like my mom is a teacher at a school; this excited them very much. My mom also got to be a part of and see my class event “Author’s Celebration” as a mini celebration for the end of my writing unit where parents come in and see their child’s work they have created in writer’s workshop. This day was a whole day filled with family connections and participation in the school, which I think, is great for children to see. So many students were so proud to share their writing with their families (brothers, sisters, moms, dads, etc) and it was really cool to see that even as you get older (like myself) your family is still involved in your life. Several students don’t have older siblings so they see me as someone who isn’t as old as a grown up but still an adult. When they realized my mom was visiting me and supporting me even as I get older you could tell they were fascinated by me even having a mom. (1^st graders think you must be so old your parents aren’t alive and you already have a family and kids of your own)

            In my opinion, what is important here was the students seeing family support and involvement even as you get older like myself and my teacher. Some of our students come from difficult backgrounds; parent involvement in the child’s life as they get older may not be present as much. I really enjoyed being an example for the students and being able to teach them about the importance of family as well as seeing that support. My mom was so wonderful to come in and take her time to meet the class and read to them and get involved with their writing celebration, I believe she set a great example for my students. This is a case of setting example for our students as teachers and remembering that it is also important for us to be good role models to the kids. Being a role model is something I believe some teachers forget throughout their careers. My mom, as a third grade teacher, stresses the importance of sharing your own personal experiences with the students and incorporating these experiences into your teaching practices. As part of being a good role model, sharing personal experiences is important but along with that, it is also important to incorporate family life into the child’s to make a school and home life connection. Parent involvement is something that is strived for in every school and I was really proud to be a part of the involvement and include my own family in the Ray school community.

Noticing Blog-Montague

I have not been in school all week due to family reasons and dentist appointments so I will write a noticing blog on things I have noticed around the classroom instead of interactions with people from the school.

Over the entire year I have noticed something that as a teacher, I have always thought was necessary. The first thing is that the students have been placed into table mates, which was done at the beginning of the year, randomly. This is okay because I know that the teacher does not know personalities or who would make good partners for other various reasons. However, it is now November and I have noticed that the students are still sitting in the same place. There have been more disruptions in class and students not getting along where they are sitting. I think that it is necessary for my MT or I to re-arrange the students into new places and I think this would help with the behavior issues we have been seeing lately. Also, we know the students better now and some of the placements we made, not knowing the students before, are clearly a bad situation. 

Another thing I have noticed was that the bulletin board outside has not been changed since the first day of school. I love doing bulletin boards but I am nervous to ask my MT to change it. Sometimes she can take things a little funny so I am nervous to offend her. Also, she is kind of picky about what things turn out to look like so I am afraid to do it and have her not like it! When I worked at a school, I always volunteered to make the bulletin boards (we had about 5 in each classroom -4 that had to be changed monthly and one in the hall that had to be changed monthly as well!) So since I have noticed this over the semester, when I return from break, I am going to ask my MT if I can do something different with the board in the hallway.

Markert-Noticing Blog

Although this week has been a rather short week there was one issue that really stood out to me. This issue revolves around one of my special education boys in my classroom. This boy Sam* is diagnosed with ADHD and is given medication only when the parents decide to. He is a very intelligent, fun, loving boy that has a lot to offer his peers. The issue arose this week because I feel that his parents want Sam to be as “normal” as possible. They do not want to medicate him, they do not want him to have a full time aid, and they do not want him to be given any special treatment. This is fine because the parents’ wishes are always going to be the strongest. Although medication and a full time aid would benefit Sam it does not seem to be in the cards at this time. This is a very brief overview and skimming the surface of some of the other issues. However, today we brought the students to gym class. In the hour they were at gym we were informed that there was some difficulty with Sam. Sam did not listen to any instructions, ran around the gym when asked to sit down, and ultimately left the gym running through the halls of the school. Luckily at this time his aid (only for the last hour of the day) was in the gym class so there was supervision for the other students while they went to get Sam. This entire incident ended up with Sam in a total outburst of screaming and crying. Luckily, it was the end of the day.

When we spoke to Sam’s mom after school she informed us that the issue is Sam does not like gym or the gym teacher. Her solution for the problem is that on Tuesday Sam will just be picked up early and will not attend gym class. My MT handled this situation appropriately and we have not set anything in stone yet. My dilemma with the situation is when is helping your child detracting from their education and learning. I believe that making excuses and removing Sam from the situation will only teach him that if there is a problem or something you do not like you can simply leave. This is an issue because in life this is not the ultimate solution. The fine line between parents and education is one I am finding to be very tricky. There is no way you can tell a parent that their solution is wrong or not a great idea but at the same time you want to keep the students’ interests at heart. This is difficult to write about because there are so many instances but I guess my dilemma and question is how to breach or handle the fine line between parents and student and education? This is one case of this question but there are multiple students in my classroom that I feel similar ways about. 

Noticing 12 Kayleigh Robb

Noticing

My students have really developed their knowledge of their sight words, 13 in all so far. It had been not only beneficial for their reading but for their inventive spelling.

Even students who consistently struggle have an easy time with sight words. It gives them pride and confidence to get up there and be able to read. Students who have been getting a lot of support at home and returning our supplemental packets every week in order to get new ones, have been having the most success with the sight words. Students who continue to struggle with sight words are students from whom we have not received a supplemental packet. I hate to assume, but the two students with the most trouble claim to not get any help at home, and even though I want to think the best of their parents, it's a fact of teaching that not all parents go home and work with their children.

It's funny how kindergarten has changed from what I can remember. Every year things seem to advance just a little further. In the 18 years I have been out of this particular grade I have noticed some big changes, the biggest one being the many sight words the students learn. Although I don't remember it perfectly, I'm certain our focuses were mainly on alphabetic knowledge and phonetics, writing mechanics and social development.

In how it's changed, I wonder if that is daunting to some parents. Some of my students' parents could be as nervous as I was to teach the fundamentals of reading at such a young age. It is my first time really teaching the basics and I can't help but get a little anxious. Maybe some of these parents have this anxiety.

King Week 11

This was a short week in the classroom with Veteran's Day on Monday, Report Card pick up/ Parent-Teacher Conferences on Tuesday and classes on Thursday, so I have very little opportunity to notice things worth blogging about this week and it took a great deal of reflection to determine what was worthwhile to share.

I came to the conclusion that the experience of Parent-Teacher Conferences was the biggest learning experience this week. I was able to see which parents came to get their child's report card, which parents discussed the grades with my MT and I, and which parents did not come at all. This was the biggest learning experience for me this week because it helped me to see which of my students have the support at home and which students don't. In turn it helped me to see which students I need to provide more support for in the classroom.

McCormick Noticing Blog

This week I noticed how important reflecting on my teaching is. I typically reflect on the day with my mentor after students are dismissed. This helps me to think through what happened and think of different ways I can change for the next day. I also reflected a great deal through Project 3 and Inquiry 2. I can see why it's important to reflect with someone else because it helps to bounce ideas back and forth about different aspects of the lesson that I may not have noticed. I believe I have gotten better about reflecting on the positive and negative aspects of my lessons, whereas before I focused solely on the negatives. I can understand why teachers must reflect on daily lessons and on units as a whole so that they are stepping back looking at the big picture. I find myself wrapped up in what's happening in the lesson, so I'm not thinking about things I can change at the time. I'm working toward stepping back and reflecting on the lesson while it is in motion, so that I can make changes as needed during that lesson. This is a case of me realizing the importance of reflecting on lessons and making necessary changes for the following days lessons.

Noticing Blog-Montague

This week was a rather crazy week with conferences on Tuesday, classes on Thursday and only going to school for the first couple of hours today for personal reasons. The hours that I was at school today was spent getting students ready for picture day and collecting field trip money/slips therefore I really don’t have much student work to analyze this week. I will do my best with what I saw on Wednesday although I do not have any physical worksheets at all to analyze, just going off of memory from what I saw with the math activity. Once again, this may not even be accurate because I was busy putting together a literacy center on a huge poster board that my MT asked me to do so I didn’t even get to observe this lesson attentively.

The math activity for Wednesday that my MT taught started with the students on the rug. First she finished up the mini lesson on weight that they had done the previous week and did not get to finish. Then my MT continued by reading a literature book that has math in it to introduce them to the topic for the day. The topic for today was comparing numbers (which is bigger, which is smaller?). After she read the book, she continued by discussing what the lesson was and discussing words such as more than, less than. She also introduced the signs > < and explained how to use them (the teeth always want to eat the bigger number). She modeled this by herself for the students then continued by doing one example together as a class. After they had done it as a class, she moved on to the game for the day. The game is called Number Top It. The game is meant for two students to work together, they split the deck and lay cards down, whoever has the bigger number tops it and gets to keep the cards. The winner is the one who gets all of the cards at the end of the game. She modeled how to do this as a class with another student working with her. Then she had two students come up and the rest of the class sit/kneel around them to watch how they played. After she thought they had enough experience/instruction with the game, she partnered them up and sent them off to work on their own. While students were working, she noticed that more than half of the class simply did not get it and were not playing it correctly. She pulled them back together and explained that she may have let them go off ont heir own too fast and that they still needed more work with this before they were ready to work in partners. By the time she got them back to the rug, the time for math was over therefore that is all I saw.

I am not sure how she continued with the lesson the next day because I was not there however, after observing the class on Wednesday and seeing that they clearly were not grasping the concept of the game, this is what I would consider doing first. Before working with the game, I may do more in class activities where we work as a whole group and compare numbers with objects. Having students actually hold the manipulatives, up in front of the class and giving them practice with the goals of the lesson before sending them off on their own may be more beneficial. That is only if they were not understanding the idea of more than/less than. Another possibility for the confusion could be because this is the first time playing with cards like this (on their own) therefore, one quick game may not have been sufficient enough. What my teacher did, by recognizing they were not ready and pulling them back together, was a smart move on her part. I think I would have continued the next day by having another set of partenrs come up and show the class. They wouldn’t have had to play the entire game, just enough so we can check for understanding and correct/guide them. This would help ensure that they are ready to go on and play with partners without teacher supervision. Also, for those that are simply not getting it no matter what and those that do get it, I would consider partnering off the ones that have a good understanding so that they can work quietly with each other, giving my MT and I more time to work with those who need the help.